Day 1: Bend to Redding --278 miles, 5 hours

We packed up and left Bend at 10:34.  It was cold and snowing.  I really appreciated T's electric seats in the car.  Looks like the artic blast is coming.  We are going to make every effort to keep ahead and away from it.  We passed a sign that said, "Do not pass snow plows on the right"  Although this brought forth an interesting vision, there were no snow plows today.  Light snow with less than an inch on the ground.  The road was mostly clear.  Cloudy and cold.

We lost the snow in Chemult which was odd since Chemult is in the "snow belt," usually covered in snow this time of the year. But today, the sun came out and blinded us.  I had to get out my sun glasses (that's more like it.) Now we just need it to warm up.

We stopped for gas at the Crater Lake Junction Travel Center and Ka-Mo-Ya Casino just north of Klamath Falls.  Soon the road started following the shoreline of Klamath Lake with the mountains in the background and Mt. Shasta peaking out behind.  A beautiful stretch of highway.

Soon after circling around Klamath Falls we got to the California border.  This made me think of the 5 oranges we had in our snack bag.  I asked T if we were going to go through a Calif. Inspection Station.  She said "yes, it's coming up soon."  So I started peeling oranges.  We managed  to peel and eat all the oranges, just in time.  I put the orang peels in the back as we pulled up to the station.  The inspector just smiled, waved at us and told us to have a nice day. 

Soon we were treated to views of Mt. Shasta.  You can see it for miles and miles.  Once we got near, T pulled off at a view site for pictures.  The mountain was mainly in the shadow.  As we drove on, we saw the west side of the mountain and it looked much better.  T stopped at the side of the road (without  coaching) and we got picttures of the "other" side of the mountain.

At Weed we turned onto I-5 and saw yet another side of the mountain. Hardly any snow at all on this side of the mountian.  Unusual for January.  T said they have a ski area on the mountain, but I doubt it is open.

Next point of interest (and evidence of drought) was Lake Shasta. Part of the lake looked like a dry river bed with a small creek running through.  The docks for the houseboats were very low.  We also noticed the brown hills (which T said should by green since this is the "wet season" for this area.

On to Redding.  We are staying with T's ex -mother-in-law, J.  She lives in an apartment overlooking the Sacramento River. Beautiful views.  We met t's son, C, for dinner.  Very enjoyable.

On to Benicia tomorrow after a hike along the river.