Back across America

The long journey home is underway.

On Sunday morning in Hood River the weather was picture-perfect: clear blue skies, mild temperatures, and for once no wind.  I know we surf ski paddlers are supposed to love the wind because it provides those epic surfing conditions, but I have to admit I got weary of living my out-of-the-boat life with that gale-force wind constantly blowing last week.

I headed south, hoping to make it at least as far as Klamath Falls.  As I drove into the afternoon, the blue sky was replaced by a gray haze.  South of Bend I began to realize the reason: wildfires.  There was one stretch of 50 miles or so where I must have been quite close to a fire, because the smoke was disturbingly thick.  I had supper in Klamath Falls and decided to keep going, hoping I could find some cleaner air.  I drove into California and camped in Modoc National Forest.

On Monday some paddling was on the agenda.  I'd never been to Lake Tahoe before, so I decided to check that out.  I looked for access on the Nevada portion of the lake because I'd never paddled in Nevada before.  The sky was still hazy from fires in the region but otherwise the lake was beautiful.  I paddled for 60 minutes, trying to practice some of the downwind skills I'd learned on the many motorboat wakes.

After that I got back in the car and began to cross Nevada on U.S. 50, known as "the loneliest road in America."  I thought it was quite lovely.  Expecting barren desert, I was instead treated to a whole variety of landforms and colors.  I found a place to camp some 20 miles off the highway, up in a place called Kingston Canyon.  There was abundant vegetation and even a bold creek flowing through.

Yesterday I did nothing but drive.  I completed the trip across Nevada and got most of the way across Utah, camping in the town of Green River.  I might have savored the ambience there if the mosquitoes hadn't been so bad.

Today was another all-driving day.  I made it all the way across Colorado.  Having camped the last three nights I was ready to check into a motel, and so here I sit in a room in Burlington, Colorado, just west of the Kansas state line.  I woke up this morning in the Plateau Province and now I'm getting ready to hit the hay on the Great Plains.

The plan for tomorrow is to find a place to paddle in Kansas, because I've never paddled in Kansas before.  Otherwise I hope to make good progress in the car so that maybe I'll arrive home in Memphis at a reasonable hour on Friday.