How did I end up here?

Before I tell you that, I have to give an account of what went before, starting with leaving home at 10 am, and completely missing the road to Ice House Reservoir off US 50. When I got to Kyburz I realized I was closer to S. Lake Tahoe than I was to home, and way past my original destination. I turned around and drove back the very winding mountainous road, sometimes 2 lane and sometimes 4 lane with 1 lane in each direction under road construction. When I got to Ice House I wondered how I missed it.

First I stopped at the Visitors Center and talked a bit with the person in charge, who told me about how to find disbursed camping - very easy actually, to find it. But what I found were sites out in the full sun with no trees at all nearby. That wouldn't do, so I kept searching.

Lady started acting weird, standing up and panting, and while I was looking for a place to pull over she pooped all over her bed on the back seat, and naturally she has diahrrea so it has seeped down onto part of the upholstery. The smell nearly drove me out of the car, but I did find a place to pull over and let her out. I took the cover off the bed, leaving the egg crate foam layers, and threw the cover away, plus the nice fleece throw I used on the seat to catch some of the dog hair and make it more comfy for her.

I debated going straight back home at this point and getting the interior of my car detailed and sanitized, but here I've spent hours driving around roads in Eldorado Forest, plus driving through upteen campgrounds. I looked at a couple more places but my heart was no longer in it, so I headed back US 50. I came to the turn off to Sly Park and took it. So here I am, at Sly Park which I vowed never to camp at for a long time. I'm set up in a familiar campsite, with about 3 tents of noisy guys a few sites away (probably will get noisier after dark) and a big motor home across the way.

This has been a day of learning for me. #1 thing is don't go anywhere with an old dog who has one thing after another go wrong with her. #2 is the old maxim, "Wherever you go, there you are". I have often complained that a solo RVer is saddled with ALL the jobs, or as they are often referred to, the pink jobs and the blue jobs. Well, solo tenters are also saddled with ALL the pink and blue jobs, i.e., set up the tent, blow up the air mattress (not a thing I've ever been good at); transfer all the equipment from the car to the picnic table or tent, or to the shade in the case of the coolers. Just about everything else associated with camping has to be done by the solo tenter.

But for now I'm ok - tent is up, mattress looks & feels good, all the gear is where it should be, I've had a cold beer and think I will have another one. I couldn't use my cell phone here at the site but I get 3G service and the internet, and if it holds up I will post this tonight, although I won't add the photos until another time. I have the option of staying another night which will probably look good to me since everything is already set up and I'm not ready to take it all down again. The cost is terrible - 2 nights here will cost me more than a week at Lassen!

Comparing Lassen National Forest (not the Park, but the Forest) with Eldorado National Forest: Eldorado is much closer and an exponentially easier drive for me than Lassen. Lassen is more scenic and away from the crowds. There is scenery at Eldorado and sometimes crowds at Lassen, but there is a huge difference I haven't been able to identify yet. So next camping trip I'll bite the bullet and head back up I-5 (almost as bad, but not really, as driving around Chicago). I will either try the Lassen Forest for camping, or maybe go to Shasta-Trinity NF. August is a heavy month for any kind of travel and recreation in CA, so I might wait and go after Labor Day, or just try it mid-week in August.

In all the back roads I drove looking for camp sites, the one that sent me out of the park was when I came to an open gate with two signs on either side of the road, both full of bullet holes. No thanks. They weren't put there by marijuana growers either.

I'm going to post while I still can hold onto the connection, so I'll be back tomorrow or the next day. I am not finished with looking for a non-CG camping site, preferably in a national forest, in fact, I'm more determined than ever to try it. But it will have to feel right with me, and nothing I saw today felt right. At least I get to sleep outdoors tonight and will be able to see enough of the night sky through the top of the tent to make me starry eyed!