April 29 - May 3 , 2026 Shingletown to Del Loma to Klamath, California

 70 and sunny

Mt Lassen National Park. We are parked at the Mt Lassen KOA. Pretty place, but would be crowded if it was full and way too expensive. We don't usually stay at KOA. 

Couple cute things here at the RV park. I finished this beauty today. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, wooden, glass and blue magnetite beads. The center is slate that I sand blasted and painted a petroglyph guy on. It is 12 x 11 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches 

It is so nice to beak in trees. Conifers in the California foothills. Oak trees with yellow flowers and lush green grass. 

Whiskeytown Reservoir outside of Redding. I sat in my lawn chair and worked on a basket, surrounded by poison oak.

The bus at Del Loma RV park on the Trinity river.  Del Loma RV park sign with bigfoot. 

Red madrone trees with moss covered rocks on the trail to the river.  Blue dicks, hairy pink, oat grass, black fence lizard, missing part of it's tail, hairy vetch and scotch broom. 

84 degrees today. Warm enough for dinner outside. We are at around 1,000 feet elevation and I feel great, like I could jump tall buildings. The altitude kicked my bum. Who would have thought after all those years in Colorado. Pileated woodpecker, deer bush, tar weed, black locust, quaking grass and a rose here at the RV park.

Dwarf lupine and rose clover, silver bush lupine, manzanita, Purdy's iris, and haircap moss. Sunset tonight. 

Full Flower moon rising. We are in a deep  river canyon, so the moon rose over the mountains about 2 hours later than the lower horizon and there were a few clouds. Another masterpiece done. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads and the start is glass. It is 6 x 4 inches. 

Sunset. Valley tassel, California scrub jay, and a manzanita bush. 

You can tell we are getting closer to the coast, this if fog coming over the mountains. The bus parked at high of 56, cloudy/foggy an some rain. The bus at Klamath Kamper Corral in Klamath, California. Right in the middle of redwood country. You can tell how much rain they get here, they park us on the grass. 

We practically have Klamath Kamper Corral is to ourselves. 

April 24-28, 2026 Hawthorne to Topaz Lake, Nevada to Susanville, California

 70 degrees and sunny.

Desert dandelions blooming on the way to Hawthorne. 

This is an internet photo of a boat attached to a building in Mina, NV. I didn't get a photo. It no longer has the signs, except the Don't miss the boat one and is closed. It used to be a lobster restaurant. The owner raised crawfish out back and served them up here. The government said it was illegal to sell them directly to the public, he was supposed to sell them to some kind of distributor and then buy them back  back. The owner said screw you and kept serving them. So they came in and confiscated his lobsters and poured bleach into his tanks. Boo. The bus at Whiskey Flats RV park in Hawthorne. Over the last week I have had 3 episodes of atrial fib. I felt terrible. So the next day I had chest pains, was dizzy, nauseous etc. and felt really bad. So John took me to the Er.  I had another episode in the ER. They did a bunch of tests and I was fine. Just the a fib probably from not getting enough sleep being dehydrated and the altitude. Dr told me to rest and follow up with my dr. So we are going to fast track to Oregon, leave the bus and drive back to Colorado in the truck.

Dinner at the Whiskey flats RV park. The weather was very pleasant.  Sunset from the RV park. 

Walker Lake outside of Hawthorne. This is the cheapest diesel we have seen so far, on the Paiute reservation in Yerrington. We stopped and topped off the tank.

On the way to Topaz Lake. The GPS took us on a dirt road. Boo. But it was only for a mile and a half and ok. 

Off the dirt road we got to see this nice green pasture full of cows wearing these things.  I looked them up and they are cow smart collars. They have a GPS in them, work like an electric fence and monitor the cows health and help the rancher monitor their herd. They are solar powered. Never seen those before. The bus at Topaz Lake Casino RV park, with a view of the lake. Only $30 a night. There is a big snow storm in the Sierras, so we are going to wait it out for the next three days before crossing over the mountains. John does not drive the bus in the snow. 

It was cloudy, it is supposed to rain here while the Sierras get a couple feet of snow. So sunset was just a bright spot in the clouds. Snow on the Pine nut mountains to the east of Topaz Lake.

We are at the Topaz Casino RV park, diesel is $6.25 at the casino, poppies curled up for the night and a cut quail. Not quite sunset over Topaz Lake.

John got fuel for $5.75 in Reno, too bad the tank was pretty full. In Susanville, California it is $7.39. No Welcome to California sign, but we did have to go through the fruit police. So we knew we were in California. We didn't have any offensive fruit or firewood, so they let us by.

The bus parked at Susanville RV park. Your basic commercial RV park. I talked to my  Dr this morning. I am going to pick up some meds in Oregon when we get there and I can get the diagnostic test done when I usually get home. So not in a hurry now to get back.  We went to the Pioneer Cafe, which last time we were here was a brewery and nice restaurant. The brewery is gone now and it is a BBQ place. The BBQ was ok, but all the fun decor was gone. They did serve beer so not all was lost. John had ribs.

Beautiful historic downtown Susanville. Sunset from the RV park.

April 22, 2026 Shoshone California to Tonopah, Nevada

  High in Tonopah was 51 degrees, partly cloudy and windy. Brr.

We stopped at Longstreet in Nevada to get fuel. It is over $9 a gallon in Shoshone, California. There is an interesting collection of things at Longstreet. Among other things a giant cow and pig. The diesel was $6.39 a gallon.

Flowers in Shoshone, the athel trees and mesquite bushes and a couple onery looking folks at Longstreet. Nevada view.

Joshua tree forest. Welcome to Tonopah. We had wanted to stay in Goldfield, but all their parks are full of gold miners since it $5000 an oz now. John got the last spot in Tonopah. Big race this weekend. 

John did not want to unhook the truck, so we walked 4 miles in below 50 degrees and windy weather. round trip into town. Our first stop was the Clown Motel. A few clowns in the doorway. It was too cold to take the Clown Motel ghost hunt tour. 

Some clowns in the clown museum at the Clown Motel.  Downtown Tonopah.

Last trip here we went to the mining park. Excellent museum This is a silver town, surrounded by mines. A boy walked up to this cupid and told his mother that it looked like Michael Jackson!!

 One of the mines around town. We had dinner and brews at the Tonopah brewing company. The wind gave  John a clown hairdo.

Me with Belle and Jim Butler, the founders of town. Yes it was cold. View from our RV park.

The bus at Tonopah RV Park. It was surprisingly quiet considering it was right off the highway. Sunset from the RV park.