9-18-19 Hat Creek & Bishop, CA

Rob, caught cold-handed with a malt

I meant to mention that Grants Pass was named for Ulysses S. after his victory at Vicksburg in 1863.  Also, the town has an old historic district that is really worth a visit.  The pharmacy was built in 1904 and it still functions as a pharmacy, complete with the original soda fountain.  I wandered off and Rob strayed away, unattended.  Later, I found him perched on a soda fountain stool slurping a malt through a (plastic!) straw.

Next stop was Hat Creek.  As far as I know, there isn’t a single thing going on in Hat Creek.  This was just an intermediate stop to break up a long drive.  The population is 219 but I don’t know where they are.  As far as I could tell, it consists of one intersection and we saw about 5 people.  In the early 1900s, nearby Mt. Lassen blew its stack and this area was devastated by floods and mudslides.  Undaunted, homesteaders Mel and Mary Shearin pressed on.  Mel guided pack trains of visitors through the wilderness.  Mary constructed a small post office and store in Old Station (just up the road from Hat Creek) and was appointed postmaster in 1931.  Her building still stands and is thought to be the smallest post office in the US.  So, in our travels, we have found the smallest post office, the smallest police station (in Carrabelle, FL) and the smallest bar (on a harbor tour boat in Oregon).   

Inside the smallest post office in
the US in Old Station, CA

Rob at Mary's post office

Smallest police station located
in Carrabelle, FL

Maybe most of the population of Hat Creek is military folks.  At our park, there was no phone reception because the park is located on federally-controlled land.  I don’t know how they do it but our phones were shut down within 5 miles of their “space.”  Because we had no phone, we also had no hotspot which means communication-wise, we were dead in the water.  Not even a call for help was possible.  The park did have spotty 2-hour internet access with Tengo.  Tengo sucks insofar as sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  The clock starts ticking the minute you log on and it shuts you down exactly 2 hours later whether you use it or not.  So basically, this was the most bare bones we have experienced on this trip.  We felt pretty vulnerable and helpless and couldn’t wait to get back on the road and back to civilization. 

A quick overnighter in Minden, NV, again just to break up the long drive.

Central CA had a lot of miners in the early days and food was scarce, especially meat.  Ranchers from southern CA began herding cattle to the area and that is how Bishop initially sprang up.  Later, sheep ranchers also joined the party.  The township was named for Samuel Bishop, one of the first European settlers in the area.  Now Bishop is kind of a cute little tourist town with a quaint main street full of shops, cafes, saloons and so forth.  The biggest attraction in the town is the Dutch Schat’s Bakkerÿ.  As a community, the shepherds who watch their flocks by night had their own culinary preferences as ethnic groups commonly do.  One particular item was shepherd’s bread.  Erick Schat saw a market and began his bakery in 1938 selling loaves of this special bread. 

Rob and Peggy

Rob in Bakery Heaven with racks and
racks of sheep herder bread.

Another big room at Schat's!

Now, the bakery features a thousand different breads, rolls and pastries including apfel strudel (Rob) and blueberry tarts (Lindy) but their specialty is still sheep herder bread.  People come from everywhere simply to shop at Schat’s, where every item in the store, made fresh on a daily basis, flies off the shelves.  We are camped at the small rv park just behind the bakery which is either great or deadly, depending on how you look at it.  Well-planned by my beloved!

 

Peggy!

Our friends Peggy and Pat used to live in Pahrump and we’ve been friends for years.  When Pat died, Peggy moved away from the memories and now lives among friends in Bishop.  Peggy took us up into the mountains to pretty alpine Lake Sabrina.  As luck would have it, the café there is closed on Weds. (Who knew?)  Still, we could sit out on the deck overlooking the blue water and snack on apple pie a la mode.  Later, we were guests of Peggy and her friends Ben and Amy and family, at a fabulous backyard bbq of smoked ribs, beans, cold beer and all the trimmings.  They outdid themselves, really.  What a great day!

Peggy and Lindy at alpine Lake Sabrina

Isn't it gorgeous?  And it was
windy!  And COLD!  Elevation 9,000 ft.

Meet Gentle Ben

Amy, Ben and Peggy