Greetings from Mount Shasta, CA! Last year in July I finally moved out of the big city and to the small mountain town of Mt. Shasta, CA, just an hour south of the Oregon border.

I’ll spare all the details, but I will say I’ve never been happier anywhere in my life. This is a little slice of heaven. In fact, I think the town flag on main street reads, “where heaven meets earth”. It’s true.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in this small town, too many episodes of Schitt’s Creek had me wondering how I’d acclimate.

My city-dwelling self had all kinds of amazing surprises, such as these shown here (small town friendliness not shown in the photos). All foreign to me. But the best thing besides the mountain, is the amazing mountain roads made for riding and a Nat’l forest in my backyard.

Last year was all about moving. When you move 4 hours north, with your partner, 2 cats, 2 cars and a motorcycle, there’s a lot to do. Once moved, settling in, minor fixes, took all of our time.

But here we are, the snow has melted (mostly), the flowers (and allergies) are blooming, and twisting mountain roads are calling.

Just a mile or so out of town, the roads start off through the pines and cottonwood trees, majestic Mt. Shasta looking down on me, and to the West, the Eddys (a subrange of the Klamath mountains) takes up the horizon. Winding roads lead up, up, up mountain sides and wildlife is abound. Here’s a few shots from Sunday’s ride:

I ran into snow on a road that Butler maps calls a “paved mountain trail”. A big herd of deer ran alongside the road in a wide-open meadow, and a bald eagle coasted gracefully above me just for a moment. I couldn’t believe it.

A rushing creek that could have passed for a waterfall made for an excellent place to stop for a snack.

My first time out with my new GoPro, I apologize for the not-so-fancy video here. I know I’ll learn it as I go and these should get better. The music is GoPro’s, not mine–blah! But for now, it’ll give you 30 seconds of an idea what the ride was like. You’ll see Shasta off in the distance.

I’m so excited to keep exploring, camping and sharing these places. My next stop will be my friend, Danelle’s campground she recently bought near Lassen Nat’l Park. It’s an amazing place to camp, swim, and catch the sunset on all the mountain peaks. Check it out here: https://lassenrvresort.com/

Until then, I’ll leave you with the traditional bad helmet hair selfie:

Ride on, and keep the rubber side down.