A brisk dawn met us on the next day of the trip. The thin air of Susanville had a welcome crispness to it as we made the morning rounds. After breakfast at the Trailside Inn Sarah made a stop at the market for some on-the-road munchies while I topped off the fuel for the trip. The roads north of Susanville take on a distinctly different character than those so far on this trip. It isn't so much that the roads themselves are drastically different but the drivers seem to have a courtesy missing in so many other areas of the country.
Heading north on California Highway 299 we reach the town of Adin. Every summer I can recall we would stop at the old general store in Adin. With a front porch the likes of which aren't made anymore the 101 year-old Adin Supply is certainly a fixture. When last we were through more of the original hardware in the form of the white wooden bins were still in place, but otherwise this friendly outpost hasn't changed. Being a late morning stop it was a bit early for lunch but we picked up some sandwiches at the deli and proceeded up the road.
Just down the road we knew it was time for a stop for Rosalind's mid-morning snack. Lower Rush Creek turned out out to be just the place for a break. This Modoc National Forest campground had the water supply turned off so it was a free camp. Not being ready to camp we were looking more for a picnic table and a spot to take a break. The campground was nearly abandoned with just one site showing recent activity. Several sites are located across the creek and are accessed by a footbridge.
After our break the northward road meanders towards Lava Beds National Monument. The monument provided a spot for our sandwich lunch and a chance to show Sarah and Rosalind Mushpot Cave which I enjoyed visiting as a child. Perhaps because of our taking a leisurely lunch between the time we left the visitor's center and headed into the normally well lit Mushpot the power went out at the monument. We set out down Mushpot and the only lights left on were seemingly aimed very poorly for walking into the cave. Soon it became evident that the only lights on were those where the large battery boxes were adjacent to the lights on the floor. We wandered in the darkness for a few minutes and snapped a few pictures we headed for the surface and set out again.
After passing through the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge a rainy stop in Klamath Falls was the first of our journey into Oregon. A supply of tourist flyers in hand we were once again on the road northward. Bend found us resting comfortably in the Fairfield Inn Downtown and a dinner at the Tumalo Feed Company the steak wasn't exceptional but the atmosphere and the reasonably priced all-inclusive dinner made up for it. Note that this is one steakhouse where you'll get onion rings instead of bread so if you're a bread fiend as I am it will be a little different.
With Rosalind and Sarah settled in for the night I set about to get some email and work done. A short time later my trusty Macbook wasn't responding to anything so I did the hard reboot. The next thing I saw was the flashing question mark over an empty folder. In one fell swoop my trusty hard drive was toast. Three days into a three-week trip, traveling light (without all those install and recovery disks) and the last several months of work gone. The backup computer has Alsoft's Disk Warrior on it but of course it is an older version and the company's website fails in completing the transaction for purchasing a new version. (Of course as these things go although their system for delivering the software failed they were quick to make sure the credit card was charged.)