Triple Eight Road Trip - Part 3

This is Part Three of the series.

Part One Part Two Part Four

Day Three ~ Lake Abert & Abert Rim/Lakeview

We started this day, Saturday, August 9, 2008, with a good breakfast at the local joint we ate lunch at the day before and then headed on up US395/Highway299 to where they split and then proceeded up US395 to Davis Creek and Goose Lake near the Oregon Border.
We pulled out along the stretch of US395 at the top of the hill overlooking Goose Lake to take a gander at the view and found our first obsidian of the trip which was fun.

We then headed on down the hill and up the road to the state line and stopped in the community of New Pine Creek and drove a short distance down State Line Park Road to Goose Lake State Park just inside the Oregon side of the border.

As we headed back to US395 from the park after our break we stopped at the intersection of the two roads and I noticed a sign standing near the northeast corner of the intersection pointing to a rock shop down State Line Park Road to the east of US395 so I proceeded on across the highway and down a couple of blocks until I found it at the northwest corner at the end of the street where it bends sharply to the north towards Church Street.

When we rolled up on the location we were greeted with the grand sight of an array of neatly organized piles of material, with the great amount being obsidians of various flavors which filled a large-sized yard.
The proprietor was out hosing down his yard full of rocks so we parked and immediately made contact with him. He turned out to be an affable and knowledgeable fellow formerly from California named Frank Newman.
He had a lot of great stuff both out in the yard as well as inside his rock shop. Good prices, too!
I must say I've never seen so much obsidian anywhere in my life which stands to reason as obsidian seems to be Frank's emphasis as he has multiple obsidian claims in the area.
My favorite variety of obsidian there was his many amazing variations of rainbow obsidian with the coolest being the electric blue as well as the lavender as well as the green flash.
What was so amazing is that these flashes weren't originating from the surface of the material but way down inside the stone.

I ended up buying some obsidian from Frank and he was very generous with his prices.
Indeed, generosity seems to define Frank as he invited us to scratch around his nearby claims for which we were incredibly grateful but lacked the time this trip.
We hope to go back and visit Frank next Summer and take him up on his offer but try to get him to go along with us.

In the meantime we and you will be able to see Frank Newman on an upcoming episode of Cash & Treasures which he told us should air this Fall on the Travel Channel.
While visiting with Frank, I asked him about the Lakeview (Oregon) rock show I had seen mentioned before in the Rock & Gem magazine Show Dates section and elsewhere.

I had been toying with trying to get into that show as I liked the area and sensed the local had a good rockhounding tradition and sensibility.
Frank looked at me matter-of-factly and said "It's today!" What were the odds?
I told him about my interest in the show and asked why he wasn't in it and he informed me that it wasn't worth his trouble given how small it is and he could make more money for less effort manning his store and given what he made just from our visit I could see he was right.

Well, that was cool, thought I, we had an unexpected and awesome visit to a rockshop that wasn't even there six years ago when last I passed through this area and then the show I was interested in attending and perhaps even participating in at Lakeview was occurring this very day I was in the area!

So, of course, we headed on up the highway directly to Lakeview, OR, passing by the Lakeview Interagency Fire Center located at the south end of town that is a collaboration of the local offices of the USFS and the BLM and the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the Oregon Department of Forestry. We headed on into town which felt surprisingly good. This town despite being in a rural and generally poor and white region has gone to a lot of trouble to fix up their downtown and make it cool and inviting and I highly recommend a visit there.

Anywho, remembering from our last visit where the fairgrounds were I drove us directly to them and we quickly found the show.
Before going inside we found some signs on a couple of buildings there that amused us and I "hammed" it up a bit.

I wasn't welcome at the Lake County Fairgrounds.

Not just a lot of "beef" but a lot of "bull", too

.

