Flummoxed in the Golden State

We have some lessons to learn. First of all, California is a big state. The US atlas breaks it into 3 pages. Since we typically have Gazeteers, we should adjust our thinking to a bigger scale. Our first lesson was 45 miles into our day and there was a sign that said "130 miles to Redding", while plotting our route for the day, we had chalked up the the Redwoods to Redding leg as a 90 minute leg. Wrong . . . several mountain passes, numerous delays for road construction, and some obnoxious fellow drivers later, we landed in Redding 4 hours later. We tried to stop at a nice park in the hills above town for lunch and to plot our plans, but alas, no internet, so into town we went. And what a pain in the ass that was, the highway routed us through town, with several turns and stoplights to match. While in search of a pleasant place to have lunch and research, we found ourselves in a exit only ramp onto the 5, after taking the next exit, we could do no better than a Circle K parking lot to have lunch on a spectacular 85 degree day.

With mid day having come and gone, we had to scrap the plan to go to Lassen Peak, and decided to stick to the freeway and headed south for Sacramento. We actually discussed staying the night around Shasta and doing the Lassen Peak hike the following day, but the conference call was still hanging over our heads, if they don't have land line phone service at Lassen, we figured cell service would be non-existent. Perhaps, we should have heeded Susie's comment to . . . "slow down and not always be destination driven." But we hadn't read her post yet. Big lesson - the destination is the journey. We need to slow down.

After 2 hours on the 5, we decided to cut cross country and avoid rush hour in Sacto, another mistake, it was a very painful 45 minute traverse of some back water town called Yuba City that really cemented the concept of "slowing down". We accepted our fate and forged on with an enjoyable climb through the Sierra and located a camp site in quick order at Lake Tahoe under the cover of darkness and falling temps.

During this journey, we finally settled on a Yosemite plan, but that left us with 4 nights and 3 days at Lake Tahoe. And we made this plan with the knowledge of an incoming Pacific storm that would likely produce snow. Perhaps, we haven't quite yet rid ourselves of the "i have to be at this destination on these days" concept.

So to recap . . .
here's what we expected to do on Wednesday
leave Redwoods at 10:00am
drive to Lassen Peak
climb Lassen Peak
drive to Lake Tahoe
circle the lake finding the perfect camp spot

here's what we actually did
leave Redwoods at 10:00am
drive to Lake Tahoe
set camp in the dark at the first place we found

Sorry, no photos of the Circle K parking lot.