Northward Bound

The morning ocean breeze is warm and blows through the streets of town. There are cars on every street, but traffic is moving fast. You get out of town and drive through San Francisco.  As is typical when you go over the Bay Bridge fog is resting on the water. It lays there on top of the bay like a fluffy pillow. The water is dark blue straight below you. A sailboat emerges from under the bridge. An early riser up for an early morning sail.

At the end of the bridge is a giant prison with more than three fences covered in barbed wire and razor wire. It is San Quentin State Prison. It is a maximum security prison known for many notorious criminals, including some serial killers. The prison is large enough that it has its own baseball field for the prisoners. When you pass by you wonder how people could be so cold, to be in there.

Outside of the buzz of city traffic you start to enter farming communities. you see many farm fields that are supposed to be filled with crops but aren't. They are barren from any plants. The drought is devastating to the area and most of the state of California. The toll it is taking on farmers and ranchers is even worse. As you travel further north you start to see an orange haze in front of you. No, it is not your eyes. It is smoke from the large fires. You drive through the forested areas and through the big pines. The trees are beautiful and they produce pine cones as big as an arm. But all of the plants below them are dry and yellow.

You pass over Shasta Lake. The water level is very low. From here you can see the peak of a volcano. As you get closer you see it is Mount Shasta. The mountain is not covered with snow right now. And as the sun gets lower it shines directly on the face of the mountain. It illuminates every crevasse, ravine, and valley. Nothing has a shadow over it on the face. You pass the giant mountain and stare at it as you go. It is made of Earth and all off its power could potentially blow its face right off. You go around a curve and the mountain is concealed by another hill.

You make it into Oregon and the haze disappears as if it was never around. You continue to drive straight north for Klamath Falls. It gets dark and in the woods when it is dark, it's dark. You round a corner and your headlights spotlight a deer on the shoulder. Luckily, instead of running into the road the deer runs into the shelter of the dark timber. You spot a couple more deer which all take off after you pass. You safely make it up to Klamath Falls and find a motel to stay in. It is a small motel but decent. You don't pay much attention to the outside of the building because you are so tired. you get into the room and crash on the bed. Half asleep you struggle to pull the blankets down and pull them over you.