CALIFORNIA DROUGHT SUMMER 2009

Crossing the bridge at Shasta Lake in northern California. This Reservoir is rated at "abnormally dry", and we gasped at the obvious signs. This is the 3rd year of drought in California. This reservoir was filled in 1954 and the "Lake" water level is currently 42% of capacity.

We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

Stopping at one of Californias reststops at the north end of Lake Shasta. After World War II, beginning in 1944, a nationwide movement was started to pay tribute to the nation's armed forces by designating various state and national routes as "Blue Star Memorial Highways." In 1945 the National Council of State Garden Clubs adopted the program and began a Blue Star Memorial Highway system, which covers thousands of miles across the Continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. The Blue Star became an icon in World War II and was seen on flags and banners in homes for sons and daughters away at war.