August 8, 2012 -- Reno, NV to Rouge River, OR

I am going to sneak in two photos from River’s Edge RV Park in Sparks, NV.

And the Truckee River running next to the park was both picturesque as well as heavily used by swimmers over the weekend:

Visiting Sparks, NV and staying in this park was a nice break from traveling.  I spent 6 days trying to get a photo of the planes landing over our heads and this was the only photo I managed to take because my camera is too slow:

The plane was not in the trees when I snapped the photo!  Darn.  Time for a new camera, ha ha.

We left the Big City and headed for quiet Alturas, CA.  I had made reservations at High Desert Resort, a Passport America park.  To be fair, the park is in the high desert; however, resort is stretching the truth a bit too far.

 

This was the pull-thru site—yes, the road.  However, the sewer connection was under about 3 inches of water, which just would NOT work for us.  Instead, we drove over and checked out Sully’s RV park which turned out to be a gem of a park for our three-night stay.  Our pull-thru site was blessed with lush green lawn on both sides and very friendly neighbors.  We came to Alturas to visit Fred and Arlene Cray—long-time friends and our Quartzsite, AZ, neighbors.

We had a lovely three day visit with Fred and Larry fixing things on our camper as well as their computer!  Arlene and I snuck off for Chinese-food lunch and poked through lots of their local shops on Main Street.  Thanks Fred and Arlene for all the good times.

Next on our route was Tule Lake, CA, to visit the Lava Beds National Monument.  I had picked another Passport America park at the Laketule-Butte Valley Fairground and it was a winner!  The fairgrounds were the cleanest and best-kept facility we had visited in some time—especially for just $18 a night for full hook-ups.

We visited the local museum located on the fairgrounds on Sunday and learned a lot about the area.  In addition to being near the Lava Beds, the area is the site of the draining and land reclamation project of Tule Lake, the Tule Lake Segregation Center used to hold people of Japanese ancestry during WWII, and the site of the Lake Tule Civilian Conservation Corp camp.  The Lava Beds also include the  sites of the Modoc Indian War when Captain Jacks’ band of 60 held off the 600 members of the U.S. Army for five months.  And, the Applegate trail of the Oregon Trail winds up past the old lake bed toward Klamath Falls too.

The history of the area is almost over whelming—so many things going on—some good and some just plain sad.  We needed a pick-up from the little local market:

On Sunday, we packed a lunch and set out to explore the Lava Beds National Monument:

First we drove along the edge of what is left of Tule Lake which is now part of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge:

The second place we stopped is the Devil’s Garden—which looks close, but is about 30 feet below the ledge I was standing on.  It is miles of “a a” lava, name by the Hawaiians—sharp and very jaggedly lava.  Ah Ah.

And this is one of the 700 lava tubes, many with ladders and trails for explorers to explore.  I call it “BEFORE.”

This is what the lava tubes look like “AFTER,” and why I don’t venture into the dark world below:

See all those rocks on the floor?  Notice the path through and around the rocks?  Those rocks used to be on the ceiling.  Not my cup of adventure!!

Anyway, we had a great day exploring both Tule Lake area and the Lava Beds.  If you have the opportunity to drive through North-East California, pencil in a few extra days as there is so much to see and learn.

We drove down off the 4,000 ft. high-desert plateau this morning and are enjoying two days at the Rogue River State Park just north of Medford, OR.  Next stop will be Salem, OR.  We are trying to arrange a slightly different solution to the Boise, ID, trip.