California! Yosemite National Park

September 4, 2026: It was 41 degrees last night in the desert outside of Bodie! Brrrrr...My sinuses and lungs hurt from the dust. I got up in the middle of the night and turned on my air purifier which helped a lot.

I couldn't decide where to go first. I didn't want to do Yosemite on the weekend for fear of heavy traffic, but I didn't want to drive two hours out of my way to see something else then come all the way back...so I went to Yosemite! 

So beautiful! Gorgeous drive! This might be my favorite national park! For a Friday morning, there was no traffic entering the east side and driving through on Highway 120. I had seen some videos of bumper to bumper traffic, but I think waiting until September helped. Some of the trailhead parking lots were full early in the morning.

Tenaya Lake in Yosemite

I love the big white rocks all over.
Nice contrast with green trees.

I drove to Yosemite Valley. The valley has huge rock cliffs, green trees, and a river running down the middle. It was so gorgeous!

And then there was El Capitan! I've read about and seen videos on this rock climbing challenge. I always wished when I was younger I would have gotten into rock climbing. (I dated a rock climber once. Short lived.) Maybe I would have never had the energy. I don't now! It was hard enough to hike to the base (only .4 miles), let alone have the energy to climb a rock mountain! I can't imagine the stamina needed to scale the wall. A friend of mine told me thirty people have died trying. I sat on a log staring at it for a while. I could hear clicking or tapping, but couldn't see where it was coming from so did not see climbers on the face.

El Capitan

I left and opted to drive Highway 140 to Merced, but there were lots of warnings on a wildfire in my path called The Colorado Fire. I asked at a local store and they said the highway is open and shouldn't be a problem. I was nervous!  I imagined the wind blowing the raging fire right onto my van, surrounding me with no way of escape as it chokes the life out of me! Why do I always imagine the worst scenario?? The drive through the river canyon was gorgeous although there were two sections of single lane "Prepare to Stop. Flagger Ahead" signs. Most of the fire was up on a mountain top, but I passed one section that was still smoldering down by the highway. No problem though! It's an adventure!

Merced seems very organized, clean and spread out with all kinds of amenities. The four-way stop signs nearly drove me insane, but they are ALL OVER California! The highway was 65 mph and every mile was a four-way stop! WHY? I'm guessing California doesn't like traffic lights, but on a highway??

In Merced, I shopped at Sprouts. I don't like Sprouts so I didn't buy enough, much to my dismay later. I bought some new solar rat blinkers at Harbor Freight and took the van into Discount Tires (called America's Tires in California) for a free tire rotation. I thought they did oil changes. No. What a waste of time. I could have gotten a free tire rotation with an oil change in a lot places. Oh well. Live and learn! I'll have to go some place else for the oil change.

Since I dropped in and didn't want to stay overnight in Merced for an appointment the next day, they couldn't get me in until 5pm. I should have left. I thought about it. I selected an overnight spot on Highway 180 on the way to Kings Canyon National Park in Google Maps, left around 5pm, but by the time I was getting close to it, it was 8:30pm and pitch black. I couldn't see the side of the highway to find the spot. I found something that might have been someone's driveway entrance. I didn't care. It was too dark. This is the first time all summer I got stuck driving in the dark. Never again! I hate driving in an unknown location in the dark!!

CALIFORNICATION!! Tourist-ing on the Return!

SEPTEMBER!!! 1, 2026: Back to California! SO HAPPY TO BE IN CALIFORNIA! Although the gas prices are around $5.59 per gallon or a dollar more than Oregon. Drove south on Highway 97 watching Mt. Shasta grow huge in front of me:

I LOVE MT. SHASTA!

It's a little hazy and the air quality index is around 162 which isn't good, but still better than yesterday. California highways are good. Most of them well-maintained looking like park drives.

Continued southeast on 89 through the Lassen National Forest and then into Lassen National Park. The sky got really white. Smoke or clouds? The National Park ranger didn't know and they've also been wondering. It's very disturbing. My sinuses were burning so I assumed maybe smoke in the east, but later it cleared to blue skies. There was a gorgeous lake in the middle of the park and I thought, "Oh! Some fresh water swimming?" Until I looked at the temperature...48 degrees. No thank you!

