Well, we got here. If you follow facebook, you know this, but HOW wwe got here, that's another story. It was, shall we say, a struggle. NOT, I emphasize, becasue of car problems. Mosty becasue of the weather, the longer than planned for leg of the journey, and becasue of Oregon. I've ranted on about that benighted state enough, so Constant Readeer will know my take on driving there.
For a variety of reasons, we were wide awake about 3:30am, and after mostly just sitting around, got things packed and headed out about 5:30. The weather looked threatening so, although it looks promising, the Eel River Cafe in Garberville was not to get our biz this trip. I've heard it's pretty good, so next time though...
Good thing we headed out, because maybe a mile or two up the road, it began to rain, thunder, lightening, the whole bit. On the one hand, the Cibie Super Oscars worked great cutting through the soup, on the other, wwe were foolish enough to actually believe the weather reports and weren't as prepared for rain as we should have been. We were getting soaked.
I pulled over and got out some large trash bags I'd packed, "just in case" and we wrapped them around our legs. The suitcase on the outside rack I'd already encased in my super duty bag cover, made from of all things, a Weber BBQ cover. The thing worked great, the bag stayed drier than we did!
In Eureka, we stopped for gas and a pee and a quick "breakfast" of Fig Newtons (travel hint: these are really great for a meal on the go! Tasty and filling and reasonable nutritious, they're cheaper than fancy protien bars) I bought a new pair of gloves to replace the now soaked pair and the attendent told me if we hurried, we'd stay ahead of the storm. Mostly we did, off and on drizzle and fog the rest of the way.
In Klamath, home of perhaps the best Road Side Attraction in California: TREES OF MYSTERY, we stopped to take a pee. The Rain had at least stopped for a bit, so we hustled in, peed and I hit the massive giftr shop. My outside arm was soaked so I scouted the jackets. SCORE! A real nice "Trees of Mystery" official waterproof jacket. AHHH!
From there it was off and on rain (mostly off) to Creseent City. Past here, we scrobbed the plan of continuing up 101 through Oregon in favor of making some time by heading up the 199 to Grant's Pass and the I-Yucky-5.
The 199 IS a neat road, nice sweepers, tight twisties, and only one problem. Oregon Drivers Who Won't Pull Over! Some did, many did not. Then as a matter of course, Oregon's obsession with speed limits that are 10% lower that need be. At least. Since it had been raining, I'd put the Radar Detector away, so I had to be careful. Bummer.
Once in Grant's Pass, we had to find gas, and got sucked into the same Arco we went to last time. This place is in the middle of the dumbest parking lot in the world. It winds all over the place. And, remember, Oregon has this weird law that requires some minion with the IQ of a banana slug be on hand to spill gas in the general vicinity of your tank.
It got to be fun at this point. Gomer looks at us, looks at the car and made a wise decision. "Looks like you know how to put in your own." and left me to thankfully put in my own. The good part was the premium gas was 92 octane AND a bunch cheaper than anywhere else on the road.
We chowed down at Carls (yeah, I know, another Road Trippin' Rule broken, but hey, I wrote 'em, I can "interpret" them) as there was no viable alternative in sight and we were HUNGARY. Hell,. it was about 2PM and we only had some fig newtons in us.
After that, it was head up to the 5, wind through the Cascades to the flats of Oregon. BORING! We tanked up in Salem (same deal "Sir, can you put in yer own?") and we were off. We were STILL a good 4 hours + away from Oly, and a qick shot of "5 Hour Energy" perked us right up. I have to say, I've tried it before with no real appreciable improvement, but this time, damn, the stuff really worked.
I'd hooked the GPS and detector back up and as we closed in on Portland, it was approaving rush hour. Lemme tell ya, rush our in Portland makes you long for the 405. It's wretched. Poor old Blue Meanie was over heating like crazy. The weather had gotten warm and muggy and the standstill sent us off the freeway, Sean trying valiantly to guide us through the outskirts of P-Town and back to the 5, and more jams, and more over heating. We pulled over (again) and cooled her down, and by this time, finally got over that damn draw bridge and into Washington. One more stop at one of Washington's very nice rest stops and we finally pulled into my folks' place at almost 9PM! Nothing like 15 hours in a TR3! WHEW!
