Klamath Falls KOA

The drive through Nevada was a little warm. The sky was pretty hazy which may have kept the temperature doiwn somewhat. I drove through Jackpot, tried to stop at Elko for lunch but the roads and number of people in line at the Taco Time prevented it. I did however pay $1.89 for 86 octane gas at the chevron station. Everytime I reacheed any kind of ridge, I could see dense smog in the valleys below. In trying to make it up one ridge at 70 mph my cruise control cutout when my speedometer got down to 55 mph because the engine could not make the pull. It scared me because I did not know what had happened at first and I had just passed 2 18-wheelers and did not want to get run over. By 2:30 pm I paid $169 for 87 octane gas at Winemucca and headed north on 95 towards 140. There was little traffic and I was in the middle of a hot barren desert with towns few and far between. At one point I accidently knocked the gear into neutral while traveling 65 miles per hour in cruise control and trying to get control of my map. I hoped no harm was done. The first 20 miles of 140 was being paved with loose gravel. I slowed to 55 mph. There were few travelers. None going my direction. A sign said no services for 81 miles. After the construction I resumed my speed of 70 mph. The first sign after the "Welcome to Oregon" sign was a 55 mph sign. Welcome to Oregon indeed. For the first 10 miles I could not go over 35 anyway because the road was so curvey and narrow. The look down below reminded me of the view while driving down Kitt peak in Tucson. One slip and the drop would be at least two or three thousand feet. I made it to Lakeview by 6 pm and suddenly realized I did not know where I was going to stay. I did not want to go much farther. Goose Lake was 15 miles south, but off the highway and I did not want to take a chance of going down there and not being satisfied. The haze was getting thicker and I saw firefighters and firefighting equipment driving down the road everywhere. I drove 5 miles toward Klamath falls 100 miles away, then turned back to get gas in Lakview and consider my predicament. I saw no camping sites between Lakeview and Klamath Falls on my map. My tenting directory said there were three sites about 40 miles west of K Falls. I figured that was 60 miles away from me, so I decided to try it. Sixty miles later with the sun being blotted out by forest fire smoke and the ground haze so thick I could not see a mile, I realized that I was EAST of Klamath Falls and the campgrounds in question were another 80 miles away. I had no choice. I kept going. I arrived at the K Falls KOA around 9 pm. I had had my windows rolled up for some time and was not prepared for the smell of smoke when I got out of the car. It also seemed very cold. The place looked like a war zone with smoke everywhere. I set up my tent in the dark, took a shower, and retired by 9:45 pm PST. I had driven over 12 hours since I had left Twin Falls at 10:15 am MST. I had a place to stay.

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