Central Oregon and Northeastern California (AKA: A place so barren and loathsome that it made me actually glad to see Reno)
Yes, it took me a while to get to this blog. I could say it was because the trauma of having to recall the hell that is Central Oregon and Northeastern California, but it really wasn't THAT bad. I mean, it definitely sucked, and I would not look forward to going back. But, all things considered, I'd rather kick it there than in Chinese prison, so it's all relative.
The real reason I put off writing this part of the blog is there is pretty much nothing to write about for the bulk of our journey in Central Oregon and Northeastern California. With the exceptions of Tahoe and Sequoia, it was a big pile of nothingness.
Central Oregon and Northeastern California (which from here on out I shall refer to as "The Pacific Wasteland") pretty much make Idaho look like rush hour in Tokyo. True, there are lots of beautiful lakes and wilderness areas that are beautiful, enjoyable places to stay. But, if you're looking for an actual city, or even a town, to stay in, just stop. You're better off buying a ton of supplies in Portland, and camping out in the State and National Parks for the remainder of the trip until you get to *shudder* Reno.
Yes, it took me a while to get to this blog. I could say it was because the trauma of having to recall the hell that is Central Oregon and Northeastern California, but it really wasn't THAT bad. I mean, it definitely sucked, and I would not look forward to going back. But, all things considered, I'd rather kick it there than in Chinese prison, so it's all relative.
The real reason I put off writing this part of the blog is there is pretty much nothing to write about for the bulk of our journey in Central Oregon and Northeastern California. With the exceptions of Tahoe and Sequoia, it was a big pile of nothingness.
Central Oregon and Northeastern California (which from here on out I shall refer to as "The Pacific Wasteland") pretty much make Idaho look like rush hour in Tokyo. True, there are lots of beautiful lakes and wilderness areas that are beautiful, enjoyable places to stay. But, if you're looking for an actual city, or even a town, to stay in, just stop. You're better off buying a ton of supplies in Portland, and camping out in the State and National Parks for the remainder of the trip until you get to *shudder* Reno.
Alas, no one gave us that advice, so we had to suffer through approximately 36 hours of non-stop boredom.
CENTRAL OREGON
Ahhhh, Central Oregon, home of...
...yeah, exactly.
So, basically Central Oregon is filled with farms. These farms are very quaint and pretty for about an hour. After than, the cup of coffee you drank back in Portland is about to leak down your pants leg, and all you want is to find a place that doesn't cue the music from the movie "Deliverance" in your mind when you pull up to the gas station.
On our first day through Central Oregon is pretty much a blur to me, because I was reading The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book). (Great book, by the way.) It was just as well because, as I mentioned earlier, there was nothing going on outside the car windows.
The only stop of note was at Gold Lake, which we only stopped at because Sachin had to pee and we hadn't seen a town in about 75 miles, and didn't know if we'd see one before Klamath Falls. Gold Lake is a perfect example of how beautiful the landscape is, but how annoying it gets if you need some semblance of civilization (AKA: gasoline, running water, and/or food and potable water).
Driving through Central Oregon. Lots of Forests, not that many places to stop.
Gold Lake, Oregon
How the heck do we get out of here?!
KLAMATH FALLS
Oh Klamath Falls... your Chamber of Commerce makes you look so lovely on the town website.
So, according to said website, Klamath Falls SUPPOSEDLY has 42,000 citizens living in it. If those citizens are anything like the 100+ individuals working at and passing through the local Taco Bell that we had the misfortune of eating at, I'm truly frightened. That is a kick-ass "Jerry Springer Show" waiting to happen.
Speaking of the town Taco Bell, my gosh -- I don't think I've been to a worse Taco Bell in my life. (And, if you've ever eaten at Taco Bell, you know just how terrible it must be to garner such an achievement.) Now, granted, Taco Bell isn't exactly the crème de la crème of Mexican restaurants. In fact, Taco Bell is to "Mexican" food as Panda Express is to "Chinese" food. But, this place was truly awful.
Alas, being in the middle of the only town with any sort of facilities at 9PM for approximately 300 square miles, we were left with no other choice.I will say our hotel was surprisingly nice for Klamath Falls. So, shout outs to the Red Lion Inn Klamath Falls and their excellent staff. They had a fabulous selection of teas in their continental breakfast, so I can't hate on that.
The boys splash around in the hot tub at the hotel. (They added WAY too much chlorine out there. I'm glad they only stayed a half hour, because I was getting massively nauseous having to smell it.)
One thing that Klamath Falls did have was beautiful Azaleas. These were in the parking lot of our hotel.
NORTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA
It's like everyone even forgot it was there.
Basically, Northeastern California looks like this:
Pretty, no? Yes, but try driving through 200 MILES of this seeing ONLY this, and the only signs of life being towns with the names of "Likely" and "Canby" with the populations between 20-70 people per town.
