Da Redwoods

Typing this I bring to an end Day 5 of my little escapade. It’s been quite the trip, though so far I’ve only posted about the first two days. We’ll why don’t I change that.
Day three began at a little after 4 am in a rest stop just down hill from the California/Nevada border. Despite having a ICM (ice caramel machiatto) with some extra shottage in Reno, there was no way I was going to make it to the coast. This meant that to be to the Redwoods National Park early enough get camping I would have to leave much earlier than hoped (hence the 4 am). Most of the drive was uneventful, though I have found that California could do better about marking where the highway goes. A sign saying "Highway X" is great, but if it’s at a "T" intersection and doesn’t give an arrow for which way it continues, it doesn’t do you a whole lot of good.

I digress. A few hours later I have passed through Redding, and am heading through the Shasta Mountain area. Now ,before I go further, understand that I am a giant nerd. It makes the rest of this much more understandable.

Anyhow, in "Shadowrun" the role-playing games (groans from the audience), this area is controlled by a powerful dragon named Hestaby. So here I am, watching the sun come up over Lake Shasta, and I can vividly picture some massive wyrm swooping along the canyon walls. Between the gorgeous mountain backdrop and the swerves around ear switchback, I could almost feel a dragon careening through.

After filling up in some mountain town where the window squeegees were frozen tight, I carried on. Let me tell you, I love driving in the mountains. If you do it like I do, which I don’t recommend, you almost get a workout, between your heart pumping and leaning your body into curves- because every bit counts when you hit a switchback 25mph over the speed limit. And let me tell you, they mean "limit." Sometimes I think that I’m screaming down like a mountain banshee only to realize that I’m doing the posted speeds. Of course, some times I’m also well over that.

Anyhow, I reach the coast around 10 am. It’s taken me 50 hours to reach. Figuring in the eight hour layover in Cheyenne, and the six hours of sleep I pulled at the rest stop, I came just about right on the drive time I figured. Of course, had I gone straight to San Fran it would have gone much quicker, but alas...

I pull into Trinidad for some quick grub, and have blueberry pancakes at the Trinidad Café. Good stuff. Around 11 I arrive at my destination. Redwoods. Since I’ve blabbed so much here, I’ll reduce eye-strain for ya and post that separately.