We entered the show and were immediately struck by how small it was.
Heck, it was no larger than our Cayucos Rock Show in stark contrast with how I envisioned it.
It was very folksy and small-townish which was a nice change of pace and flavor.
However, I found the selection of dealers not to my liking.
There was really only one really cool seller and the rest were mostly selling one type of thing which was okay with me in at least one case: the Oregon sunstone guy who owns a mine.
There was one other guy who had a nice cross-section of inventory but was more focused on lapidary rough than on finished products or mineral specimens which are more to my liking.
Anywho, I was too broke to buy anything and there wasn't too much I saw that I wanted which made that easier to deal with.
We picked up some grub being provided at the kitchen in the room next to the show room and took it outside and had lunch on a picnic table under a tree.

Next, we headed out of Lakeview and on up US395 to Lake Abert and Abert Rim, two geological features that don't get enough attention and respect in my view.

Lake Abert

Abert Lake is an alkali lake and thus is fairly lifeless under the water but migratory birds love it.
In fact, it is a significant birdwatching location and both it and the rim are so dramatic and beautiful that it is hard to take a bad photo of either.
This area used to hold a lot more water as recently as during the most recent ice age when a much larger lake filled the lower elevations of this entire area connecting this lake with nearby Summer Lake and others.
You can even still see the old high water marks which form concentric "toilet bowl rings" up the sides of hills in the area.
It is both easy and hard to imagine so much more water there and correspondingly more animals and Stone Age people hunting those animals for survival.

Abert Lake

Abert Lake and Abert Rim

Abert Lake and Abert Rim

Abert Lake and Abert Rim

Abert Lake

Abert Rim roadside marker

Carbonate crust at the northern end of Abert Lake.

We turned around on US395 near the north end of Lake Abert as we only intended to merely see Lake Abert and Abert Rim and leave further exploration of the area for the next time. Even had we the time I was running out of gas and suddenly couldn't remember if there was a functioning gas station at the intersection of US395 and Oregon 31 so we headed back down there and found there was a gas station but it was closed and my pickup truck was pretty much on empty at this point having neglected to check my fuel level before leaving Lakeview earlier.
This oversight would soon cost me as we ran out of gas headed southbound on US395 and coasted to a stop right as I pulled onto Deter Ranch Road (NF-3721) which had a nice big turn-out. Mom was kind enough to drive on down to Lakeview in her SUV and pick up 5 gallons of gas and bringing it back.

After I emptied my gas jug into my truck's tank we headed back on down the road to Lakeview and I filled by tank at the northern-most gas station there which, by coincidence was adjacent to the property containing "Old Perpetual" Geyser at Hunter's Hot Springs Resort so we drove over there when we were done at the gas station.
The website for the place looks great but the reality at this time is that the place looks run down and empty even during Summer and the geyser is perpetually turned off.

While we there an SUV pulled up near us and I thought the ownership/management was coming to find out what we were up to and ask us to leave as the entire place looked closed.
As it turns out it was a nice couple who stopped to look at the geyser like us but were disappointed to find perpetual silence from the half-empty pond which once contained it.
After briefly small-talking with the couple we soon learned they were rockhounds like us.
They were on a rockhounding expedition having just left dry-camping at the sunstone collecting site on public lands near Plush, Oregon. They showed us their haul which was impressive.
They also had recently visited Glass Buttes just south of Highway 20 in northern Lake County.
We told them about the rock show in town and about the rock shop south of town at New Pine Creek at the state line.

We then headed south on US395 and took it back down to Goose Lake Park for a quick pit stop and then did some rockhounding at the big roadcut at the southern end of the big hill where US395 overlooks Goose Lake.
While there we found some nice little blue agate nodules and cavities embedded within the bedrock of the road cut plus plenty of low-grade obsidian.
The entire time we were there we were buffeted by strong winds that also were kicking up carbonate sandstorms on the dry barren flats of the southern margins of Goose Lake, some of which got pretty intense and cool-looking.

Goose Lake dust storm.

Dust storms along the southern margin of Goose Lake.

Goose Lake dust storms.

Dust storm gust front just south of Goose Lake.

We then headed down to Davis Creek to check out collecting location "A" in Gem Trails of Northern California which site is now a field with No Trespassing Signs all over the place.
We didn't have time to head on up to the more popular locations at Davis Creek given the late hour.
We then tried getting to the closest-in of Mr. Newman's claims up County Road 133-C, but turned around after a short drive up the hill and headed back to Alturas.
Next year we plan to spend several days up in this area rockhounding at Davis Creek and with Frank Newman at his rainbow obsidian claims and give you an account of our adventures.
Today was wonderful and capped a great road trip courtesy of mom.
Today's sightseeing functioned as recon for next year's rockhounding adventures we hope.

