Day 12 - Point Reyes National Seashore

For Wednesday, September 14

I woke up in Folsom, California actually having a schedule for the first hours of the day. After I got mostly packed up, turkeys came to visit looking for any leftovers. I left the turkeys and headed for car repairs.

In the auto dealer customer lounge, I had a nice visit with a retired police officer from San Francisco. He now lived outside Sacramento. His new home sounded like a nice area. He had some good stories from his experiences with the police.

When I came in, I had to laugh at the signs that warn you to remove all valuables from your vehicle. My car was packed nearly to the ceiling. And I had no other place to put it. But I did disguise and hide some things that were valuable.

The car repairs went fairly well. It turned out that when I tried to save a few bucks by changing my own air filter, the cowling/big tube from the filter to the engine had been flexed a quarter inch too far. Plastics get more brittle over time. It had cracked. And that is why the engine light only came on starting from idle, with rougher engine movements. And then it usually ran just fine at normal operating speeds. So that was about $400 I had not expected to spend. But it could have been much worse.

As a Mazda dealer, they were also able to take care of another problem that can also cause the engine light to come on. I knew, and Mazda mechanics know, you can fix this with very careful cleaning. Other auto repair shops would assume you needed a $200 repair. This place did it for free. And that is why I was fairly persistent in trying to locate a Mazda dealer for repairs. Sometimes the dealer is cheaper than the generic places, especially for less common cars.

Leaving the car dealer before noon, I decided to head west old man. I had very little interest in San Francisco. But just north of there is Point Reyes National Seashore. That sounded interesting. Perhaps I would get a better ocean experience there.

One of main ways to get there is via California highway 1. It is extremely curvy for many miles. Passengers do get car sick on that road. I got good practice with 20 M.P.H. curves without slowing down the locals too much. Zoom zoom.

Point Reyes is a peninsula along the famous San Andreas Fault. The visitor center and brochures made it pretty clear that sunshine inland may not mean that you can actually see the ocean along the shore. It is frequently foggy over the cold water.

At this point, an earthquake moved parts of the peninsula 16 feet. This fence demonstrates the way a fence actually did break along the fault line. While I was there, the peninsula did not fall off and into the sea. But it was kind of cool to revisit the earthquake zone once again (briefly) after over 25 years being away from California.

Along the way out to the point, I passed a few dairy farms. And I saw a field of antennas. They were somewhat similar to ones I knew from Virginia. The communication signal bounces off the atmosphere to reach many miles. There are both civilian and military uses for this technology.

Out on the point, it was very windy and cold. Even with a tripod, it was a challenge to keep the camera still. The trees growing sideways give an indication of what weather is like here. I did not see any sea lions while I was there. But I did see some deer and several dairy farms within a couple miles of the coast.

Some interesting rock out on the point:

They collected fresh water from the fog and rain by collecting water running off the rock (and concrete):

But even in the barren areas designed to collect water, some flowers found a place to grow:

On the one side especially, I mostly concentrated on trying to keep the camera still in the winds. But I decided to zoom in as much as I could just in case there was something down there. I saw nothing. But later, on the video, I noticed that there actually were a few sea lions down there on the rocks.

Unlike most places, the lighthouse here is actually down several steps. Its reach is shorter across the horizon. But it can shine under the fog this way.

On the way out, I stopped down by the beach. It was cold and windy. But some flowers had chosen to bloom anyway.

I took another way home (back towards Nevada, I can't believe I called that "home", although heading east is towards home - eventually) and went through a bunch of country not too terribly different from the rolling hills of much of Wisconsin and Minnesota. I made it most of the way back to Reno. But when I saw signs warning of road closures ahead, I joined dozens of other vehicles in pulling off at the rest area on Euer Saddle in the Donner Pass area near Truckee, California for the night.

Day 11 - Redding to Sacramento, California

For Tuesday, September 13

Waking up in a motel room in Redding, the morning was a little unusual for this trip. With electricity and some Internet access, it was time to copy hundreds of photos off the camera and make some backups of the photos I have so far. It was good to have that done. But it resulted in a late start for a day of traveling.

I learned of an interesting foot bridge in Redding. So I went to check that out. The Sundial Bridge over the Sacramento River is pretty cool. There are markers on the lawn that match the time of day (in season).

Sundial shadow across the lawn

After a quick visit to the bridge, I set out to find Bethel Church. Since it was a Tuesday, I expected things to be quiet. But, it turned out it was the first day of school for their various schools. There were young adults from many states, including the Midwest. With the big crowds, I decided to skip trying to go inside. Perhaps I can visit some other time. They have some good things happening there. But we have much of it at my own church. So I left and finally got out of Redding after noon.

