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<\/a>The famous Alturas Railway station<\/p><\/div>\n
This week, on Thursday, Brother Jack and I will embark on a road trip that was borne out of some nonsense that Jack uttered years ago.\u00a0 He and I like to bet on football, both college and pro; when we\u2019re in Vegas we make actual bets, but most of the time we just make imaginary bets \u2013 granted you don\u2019t win much with those, but you don\u2019t lose much either.\u00a0 One Monday after a not-so-good imaginary weekend of football betting, I called Jack to discuss our poor results.\u00a0 After my reporting all the bad news, he said, \u201cMaybe we should just go to Alturas and open a turkey farm\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>He then asked me, \u201cDo you know how to make Turkey Pot Pies?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong> What?!!!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know where that came from, I didn\u2019t know where Alturas was and I sure as hell didn\u2019t know how to make a Turkey Pot Pie.\u00a0 Jack explained that Alturas was a small town in the northeast corner of California and that he had never been there, but it sounded like a nice little town. \u00a0And so, Alturas and the prospect of getting into the Turkey Pot Pie business remained the butt of many of our jokes in the ensuing years.<\/p>\n At the end of last year, we decided, since we\u2019re both California natives, and neither of us had not only never been to Alturas, but we didn\u2019t even\u00a0know<\/em> anybody who had ever been to that booming metropolis; so it screamed, \u201cRoad Trip!\u201d\u00a0 So, earlier this year, we planned a road trip that would include some of the places in the state that are near and dear to us while also checking off Alturas, a town that surely is on most people\u2019s bucket list to visit.<\/p>\n So, here\u2019s what we’ve learned, and I\u2019m sure you\u2019re dying to know, about Alturas:<\/p>\n Fisherman’s Wharf . . . or Sausalito?<\/p><\/div>\n Alturas is Spanish for \u201cHeights\u201d, as it is at an altitude of 4,370 feet <\/strong>above sea level.\u00a0<\/strong> With a population of about 2,700 people, albeit one of the largest cities in the region!\u00a0<\/strong> It is located at the confluence of the south and north forks of the Pit River<\/strong>.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that helped you pinpoint it\u2019s exact location!\u00a0 We searched for the possibilities of Alturas having a fairly large turkey populations, but to no avail.\u00a0 We’re not even sure the concept of a Turkey Pot Pie has ever been introduced to the fine people of Alturas!\u00a0 We shall see!<\/p>\n The trip will start with me driving to meet Jack at his home in Santa Maria<\/strong>.\u00a0 The next morning we’ll head north and decide while driving through San Francisco,<\/strong> if we want to stop.\u00a0 It was such a wonerful city when we were growing up in Novato,<\/strong> and we have many fond memories of ‘The City’; but given what we’ve heard, we’re just not sure what we’ll find.\u00a0 If we don’t stop at someplace like Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch, then we’d probably head over to Sausalito<\/strong> and grab a bite.\u00a0 We’ll then continue up to Novato, the town where we were both born and raised.\u00a0 We’ll do some drive-bys of the houses we used to live in and Novato High School<\/strong>, as well as cruise down the main drag, Grant Avenue,<\/strong> which, I’m sure, we’ll bring back lots of memories.\u00a0 We’ll then head over to a classmate and football teammate of Jack’s, Pete Ferrarese<\/strong>, where he has offered us lodging for the night.\u00a0 It’s the only night were we have secured accommodations, as we’re not sure how long we’ll stay in any one place.\u00a0 We may even end up sleeping in the car!<\/p>\n Lake Almanor<\/p><\/div>\n We’ll then head up through the ‘Wine Country’,<\/strong> perhaps stop for a taste, then drive up to Willows,<\/strong> the small town that our father was born in.\u00a0 We’ll keep heading north to Mt. Shasta,<\/strong> and then head east to Alturas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Once we\u2019ve looked for any turkey farms and quizzed the local barkeep about all there is to know about Alturas, (perhaps two drinks worth) we’ll hopefully find some adequate lodging.\u00a0 We will then head south to Lake Almanor.\u00a0 A lake that neither of us have ever been to.\u00a0 We may connect with some friends of mine from Yorba Linda County Club, who summer in Lake Almanor<\/strong>, if so, we\u2019ll stop and say \u2018Hi\u2019 and learn all about the lake.\u00a0 We’ll continue heading south to the town of Quincy, where we spent a few summer vacations as kids.\u00a0 We\u2019ll then head to some familiar haunts of Lake Tahoe<\/strong>, where Jack lived for 14 years and owned a restaurant, and where I owned a cabin and where our family went every summer from 1952 to sometime in the \u201870s and beyond.\u00a0 We\u2019ll spend time at both the north and the south end of the lake possibly doing a bit of gaming at one of the casinos at the south end.\u00a0 After a day or two at the lake we\u2019ll connect to Highway 49<\/strong> and visit California\u2019s \u2018Gold Country\u2019.<\/strong>\u00a0 We\u2019ll visit one of the most famous towns there, Angel\u2019s Camp<\/strong>, where, in 1865, Mark Twain<\/strong> wrote, \u2018The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County\u2019.\u00a0<\/em> From there we will head home.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the plan, but there will be much left to how we\u2019re feeling at the time, so nothing is carved in stone.\u00a0 But I can guarantee you this . . . we will get to Alturas!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow This week, on Thursday, Brother Jack and I will embark on a road trip that was borne out of some nonsense that Jack uttered years ago.\u00a0 He and I like to bet on football, both college and … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Fishermans-wharf-300x186.jpg\")
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