Signage for The Belligerent Duck in Alturas, CA.

 All photos by Krissa Klein (all rights reserved).

At the end of the day we took a walk along the main drag of town and saw the above store sign.

Part One
Part Two
Part Four

Triple Eight Road Trip - Part 2

This is part two of the series.

Part One Part Three Part Four

Day Two ~ Redding to Alturas

We awoke this morning of Friday, August 8, 2008, refreshed and extremely excited about what awaited us down the road.
For mom and I the prospect of revisiting some places we really loved and missed. Given that there are no close-by breakfast joints we chose to just get dressed and packed up and hit the road and snack as we drove this day with a stop at our favorite bakery in Weed, CA, on up the road.
After we got on the freeway we soon crossed Lake Shasta which was shockingly low which exposed a lot of red soils and bedrock. We didn't stop at the Lake Shasta Rest Area as it was too soon to stop so we kept going on until we reached Weed. Along the way we saw the awesome-looking Castle Crags and then magnificent Mount Shasta finally came into view.

Castle Crags

Castle Crags from Interstate 5.

Mount Shasta

Black Butte from Interstate 5.

After passing through Dunsmuir, we headed up the long grade to Mount Shasta City and soon Black Butte came into sight which sight always grabs my eye as this cinder cone looks like it erupted yesterday. We exited Interstate 5 and stopped at the aforementioned well-favored and well-flavored bakery in Weed and picking up three bags of goodies headed for the nearby defunct rest area adjacent to the Weed CALFIRE station where we enjoyed a break with our goodies before heading on up US97.

Mount Shasta from the US97 scenic viewpoint.

It was nice being back on US97 for the first time since 2002. We stopped at both the scenic viewpoint overlooking Mount Shasta as well as the Grass Lake Roadside Rest Area.

Grass Lake Chipmunk

Grass Lake Chipmunk

Grass Lake Chipmunk

Grass Lake Chipmunk

Grass Lake Chipmunk

Grass Lake Chipmunk

We then made our way on up US97 over nearby summit and down into Butte Valley and across it to Dorris, CA, where we stopped for another bathroom break and admired their self-proclaimed "tallest flagpole". From there we headed on up US97 a short distance to Stateline Road a.k.a. Highway 161 which we turned onto and headed east into the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.

Lower Klamath Lake

Although we came here later in the year than the first time I ever visited this place which was in April, 2001, when there were so many birds that it was a spiritual experience I shall never forget.

Wild Nightshade Berries.

Wild Nightshade in bloom at the lake shore.

Lower Klamath Lake bed area with Oregon in the distance.

We stopped at a couple of locations (at the spot on the main road with the small copse of trees and the location with the pull-out with a wall containing interpretive placards). We noticed as the one main dirt road headed south off the main road and into the refuge that there were tents and cars coming and going from some sort of event. Unbeknownst to us until a short time later when we visited the visitor center for the refuge they were celebrating the 100th Anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt creating the refuge.
We took Stateline Road all the way down to Hill Road and then headed south to the refuge visitor center. On the way we stopped at a turn out at the entrance to a former Civilian Conservation Corps Camp which was used for a short time for Japanese Internees during World War Two.
In the visitor center itself which we had to ourselves this time in contrast to the last time we were there in 2001 when it was very crowded, we met the docent who was the same cut little old lady as was there seven years ago which was nice.

From there we headed south on Hill Road and along the western shore Tule Lake (what is left of it as it is much smaller nowadays due to its water being used by local farming interests.

Soon we were entering Lava Beds National Monument and found ourselves in an entirely different world than the one we had just left filled with water and wetlands interspersed with dry grasslands in the adjacent higher hilly terrain. We were now in a world of lavaflows and as s geology buffs we were in ecstasy.

Aa lava flow

Aa lava flows with Tulelake in the distance.

