21: Short and sweet

Mount Lassen over Lake Almanor

We ended our third week on the road with a relatively short but spectacular ride through Plumas County. For a good part of the morning, we climbed on Hwy 89 from Quincy along the Feather River (or some branch thereof). Beautiful pine forests, sparkling streams, canyons and fields were resplendent this morning! Roger and I agreed this must be the most stunning landscape we've ridden through to date.

Some of the barns about these parts have quilt patterns painted on them. They are fun to spot along the road.

The logging trucks headed in our direction were empty, and most were courteous enough to give us plenty of room.  Coming the other way, the trucks were loaded and they packed quite a punch when they went by! They are pushing a lot of air.  The road was lightly traveled until we turned north to continue on 89; at that point we picked up more traffic but again - most folks were willing to give us room on the road.

Painted barn

One notable exception was the woman in the red pickup truck, and I will dedicate this post to her.  There must be some terrible sort of pain in her heart and soul, that she found it necessary to treat us as she did. Coming up behind us while a logging truck was approaching from ahead, I guess it was not possible for her to ease up a bit on the gas, or perhaps apply a bit of brake.

Views like this all day

She did however find the strength to lay on the horn, and then gun it as she passed us to envelope us in a cloud of diesel fumes.  I waved goodbye to her, and offer her now this earnest prayer:  "Dear lady, I do hope that we did not inconvenience you in any way as you stomped on the gas and blared your horn while passing us.  It certainly was not our intention to trouble you this morning as we rode upon this public thoroughfare. May you find peace and healing for whatever it is that ails you, and through this peace, grow in understanding and grace.  Surely in time you will learn that the universe has room for all of us."

Double trestle

Railroad trestle along Hwy 89

We also enjoyed the many fantastic railroad trestles and bridges along our route.  Some were made of Lincoln Logs, others appeared to be fashioned from giant-sized Erector Sets.  Melinda - tell Colin these pictures are for him! (Unfortunately we did not see any trains while in the canyon.)

We stopped for lunch in Greenville.  Who knew that California had a Greenville?  Anna's was the place to be.  It seemed to be the choice of locals, and we enjoyed a great lunch. I was a bit surprised to see "Bernie" signs in several windows in town.

Perhaps Greenville is a little patch of blue in what is otherwise pretty much a sea of red? We are seeing "Welcome to Jefferson, the 51st State" signs here and there.  I think I recall reading that's part of a movement to separate California into several states.  I haven't spoken with any of the locals about it, but I do wonder what this particular segment of the state would do for an economy.  We see logging trucks, and PGE trucks, and obviously there are some tourists, but other than that is is small ranches and cafes.  Not a lot of revenue to offset the costs of maintaining these roads. Maybe they would just charge everyone from out of state to drive them!

The lupines and other wildflowers continue to delight us, and true to my Texas roots, I had Roger snap a photo of me among them.

Kathy among the bluebonnets, in California!

Ann's lilacs

To put a final lovely spin on what has been a most incredible day, we arrived at our campsite at Lake Cove Resort to find that our camp manager, petitioning on our behalf to the camp's owner, had managed to get our rate reduced!  Rob brought over a hibachi and some charcoal so we can cook a little steak dinner. This is a sweet spot, on the east shore of Lake Almanor, and Ann and Rob will take great care of you!

Thank you, Ann, with the beautiful blue eyes!

Lastly, when we were back in Menlo Park with Steve and Brielle, we had to make a run to REI to replace a defective sleeping pad.  While there, we also checked on our tent, which had a small tear. Well, rather than get a patch kit for that tent, I asked Roger to look into the possibility of upgrading from the 2 person to the 3 person tent.  It's still pretty small, but feels like the Taj Majal to me!  Yay! Finally a little bit of space inside the tent that is not completely filled with sleeping bags!

The day's report:  Quincy to Lake Almanor, 34 miles/917 to date