From Klamath Falls we headed south to Weed, CA. Sayonara Oregon. Here we met up with Judy, the 'doodle breeder for Cooper and Ruby. It'd been some 10 years since our last visit so we knew only a few of the dogs there. One familiar to us was Easy, a contemporary of Ruby. Very easy to get them confused having very similar presence. Ruby was drawn to Handsome who bore a striking resemblance to Cooper.

Then around Mt Shasta on the south side. Stopped at Fowler Cr CG on the McCloud River. This is where the McCloud River Falls are, three of them. We took the short hikes into the falls. Beautiful country in the northern Sierras. Even had some views of Shasta from the south.

We took an unusual route south from Susanville. Rather than south through Reno. we went north of Honey Lake on gravel roads. Way more interesting than the more travelled routes. This brought us along the west side of Pyramid Lake and on into Wadsworth, NV. We're back in the desert now.

After a unremarkable night at Lahontan SP we headed out for the main event, an expedition to Icky Fish. Actually the "Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park", found as an interesting way out of the way place on a Nevada map. Why not? We left US-50 at Eastgate and headed south to Berlin, an OnX route connecting these two specks on the map. The dirt roads were pretty good with no problem getting through. A few muddy puddles reminding us it would be impassable in heavy rain. But a nice off pavement drive.

A short sidetrip to Ione just north of Berlin. Ione is a semi ghost town in the middle of Nevada. Most of the houses/cabins look to be in ruins, but some are kept up and lived in. No food or shopping but an interesting and very remote town.

Berlin was built around the Berlin Mine before both went belly up. The Berlin town site, with the Icky Fish part, is a state park. The townsite is somewhat restored, buildings are stabalized but not set up as a museum would be. Still an interesting stroll with descriptive signs as to what each building was used for. We hiked from the campground maybe a mile to the Ichthyosaur dig site. This was a bust, except for the nice hike, as access was by tour only. We didn't check but we doubt many if any tours were offered in late September. So we took a picture through the buildings window. The campground was great with only a few people.

Winding down the trip we left Icky Fish through the metropolis of Gabbs and shot through Tohapah with an obligatory salute to the Clown Motel. Neither of us have ever stayed there but each time we go through we find it ..... scary.

OK. Skirted the top of Vegas, after US-95 thru Beatty, rather than our usual route through Rachel directly to the Lake Mead National Rec Area missing Vegas altogether. The Vegas route has more traffic but is, rumored to be, faster. Then finally a couple of days at Valley of Fire. We've been here many times but this was our first time coming in from the west. Always great scenery here. Even in late September it's iffy getting a camp site. We came in early on a weekday and were able to stay. At least most sites are first come first serve. If you haven't been to Valley of Fire you should go. But then so many places on this trip fit that bill. We advise you to get out and go.

It was a fine trip, though Ruby is not completely convinced. We'll drag her off on other similar adventures, she should be used to these long strange trips by now.

P.S. Ziggy (extensively modified Pleasureway Excel-TS) worked very well through the trip. We've worked out most of the kinks but returned from this trip with a list of improvements to to be made. Like, where's Waldo.

Safe Travels.