The US roads, even the secondary ones, are better than many major roads in our home countries of Aus and NZ. The rumble strips are in the centre of the road. Good thinking 99 😜

As we got closer to Redding, the air grew thicker with smoke. Just recovering from the latest fire, where 1030 square kilometres of both residential and bush were burnt out and 7 lives were lost, it was tragic to see, reminding me of some of our Australian summers and fires. A solo bear cub had been saved, and is currently being nursed back to health before being released back into an unrecognisable world for her. Quite tragic for the wildlife and for the people of the area, although a miracle that more lives weren’t lost. 

Dave and Carol welcomed us into their beautiful home which they had built overlooking the ninth hole of the Gold Hills Golf Club. Spectacular! (Today’s word).

After a beautiful meal and some very nice NZ Kim Crawford Savignon Blanc, Dave announced he was taking us out for ice cream. In his 1956 Chevy Belair.

We wound the windows down on that baby (lucky it was still about 28 degrees) and cruised around town like we were royalty, every so often waving at the commoners.  She might be a gas guzzler, but boy is she puurrrty. Inside and out, Dave keeps her immaculate and she drives like a dream. Dave has many trophy’s to prove her royalty and award winning status. The ice cream tasted better than any I had ever had. Spectacular!

We woke next morning to a thick blanket of ash and smoke. I don’t know how long the residents of Redding have to put up with this, but it is certainly a health hazard and worthy of face masks. I would expect the emergency rooms are filled with those with respiratory issues. Our eyes were stinging by the time we said goodbye to Dave and Carol, grabbed the mandatory Starbucks coffee and headed South. 

Heading back to Reno we decided to take Harvey’s advice and detour through the Lassen Volcanic National Park. The mountains of the park have been a sacred place of healing and strength to American Indians for thousands of years.  In 1820 fur traders settled and by mid 1850’s a dependable wagon road and a railroad were in the area. In May 1914, a major volcano erupted with eruptions continuing until 1921. In 1916 following Lassen Peak’s eruption, the Park became a national park, the fourth national park in the USA.

It turned out to be a pretty special detour. Spectacular in fact. Whilst we had 8 hours travel in the car today, we figured it was about the journey, not the destination.

Next major event for the day was me driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time, pretty much right across Nevada.

If you don’t see another blog? Well you know why.