Day 56: Lava Beds NM to Old Station, CA

We wake up to some metallic noises around 5am this morning. Yellow unplugs his ears and Red is looking for the light. The mouse is probably the cause of this trouble. Red turns the bed light on and we look around. Suddenly, we see the mouse hanging around the kitchen counter. With great agility, the mouse jumps to the seat close to the bed, and down to the ground. Probably, it went up to the counter that way too. This mouse can jump up to 2 ft high! Well, with great agility, Yellow jumps out of the bed and start chasing the mouse while Red is keeping the beam of the flash light directly on it. The mouse chose to flee to the bathroom, and then, under pressure, to run close to the side door, closing himself in. Yellow finally catches it under a plastic container. The mouse is now trapped. Yellow places a piece of cardboard under the plastic container, and flips it over. Then, very carefully, he brings the container top to top of the container and closes it. Done!

The mouse is still fighting though, and jumping to the top of its jail. Yellow shakes the container until the mouse doesn’t react. The mouse is knocked out. We go back to bed but Red doesn’t want the mouse in the motorhome anymore. So we go the campground's women’s restrooms. We carefully open the plastic container and we see the mouse, probably some kind of gerbil, lying down on its poop. We take a couple of pictures and dump the rodent in the toilet. We flush. Gone, the mouse is finally gone!

The sun is starting to rise so we stay up and continue our day. We check the fridge and it seems that the drop noises were coming from there yesterday: there is a small puddle at the bottom of the fridge. The gas light is low, but it doesn’t shut off. The fridge is not cold enough but it seems the freezer is still doing its job. We don’t really understand that fridge anyway, so we focus on cleaning and disinfecting the motorhome now that the mouse is out of here.

It is 7:45am when we leave that morning, and we drive to Merril Cave to hike on the Whitney Butte trail. Unfortunately, it is too hazy to see Mt. Shasta today. Similar to Mt. Baker or Mt. Rainier, Mt. Shasta is a volcanic mountain overlooking its surroundings, as one of the highest points in California. We get back to the motorhome and check out the other curiosities of the area, like Fleener Chimneys.

Around the Visitor Center and all over the parks, lava tubes are one of the main attractions. We chose to visit Mushpot Cave, the only lava tube that has lights. 

Then we leave Lava Beds NM and drive back to Tulelake to avoid dirt roads. The sun is bright and it is pretty hot. The lands are very dry on the 4,000 ft plateau, even desolate when they are not irrigated. Then, we go through large forests, probably at a higher elevation. Cattle ranches are occupying most of the land otherwise. The few towns we pass look like trailer parks. As we get closer to Lassen Volcanic NP, the forests get denser.

 

We arrive at Hat Creek Resort & RV Park in Old Station, CA, in the middle of the afternoon. It seems that one of the big bumps encountered during the drive made the fridge work better. Who knows? After a cold beer, we get a well-deserved shower after a couple of days without one. Red studies for a bit and then we prepare a cold soba noodle salad and some bread for breakfast. At dusk, we have to walk closer to the office to be able to get on the internet. And at 9:30pm, we are in bed after a tough day.