Here we go!

She’s off!

 

Well, the long awaited trip has begun! I took off from the house at about 0830. Later than I wanted, but not nearly as late as I feared. My destination would be near Bend, Oregon.
I’ve made the trip up 97 dozens of times, so I knew what to expect and I knew that in spite of a distance of nearly 400 miles, it would go quickly. There was a bit of Interstate from Redding to Weed, but after that, I was hoping to avoid it.

Kymani loaded up

 

Putting the final check on her

Off I go! 

What comes next

Today would have my first off pavement riding and I was both excited and scared. Last time I tried to ride off pavement, it didn’t go so well. The off pavement (should still be a gravel or dirt road, so not really off road) would be at the end of the day. I expected a completely uneventful trip to my campsite.
The ride was pleasant and not at all hot , so I was really enjoying myself. As I got to Klamath Falls, there was road construction, which stopped me for quite a while. Marmots are usually around here and I consider them my lucky animal, so I had my eyes peeled, but there were none to be seen. As we got moving, I noticed there seemed to be some dark clouds building to the northeast. It was summer though, so I didn’t think much of it.

Turns out, it didn’t matter that it was summer! The sky opened up and let loose. Thunder, lightening, and huge hail started coming down! There was nowhere to turn off and only a small shoulder, so I kept going. I came to a rest stop and pulled in. I quickly pulled my raingear on but I was already soaked. And the temperature had dropped from the mid-70s to the low-50s! The hail had felt like being hit with a billion rubber bullets. I thought about waiting, but it didn’t look like this was going to pass quickly so I continued on.

The hail kept up until it covered the road like snow. This was definitely not the start to my trip I’d imagined.

First night’s camp

The hail finally turned to rain as I was turning off the pavement to my camp area. Anxiety does crazy things to your mind and I had visions of hitting the gravel and toppling over. I needn’t have worried. Though Kymani was far heavier than I was used to, I did fine.
I got camp set up as the rain let up. They had emailed me the water system was down, so I hiked down to the creek and filtered all the water I’d need, made dinner and settled in. Tomorrow would be all new to me and I would continue (mostly) on highway 97 all the way to Yukon.

 

Camp is set up

The sunset was pretty!