Road trip report: September 2, 2006
After packing up drinks and supplies for the trip, I left the apartment at 10:30. After dropping by the bank and the gas station, it was off on 80 West to get to Highway 5 North. I was initially thinking I'd find an alternate route to 16 that didn't involve driving through downtown Woodland, but the road I thought would take me that way didn't seem to have an exit (or I missed it anyway - at least I missed the gambling addict traffic going to Capay...). So I just kept going and took the Hwy 20 exit. I stopped briefly at a vista point near after passing where 16 ran into 20, looking over not much to look at, mostly a ravine.
After continuing on through more mountainous areas, I was along the road next to Clear Lake. I didn't find much of anyplace to stop and have a look, except for one small turnout that several people had already stopped near a tight corner. I didn't stop. A few miles or so later, a Lakeshore (?) Blvd presented itself, so I went down it seeing if I could find a good spot to look at the lake. No such luck, it came to a road that split and seemed to indicate the left turn would go back to 20. Instead, after another split, it went a few miles and came to Hwy 29. I headed South a few miles and took the Hill Road exit to see if the hill there would present a good place to look. Having no such luck, I made a big circle though the outskirts of Lakeport (I think), almost hitting a turkey in the road at one point, and headed back down 29 to the Todd Rd/Lakeport Blvd exit to stop at the George C Herbert Vista Point. It was a good view of the surrounding area, with the lake being a few miles away.
After a few minutes looking around and taking some pictures, it was off to stop at McDonald's for lunch and back onto 29 South. Shortly thereafter, I stopped at the vista point where 29 met 175 West, not staying since it didn't seem like much of a view. Thus I left the Clear Lake area.
175 was a twisty, turny narrow road. It warns really long trucks not to come through since it's so narrow. At one point, coming up to a tight blind right turn, a tractor-trailer truck was coming around the curve, cutting the corner to make it around. We both had to stop just before I would have gone under the middle of his truck. I had to motion for the pickup behind me to back up so I could manuever backwards and to the side a few feet so the oncoming truck could pass. After stopping at an overlook a few minutes later, no more events came to pass as I twisted and turned on to Hwy 101 North.
From there I went north to Willits and took the turn onto Hwy 20 West to proceed to Hwy 1 at Fort Bragg. The access to the ocean slightly north of Fort Bragg proper seemed promising at first, but I decided to proceed on since it was a fair walk with lots of people there. I stopped at one overlook a few miles later for a few minutes, then went north some more, passed a cool little place where the trees formed a tunnel over the road and stopped at the Mendocino Coastal Trails vista point. I walked the 0.16 mile path to the overhang looking over the rocky shoreline and walked about for 10 minutes or so. Then it was off north again. I missed the last vista point overlooking the ocean, thinking there would be another (I had wanted to stop since I had been there before in the dark on my last trip through the area). But I didn't go back and proceeded back inland through the 22 mile twists and turns as 1 headed back to rejoin 101.
From there, it was 101 North for a few hours. Just before making Eureka, I noticed I had missed the rollover to 90,000 miles on the car by about 140 miles. Oh well. A stop in Eureka was made for gas and it was then on past the turnoff to 299, where a sign warned that there was a fire at Big Bar which would make that direction impassible at some point, then on pass some beaches. At about 8:30, I came upon some heavy fog for several miles. At times it seemed the sun was still up and then at others it looked like it had set. Unfortunetly, at no point did it seem like there was a good place to stop to see it set where there wasn't overcast/foggy conditions. At about 9pm I came to Crescent City. I wanted to stop for dinner, but wasn't sure of where to stop by the time I came to the end of the city and the highway started again. I turned back after a few miles when it came to the 199 turn off. I headed back to there to stop at a place called The Apple Peddler.
After a dinner of Surf & Turf (and no apples), I was off north again to the 199 turnoff and left the coastline for good. The Ipod died 30 minutes later. I made the Oregon border at 11PM. From there, it was on to Grants Pass and onto 5 South just after midnight. 30 minutes later as I was passing through Medford, I saw the Schlotzsky's that I had thought I might stop at off the side of the highway. It was closed by this time, of course, but I wanted to make sure I could reach it. Unfortunately, Medford only has 2 exits and a very confusing roadway system, so it took me 15 minutes of going about roads of Medford to figure out you have to go to the west side of the highway to get to the roads that go under the highway back to the east side of the highway where the restaurant was located. And I had similar luck finding the way back to 5, instead getting onto 99 for 5-10 miles before finding a way back to the main highway.