Pahoehoe lava mixed in with some aa lava.

After paying to enter the monument we first stopped at Gillems Camp and took a short walk and then made a quick photo op stop at an overlook and then spent a little while at an extinct but nameless vent which sported some pahoehoe lava in contrast to all the aa lava that dominates the monument. After that we had lunch at Fleener Chimneys after exploring them.

Fleener Chimneys

Small lava tube

Fleener Chimneys

The throat of one of the Fleener Chimneys.

Tequila checking out a gas bubble feature at Fleener Chimneys.

Pahoehoe lava

Fleener Chimneys

Indian Well Cave

Our last stop at the monument this day was at the Park Headquarters which we visited and then we walked the length of small interpretive lava tube known as Mush Pot and then walked to the end of the path into nearby Indian Well Cave.

From there we headed on out of the monument via the south end which is sort of the "back way" into and out of the monument.
We then got onto Highway 139 via Tionesta Road from the monument's south entrance and then took it on down to Howard's Gulch Campground on the Modoc National Forest campground a stone's throw from the highway where we took a nice little break. This is one of my favorite little campground's anywhere and it was empty despite it being Summer.

Howard's Gulch Campground

Following that break we got onto the main highway and took it on down to Highway 299 where Highway 139 terminated and we then headed east on Highway 299 through Canby and on in to Alturas. It was nice to see the Warner Mountains once again after several years as was seeing Alturuas, the county seat of Modoc County and the only city in the county with a population of just over 4,000 residents.
I like this little town. I had considered moving here which idea I've since abandoned but this is a good town to base a Modoc Plateau adventure.

After we got into town we checked into the Best Western Trailside Inn and then got some local grub in a local eatery we had not tried before on previous visits in 2001 and 2002.
Our favorite eatery in Alturas was out of business so this forced us to try something different.
As it turned out the place was great and it was fun watching the locals go about the business of being locals.

After that we headed southeast of town and drove into and walked around in the Modoc National Wildlife Refuge where we saw plenty of interesting and beautiful fauna and flora including some coyotes and deer and plenty of waterfowl.

Deer hiding in Modoc National Wildlife Refuge.

A waterway in the Modoc National Wildlife Refuge.

Wild sunflower on Modoc National Wildlife Refuge

Wild sunflower

Wild sunflowers

Smokey Sunset outside Alturas

Sunset made smokey from Trinity County blazes.

Smokey sunset at Modoc National Wildlife Refuge

All photos by Krissa Klein (all rights reserved).

We finished our Modoc National Wildlife Refuge excursion at the roadside rest area just south of Alturas where we watched the Sun set amidst a dark bank of smoke from the Trinity County blazes.

Following that we went back to our rooms and freshened up a bit and then walked down to an Italian eatery on the main street and ordered dinner to go and then walked around town until it was ready.
While doing that we checked out some firefighting activity going on in and around an old hotel on main street and discovered the federal government seems to be using it as a firefighter hostel for part of the year. We saw Type-5 engines from all over the West including Arizona (Gila National Forest).
After that we walked to within a block of city hall and found the location of the bats mom and I had encountered the last night we stayed in this town back in June, 2002.
They were coming out of holes in the roof of an old building, perhaps hundreds of them flitting about eating insects.

Following our own delicious meal we went to bed.

Part One

Part Three
Part Four

Triple Eight Road Trip -- Part 1

This is Part One of the series.

Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Day One ~ Atascadero to Redding

Today, Thursday, August 7, 2008, we left Atascadero about mid-morning and headed out on an adventure my mother was kind enough to treat us to as a sort of "last big hurrah" of the Summer.

We took Highway 41 east from Atascadero all the way through the Cholame "Y" and up over Cottonwood Pass and through Sunflower Valley to Highway 33 which we then took up to Avenal to Highway 269 which we picked up and then took it north over the Kettleman Hills to Interstate 5. There we used the big new travel center before getting on the freeway and heading north.

We traveled uneventfully up Interstate 5 through Kings County and then Fresno County and then Merced County and then Stanislaus County and then San Joaquin County.

