It’s Earl’s fault. It’s Earl’s (and Ernie’s) fault that I got a late start on Sunday. They made me stay later than I planned, playing poker. (However, I did leave with a little extra gas money – thanks Ernie!) Consequently, I didn’t rise until after 8 and after taking care of all the last minute details and packing, etc, I didn’t get onto the freeway until 12:30 – hours after I had wanted to. Oh well. I had decided earlier that morning not to stress about it ‘cause after all, I was on vacation.

Traffic wasn’t too bad getting out of town and in no time, I was practically alone on the freeway humming along the 14 heading into Mohave. Though only 90 miles or so away from home I always like to stop and fill up at the AM/PM. And I usually get gas too. That way you get a reasonable price and have enough to explore to your heart’s content as you work your way up the 14 and 395 towards Bishop and beyond. This time though the lines at the pumps were excessively long and feeling a tad bit hurried – due to my later than planned start – I decide to bypass my Super Tanker and drove on by without stopping.

Just outside of Mohave, I noticed that the rocks to the left of me were prettily banded with serpentine shades of green. After all the many, many times I’ve driven this way I don’t recall ever noticing that. Hmmmm. A little farther, I once again resolve to someday stop and actually visit Red Rock State Park, instead of just driving by – on my way to somewhere else – as I always do. Someday.

The road is very uncrowded as I head north up the 395; a drive I always enjoy as the Sierras rise to heights greater than 14,000 ft on your left, as do the White Mountains on the right (near Bishop anyway). The Owens Valley here has always held a special charm for me, perhaps because of its stark, spare, and mostly empty beauty. Though “decimated” (or perhaps the better word is desiccated) by the DWP, in reality those very same doings have preserved the rugged and open spaciousness that still defines the area today.

Near Big Pine though I am overcome by overly heavy eyelids and decide to take a short rest at the information display for the Bristlecone Pine Forest up in the close by White Mtns. This is a radical move for me as I am almost always able to drive through any bouts of tiredness. Dang. I must be getting old! I rest/sleep for nearly an hour before I feel refreshed and recovered enough to proceed.

I gas up in Bishop at the AM/PM, get some more ice for the cooler, and of course a Super Tanker for me. The road rises up to over 7000 feet near Mammoth Lakes and the terrain changes accordingly. The Sierras are jammed up to the roadway there and the trees grow taller as if to keep everything proportional and in balance. (Feng Shui?). The evening approaches as I drive past Mono Lake and the clouds over it catch some of the colors thrown off by the now setting sun. By the time I am just shy of Bridgeport, a center for Sierras recreation (mostly fishing I think), I am rewarded for the day’s drive with the glimpse of a shooting star ephemerally lighting my journey north towards Lassen NP – tonight’s destination.

Then, on the other side of town, I am “jolted” back to reality as I drive by the remains of a deer struck by a vehicle passing this way earlier. And I do mean remains as I see only about 2/3 of the carcass. Yuck! This part of the road is dotted with signs: “Major Deer Crossing” and I slow my speed accordingly. My new Explorer is barely a week new and I do not want to have a repeat of the deer encounter I experienced outside of Zion NP a few years back quite yet. Fortunately, I spy no more venison on the road and am soon zipping along nicely towards Reno and beyond to Lassen.

I gas up for the last time of the day in Susanville, way the heck up there in northeastern California, and let me tell you, that place shuts down at night. It was as if it was 3 am though it wasn’t yet midnight. I guess there really isn’t any thing to do in a small town. I head out of town on the last leg of my trip for the day looking to camp either in the park or just outside it in the National Forest (NF) that surrounds it. About 10 miles from the South Entrance, I pull off onto a dirt road that, according to my electronic map, heads towards a creek to bed down for the night. I actually prefer to just “pull off the side” somewhere rather than stay in a campground because I can just do my own thing without worrying about others and rules and regulations, etc. Plus, cleaning up in the morning is usually a lot easier (more on that later). I follow the road for about a hundred yards or so, looking for a place to pull off and am just about to do so when I see a jeep already there. Ooops! So I quickly dim my brights and seeing a natural “parking” spot right next door, I pull into there. I had packed the truck so that one half of the back was for sleeping (so I already had my air mattresses and blankets all set up) so I hop into bed lickety-split and doze off contentedly after a long, 1st day’s drive on my new adventure.