May 31, Shady Cove to Crater Lake

OMG!! Today was a 59 mile climb! It just never stopped. We left early around 6:30 A to give enough time to finish this really hard long day. I don't have all my statistics because the cue sheet paper is on my bike. Since we are at the National Park Lodge in Carter Lake our bikes have been scurried at another level out of the way. Our room is just lovely over looking Crater Lake. And Diane is my roommate.

Rouge River as we headed out of Shady Cove.

I believe this was in Prospeck, pretty creek.

Taken from the other side of the bridge.

This ride just went on and on but we did stop for pie at a place called Besty's. I had apple pie with ice cream, yumm. Then back to the forever climb. The total actual ride time 7hrs 23mins, yikes that's a lot of sitting time.

We made it! 

Turns out we had almost 5 more miles of climb left. The weather was perfect and fun to have cool snow breezes.

I'm at a loss as what to say about Crater Lake. I'll just send pics.

Our very cute room..

Woman Tours hosts our dinner here at the lodge. Very nice with great food and lots of time for conversations. I had 2 glasses of a wonderful red wine so that's all folks.

May 30, Ashland to Shady Cove

Happy Memorial Day! Our ride for Memorial Day was just 40 miles and almost half of it on wonderful bike paths. What a peaceful day for all of us. We could leave from Ashland pretty much when we wanted to. Some chose for a latish departure and others for about 8:15A. I chose the earlier one for a comfortable ride with about 7 riders. Mike knows the area since she lives in Grants Pass and lead us through the bike path, Medford and into Shady Cove. Yay Mike!

We stopped at a Little League baseball game that was being played at a sports complex along the bike path. We wanted Sheila from Scotland to have a real all American experience. Sheila is in the Orange helmet.

We stopped here for an enroute breakfast. Phyllis, our waitress, was just wonderful and so fun. I have a picture including Phyllis. I hope by tomorrow to have it to send it on.

Oh no!

Where did it go?

We arrived early and our rooms were ready, got laundry done and a chance to rest. We have a big ride tomorrow so today is just perfect.

May 29, Mt Shasta to Ashland

Another spectacular day on the road, really on the road. We needed to leave early, up at 5A and riding by 6:30A, because it was a long ride with lots of climbing. 79.87 miles, we had to ride on I 5 for 8 miles climbing 3-6+% the whole time. We were a group of about 5-6 riders at that point. Our total climb was about 4197 feet. So we were working all day. It was a gorgeous morning and I couldn't help but take more shots of Shasta.

It doesn't do it justice!

There were huge herds of cows along the way
many of them with very newborn calves.

Red Poppies to dazzle the eye.

It says Granny's Place and just stood out in the field.
I wonder if granny was kept there😋?

Interesting gal we met, Alyson, in the yellow shirt with red helmet, who has been traveling solo around the West coast for 3 months and has 1 more month to go before returning home. You can find her on Facebook under the Little bike that could. 

Yes, we made it to Oregon!

This was taken at the Siskiyou summit. 

Then we took the most fantastic downhill I've ever done! Almost 6 miles of wonderfully winding, great condition and no traffic roads. It was heaven! It lead us into town to our hotel for tonight, The Ashland Hills hotel. Our room would not be ready for another hour so with Diane, my roommate for tonite, we walked across the street for a bite to eat. Please don't tell our kids what we had!

And we ate it all before our dinner. 

Tonight was a big event for 2 reasons 1) margarita party for crossing the state line into OR and 2) we met our new guide Katie! She will be taking over when Patty leaves us at Crater Lake.

May 28, Burney to Mt Shasta

The day began quite cool and I needed to put on lots of warm riding clothes until the sun and climbing warmed me up. We left from the Charm Motel riding back the way we came in just a little bit  and onto Rt 89 for almost our whole ride. Since today is Saturday and the beginning of Memorial Day weekend we weren't sure of how much traffic to expect. The log trucks must have the weekends off and the RV's didn't find us until almost 12:30-1P. We had mostly a nice wide shoulder so we had good riding conditions with great weather. And then around mile 25-27 Mt Shasta was there! Oh my so beautiful!

We rode sort of around it and as snowy is it in this picture it's almost void of snow on the other side. My roommate Fiona showed me her picture of the other side.

Another Summit for us.

 After this summit the real fun began. It was like being in an amusement park! Huge rollers, fun downs with good climbs. This lasted for close to 20 miles! Then it just sort of became gentle. Diane and I stopped in McCloud for a short break. This little town is quite the RV spot with lots of children playing and seeming to have a great camping time. We fortunately took off many layers as we were to now begin a 5 mile climb toward the town of Mt Shasta. It seemed to take forever with a slight headwind. We made an enroute stop just to rest for a few moments. We did watch a local young man pass us by on the run and then go by again on opposite side downhill. He did wave flying downhill, we were still climbing uphill. Finally the summit sign we were waiting for.