The park was beautiful but so much of it was burnt! Too many acres of all national forests in California have been blackened with fire! Is it any wonder campfires are not allowed all over?

These yellow wildflowers were all along the sides of the highway:

I considered overnighting in the burn area on highway 36 where I stayed last May. Still incredibly quiet. The tiny pine tree starts I photographed in May have grown!!! The forest will grow back quickly at that rate!

I'm so happy it's September and I'm in California!!

Have I ever disclosed my plans change every fifteen minutes? So I'm sitting in Big Blue in the dusty burn out on Highway 36 just west of Chester and I check the weather as I always do. I was hoping I had traveled far enough south to avoid rain, but no, rain is predicted for tomorrow. HELL NO! I left heading south and stopped in Chester for a van wash. I left and not five miles out of town a one lane road construction stop where we sat for about twenty minutes. Continuing over the hill I discovered why there is a flagger...the road is dirt! Not only dirt, but they watered it so it didn't create dust. MUD! I wanted to scream at those men, I JUST WASHED THIS VAN! UGH! Oh well! It's not their fault I just washed the van. I found a camping spot in the Plumas National Forest on Highway 89.

September 2, 2026: GOAL FOR THE DAY: OUTRUN THE RAIN! At 7am I checked the weather before leaving, it's due to rain at 10am and it takes 2 1/2 hours to get to a southern location that has no rain forecasted. Will I make it?

After further assessment, California's roads are just OK. Most of the main highways are very nice, some not so nice with patches, but never as bad as Arizona. California is not like Oregon where every road is paved. The roads to campgrounds, recreation sites, off-shoots, small roads to towns, etc. are dirt. Blah. More importantly, too many highways are being repaved so I suffered constant one lane stop and go with flagger warnings. The slow progress was so frustrating. I kept watching the weather and the further south I got, the rain was more delayed. I was constantly thirty minutes to one hour ahead of it!

I headed south on Highway 89, but with every tiny bump I heard banging. Is it inside the van or on the roof? I pulled over to the side, got the telescopic ladder out, and checked the solar panels. Hmmm...seemed sturdy. I figured since I went to the trouble of getting the ladder out I should clean the solars and there I discovered one of the screws holding down a solar panel had become loose. Not at the van's roof, but right at the panel. I tightened the nut holding the screw. Thankfully it was still there and did not fall off. Whew!

The west side of Lake Tahoe was gorgeous! Unfortunately the parking was filled or the parking cost $6.00. I couldn't take my eyes off the road as it was twisty turning sharp switchbacks at 5 miles an hour! I was driving so slowly every now and then if no one was behind me I'd stop and take a gander. The views of the lake were spectacular with turquoise water. I stopped at Whole Foods in South Lake Tahoe then continued south. Gas was $6.39 a gallon even though I crossed over to the Nevada side.

Got to Bodie State Historical Park. I have wanted to see this ghost town ALL MY LIFE! The summer I graduated college my boyfriend wanted to do a road trip. I declined because I had sent out dozens of resumes and desperately wanted a job so I didn't want to miss interviews. He went without me sending me postcards everyday. I regret too often in my life I've been too responsible instead of too fun!

The road into Bodie was paved for six miles then the worst washboard for the next four miles. Big Blue was fishtailing all over the place, new tires be damned! The Californians continuously passed me spewing dirt, dust and gravel all over my newly washed van! So thoughtless!

Yes, there is a car in all that dust!

BUT Bodie did not disappoint. It's huge! A ghost city! It felt very "ghostly" with abandoned buildings still intact and looking like they did back in history. So cool.

Almost every house had an outhouse...

Wallpaper, fabric for insulation...

Metal siding...

The brick building is the saloon...still has all the interior furniture covered in dust.

Schoolhouse with desks and other educational things.

Camped overnight on Highway 270, the road into Bodie, only I headed for the paved part. I did NOT want Californians spewing dust and dirt all over Big Blue while I was parked. Online someone said the desert here is beautiful. They must have been on crack:

Early evening...

I've seen beautiful deserts and this is NOT one! The wind is blowing. It's desolate and dusty. If Big Blue wasn't already covered in dust, she sure would be by morning! But it's very quiet here. 