At Stockton we noticed the rather dramatic burn area where the roadside fire along the shoulder of northbound Intersate 5 escaped in high winds late last Spring and burned into adjacent neighborhood damaging or destroying seven homes and twenty condos and one triplex.
Some reconstruction was clearly underway but there was till a lot of evidence of the fire.

At Highway 12 we left Interstate 5 to avoid the Sacramento-area traffic and headed west through the Sacramento Delta area through Rio Vista and over the southern terminus of Highway 113 which we then took north to Midway which we took west to Interstate 505 and then turned north on it in the Vacaville area and headed north.
Nearing our next stop, Dunnigan, we entered the Dunnigan Hills which are created by the active Dunnigan Hills Fault. As neared clearing the far side of the hills at Interstate 5 we could clearly see the Sutter Buttes in the distance up ahead of his which was cool given our love of not only volcanoes but geologic quirks and oddballs which is what the Sutter Buttes volcano was when it was active.
We got on into Dunnigan where we briefly rejoined Interstate 5 but immediately got off the freeway and took a break at Bill & Kathy's Restaurant which we've been using for nearly 20 years when traveling through the area.

Following that break we headed on up the road but for a time took the old Highway 99 West which is the old road on this side of the Sacramento Valley. We got gas at a gas station on that road on the south side of Willows and then got back on the freeway from there and headed north out of Colusa County and through Glenn and Tehama Counties and into Shasta County where we ended the day in the Redding area.
Along the way we espied Mount Lassen in the distance which was dwarfed by a huge storm cell beyond it. A bit later we first made out Mount Shasta through all the smokey haze and scattered storm clouds but even then in the gathering gloam it still looked mighty cool.
Our destination for the night was the Fawndale Lodge & RV Resort north of Redding near Mountain Gate at the Fawndale exit.
Mom and I stayed here several times over the course of 2001 and 2002 and it was nice to be back again. It had new ownership who knew nothing about the previous owner's six-clawed cat who became our buddy during that time. The new owners had clearly sunk plenty of money into the place since our last visit which was nice to see. The room we three shared was nicer than ever and we could see that contrast having stayed in that same room before.
We highly recommend this facility which is located over the hill to the south from Lake Shasta and is situated in the forests of that area and is laid out like a lodge next to a campground and is very clean and quiet.
After a take-out dinner from a nearby pizza joint we all went to bed absolutely exhausted.

Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool IX

Obama Kitsch-in Served Kool-aid

Barack Hussein Obama gave his Big Speech last night accepting his Presidential nomination to wrap up the 2008 Democratic National Convention and most loyal Democratic troops seem fairly convinced it was the voice of a god and not of a man which interpreted in modern-speak is rendered "it was simply divine!".
I saw a lot of sheeple in the crowd there the past few days drinking their Kook-Aid like good little ideological drones do.
The Democratic Party used to be a great party, the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy.

How have the mighty fallen!

And to watch the Kool-Aid drinking sheeple get all excited in the audience and the Leftist Media covering the event, especially the cast-members of CNN and MSNBC, fatuously act like gushing and blushing schoolgirls with thinly-disguised (if any at all) neutrality and objectivity was nauseating.

It's great if not a bit overdue that we have a black man running for President of the United States of America, but to have a black man running for office just for the sake of having a black man running for office is a monumental mistake!

America and Black America in particular would be better served having a better black candidate than Obama: try Condi Rice and/or Colin Powell. Now I'd vote for either of them and if they ran together I'd volunteer for their campaign organization.

I have yet to see how Obama is going to change anything as he has promised, especially being relatively new to the Beltway with little experience and few of the political connections needed to run the nation in stark contrast to the Clinton or Bush Rolodexes. Then he turns around and picks Mr Beltway Insider himself for veep and it boggles the mind.

Considering Obama's a flaming Liberal how is he going to unite us as he has promised?
Ideologues divide us, not unite us and Obama is one of the most if not THE most liberal of U.S. Senators in the Washington D.C.

Add to that his demonstrable lack of personal judgment shown in his attending Rev. Wright's church for so many years and serving on the board of a Chicago foundation with with 60's radical and terrorist Bill Ayers makes one wonder about Obama's personal judgment.