Since our rooms wouldn't be ready until 3P we had a very nice BLT at a coffee shop and sat outside eating our lunch with lots of the other riders. Mt Shasta appears to be a lovely little town but since I'm just too tired when we get in I let the others tell all about it. Our rooms at the Shasta Inn are very nice and Fiona is my roommate. I may have already said that.

May 27, Rest Day Burney

Such a perfect rest day. It started with Ann's Kitchen for breakfast where portions have a whole different meaning, jumbo!. Diane, my roommate, and I returned to clean bikes and be ready for our 'field trip' to Burney Falls. Patty drove 10 of us who elected to go, to the Falls. What a fun and interesting outing. The day was so nice and warm, the falls beautiful and I found a new shirt with Burney Falls printed on it! After we returned we ventured over to Rite Aide, which is under going a renovation, to pick up a few items.

Burney Falls!

A little creek running off the Falls.

6 of us who did the Alantic Coast ride together,
Patty,  me, Ann, Janet Bee, our guest Susan and Barb.

Not sure if you can read it but it shows that right here in Burney we are closer to Canada than Mexico! We are almost halfway through our ride. When we have speedier wifi I'll have more mileage details.

May 26, Chester to Burney

OMG! What a ride. Patty, our guide, scouted a new route for us due to Lassen Pass being closed because of snow. It was just a beautiful ride. It started out on the cold side when we left around 6:30A but was perfect for the rest of the day. It was a long day 86 miles, with rolling hills and no huge climbs.

Quite roads beautifully tree lined

I just loved the reflection.
The name of the lake? Poison Lake!

Mt Lassen!

Horrible fires in 2014 burned many acres
and threatened the town of Burney.

Snow covered Mt Shasta in the distance.

After the fires pretty little flowers coming back.

These yellow flowers just light up the side of the highway.

Tomorrow is our day, yay! We're going as a group for a short hike around the Burney Falls. Stay tuned.

May 25, Greenville to Chester

We had a terrific ride, 26 miles and gentle rolling hills. So we started off with a beautiful breakfast Emily made since we would be leaving later due to short miles. She made French toast, an egg dish and fruit, so great! Somehow Diane and I were almost last leaving, again🙃. Now this short day is a bit of a set up. Because the next day had been scheduled for 94 miles with about 5,000 feet of climb. The best part would have been the Lassen Pass! But, due to snow, the pass has been closed. Another route was scouted and dear me it's shorter and has less climb, oh well!

But back to today. We really saw some very pretty views.

Pretty shot of the motel as we leave. 

Well, exterior views were nice and I'll leave it at that.

Snack table as we leave.

Lake Almanor

Mt Lassen

Town of Chester flood control spillway

We got in early and had lunch, did laundry and next is dinner around the fire pit. What a perfect day!

Oops, out of order. Diane pumping her tire

May 24, Graegle to Greenville

We started off by saying goodbye to Pam and hubby Tom. Always fun to see riders from past rides. It was warm and sunny at our departure. Somehow I got another latish start, bless Diane for putting up with me. What a pretty ride! There was rain predicted but who knows, maybe not. Or in this case, maybe yes. It was predicted for 11AM, I checked the time at 11:04 and drops had appeared. But prior to the rain many of us met at the Morning Thunder while the sun was still shining. We had been told at map meeting last nite that this coffee shop had the best cinnamon buns! Yes, they do!

The deer were watching us getting ready to leave,
a few minutes later a coyote ran through.

Our landscape scenery certainly has changed.

Another summit we've passed. 
Notice the lack of riders in the pic.

Having our cinnamon buns at Morning Thunder!
Diane and I shared one
and both said we could have one each!

Susan enjoying her cinnamon bun.

Just pretty!

Yesterday I referred to the pretty red flowers

They do have a name, Snow Plants

The rain began at 11:04 AM just about 2 miles from our motel. Where we were ro make the left turn to the motel it started to hail. So with our heads down we missed the left turn. Oh no! We reached the little town of Greenville in error and had to back track to find our motel. We found it wet and cold! Wow, did Pam, our sag for the day and Emily, who not only helped the owner by changing last night's sheets, made us grilled cheese sandwiches. How lucky are we to have such a caring team. I sat in Fiona's warm room with cup-noodle soup made by Pam and the sandwich. 

Tomorrow, Chester, only 26 miles away.