At 1:30, it was back into California. I stopped at the vista point outside of Yreka for a few minutes. The lights from passing cars and the town made it not ideal for night sky viewing. From there, it was the long haul back to Sacramento. I started to feel tired around 3:30. I stopped at a rest area, one which said it was a favored home for either rattlesnakes or copperheads, so keep a lookout, and considered stopping for a nap. I decided to press on and stop at the next rest area if I couldn't shake the sleepiness enough by then. I was able to keep awake and kept going.
At 4:30, I stopped at Willows for just enough gas to make it back home. Not too long later, I passed/was passed by an orange-ish car. Curiously, he/she would pass me at times and other times slow down and I passed him/her. I thought this was interesting, but I just wondered if they were playing some sort of game to keep awake or some such. This occured several times on the way to the turnoff back onto 80. I waved goodbye to the highway companion car and headed back the last few miles to home. Stopping at the gas station to fill up post-trip before ending the road trip, I found that the gas cap was hanging tightly in the gas tank door, which was open. I laughed as I remember my mis-interpretation of the orange car's motives, and I guessed that the highway speeds kept the door closed enough so that the gas cap wouldn't rattle out of the screw catch to keep it out of the way for refueling.
At 6:16, I pulled back up to the apartment, thus ending a nice long day on the road.
Total mileage: 920 miles
Total trip time: 19 hours, 46 minutes
September 2, 2006
10:30am leave
10:34 bank
10:37-43 Flyers
10:45 80 West
10:58 5 North
11:14 pass 16 turn off
11:27 Dunnigan Safety Rest Area
11:34 leave
11:42 pass Arbuckle
11:52 20 West
---
12:13pm pass 16 turn off
12:15-20 vista point
12:40 pass 53 turn off
12:44 Clearlake Oaks
12:46 first view of Clear Lake
12:50 Glenhaven
12:57 Lucerne
1:04 Nice
1:06 Lakeshore Blvd
1:10 road to 29
1:13 stop at 29 exit to decide route
1:15 29 South
1:18 take Hill Rd exit
1:20-5 drive through Lakeport (?)
1:25 back onto Hill Rd, almost hit turkey
1:29 29 South again
1:33 Todd Rd/Lakeport Blvd/George C Hubert Vista Point
1:43 leave
1:48-57 McDonalds drive through
1:58 29 again
2:01 Hwy 175
2:12 almost go under truck coming around corner
2:16 turnout overlook
2:35 101 North
2:54 pass 20 exit West
2:10 check map
2:16 20 West turn off
4:03 a spot of rain/mist
4:05 1 North
4:26 stop at overlook/driveway
4:30 leave
4:34 Mendocino Coast Trails vista point
4:53 leave
4:59 pass Westport
5:07 last view of ocean on Hwy 1
5:11 stop to secure cooler
5:44 101 North
6:46 pass 36 turn off
6:50 turn off
6:55-59 McDs
7:01 101 again
7:14 Eureka
7:18-26 Chevron
7:42 pass 299 turn off
7:52 pass Trinidad Beach
8:11 (?) Klamath
8:35-43 heavy fog
8:54 Crescent City
8:58 oops, missed turn to stay in town
9:01 199, circle back
9:04 101 South
9:06 Crescent City again
9:10 The Apple Peddler
10:07 leave
10:13 199
10:21 pass 197 turnoff
10:32 Gasquet
10:38 Ipod dies
10:46 what look like a dog crosses the road
11:00 Oregon
11:15 town before Kerby - almost run a red light
11:19 Kerby
11:28 stop at store parking lot to set up CD player
11:55 Grants Pass
---
September 3, 2006
12:01am 5 South
12:07 Rogue River pass
12:10 Valley of the Rogue State Park Rest Area
12:17 leave
12:32 Medford
12:35 take 2nd Medford exit, wander about
12:50 reach Schlotzsky's parking lot
12:55 on 99
1:05 "Entering Talent"
1:10 turn off to 5
1:12 5 South again
1:16 pass 66 turn off
1:22 pass Mt. Ashland exit
1:30 enter California
1:39 pass 96 exit
1:45 vista point
1:55 leave
1:59 Yreka
2:22 pass through Weed
2:24 pass 89
2:55 stop at Vilamers exit to check rattle (from cans?)
3:21 Redding
3:29 pass 44
3:40 Herbert S Miles Rest Area
3:53 leave
3:57 Red Bluff
4:27 Artois
4:32-43 Willows/168/Chevron for gas
4:45 5 South
5:04 pass 20
5:12 pass Arbuckle
5:23 Dunnigan
5:32 pass 16, first light of dawn
5:48 80 East
6:00 Antelope exit
6:03-10 Chevron, notice gas cap
6:16 home again
After continuing on through more mountainous areas, I was along the road next to Clear Lake. I didn't find much of anyplace to stop and have a look, except for one small turnout that several people had already stopped near a tight corner. I didn't stop. A few miles or so later, a Lakeshore (?) Blvd presented itself, so I went down it seeing if I could find a good spot to look at the lake. No such luck, it came to a road that split and seemed to indicate the left turn would go back to 20. Instead, after another split, it went a few miles and came to Hwy 29. I headed South a few miles and took the Hill Road exit to see if the hill there would present a good place to look. Having no such luck, I made a big circle though the outskirts of Lakeport (I think), almost hitting a turkey in the road at one point, and headed back down 29 to the Todd Rd/Lakeport Blvd exit to stop at the George C Herbert Vista Point. It was a good view of the surrounding area, with the lake being a few miles away.
After a few minutes looking around and taking some pictures, it was off to stop at McDonald's for lunch and back onto 29 South. Shortly thereafter, I stopped at the vista point where 29 met 175 West, not staying since it didn't seem like much of a view. Thus I left the Clear Lake area.
175 was a twisty, turny narrow road. It warns really long trucks not to come through since it's so narrow. At one point, coming up to a tight blind right turn, a tractor-trailer truck was coming around the curve, cutting the corner to make it around. We both had to stop just before I would have gone under the middle of his truck. I had to motion for the pickup behind me to back up so I could manuever backwards and to the side a few feet so the oncoming truck could pass. After stopping at an overlook a few minutes later, no more events came to pass as I twisted and turned on to Hwy 101 North.
From there I went north to Willits and took the turn onto Hwy 20 West to proceed to Hwy 1 at Fort Bragg. The access to the ocean slightly north of Fort Bragg proper seemed promising at first, but I decided to proceed on since it was a fair walk with lots of people there. I stopped at one overlook a few miles later for a few minutes, then went north some more, passed a cool little place where the trees formed a tunnel over the road and stopped at the Mendocino Coastal Trails vista point. I walked the 0.16 mile path to the overhang looking over the rocky shoreline and walked about for 10 minutes or so. Then it was off north again. I missed the last vista point overlooking the ocean, thinking there would be another (I had wanted to stop since I had been there before in the dark on my last trip through the area). But I didn't go back and proceeded back inland through the 22 mile twists and turns as 1 headed back to rejoin 101.
From there, it was 101 North for a few hours. Just before making Eureka, I noticed I had missed the rollover to 90,000 miles on the car by about 140 miles. Oh well. A stop in Eureka was made for gas and it was then on past the turnoff to 299, where a sign warned that there was a fire at Big Bar which would make that direction impassible at some point, then on pass some beaches. At about 8:30, I came upon some heavy fog for several miles. At times it seemed the sun was still up and then at others it looked like it had set. Unfortunetly, at no point did it seem like there was a good place to stop to see it set where there wasn't overcast/foggy conditions. At about 9pm I came to Crescent City. I wanted to stop for dinner, but wasn't sure of where to stop by the time I came to the end of the city and the highway started again. I turned back after a few miles when it came to the 199 turn off. I headed back to there to stop at a place called The Apple Peddler.
After a dinner of Surf & Turf (and no apples), I was off north again to the 199 turnoff and left the coastline for good. The Ipod died 30 minutes later. I made the Oregon border at 11PM. From there, it was on to Grants Pass and onto 5 South just after midnight. 30 minutes later as I was passing through Medford, I saw the Schlotzsky's that I had thought I might stop at off the side of the highway. It was closed by this time, of course, but I wanted to make sure I could reach it. Unfortunately, Medford only has 2 exits and a very confusing roadway system, so it took me 15 minutes of going about roads of Medford to figure out you have to go to the west side of the highway to get to the roads that go under the highway back to the east side of the highway where the restaurant was located. And I had similar luck finding the way back to 5, instead getting onto 99 for 5-10 miles before finding a way back to the main highway.
At 1:30, it was back into California. I stopped at the vista point outside of Yreka for a few minutes. The lights from passing cars and the town made it not ideal for night sky viewing. From there, it was the long haul back to Sacramento. I started to feel tired around 3:30. I stopped at a rest area, one which said it was a favored home for either rattlesnakes or copperheads, so keep a lookout, and considered stopping for a nap. I decided to press on and stop at the next rest area if I couldn't shake the sleepiness enough by then. I was able to keep awake and kept going.