September 3, 2026: I'm planning some California excursions. One was to Big Sur as a fellow nomad told me it was her favorite place of all. But it's currently BURNING DOWN! Big fire over there so I will not be going to the coast! Just hanging out in the desert. Sunshine. Cool temperatures. No rain. Quiet. Relaxing. Planning my Tucson return and watching the weather.

Living in a van this year is so much easier than last year! I know how to use Google Maps. I know how to use iOverlander. I've travelled to states that have easy access to healthy food. I study the weather so I know how to avoid rain, snow storms and heat waves. I know how to find good laundromats and wash my clothes safely. The van is organized and I have everything I need. I also know where things are stored in this van. I just know how to do this better! I actually love van life aside from the stress worrying about this van that is soon to reach 200,000 miles. Most of those miles I put on the van. I love the simplicity of not owning much, not being in such a hurry, not doing constant errands (aside from grocery shopping), not living in an area with too many people who demand your time and energy. I like the relaxation that makes me realize I don't have to worry unnecessarily. There are negatives, but I've discussed them before, ad nauseam.

Based on the photo above, there really isn't much to see where I am parked. I hope to be here a couple days. What do I do for entertainment besides lay around, look at computer, or read? As I scan the desert, I see a tree on a hill. 

Can you see the tree? On the hill above Big Blue? Maybe not! But you can judge how far away it is from this photo. Here is a close up:

There is a dirt drive from where Big Blue is parked that goes back into the desert and I wonder if the road goes up to any of the hills in the distance which would provide an excellent view of surroundings. Sounds like an adventure! I start my hike in the morning.

The road ends about 100 feet. There are several other campsites along it, but they all have dried grass and I have no intention of setting the desert on fire with my exhaust pipe so I'll stay on the gravel. I was disappointed there wasn't a road or even a trail. Did that stop me? No! I was determined to see that tree close up. I tried following what looked like deer trails, but even the deer trails stopped. If I had a machete I would have bushwacked my way through the tall-ish bushes. I carefully made my way around them. I hoped there were no rattlesnakes. It's pretty cold here at night so I assumed all was safe. The lack of route was a little treacherous, but I continued slowly, stomping on the ground, clapping my hands, carefully avoiding being tripped by a bush. Are there poisonous insects out here? Ticks? Would I break another ankle or trip and fall on a stick that goes through my eye and renders me brain dead on the spot? Did any of that stop me? Nope. I refuse to let fear control me yet I worried every second that today this would be my undoing!! I made it to the tree!

I continued to the top and took a glorious photo of Big Blue at the bottom. The desert is beautiful from above! All one needs is a new perspective! (That should be my motto for life! Currently my motto is "I am too old for this!" It's not very positive.)

View to the east

View to the west

How to get down? I could have gone down the way I came, but there wasn't a clear trail. I thought maybe there might be one on the other side. This is typical. I always make a hike harder than it needs to be. I ventured over to the edge of the top and it all looked like drop offs. I saw what looked like a trail or dried creek bed to the left. It was a dried creek bed with loose, rubble rocks, sand, and boulders. It was scary, slippery, and I hesitated to grab something for stability for fear a rattlesnake would be hiding. I could see the highway in the distance. This is the view about half way down looking up:

Good god! It spit me out on the highway about a half a mile from Big Blue. The hike up the road was more strenuous than the hike through the desert since I was hiking so slowly down the dried creek, but not as dangerous with each step flat and few vehicles passing.

Nice California highway...for six miles until it turns to hell!

There is no better feeling that to make it back to the van after a challenging hike, sponge bath the sweat off with cold water, changed into clean clothes, drink a gallon of water, then crawl up into bed and lay flat on my back relaxing. Wonderful! The wind started howling around 10:30 keeping the van cool. I love the weather here. It's like Tucson in the winter: sunny but cool.

My solar blinking lights have died! How? They were working fine and then both dead. I NEED rat lights!

Oregon! Going, Going, Gone

August 24, 2026: Drove down the mountain from the BLM land to Porter. Although this road was much shorter than the other coming up, the water ruts and potholes were really deep and scary. I went no faster than five miles an hour and cautiously negotiated the horror so I wouldn't bottom out. I prayed no one would be driving up it when it was so narrow. I can't back up in a parking lot, let alone a narrow dirt, potholed road with drop offs!

