ACTUAL State Parks

Forgive the absence of anything even remotely referring to State parks in the last post. I've been in busy-mode, trying to get things accomplished and the blog is well down the list of things actually that important.

So, I left Alameda on the 6th and headed up to Red Bluff City. A note in regards to Google Maps, GPS units and the best laid plans of mice and men; No amount of careful planning can make up for a wrong turn. After the late experience on the PCH 1 and peoples' comments on how services dry up north of San Francisco, I decided to follow interstate 5 up through the middle of California. I left Alameda, following a written set of directions taped to the bike and a GPS unit in my pocket, narrating turns on the off occasion. These things did not prevent me from taking that 'wrong turn', going into San Francisco. It's not often I can say I really hated going to San Fran, but hey; The road system is complex and confusing at this point. I had no desire to get into a 'Gordian knot' there.

Actually the worst part was having to spring 4 bucks for the toll going over the bridge. I decided at that point to stop at Treasure Island and snap some pics to try to get some of my money back...



After this little detour, I found the proper route and headed north towards Red Bluff. The route...


At this point I cannot find anything particularly unpleasant to say about the northwestern part of this country. I'm sure it has it's crappy element of people, but terrain-wise it is absolutely beautiful. I do admit a fairly large number of insects suicided on my faceshield and scoot. At one point I'm pretty sure I passed through a cloud of hornets, only realizing what they were after I passed through. Lucked out and didn't get any in the jacket.

I was about 20 miles from my goal when 1) I saw the sign for the State Park and 2) saw this...


The State Park system is quite nice through the area. I never stayed at a campground that wasn't state the whole trip. Super-cheap, clean and maintained. (Guess I'm a bit of a socialist.) The only drawback to this one was the insects. Ants, mosquitoes and ticks. A proper tent kept them all at bay though. I'll probably make a post later about equipment that I had and what I wished I had...