Sunday, September 30, 2012 (Travel to Susanville, California)

I was already up sitting with my laptop and coffee when Steve got up just before 7:00 and went right into the shower.   I think that means he is feeling better and we are back on the road again today as planned.

We were on our way at 9:15...another beautiful day; and a great day for travelling.  We had one of the prettiest drives...even the I-5 portion wasn’t bad.  Through the Siskiyou Mountains...

It's still quite hazy in the distance...

Once we entered California all vehicles had to stop for a "vehicle inspection"...the girl asked if we had any produce.  Of course, my mind went blank and all I could think of were the yellow peppers that were in the fridge.  She said that's fine and waved us through...then I remembered that we also have carrots, lettuce and cucumbers...I don't know what is "not allowed".

More beautiful views along the I-5 in northern California...

It's so hazy that you can barely make out the mountains in the distance...

We stopped in Weed, California (they have souvenirs in the store...small tins of "California Weed"...aka mints...too funny!)  With our Pilot RV Rewards card we received 3 cents off per gallon...making the diesel $4.21/gallon...not bad considering the other stations in the area were $4.35/gallon.  I believe that is Mt. Shasta in the background...

We left the I-5 at Mt. Shasta, taking California highway 89 and then 44 towards Susanville...both were great, well maintained highways with more beautiful scenery (it was also nice to get off the Interstate)...

Poison Lake...too funny (no water)...

We stopped at Bogard Rest Area...a beautiful newer facility.  We asked one of the workers about overnight camping in the area...she suggested that we inquire across the street at the Forestry Station.  A very friendly girl didn't think that we would fit into any of the area's campgrounds but said that we could pull off anywhere in the National Forest...she suggested an area "McCoy Flats" about 20 miles down the road. 

Unfortunately, we missed the spot and ended up at the end of highway 44...where it meets highway 36.  At this point, it is just 5 miles to Susanville where we had found out that there is a Walmart that allows overnight camping.  It was 3:15 at this point and we really didn't want to stay overnight in a parking lot...but, there happened to be a big pull-out area right at the junction of the two highways...so this is where we decided to stay...

It was actually quite nice...if it hadn't been right beside the highways...

Six hours on the road...that was enough...not expecting a very peaceful night's sleep but I'm sure it wouldn't be any different in the Walmart parking lot.  We are heading directly to Richfield, Utah to do some ATVing on the Paiute Trail, so we'll be doing a few long travel days with overnight stops.