TO SACRAMENTO, CA

CENTRAL POINT and SACRAMENTO
January 3, 2013

Central Point, OR......Our drive across the Siskiyou's was beautiful! Snow covered the mountains, bringing them to life! The roads were clear and we made good time. Towards dark we began looking for a motel to spend the night.

The Grants Pass area was very hazy across the valleys. Apparently, everyone and his grandma had wood burning stoves and fireplaces filling the sky with enough wood smoke to block out the sun! We thought it was getting dark but it was only NOON, Ha Ha! Just kidding! But it was smokey enough we were getting a headache.

As we continued driving, the sky cleared and we found ourselves in front of the Fairfield Inn in Central Point, where we spent the night.

January 4

Sacramento, CA .....As we crossed the mountains drove towards Weed, CA, the looming Mount Shasta came into view across the hazy valley. The farther we drove, the closer it was. This is a massive mountain rising more than 14,000 feet above sea level. Shasta's significant other, Shastina, his constant companion is a few thousand feet short of Shasta's height, but still as impressive. Shasta's southern exposure was the most impressive with a mountain of fresh white glistening in the morning sun. I heard it calling my name but knew if I listened and responded, we might never make it to Southern California.

Debby had called her cousin earlier in the day to arrange a meeting time. Our goal was to make it to Sacramento today before dark. As we passed Chico, it brought back memories of a hurried trip there a few years ago to rescue my granddaughter from a couple of bad choices she had made. I remember Tasha and I leaving very very early in the morning and driving non-stop to Chico. We met up with Emily, found a burger place for lunch, then hopped back in the car and headed for Portland, all in one day. I think Emily slept all the way back. Tasha slapped me once in a while to keep me on the road! Ha Ha! (Not really, but I did enjoy her company. Not sure I could have made it without her!).

We met Clark and Mary just north of Sacramento at Paesanos for dinner. It was great. We had a great visit with them, and Marissa. We had a lot of conversation to catch up on in such a short time. They had been to the same place we had visited in Switzerland a few months earlier. In fact, Clark is the one who inspired me to go Paragliding in the Alps. He said it was a lot of fun, so I tried it! He was right!

After dinner we left to go find a Motel somewhere. We headed for downtown Sacramento but were "shell-shocked" with the cost to sleep a few hours, so we headed out of town a ways. We ended up pulling into the SUPER 8 and crashing for the night.