Oh ho ho! I was just googling for a map of Northeastern California, and I just came across this gem (AKA: BOLD FACED LIE) describing Modoc County, the most horrible of the Northeastern CA counties: "Modoc County, the land of Indian Lore, unparalleled scenic beauty and abundant natural resources, encompasses the extreme northeast corner of the Shasta Cascade region. For those Twentieth Century Americans who long for a quiet, calm lifestyle surrounded by the beauty of nature, Modoc County, is a tempting Garden of Eden."
Allow me to translate this for you in actual English:"Modoc County, a place so barren and horrible that the Indians referred to it as "Bloody Ground of the Pacific" due to all of the fierce Indian wars fought there between 1848 and 1911. Unparalleled in its complete and utter void of signs of civilization, its main export is seething dissatisfaction and failure. For those Twenty FIRST Century Americans who want to bury bodies that will never be found, or who want to marry their sister, this middle of bum-fuck nowhere affords you the total and utter seclusion that you desire to guarantee you an earthly passage directly into the ninth circle of Dante's hell."
After passing about 10 of these reject towns, I actually (and I'm ashamed to admit this after the fact) was *gulp* relieved to see Reno. I know! It's crazy! But, after you've been through "The Pacific Wasteland", you'll understand.
IMPORTANT POINT: Seriously, we encountered NO LESS than 10 highway closures for road repair. The construction crews would close off all but one lane, and would switch directions every fifteen minutes. So, we were CONSTANTLY having to stop along the trip and just wait in our hot, shitty Dodge Magnum with no air conditioning in 95º+ weather.
What I don't get is how there could be so much road work in those areas WHEN NO ONE LIVES THERE!!! Has anyone taken a look at the roads in the three main CA cities lately (L.A., San Fran, and S.D.)?! Dude, spend some of the tax payers money HERE!
Then again, there is no possible way the Cal Trans workers would get away with that "closing down roads" shit in any of those cities. It was absolutely RIDICULOUS how much time we wasted at these stop points.
Here we are at one of TEN stop points. At least these Cal Trans workers were nice enough to let us use their porta-potty since there were no towns for the next 70+ miles.
The big rigs start piling up on the road.
It is lovely scenery. Too bad it's in the middle of nowhere.
They make it look so nice on the map! Too bad I didn't take pictures of the town so you could see just how "charming" the area was.
LAKE TAHOE
Despite the challenges and mind searing boredom we had to go through to get there, Tahoe was beautiful. We picked a really good time of year to go there. Because all of the winter sports were over, but the summer sports hadn't really begun yet, the area was nice and not at all crowded. Plus, it was still nice weather (although there were some storm clouds over the Reno area -- go figure).
Unfortunately, we were only able to spend one night there, but it was still rather nice. We walked a REALLY long time down the main street through Downtown Tahoe (thanks to some crackheaded advice from the hotel concierge chick regarding a good vegetarian restaurant), but other than that there was really not much time to do anything.
Oh well, we'll just have to go back -- when the place is not on fire. =(
View of Lake Tahoe. Even on the 1st of June, there is still snow in those Sierras.
View of the surrounding forest area at the Logan Shoals View Point
Scootz and Me with Lake Tahoe in the background.
SEQUOIA: THE LAST HURRAH
Our last day of the trip was spent getting to and driving around Sequoia National Park. I really love both Sequoia and Kings National Park. Again, I really wish we had gotten more time to spend there, but we only had 9 1/2 days to spend on the road trip; so, some places just didn't get as much time as others.
Driving through Sequoia is a beautiful experience. Alas, AGAIN there were road closures on the way up there! It looks like they are expanding the roads -- probably so that the stupid, gianormous SUVs can go up there. Because if there's one thing we need in our National Parks, it's SUVs. *rolls eyes*
ANYWHO, because we were so short on time, we decided to just go on a drive into Sequoia, and to take the relatively short trail to the General Sherman Tree. The General Sherman Tree is the largest tree in overall volume in the world. It was pretty cool, but more than anything I just liked being in the forest with all of those gorgeous trees. =) I know, ME liking to be around trees? Go figure!
Driving into Sequoia National Forest through Three Rivers (where we stayed that evening)
Hiking down the trail to the General Sherman Tree
Looking up at the Sequoia Trees
The General Sherman Tree, quite possibly the most famous tree in the world. It's over 2000 years old.
How appropriate, no? O=)
BACK TO SAN DIEGO
We've now been back in San Diego for a little over three weeks. Thinking back on the road trip and going through the pictures has been great for me to process everything. I did a lot of thinking on that trip. (Goodness knows there's not much else to do when going through "The Pacific Wasteland".) I won't go into everything that I thought about, but it mainly had to do with where I've been, where I am, and where I'm going.
I wish I could leave you with some profound thoughts regarding the road trip. But, maybe it's for the best that I don't really have any... at least that I want to share with everyone. All I can really say is that it was great going on the road trip, seeing more of the country, and getting to spend so much time with Scott. =)
Finally, I know I posted it earlier, but here is the link to all of my Road Trip 2007 pictures:
Please forgive this lame ending to my three-part series. I'm just done writing about it. On to new and more relevant subjects! =D
Cheers,
E
*Originally published 06/24/07
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