The reward at the bottom of the mountain was this lovely covered bridge at Grave Creek:

Continued to Golden, a "ghost town". Right on a paved road - my kind of ghost town!! So many of them are located up a dusty dirt road. Had I known they had plenty of pull offs and no "no overnight parking" signs, I would have stayed here last night! I considered for a minute to stay, but after a cool morning, the temperatures started climbing to the nineties!

I love me a church!!!!

Old Barn in the Distance

General Store

Schoolhouse

Blacksmiths Shop with General Store Behind

Love the outhouse!

Yes, someone had to hang this sign inside the outhouse door!

No park host...

This might be fun...if it wasn't so HOT with stinky tourists stopping all the time. 

After touring the ghost town, I hiked the mining area on the other side of the road. Not much there except a bunch of dried up ponds. I continued down a dirt road for about a mile. Still nothing only trees and dried grass. I was hoping there would be some old houses or buildings.

I jumped on I-5. Oh, how I hate freeways, but it was either freeway or dirt road for four miles! I drove two and a half hours to Klamath Falls where it was 89 degrees. I passed the Great Meadow Sno-Park on the way and it was only 82 degrees. Went swimming at the Ella Redkey Municipal Pool in Klamath Falls. Then drove another hour east to the Quartz Mountain Sno-Park for the night where it was 81 degrees.

August 25, 2026: Beautiful morning. Cool. Quiet. The eastern end of Highway 140 has so much less traffic. I cleaned the inside of the van, reorganized totes, washed the ceiling covers, and hung everything to dry. Had a nice relaxing day! Stayed another night at Quartz Mountain.

August 26, 2026: Another beautiful, cool, quiet morning. Did errands in Klamath Falls. Went to the post office...my voters ballot that I paid $15 to have forwarded...I don't think it ever showed up. It's not at the post office. It was never sent back to my mailbox after 30 days. I wonder if it was sent back to Pima County Voting Office? Hmmmm...? What a waste of money that was! Shopped at stores. Finally found a lid that would fit my five-gallon bucket! It's the little things that give me great joy!! I did one load of laundry plus one more washing of the Pendleton wool blanket! The stink is gone!!! Finally after five (?) washings! Car washed Big Blue. Did some lap swimming at the pool. The lap section was EMPTY! I was the only person for the first thirty minutes. That was followed by a water aerobics class that is always fun with wonderful women. It's been a very busy, productive, exhausting day, but good exhausting! 

My sinus problems are back...ugh. This was a problem the whole time I was in Arizona. It only cleared up once I got to Northern California and Oregon. I can only assume spending so much time on the damp and humid coast and then coming to Klamath Falls which is dry and dusty is causing this. It's not as bad as when I'm in the desert states of Arizona, Utah, Colorado or Nevada, but it's no fun. I also have a mild headache. That makes me wonder if this is due to altitude change from coast to dry, hot mountains? I have no idea, I just know it's miserable. Again, I have no idea where to be! It's either mold, the inability to breathe, or out of my budget. Not much of a choice! I'm planning my route, but there are wildfires on both the eastern border AND the coast of California.

Overnighted at the Great Meadow Sno-Park where I stayed last June when I was hanging out in Klamath Falls for three weeks. Nothing has changed: great internet service, beautiful views, but garbage is all over and too many people in RVs with dogs wanting to cuddle up close. (What is that?)  The overhead flood light has burned out, but I'm fine with that. I hung the wool blanket to dry. Weather is a little cooler at 81 degrees.

August 27, 2026: Cold morning! Condensation all over the inside of the windshield, but no where else thanks to the MAXX Air ventilation. Sunshine around 8am. The temperatures are going down! It's only supposed to be 78 degrees today! Loving it! Rain is forecasted. Not loving that!

Sinuses are better, but headaches are awful. So I take some pain-killing drugs with food and my stomach starts burning. There is no winning here!

