Saturday, August 21, 2010

Camping Out West...Day 61...Monday, August 16, 2010...On to Lassen Volcanic National Park (Belatedly)






As I anticipated, there will be no early departure for Lassen Volcanic N.P. on this day.
I'm not even out of bed until close to 10:00AM. Then, there's the fact that I need to do a load of laundry or two. While the laundry is going, Tom and I tackle installation of the new battery. Nothing is ever easy, and the battery is no exception. All of the screws are "metric" (naturally), and we have to take off the air filter to get the battery out. Tough going, but Tom is good at this kind of stuff.
Laundry completed, I finally load up...it's after 1:00PM. Tom has been a great host, and I'm looking forward to seeing him again in twelve days...to prepare for "Burning Man"!
Soon, I'm heading north out of Reno towards the town of Susanville. I know that I'm going to have to go through some mountains...I just don't know how many or how high. I'm in California again pretty soon after leaving Reno, and I reach Susanville with no problem. The rest of the route, though mountainous, is scenic...and not too scary...no steep drop offs.
Around 6:00PM, I'm at the south entrance to the Park. The campground that I'm headed for is at the north end of the Park, but I'm not in the mood to drive that this night. I'm lucky...there's "walk-in" camping right at the south entrance, and there's a parking lot right next to the campsites. Ten minutes later, I'm settled in for a cocktail. The Costco in Reno had prime beef, so tonight I'm grilling up a nice thick N.Y. Strip...with a side of pasta and a great bottle of Chilean Merlot (also from Costco).
Even down at the south end here, I can already see the volcanoes...it's gonna be good.

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