Freedom Fries at Chester Air Attack Base

A few hours into the day I was wondering if I’d have much to write about.
The road from Klamath falls was great: dead straight, went up and down like a roller-coaster and we had it entirely to ourselves.
Great fun but not much to write home about. We made it to Mount Shasta, a nice little town at the foot of its namesake which is meant to be one of the highest mountains in the area.
Judging by the postcards, it’s very impressive. But we weren’t so lucky as most of it was hidden behind the clouds…


We were luckier with the Gurney Falls as you’ll see in the photos. I sat at the foot of the falls for ages watching the myriads of little droplets lifted and spun around by the wind a bit like synchronised groups of birds changing their direction every few seconds. No I had not picked up and eaten funny looking mushrooms.


An hour or so further South we got to Lassen Volcanic National Park. I’m not sure if it was more beautiful or cold. We went through the forest and up into the mountains, all the way up to some 8531ft (approx. 2600m).


As the forest grew less dense and the view of the surrounding mountains more dramatic, the temperature dropped steadily to 48°F. As I write this I don’t have access to the Internet so I don’t know what the Celsius conversion is. But it was baltic.
(PS: 8°C) We had all our warmest gear on (except I only have summer gloves) but that didn’t seem to help much.
Nic’s grampa touring bike has a warming seat on the bike (‘with the BMW RT one’s bum never risks of freezing should one find themselves in frosty climes’, as he loves to explain to anyone showing an interest in his bike), but the warming handlebars didn’t work on either bike.


The mountain became almost lunar at the very top. The trees very scarce, and the rock an odd pale colour. We passed a small misty lake at the very top, fog above it and a layer of faint whisps of smoke just above the water. The drop on the side of the road was so abrupt and so high that I was driving on the central line, shivering in my helmet.


We passed one last cool site before descending as we found several yellowish mounds of sulphur which were formed by geisers of smoke erupting from holes in the ground, mixing in with the fog and clouds above.


As soon as the road allowed us, we sped down the mountain search of a place to stay. We eventually got to a little place called Chester, its first sign I’m quite sure read ‘Chester Air Attack Base’…The local diner’s 10% soldier discount and ‘Freedom Fries’ added to the feel of the place. I considered asking whether French pacifists get free pie or something but the thought of being back into the cold got the better of my big mouth.

Photos day 11: