Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 17:07:10 -0800
Reply-To: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Trip Report. I-5 Portland to So Cal.
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEu+ksiN=JzJFBb=AisX3TLuyM9hwDhDo-eHQEoAw=Q9JtQ@mail.gmail.com>
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Dayum... I hate reading this stuff when I have to go back to work the next day.
Stephen
--- On Tue, 1/1/13, Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Trip Report. I-5 Portland to So Cal.
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Date: Tuesday, January 1, 2013, 3:54 PM
Well , just finished another incident-free but tiresome drive down the
Western US... I left the Columbia River Gorge, near Portland, Oregon,
about noon on Sunday, with the reported road conditions along the eastern
slopes of the mountains dictating that I use the Interstate to avoid ice
and snowy inland highways. I did have some freezing fog as I left home
but once I made Portland and turned south, there was even sun for a
bit....and a gorgeous full moon came up around the time I passed Lake
Shasta...maybe 8hrs of driving later..
I put my speed limiter (self-enforced) at about 70mph, attempting to keep
it right around 65...Inline VW ABA motor in a tin top van with 5sp and a
westie interior. Even with a full load of stuff to last me a few months
in the desert Southwest, I was cruiising easy, and even when I was
'snookered' by traffic into a line behind really slow trucks, I could get
back to 65 without problems. A smooth and easy drive.
Found a good sleeping spot about 11pm , just off the freeway in Corning,
Ca...where there is a Petro, a Travel America and a Loves..all truck
stops....but in the midst of all these, one row of walnut trees to keep the
Big Rigs at bay....I had to shuffle my toolboxes and bicycles around to
make a flat spot on my bed....then down for a flawless sleep till 6am, when
the next day's driving chores began with a pot of coffee off my stove,
prepared the night before.
Luckily no fog in the Central Valley, which can happen frequently in
winter and make driving this route really nasty. I decided to take Hwy
99 rather than I-5, once past Sacramento....I get a real kick out of that
route...it is such a 1970's era road, with broken pavement and potholes,
abbreviated exits and left hand off ramps, etc etc.. About Fresno, the
speed on the highway makes a dramatic increase....I'm rolling along at 70
and people are passing me like I am standing still, while there are
decrepit trucks trundling along at 45-50 in the right lane....Exciting
stuff, compared to the super-slab of Interstate 5, across the central
valley to the west....Kept me interested (and awake) I did see Buck
Owen's ghost in Bakersfield.....
I left 99 at Bakersfield and took the Tehachapi Pass road up across the
high desert to avoid driving right through LA.....There was snow in the
Tehachipi Mts...not usual...and it was chilly in Mojave as I pass through
that beautiful town on my way to Boron, Ca...Caught Hwy 395 and cut into
San Bernardino,,,,Now my 70mph speed really made me feel like a
slowpoke....I swear, the speed the So Cal freeway drivers go, when the road
isn't gridlocked, it is amazing! No cops dare enforce the limits
there....90mph seems about average, when there is an open space.
Then, it being New Years eve, the deserts behind San Diego were very
full of Off Roaders....The new thing is 'LED lighted antennas" this year...
Cheapest gas was $3.25/gal I averaged 21.5 mpg and burned up two
quarts of oil on the trip... About 21hrs of driving time....No freezing
fog here.
Don Hanson
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