Headed to Mexico

With less than one week before I report to work, this morning we began the leg of our journey that I consider "on our way to Mexico." With just some stops to see Mary's family in Elko and Melissa in Arizona, we're headed fairly directly from Oregon through Nevada and Utah to Arizona and northern Mexico.

After a wonderful breakfast with Rebekah at the Breadboard restaurant in Ashland (I had sourdough pancakes with real maple syrup), we headed south on I-5, over the Siskiyou pass, and on our way to Mt. Shasta. This was a familiar route, but one we hadn't been on in a long time. I was once again impressed with the beauty of the Siskiyou mountains, Shasta, Black Butte (you can check Wikipedia for pictures & descriptions). Near the town of Mt. Shasta, we left I-5 to head toward Susanville and our goal for the day: Reno. On the way, we were treated to more beautiful mountains, including Mt. Lassen. I really am a Northwesterner at heart; I just gotta be able to see mountains and volcanoes!

The odd thing is, I never stopped to take any photos. I just wanted to get to our hotel before dinnertime, so we wouldn't be eating and going to bed so late. Plus, I had this thought in my head that Mary would be driving faster than I was. That didn't make me go much over the speed limit, but it did make me not want to dawdle.

A little more than halfway, we switched so Mary could drive and I could have a snack. I was still full from breakfast, so we never stopped for lunch. Mary commented that she had to be careful about speeding in the long stretches through the pine forests. Some years ago she got a speeding ticket near Susanville. But as we were getting closer to Susanville, a cop pulled us over for speeding. Ticket number 2 for this area. I refrained from saying anything like "I told you so," because I really hadn't. She readily admitted it was her own fault for going too fast, and for not realizing the speed limit was different there. She will be a good citizen and pay her fine when the ticket comes in the mail. I guess this will be coming out of her allowance!

The hotel had me worried because it is old and looked a bit run-down. But they did a fairly good job refurbishing it, and we're fine so far. The bed's a bit hard and bouncy, though. We'll see.

After a steak dinner at Ruby River's, we came back to the hotel and I plugged the laptop into the LCD TV so we could watch a Netflix movie. Ain't technology fun? It was nice to have some time to relax.