Now we are on to California where we still have two more places to visit to finish the first leg of our summer trip.  However, visiting the Sky Lakes Medical Center Emergency Room in Klamath Falls was not one of those planned stops!  Just to let you know, I’m fine.  I had a brief but somewhat scary gastro bout during the night, so Gail deemed it prudent we go have it checked out. 

After stopping at the Mental Clinic (by mistake?!) first, she found the ER and we were pleasantly surprised about the speed of my admittance and the attendant’s attention.  Not “The PITT” image that I had expected!   After some blood tests, IV fluid, and checking all other vitals, they all said, “I don’t know what caused the issues,  but you seem perfect!”.  Two hours after arriving, we were released and back to the RV.   And I was already feeling much, much better!

So on to California.  The weather was not cooperating along the way, and, with a low cloud layer, we could not even see the peaks of the mountains and especially Mt Shasta in the distance.  But none the less, the drive was all I-5 with some nice views along the way.

We didn’t get on the road until about 2:30 after the hospital visit, which was late for us, and arrived in our RV park in Dunsmuir, CA at about 5:00 pm. We got checked into the very nice and very unique park called Jubilee Railroad Resort and RV and we settled down.  

Let me tell you a little about the park.  As the name indicates, it has to do with railroads.  Dunsmuir was a major rail center for the logging industry in the early 1900’s and supplied extra steam engines to trains to assist them up the steep grades in the mountains to the north.  A roundtable and extra tracks were added in Dunsmuir to make this happen.  And the extra work supplied jobs and prosperity to the town until diesel locomotives replaced steam and the need went away.  But the town still maintains a close relationship with trains and there are examples on exhibit around the town.  And even though small, it still has an AmTrak stop.

Back to the resort, all of the cabins are old cabooses, and the restaurant is made up of old dining cars.  It makes the park unique to say the least.  The RV part is not so inclined, but you must drive through the “train” section to get to park.  Somewhat of a surprise, there was Shasta Mini Cooper rendezvous going on and they occupied all the cabins. 

We learned from our neighbor in the park about 3 nice waterfall hikes in the nearby town of McCloud.  So, we dressed appropriately and headed out to go waterfall hunting. These falls are all on the McCloud River and are cleverly named the Upper, Middle and Lower Falls and there is a nice hike between each one.  So, we did them all.  Along with the falls, there are flowers for Gail and some large Ponderosa Pines.

Returning to Dunsmuir, we discovered that Gail had been gifted with a small bouquet from the new friend in the next pad.  Gail had commented about a bouquet she was collecting for some relatives coming in later, and she added Gail to the collecting.

And to celebrate and have a new experience, we decided to have dinner in the resort dining car and while there learned more about the resort history from our waitress.  All in all, a very nice and busy day.  

The next stop was to be in Chico, and we looked at the different routes to take.   The route that went to Lassen Volcanic National Park looked interesting but slow and curvy with the RV.  The most direct route was on I-5 (fyi, we live at Mile Marker 0 on I-95 in Miami) and then cut across to Chico.  We decided to take the direct route and then just take the Jeep to the park the next day.  And it was a good decision.  Again, nice views along the way!

First, why Chico?  During my time at Texas Instruments in the late 70’s, I hired a new grad from Chico State, and he talked a lot about the town.  Known as a big college town, it was voted the best party school!  He also always mentioned missing the mountains when compared to his new home in Sherman, TX.  I had always wanted to visit, and this was probably going to be my only chance.  The RV Park was nothing special, but it was quiet, clean and in a central part of town. 

As planned, we took off early and headed back north to the Lassen National Park.  It was about 70 miles to the southern visitor center of the park.  We stopped in for a map, park info and to ask how much snow was still around as we had not really dressed for snow.  And I had maybe underestimated my gas gauge and asked where I could top off.  The ranger told us that the closest gas was at the north visitor center about 30 miles through the park.  I decided that I had enough to get there even though it was in the opposite direction of Chico.  So off we went!

The park was amazing.  The road was very winding and had a lot of turnouts.  The Lassen volcano had erupted in 1914 and was recorded in a famous series of photos by B.F. Loomis.  The explosion was more an eruption than a lava flow like the volcano back in Oregon.  The park is made up of numerous volcanoes and there is an explanation (which I will not go into) of the different kinds.   Therefore, throughout the park, there a features like the huge scree fields of erupted rocks, huge boulders thrown miles from the cone by the eruption force, sulfur pits and sheer cliffs! 

After winding our way through the park, we made it to the visitor center at Manzanita Lake and were nicely informed that they were out of gas!! And the next closest gas was about 20 more miles west out of the park in Shingletown.  So, without much of an alternative, we were off again but now with less gas!  The road now was much smoother and straight, and we made it with gas to spare.  And believe it or not the price was not that bad! 

We headed back to Chico with a full tank and went back in the opposite direction through the park!  This time we downloaded the park self-guided tour and took our time to stop along the way to hear the details and enjoy the views.

The next morning, we took some time to drive though town and find the campus.  The drive was nice and at the end we stopped at a bakery for a delicious breakfast cinnamon roll. Now, we were off to the big city and a visit with friends before we head back north to Oregon and Washington.

But that’s the next chapter!