At 4:30, I stopped at Willows for just enough gas to make it back home. Not too long later, I passed/was passed by an orange-ish car. Curiously, he/she would pass me at times and other times slow down and I passed him/her. I thought this was interesting, but I just wondered if they were playing some sort of game to keep awake or some such. This occured several times on the way to the turnoff back onto 80. I waved goodbye to the highway companion car and headed back the last few miles to home. Stopping at the gas station to fill up post-trip before ending the road trip, I found that the gas cap was hanging tightly in the gas tank door, which was open. I laughed as I remember my mis-interpretation of the orange car's motives, and I guessed that the highway speeds kept the door closed enough so that the gas cap wouldn't rattle out of the screw catch to keep it out of the way for refueling.
At 6:16, I pulled back up to the apartment, thus ending a nice long day on the road.
Total mileage: 920 miles
Total trip time: 19 hours, 46 minutes
September 2, 2006
10:30am leave
10:34 bank
10:37-43 Flyers
10:45 80 West
10:58 5 North
11:14 pass 16 turn off
11:27 Dunnigan Safety Rest Area
11:34 leave
11:42 pass Arbuckle
11:52 20 West
---
12:13pm pass 16 turn off
12:15-20 vista point
12:40 pass 53 turn off
12:44 Clearlake Oaks
12:46 first view of Clear Lake
12:50 Glenhaven
12:57 Lucerne
1:04 Nice
1:06 Lakeshore Blvd
1:10 road to 29
1:13 stop at 29 exit to decide route
1:15 29 South
1:18 take Hill Rd exit
1:20-5 drive through Lakeport (?)
1:25 back onto Hill Rd, almost hit turkey
1:29 29 South again
1:33 Todd Rd/Lakeport Blvd/George C Hubert Vista Point
1:43 leave
1:48-57 McDonalds drive through
1:58 29 again
2:01 Hwy 175
2:12 almost go under truck coming around corner
2:16 turnout overlook
2:35 101 North
2:54 pass 20 exit West
2:10 check map
2:16 20 West turn off
4:03 a spot of rain/mist
4:05 1 North
4:26 stop at overlook/driveway
4:30 leave
4:34 Mendocino Coast Trails vista point
4:53 leave
4:59 pass Westport
5:07 last view of ocean on Hwy 1
5:11 stop to secure cooler
5:44 101 North
6:46 pass 36 turn off
6:50 turn off
6:55-59 McDs
7:01 101 again
7:14 Eureka
7:18-26 Chevron
7:42 pass 299 turn off
7:52 pass Trinidad Beach
8:11 (?) Klamath
8:35-43 heavy fog
8:54 Crescent City
8:58 oops, missed turn to stay in town
9:01 199, circle back
9:04 101 South
9:06 Crescent City again
9:10 The Apple Peddler
10:07 leave
10:13 199
10:21 pass 197 turnoff
10:32 Gasquet
10:38 Ipod dies
10:46 what look like a dog crosses the road
11:00 Oregon
11:15 town before Kerby - almost run a red light
11:19 Kerby
11:28 stop at store parking lot to set up CD player
11:55 Grants Pass
---
September 3, 2006
12:01am 5 South
12:07 Rogue River pass
12:10 Valley of the Rogue State Park Rest Area
12:17 leave
12:32 Medford
12:35 take 2nd Medford exit, wander about
12:50 reach Schlotzsky's parking lot
12:55 on 99
1:05 "Entering Talent"
1:10 turn off to 5
1:12 5 South again
1:16 pass 66 turn off
1:22 pass Mt. Ashland exit
1:30 enter California
1:39 pass 96 exit
1:45 vista point
1:55 leave
1:59 Yreka
2:22 pass through Weed
2:24 pass 89
2:55 stop at Vilamers exit to check rattle (from cans?)
3:21 Redding
3:29 pass 44
3:40 Herbert S Miles Rest Area
3:53 leave
3:57 Red Bluff
4:27 Artois
4:32-43 Willows/168/Chevron for gas
4:45 5 South
5:04 pass 20
5:12 pass Arbuckle
5:23 Dunnigan
5:32 pass 16, first light of dawn
5:48 80 East
6:00 Antelope exit
6:03-10 Chevron, notice gas cap
6:16 home again