The first stop on our journey was to meet friends at the Shingletown KOA campground – our home base for the next few days of exploring Lassen National Park in northeast California. However, a few of our pre-trip preparations didn’t fall into place as hoped, and the leisurely drive up to Lassen almost didn’t happen.

We ran out of time to sell our 2004 Toyota Sequoia the day before departure and had to work on an alternative. How do you sell a vehicle in two hours? Worse, during our disconnect from the Half Moon Bay campground services, we discovered a substantial amount of water leaking from beneath the holding tanks. Time was critical, so we worked a last-minute deal with the local Toyota dealership and scheduled an appointment with the service department at Airstream in Fairfield, California. Selling the truck took several hours longer than expected, so we arrived in Fairfield at 4:00 pm, reset expectations with the boys and warned our friends of arrival a day later.

Enjoying the sky at a brief stop in Vacaville, CA

But the team led by Darrell-slash-Rockstar-slash-savior fixed the issues within thirty minutes. We then hustled up the Central Valley in an effort to find the campground and get the coach fully set up before sundown. Finally things went flawlessly – the F-350 had no trouble pulling the Airstream along I-505 and I-5 past fields of golden grass, rows of walnut and fruit trees and gigantic wind generators. Despite our rush, we enjoyed the rural beauty of the Central Valley up to Anderson. From there we headed east – after getting turned around a bit at the junction along Dersh Road – which connected us to CA-44, a road that twisted and rose up into pine-covered foothills. It wasn’t long before we saw the full moon, low and pinkish pressing the backs of the mountains.

The I-5 in Central California

Moon rise over the Cascades

We arrived as the last remnants of the day departed. Ang and I had no trouble getting the coach backed in, levels and set-up in about thirty minutes … even in the darkness. Our friends Brett, Stacey and their three boys had already arrived and greeted us with a warm fire and drinks.

Storytelling begins