This weekend destination is Lassen Volcanic National Park.
We departed Thursday around 5:00PM, after an incident that almost cut our trip: I had a nail inside the bike's rear tire.
Thank to Irv Seaver I was able to buy a new tire, and I install it at Cycle Gear ($141 + $15, I took only the wheel there)
The weather was hot. We got 97F. today on Hwy 395 most of the ride, but the SixSixOne we were almost comfortable.
This is how I pack for camping, in a short trip (3 to 4 days) :
1) First pic: all items we are taking
2) All camping gear, before packing
3) All camping gear, packed
4) The gray bag contains all camping gear less the stove and emergency kit, the side bags (green) contains the clotting, stove, computer, ipod, sandals, etc., the cooler contains ice and food for the day and the tank bag all miscellaneous.
Our traditional shadow on Hwy-395.
One day I will run out of gas again on my BMW 1200LT. It happens first time near Las Vegas, and on this trip, the computer went to ZERO miles to go
The sunset on Hwy-395 was gorgeous.
We arrived in Lone Pine quarter to 9 and check-in at Dow Villa Hotel. It is a great location to stay, on a cool, clean room.
We crossed the street for dinner and there we met this couple from Brazil. They were traveling all over US, for their honeymoon, Luciano and Maggy. Nice guys and our dinner was really good (not the food. The food was bellow so-so at the Pizza Factory)
Next morning, the moon still up at 8:00AM when we left the hotel. Can you see it at this right picture?
Still on Hwy-395 we saw Mt. Whitney road (up) and some sheep's (can you see the black one?), mono lake and then a brand new pavement that was a call for speed... (my GPS must be defective... I wasn't at the speed at all...)
We also cross few motorcycle organized rides (those wit a van riding in the back of the line). All HD bikes on those groups.
Going up on Hwy-395 you will see a magnificent view of Mono Lake, as well it is the best ride on Hwy-395. Large tracks, wide turns, little traffic.
Many old west constructions on that part too.
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Bridgeport is a small town, in the middle of nowhere, next to Bridgeport Reservoir.
Before Topaz Lake (picture on the right) we had lunch at this neat rest area on another good stretch of Hwy-395, with many turns and views near Walker and Coleview.
We got gas in Carson city and got Hwy 50 towards Lake Tahoe, were we turn right on Hwy-50, going to the north shore to Crystal Bay.
The views were nice, but too many people on this Friday. Hey, those guys don't have a job? What are they doing here???
so we didn't stop for lunch there. Instead, we got Hwy 267 north and then CA 89 towards Quincy and Lake Almanor.
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Finally we to to Old Station, near Lassen Volcanic Park. There is no showers on the campsite, so we went to town (really small town, do not expect getting so many tings there) and use a showers and laundry facilities there. It cost $4 for 6 minutes of good hot water.
Before the night, we went to Subway Cave witch was right in front of our campsite.
it's a lava formation, were the outside lava cooled before the inside, then after the eruption end, it makes a really cool subway were you can walk inside.
It's complete dark and the temperature is around 47F. and it goes for about 15 minutes walking inside it.
Bring your flashlight and if you plan to stop walking, bring a jacket.
That is the view from our tent on the next morning.
We had a great breakfast and we chat a lot with a nice couple in a Gold Wing that were living today. They knew all around here and we got good info from them on what to do and what not.
I was born in Brazil and my wife and I moved to USA, California in 1996, for a change in our lives. Took us some time to learn the language and get into this country, but I think we are doing very well expect the learning a new language after 35 is not easy. We became citizens in 2007.
My wife and I we love to travel and by the time I was writing this page, we have logged more them 100.000 miles on few motorcycles we had and now we are riding this BMW K1200LT 2002, many more miles on our car and much more on the airplane.
Winter we do Snowmobile, Summer we go to the lakes for water sports (PWC) and we motorcycle year around (one of the goods of living in sunny California).
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Lassen Volcanic Park 
