Day 1: San Francisco (well, Livermore), CA to Klamath Falls, OR

We wave goodbye to our relatives and back out of their suburban driveway around 9 a.m.  After driving around the corner and out of their site lines, we confer:  do we know where we are going?  No.  Perhaps we should pull over and figure that out?  Yes.  Addresses are Googled.  Plans are laid.  A Target run is organized.  Sodas and candy are purchased (so much cheaper!),  as well as a pillow for snoozing, and tennis balls to use as back massage implements for the long and weary road ahead.   And then we are off.

We journey up the 5, listening to Mom's music, then my music, then some NPR.  In the 16 years I’ve lived in California, I’ve never been north of Sacramento via car.  I now see why.  It’s boring.  But, it IS farmland, so you can play that game of ‘what crop is that?’ or ‘what kind of tree is that?’.  I think every tree I see is an olive tree.  My mom correctly identifies fields of…you’ll never guess…rice!  In California?!?  I had no idea…

And still we drive…the landscape begins to change and we are no longer in the verdant but dusty valley from whence all the food comes, but are ascending into pine laden hills and mountains.  Mt. Shasta is sited and gasped at, and a flurry of iPhone photos are attempted through the car window.  We finally pull over to get a descent shot. 

We escape the boring sameness of the 5 for the unknown of the 97.  We pass through Weed, CA--- insert snarky comment or joke here.  Yes, they sell t-shirts.  A hail storm descends for 30 minutes of frivolous fun.  I get to practice passing on a two lane highway, or if you like, I get to play chicken for a few scary moments. 

We enter Klamath Falls, our stop for the night.  We check into the Days Inn Hotel (Who are they kidding?  It’s a motel.  Besides that lack of advertising veracity, it has everything you need—clean beds, AC, cable, wifi, hot tub, free breakfast.  Woohoo!)  We get our exercise—a trail run for me at Link River Nature Trail, for Mom a stretch of legs at Moore Park.  On our way home we take advantage of Mom's new app, a gift from Jess (thanks Jess!) that shows you weird and wonderful things along your road.  See more about that excursion below.  We then clean up and go for the highly Yelp recommended Thai Orchard Café.  (Favorite moment of the day—Mom calling to get reservations.  I hear:  “Hello?  What?  Target?")  We have a delicious meal of Thai favorites in the funny old downtown that looks like a Western version of Grove City’s downtown—same weird one-way streets, well preserved historic buildings with an eclectic assortment of mom and pop stores--but with a wider street and bigger stores.  We finish our night by strolling through town and grabbing a cocktail at the lovely Basin Martini Bar   Then back to the motel, I mean hotel, to rest, hot tub and plan for Crater Lake tomorrow.

New Road Trip Gear-- very serious.

Me and Mt. Shasta...and a parking lot.

Link River Trail-- complete with Thunder and Raindrops. Thanks Oregon!!

Maybe not?  The place was boarded up.

So, here I am sitting at a the gravesite of the only mainland casualties from WWII-- a BALLOON was sent from Japan loaded with a bomb and it exploded on these lovely children whilst they were picknicking.  I'm smiling because we found this gravestone from amongst a thousand others in five minutes or less.   Courtesy of the app, Roadside America.