Day 32 - Hobson wants to trade us in

Sometimes the best laid plans actually suck.   Today was one of those days.  We wasted one and a half hours backtracking to a supercharger that we did not need because Hobson and Michelle voted for it while Larry held out to push forward.  That added to the late start meant we did not arrive at Lassen Volcanic National Park until after 1 o’clock which was too bad considering how cool the park was.  

Still lots of snow on Lassen 

A tranquil pond

Lassen Volcano exploded back in 1915 so there are pictures of it going off and the devastation it left.  So there are really cool looking rocks strewn about in what is called the devasto go tottation area.  The area is still geothermically active so there are the bubbling pools of mud, steam emanating from the ground and odd coloration of rocks and ponds that go with that in an area of the park named Bumpass Hell.  Mr. Bumpass actually existed and lost a leg falling though the crust there so his unfortunate name is immortalized.

Just in case you thought we made up the name.  We certainly thought Eric did when he told us about it.

That pool is over 300 degrees Farenheit

Besides that there are crystal clear lakes and still plenty of snow to play in.  We did not get a chance to climb Lassan peak to pear into the crater left by the explosion as we did not have enough time nor did we get to trek to the waterfall our waitress that night said was great, but we had fun for the short time we were there.

Then we get to the part where Hobson wanted new owners.  The climb into Lassan was about 6000 feet and by the time we were at the gate of the park we did not hamiles hsowing to get back to the town we were staying in.  However the ranger assured us that it was only six more miles uphill and then it was all downhill.  That worked beautifully and we arrived in town having used only twenty miles of charge to drive almost eighty.  However while we pulled into town with about 30 miles of charge left we had booked ourselves into the wrong Best Western motel in town.  One has a Tesla charger and that was not where we were staying.  The people at the one with the charger were very nice and let us plug in while Michelle tried to work out a solution.  This charger was adding 28 miles of charge every hour and the nearest Supercharger was 48 miles away so it would be possible to get there with not too much trouble.  It would also be fairly easy to change reservations and stay at the place with the charger but they had no roads.  Then we got lucky and someone cancelled their room so we got to stay.  With a big sigh of relief we set off for dinner at 8:30 and then straight to bed.

Hobson patiently waits for his idiot owners

Regular Features

Statistics Corner

States involved: We almost made it out of California but not quite so no new states today.

Charging 

Vacaville  CA  40 minutes The charger is slow and in a boring spot so it figures we would end up using it twice this trip even though we could have avoided it as it turns out.  

Corning CA 60 minutes This charger was slow but there was a good eating place in the town the claims to be the Olive City.

Best Western – overnight charge thank goodness.

Song of the Day: Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown – Bumpass Hell was that kind of place.

Coolest Car of the day: I wish I had the picture to go with this car as it ws the coolest of the trip so far.  It was a robins egg blue 51 Buick Skylark convertible.  The top was brown and the whole thing was gorgeous but we were headed in differnet directions on I-5 and I could not react fast enough.

Church of the Day - This Frank Lloyd Wright designed church is in Redding.  We didn't see it but if we did it would have won.

Coolest Thing of the Day – Larry – Not getting stuck at the end though until then it was certainly Bumpass Hell

  

Coolest Thing of the Day - Michelle - We agree again.  It was Bumpass Hell for her too!

Michelle at Bumpass Hell