Starting Point: Reno, NV
Ending Point: Eugene, OR
Total Mileage: 461 Miles
Highway 395 from the beginning its start in California city all the way up to the border of worry again is a beautiful scenic alternative route to the highway five. Although it takes 4 to 5 hours longer than the direct route it is worth it because of the wide expanses of the green landscape, geologic features, and scenery and wildlife along the highway.
For some reason it seems like many of the small towns along major highways are very poor economically. It looks like many of these towns had previous economic engines that aren’t active anymore. I was surprised to see that even gas stations in good condition or boarded up and closed.
Passing through the city of Modoc, I even saw a sign for a California Pines, the infamous land subdivisions that were sold on TV by the animated personality. (http://novotopia.com/CaliforniaPines/aboutcp.html)
When I drove into Klamath Falls, I was surprised by the simultaneous my old scenery, quaintness, dead feel, and very low income. I suspect all encounter many many low income and run down neighborhoods on this trip. Growing up in the affluent area of Los Angeles, I wasn’t really exposed to many lower income areas and lifestyles, except for Hispanic areas. However these areas are how many Americans live. They work 9 to 5 struggle to maintain their homes and have no way out of their lifestyle unless they’re incredibly ambitious and intelligent. I’m not sure that if I grew up in one of these areas I would have the ambitiousness and intelligence to work hard and move to an area such as Los Angeles. So much of what motivates me (and other people) is the people around them and what they’re doing with their lives. I’ve been very fortunate to be surrounded by all-around successful people from a young age.
I searched Yelp up for a good restaurant to eat at and came across a well rated pizza restaurant named Rodeo Pizza. At the cashiers suggestion I tried a slice of brussels sprouts pizza and eggplant Parmesan pizza. I then headed to Moore Park, a park located along Klamath lake and ate the pizza in front of the lake.
Afterwards I headed off to crater Lake, one of the most stunning volcanic geologic formations in the United States. Crater Lake was extremely crowded and there was even heavy traffic in some areas of the park. I stopped at a few lookout points and hiked down on the Cleetwood Cove Trail which ended at the Surface water. I swam for a few minutes and then hiked back up to the trailhead. Surprisingly, the water wasn’t too cold. I expected it to be cold because of the very deep waters but it was close to the temperature of the oceans in Southern California.
Afterwards, I decided to head up to Eugene rather than spending the rest of the day at Crater Lake National Park. Eugene is a low income, liberal hipster city where you see fun colored houses, bluntly labeled community growing gardens along residential streets, and bumper stickers with phrases such as “real patriots pay taxes.” In fact, of all the liberal establishments in town, I’m probably staying at the most liberal one: Whittaker international hostel. (http://www.yelp.com/biz/eugene-whiteaker-international-hostels-eugene) Everything from the rooms, front desk, guests scream equality, communism, free spiritedness, and sharing. From the Yelp reviews, it seems like many of the guests at the hostel are just staying there for free or in exchange for working odd jobs around the house. Based on my interactions with a couple of guests, I think this might be the case, but I’m grateful and excited to have somewhere to sleep for the night.
With that said, I think the main reason this a town like this can tread water is because of the huge sums of cash drawn in by the university. Otherwise, this place would be a much worse area.
