I like rural California. It is a beautiful state. This fall Yosemite was a pain in the butt with all the crowding, but the rest of our sight seeing trip was excellent. We started at Reno and spent a couple of days in Yosemite and headed for the Pacific Coast highway, then a meandering tour of the mountains and countryside as we wended our way back towards Reno. Highway 36 from the coast to the Interstate was a beautiful ride. We could see some rather large smoke plumes from wildfires but didn't get too close to any. Near Shingletown we saw a big sign at a cattle farm that featured firearms and announced THIS PROPERTY INSURED BY WINCHESTER AND SMITH AND WESSON. The Lassen volcano park was more to my liking than Yosemite. The Donner memorial at Truckee was very interesting and makes you realize that our pioneers went through a lot to establish civilization in California. I could be perfectly happy living in California if not for the coastal cities politics running things.
