Through the Pine Forests

I had a rough night.  The first part was full of dystopian dreams, worrying about the destruction of the planet and the destruction of our country.  I woke at three with my head buzzing about those things and worrying about today’s ride.  We have the longest distance we’ve ever traveled between Tesla superchargers: 254 miles.  That should be no problem, but I worried about the elevation changes.  (Today I discover that it’s a climb of only 500 feet, but I didn’t know that last night.)  Anyway, I finally fell asleep again until wakened by someone getting ice from the machine at 5:45.  I was a little grumpy.

I know people love Bend, and we had a good time at supper and in the evening, but with all the traffic, and so many people charging around in oversized pickup trucks, and the sprawl, it doesn’t appeal to me.  I find the pine forest on flat, dry scrub land uninteresting.  But then, I was grumpy.

But the day dawned into beauty — warm, clear skies with little wind.

We drove south for an hour before we got past all the houses tucked into the woods and the resulting traffic.  We stopped at a tiny store for a pit stop.  We pushed our way in amongst the hunters hanging around inside.  I didn’t think to ask what they were hunting this time of year.  Chukars perhaps?

Gradually the land became more interesting.  We rose out of the Deschutes Valley and dropped into the Klamath Basin.  In Klamath Falls, we charged the car at the Fred Meyer. 

I wanted to get it as full as possible.  It started out charging at almost 500 miles of range per hour, but charging is not linear.  As the battery fills, it charges more slowly.  Perhaps it gets harder to find places to tuck the extra electrons.  We ended up staying for 50 minutes to fill up the battery.  With no place to eat within easy walking distance, we settled down inside the store with a deli lunch.  There was a small group of old guys exchanging BS and solutions to the problems of the world.

Then into California.  Upon leaving the little town of Tulelake was a sign: NEXT SERVICES 72 MILES.  This is lightly populated country.

At the junction near Bieber (never saw the town itself), we stopped for another pitstop.  Andrea had wanted to make a telephone call, but we hadn’t had cell coverage for over an hour.  We still didn’t, but the woman at the store offered her landline phone.  Small as it was, the place sold about everything, even lumber and feed and MAGA hats.  The area is isolated, and I didn’t see any obvious signs of wealth unless you count several large tilled fields.  Undisturbed land was covered in sagebrush, so I would guess that the crops require irrigation.  But then, I’m a city kid, so what do I know?

We made it to Susanville before 4.  Our motel has a destination charger — that’s why we’re staying here.  I think we could make it to Reno without charging, but the extra charge will make tomorrow’s ride more relaxing.

Bend has 22 breweries; Susanville has one.  We’ll check it out at supper time.