August 28, 2026: It's almost September!!! So hard to believe. Cold morning. I went swimming. The lap pool is nearly empty every morning and the water was quite warm! Love it! Klamath Falls was getting hot so I moved back up to Quartz Mountain.

August 29, 2026: I met a woman on one of the van life groups. She was advertising for women who would want to park at her property and in exchange help her out. She just moved to forty acres two months ago. She is EMF sensitive so is purposely isolated, unable to drive to most places due to the overabundance of cell phones and other EMF emissions. Since I had been looking at property in the area and I was already nearby, I was curious and thought it might be fun to help, find out about the area, and kill some time before heading to Arizona. She had all kinds of ideas on how I would live there either on the property or in her house. Hmmm.... 

Of course, I had all kinds of concerns, worries, and stresses. She wasn't chemically sensitive so would she understand my limitations? Would she be fragrance-free? Was there mold on her property? Could I turn off my phone, computer, rat beeper, Bluetooth, and Bluetti to keep her safe without feeling cut off from the world? How would I cook with no power? How can I check emails? Would she expect me to work fulltime for this parking spot? What kind of work? Would I end up overexerting myself causing an autoimmune attack? The area had wildfire smoke issues with air quality index up to 362 a few weeks before. I ventured forth chanting as usual, "It's an adventure!" I commented to several people she might be a serial killer so it would be the last time they'd see or hear from me!

The previous owner left skulls all over which was very discombobulating
to turn around and be faced with death so I gathered them up and made a "skull tree" to serve as
a talisman to keep evil at bay. More like art than death premonitions. 

We were very much a like with everything and got along very well. The exception was I'm MCS and she's EMF. There are things I can't do that she can and things I can do that she can't which might have made a good partnership. I thought maybe I could stay two weeks.  She definitely needed help as it was a mess. Not only had she had multiple moving van deliveries of her own belongings, but the previous owners left a lot of everything! The buildings on her property were fairly toxic with piles and hoards of old, musty stuff. Two huge shipping containers filled to the ceilings, an old mobile home, a tiny house that the previous owner incensed (what is wrong with it that she needed to scent it?), a carport and a barn. Her boxes needed to be unpacked and organized which is something I normally love to do. In addition, propane, gasoline, rat poison and she planned to use the wood stove when the freezing temperatures arrived. 

When we initially communicated through messenger, she said she'd want me to make deliveries to the post office, grocery shop, help her with the computer. That seemed doable and low level work that I could easily do without too much physical exertion.  I overdid it the first and second day: hauling branches to a burn pile, cutting barbwire and stacking pieces, carrying firewood, helping her lift doors, plywood, boxes and shelves. I loved having something to do besides sitting in the van driving, but it was too much. She kept asking me to do all kinds of physical labor. I totally understand as a single woman needed an extra pair of hands to get things done. I was exhausted every afternoon nearly catatonic with autoimmune attacks. This is not safe, but I just couldn't tell her no. So much needed to be done and I am compulsive with fixing and organizing.

We ozoned the tiny house. I had my doubts ozone would work to clean the house enough to where I could live in it, but I was curious if it actually worked since so many van dwellers use ozone on their vans if they get mold. I helped her empty the tiny house carrying everything outside and I added my books inside. It didn't seem to clean the house or the books much. 

On the third day I was feeling pretty exhausted and sick, nearly unable to move or think. It was supposed to start raining and rain for a week and the thought of being parked in mud didn't appeal. After I went to Klamath Falls to grocery shop for her, I drove back and the whole landscape was covered in smoke. That was the last straw.

Wildfire smoke so bad the hills are barely visible!

I stopped at the Forest Service office in Bly and the ranger told me further east two more wildfires started and south near Reno a few other fires! The wind was coming up from the south spreading the smoke. My throat was sore, my lungs hurt, and headaches began. I decided to leave. My new friend was very disappointed to lose her new assistant, but it couldn't be helped. I was exhausted from the autoimmune attacks, sick from all the toxins and the exhaustion, unable to breathe due to the wildfire smoke, and eager to get out of there. It seems my limit is two days anywhere I go.

I drove west back to Klamath Falls and stayed at Indian Tom Lake where I was last May. I could see the smoke to the southeast. It was so thick Mt. Shasta wasn't even visible!