California here we are!

January 29th - We crossed from Oregon into California under scattered clouds, some fog and very cool temperatures. Here is a nice picture of Mt Shasta (elevation 14,162 feet). The mountain dominates your first 50 miles as you enter California on Interstate 5.

Not much to say about the scenery in North Central California. Flat Sacramento River Valley. Lots of Agri-Food production (rice, olives, almonds, etc.). The day was mostly gray and cool. We stopped for coffee north of Sacramento where we asked about the weather conditions. The young fellow we were speaking to told us that it had been foggy for 3 days and that it had not rained since January 1st.

One definite highlight of the day was that it was great bird watching day. We saw many, many hawks mostly Red-Tail and Harrier. We also saw Snow Geese and many Great Egret.

South of Sacramento is the city of Stockton. Stockton is in the top 3 in the U.S.A. for housing foreclosures. We passed a huge mall on I-5 that was completely shut. The mall included all the big names including Target. It will likely be years before their economy returns to pre-meltdown.

Tonight we are relaxing in a Holiday Inn in Santa Nella. It could be a fun place to stay if the weather was decent. Non the less, it is comfortable and has a small gym which gave us a chance to get in 45 minutes of vigorous exercise after being in the 4Runner all day.

Here are a few pictures from today.

Mt. Shasta