Obama has been disingenuous and deceptive all along about why he stayed with the Reverend Wright so long if at all.

Barack Obama is a narcissistic lightweight who has the temerity and hubris to run for President simply because he can but lacks the necessary experience and judgment and vision for the job.
At the same time Mr. Biden is part of the very problem needing the change Obama claims to be seeking to bring about.

Remember: the Democratic-controlled House and Senate have even lower poll numbers than Bush The Younger.

A Bold Political Counter-Stroke

Senator John Sidney McCain, the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee has nominated Alaska governor Sarah Louise Palin.
My initial reaction to this was shock and horror and outrage until I had more time to rationally and logically consider it.

Then it all made sense and the theoretical brilliance of it began to take clearer shape in my mind.

Obviously, it is not the most perfect selection but currently which one would for Obama or McCain?

The metaphorical cupboard is bare for both parties talent-wise so looking for new political stars takes some imagination and in a political year like this, some guts too.
McCain needed to do something bold and not simply play it safe and run the ball when the opposition expected it (to use a football metaphor).

Obviously, Palin is short on experience, even more so than Obama not to mention three years younger (44 versus 47).
However, when looking at both their records in office she appears to have done more with less and in shorter time.

Another knock for her is the ongoing investigation into abuse of power against her in regards to her trying to get her ex-brother-in-law shit-canned as an Alaskan State Trooper and then when that wasn't done fired the Public Safety Commissioner tasked with firing him.
I'm going to assume for now there is nothing illegal in any of this or McCain wouldn't have selected her as his running mate.

Finally, some have suggested, including yours truly when I first heard of the selection, that this choice takes away McCain's primary attack on Obama which has been the question of Obama's inexperience.
The logic of the argument is obvious but that has a serious flaw: Obama is the one running for President on his side whereas Governor Palin is merely running for Vice President on the other.

On the plus side she brings a maverick tradition within the Republican Party as McCain does.
She is a Pro-Life Christian unlike McCain which should help with the Evangelicals.
She is a life-long NRA member and her husband is a union member which should help with the Bubba Vote.
She is a hard-working mom which should help with the Soccer-Mom Vote.
She is a smart, savvy, and strong woman who has left a path of defeated men behind her who had the misfortune of have politically crossed her path which should help her with feminists and even some disaffected female Hillary fans.

Some have suggested McCain would have been better off having selected Mitt Romney which would have strengthened his position in places like Michigan and Pennsylvania.
However, her blue-collar pedigree (she once did professional fishing with her husband) and interest in guns and bibles should help McCain just fine with those folks in places like Pennsylvania where Obama once condescendingly (in a speech in the People's Republic of San Fransisco) referred to as holding onto their bibles and guns when times got rough.

One last thing I want to touch on is her being by definition a, well, um, MILF.

There! I said it! It's not a nice expression although it is a low-brow compliment of sorts.

I know damn well that is going to be the subject of innumerable water cooler conversations in a myriad of work places across the land until election day and if she wins then even beyond that.

Hell, I bet even Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live will follow that angle.

Want to bet against me on that?

World Financial Group Encounter Epilogue

I heard back from Young Jared yesterday morning.
He sent me this email message:

"Hi Kim,

wanted to see if you've given any thought to starting with WFG. let me know if you have any questions or need more info on the company. Talk to you soon.

Jared McNeer"

I replied with this message:

"Jared,

Thanks for getting back to me.
I did my own thorough research.
No further questions and no further interest.

Kim"

Young Jared never got back to me after that.

Hurricane Double-Whammy

The United States is now directly under the gun from two hurricanes.
Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the Cayman Island and then will
cross over Western Cuba before entering the Southern Gulf of Mexico.
Current progs place it near to just west of New Orleans which doesn't
bode well for the Big Easy nor the other prog that now calls for it to
strengthen into a Category Four storm. Currently it is a Category One
storm with maximum sustained winds near 85 mph.

Hurricane Hanna is further out but also predicted to strengthen and
ultimately interact with Florida in some fashion doesn't bode well.
Currently it is a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.

Kimmer