Takes forever to get out of the house and town, but at last on the road north, past ziggurats human and
natural -- just about impossible to see Sutter Buttes above, but
Mt. Shasta is looming into view --
up the steps pyramidically to the Gates of the Mountain,
the Lake/Reservoir with
North Gray Rocks (one of the more prosaic names encountered),
Castle Crags,
Shasta again,
Black Butte,
and the crenallated
Valley
again and
again.
Onward and upward, beyond the Klamath River and
Oregon's Siskiyou Summit to
the Table Rocks,
Myrtle
Creek,
Roseberg Cliffs,
Rice Hill,
Willamette Heartland, and up
the Columbia Gorge towards
Mt. Hood,
the sun sets, the traffic turns weirdly to back roads through the great bend of the River bisecting the Horse Heaven Hills, up the Walla Walla on empty bypasses to rendezvous with Harriet, Tisha, and Claire.