With potential auto repair places south and slightly east from Redding, I took back roads south. I had mostly been avoiding the interstate freeways anyway. I saw some more fields filled with volcanic rock (I think). The dark rocks contrasting with light grasses were interesting, to my eyes anyway.

I got to see quite a few orchards of various types. I probably should have stopped. Within California I wouldn't have to worry about the state border checks where they take away any fresh fruits and vegetables from out of state.

Central California orchard

Here is a little video of traveling through a couple orchards. I tossed together a little guitar, drums, and bass so you can listen to something other than wind noise with the video.

It was 4:00 p.m. by the time I got to the Mazda dealer in Yuba City. It was too late. And I got the impression they may have only had one Mazda mechanic, with everyone else specializing in GM vehicles. Rather than hang around there, I headed south to the next possibility.

In Roseville, California, near Sacramento, I arrived late in the day. But I was able to schedule an appointment for the next morning. And I had some confidence they had Mazda expertise.

I stayed fairly close by that night at Folsom Lake State Recreation Area campground. There were plenty of open campsites here on a week night. There were a few wild turkeys (animals).

With the hope of the car being fixed at reasonable cost, I considered potential destinations for the rest of Wednesday as I fixed a meal over the fire. The night was mostly uneventful except for some male couple arguing loudly for a while during the night, perhaps on the trail near the campground. San Francisco wasn’t too far away.

Day 10 - Lassen Volcanic National Park

For Monday, September 12

Friendly reminder that in this series, if you click on a photo, you can view larger versions of the images in a little gallery, without context. The videos can also be expanded to full screen and HD quality if you wish. Functionality in the mobile version of the site may vary.

I woke up in Lassen Volcanic National Park. My son David had recommended this place for me. He had visited a few years ago. So I ventured out to see what made this place unique.

The place is quite interesting with a variety of volcanic activity all over. The trail to the top of Lassen volcano is temporarily closed. But there were plenty of other things to see. It was strange to see so much constant activity in the ground around me.

Even in September, there were flowers blooming.

Some trees were full of pine cones (or were they cedars? Some evergreen...)

The trail is certainly wide enough to meet people. But, still, it is a good place to ignore fear of heights and focus on the trail rather than the drop of a few hundred feet just off the trail.

It's hot and dry. But why not choose to bloom anyway?

Even in September, there is snow from last winter:

Bumpass Hell

A Little Volcanic Action

They have a boardwalk that keeps people from damaging the fragile areas. And it keeps people from accidentially breaking through and falling into steaming water.

A few of the mountains here are tall enough to create their own weather. So even if there isn't any particular weather front moving through, they often accumulate clouds and develop rain and thunderstorms. I saw it quickly get more and more cloudy, primarily around one mountain. So I headed back.

The view down below with the small stream looked intriguing. But I think the climb back up may be a little tough. Perhaps another time...

It is a big park. The road through the park, with stops and a hike along the way, took quite a while. I wanted to get back to the visitor center since that was not open yet when I left in the morning. I thought it might be quicker to take some non-park regular roads to get back down that way. It turned out they were very curvy also, although with smaller drop-offs on the shoulders. One road in particular was filled with 10 M.P.H. curves. It was fun (if I hadn’t been in a hurry). And I missed any deer or cattle near the road. Some of the terrain was unusual (for a Midwesterner) with large dark stones dotting the landscape. Crop farming would be a challenge here.

After my stop at the visitor center, I left for Redding. Along the way, I was delayed by some road construction. They were widening the road in a couple spots for slower-car pullouts. This is extra complicated on the edge of a mountain and when large trees must be removed. Since the road was still open, they had to continually move logs and brush around to keep one lane open as they took down trees and loaded them on trucks. Through my trip I was learning to appreciate some of the civil engineers and others who dealt with problems here that we did not face in the relatively flat lands with wide shoulders and ditches.

There were two destinations for me in Redding. One, I hoped a city that size would have a Mazda dealer to finally fix my car. And second, I hoped to get a very short visit to Bethel Church there. I listen to some of their music and messages. And my church has a close association with them.

In Redding, I wandered around several roads looking for car dealers and hoping to stumble upon a road named College Drive, or something like that, where Bethel is located. I didn’t find any of that. But I did see parts of the city prospering with many new retail businesses. Eventually, at a gas station north of the city a ways, I got some help from a local person. I found some auto dealers on a road I had not tried. But there was no Mazda dealer. It is getting dark. I decided to get a motel room with Internet access.

I checked out a local Mexican fast food place for dinner. Before the Internet connection got extremely slow, I was able to learn about some Mazda dealers in northern California. There were none near Redding. But at least I now had some leads.