The usual hugs and kisses and a bite to eat and we were OUT. Next day we mostly did a well deserved nothing.
Next up, a full account of the LeMay, America's newest car museum.
For a variety of reasons, we were wide awake about 3:30am, and after mostly just sitting around, got things packed and headed out about 5:30. The weather looked threatening so, although it looks promising, the Eel River Cafe in Garberville was not to get our biz this trip. I've heard it's pretty good, so next time though...
Good thing we headed out, because maybe a mile or two up the road, it began to rain, thunder, lightening, the whole bit. On the one hand, the Cibie Super Oscars worked great cutting through the soup, on the other, wwe were foolish enough to actually believe the weather reports and weren't as prepared for rain as we should have been. We were getting soaked.
I pulled over and got out some large trash bags I'd packed, "just in case" and we wrapped them around our legs. The suitcase on the outside rack I'd already encased in my super duty bag cover, made from of all things, a Weber BBQ cover. The thing worked great, the bag stayed drier than we did!
In Eureka, we stopped for gas and a pee and a quick "breakfast" of Fig Newtons (travel hint: these are really great for a meal on the go! Tasty and filling and reasonable nutritious, they're cheaper than fancy protien bars) I bought a new pair of gloves to replace the now soaked pair and the attendent told me if we hurried, we'd stay ahead of the storm. Mostly we did, off and on drizzle and fog the rest of the way.
In Klamath, home of perhaps the best Road Side Attraction in California: TREES OF MYSTERY, we stopped to take a pee. The Rain had at least stopped for a bit, so we hustled in, peed and I hit the massive giftr shop. My outside arm was soaked so I scouted the jackets. SCORE! A real nice "Trees of Mystery" official waterproof jacket. AHHH!
From there it was off and on rain (mostly off) to Creseent City. Past here, we scrobbed the plan of continuing up 101 through Oregon in favor of making some time by heading up the 199 to Grant's Pass and the I-Yucky-5.
The 199 IS a neat road, nice sweepers, tight twisties, and only one problem. Oregon Drivers Who Won't Pull Over! Some did, many did not. Then as a matter of course, Oregon's obsession with speed limits that are 10% lower that need be. At least. Since it had been raining, I'd put the Radar Detector away, so I had to be careful. Bummer.
Once in Grant's Pass, we had to find gas, and got sucked into the same Arco we went to last time. This place is in the middle of the dumbest parking lot in the world. It winds all over the place. And, remember, Oregon has this weird law that requires some minion with the IQ of a banana slug be on hand to spill gas in the general vicinity of your tank.
It got to be fun at this point. Gomer looks at us, looks at the car and made a wise decision. "Looks like you know how to put in your own." and left me to thankfully put in my own. The good part was the premium gas was 92 octane AND a bunch cheaper than anywhere else on the road.
We chowed down at Carls (yeah, I know, another Road Trippin' Rule broken, but hey, I wrote 'em, I can "interpret" them) as there was no viable alternative in sight and we were HUNGARY. Hell,. it was about 2PM and we only had some fig newtons in us.
After that, it was head up to the 5, wind through the Cascades to the flats of Oregon. BORING! We tanked up in Salem (same deal "Sir, can you put in yer own?") and we were off. We were STILL a good 4 hours + away from Oly, and a qick shot of "5 Hour Energy" perked us right up. I have to say, I've tried it before with no real appreciable improvement, but this time, damn, the stuff really worked.
I'd hooked the GPS and detector back up and as we closed in on Portland, it was approaving rush hour. Lemme tell ya, rush our in Portland makes you long for the 405. It's wretched. Poor old Blue Meanie was over heating like crazy. The weather had gotten warm and muggy and the standstill sent us off the freeway, Sean trying valiantly to guide us through the outskirts of P-Town and back to the 5, and more jams, and more over heating. We pulled over (again) and cooled her down, and by this time, finally got over that damn draw bridge and into Washington. One more stop at one of Washington's very nice rest stops and we finally pulled into my folks' place at almost 9PM! Nothing like 15 hours in a TR3! WHEW!
The usual hugs and kisses and a bite to eat and we were OUT. Next day we mostly did a well deserved nothing.
Next up, a full account of the LeMay, America's newest car museum.
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