Part 4 - final, Mid-October – Late-October; Canyonlands NP – White Rim Road; Pagosa Springs, CO

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Along I-70

Leaving Great Basin, we join back up with US-50.  We drive for miles, occasionally seeing vehicles traveling in the opposite direction.  The valleys widen as we continue east.  We come across a dried lakebed turned white, salt.  Driving through a few towns we finally join up with I-70.  As normal practice we stay away from Interstates, but this portion of I-70 is very picturesque.  We see geology at work.  Multicolored sandstone, some with horizontal layers, while others lean, pointing to the sky.  We see areas that resemble the Badlands of South Dakota, with hills and mesas. Be sure to stop at each of the rest areas/overlooks to take in the landscape.

Part 3, Early October; Lassen Volcanic NP; Great Basin NP

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Lassen Volcanic National Park

Sunset over Butte Lake

We arrive as the sun sets.  The campground is full of campers, which makes sense as this is a Saturday.  At least half of the sites are occupied by tents, with a much younger crowd.  We fix dinner, enjoy the evening, and plan our tour of Lassen Volcanic NP.

After an early breakfast we head off to see the park.  The Loomis Museum at Manzanita Lake, is closed.  Benjamin Franklin Loomis was a local homesteader and photographer.  May 22, 1915, he photographed the Lassen Peak as it erupted, recording six images.  Prior to this particular eruption, there was local interest in making this area a national park, because of the volcanic activity.  But there was not enough interest to actually get bureaucrats in Washington to recognize the Lassen area.  B. F.  Loomis’ series of photos generated a lot of interest, bringing national attention to the area.  Within 15 months of the eruption President Woodrow Wilson signed the Lassen Volcanic National Park Act.

Part 2, Late September – Early October; Napa, CA; Mendocino, CA; Redwoods NP

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San Francisco

Redwoods NP

We are heading to the San Francisco airport to pick up three of Nicida’s school friends then head off to Sonoma where they will visit and possibly/probably sample some wine.  Fortunately, they all arrive around noon making rendezvousing easy.  The drive into and through SF is a bit more intense, especially with four women getting together for the first time in a long time; and driving a truck camper down crowded city streets.

Part 1, Late September – Start of trip; Channel Islands NP; Pinnacles NP

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The start

Anacapa Island

We are back on the road, truck, camper and the open road.  We have three reasons for this trip. - Nicida’s college friends are getting together to celebrate their 54^th anniversary from college.  Their celebration will be in Sonoma, CA.  – We are escaping the continuous heat of TX. – This will be the swan song for our camper.  We have enjoyed using it for the past seven years.  We have had many great memories with our Hallmark Guanella.  A small sampling: southern UT three times, a 12-week drive to Alaska and back, 5 of the National Parks in CA.  As of this writing we have seen 39 of the 63 NPs having driven to 35.  The others we either had to fly to or take a boat.  At the end of this trip, we will have visited 42 NPs.  You can read all of our adventures on this blog, just look under the Archive, everything is sorted by year.