2018
Summer Journey
West
Coast Journey Heading North
Back in 2015, Julie and I made the journey up north taking in
the sights of Canada and Alaska. Here we are about three years later and ready
for another adventure up to the far north. Our starting route will be a lot
like it was on our first trip straight up the I-15 into Oregon, then over to Idaho.
This first part is covering from Home to the Canadian border, so it's going to be long.
This first part is covering from Home to the Canadian border, so it's going to be long.
July 11, 2018, Day 1
Plans have been laid out for a early morning departure to get ahead of the Los Angles traffic, which indeed pay off. By about
5 am we were climbing the Gorman Pass on the I-5 in California. Start Mileage:
154064
Two
things that we are doing differently is that we’re taking our dog Maggie with
us and also pulling a small utility trailer this time. Reaching the Lebec rest
area on the I-5 we made a pit stop, Maggie was ready to get out and run around!
At
this rest stop was a very classic Airstream Motorhome
Moving on, traffic was flowing smoothly,
reaching Kettleman, Ca. was a fuel stop. This fuel up showed that our truck got
11.4 mpg so far. End of our day 1 was San Luis Reservoir staying at San Luis
Creek campground.
Maggie
was having fun running around, sticking her noise into everything.
From our site we have a beautiful view of the
lake.
July 12, 2018, Day 2
Last night was dead quiet very
restful. Our target end of the day is Redding, Ca. the morning was beautiful,
Julie made breakfast and Maggie was right there to catch anything that
"fell" off the counter top.
When leaving San Luis Reservoir we headed up further on the highway to the overlook to take some photo from up there.
Down below we saw a herd of deer (?) make
their way across the shoreline.
Back on the I-5, heading north the traffic
was moving at a good clip. It wasn’t long before we were passing through Sacramento
area and viewing some of the buildings at interstate speed.
A few more miles a bridge stretching over
the lazy Sacramento River was before us, below were docks and boats of the
people living along the river that we could see as we motored over the river on
a concrete path.
July 13, 2018, Day 3 Friday
An overnight stay at Redding RV Park was
done; it was a pretty tight fit between each site. The morning comes with a
beautiful sunrise that brought warmth to one’s soul.
Julie made breakfast burritos out of
left over steak adding eggs, onions and peppers to it, they were great! One of
the things Julie and I agreed upon was Maggie had to be walked before hitting
the road again, today would be a long drive, over 680 miles today to Dayton
,Oregon.
From Redding, Shasta Lake wasn’t all
that far, we would made a little side trip down Turntable Bay Rd. after
crossing the bridge, placing us by Shasta Lake.
Following the dirt road, it wander a
little, brought us fairly close to the lake and an area where I could turn our
rig around. During the turn around the trailer impacted the hillside damaging
the tail lights.
Julie and I followed the lake road
further down on foot towards the Shasta Bridge we just came over.
Walking this road took us to a wonderful
view of the bridge and Shasta Lake.
Julie and Maggie enjoyed our little
walk.
Leaving our little side journey we
stopped a guy in a Union Pacific truck to see if he knew a place to buy some
new trailer lights, Mt. Shasta City is where we would have to go. He was here
to close and lock the gate just where we had turned around.
A few miles up the I-5 and we arrived at
Mt. Shasta City with a good view of Mt. Shasta.
A quick stop at the local Napa store and
new trailer light were installed.
It was back on the I-5 heading north
just taken in some of the road side sights and the burn area near Weeds, Ca.
We would be passing an overturned
semi-rig, this would put us just inside Oregon. We lucked out as to not being held
up by any freeway shut down as the tow trucks haven’t arrived yet.
Sometime later it was time to stretch
one’s legs and other things, pulling off the interstate into the “Valley of the
Rouge S.P.” and rest area.
One of our planed stops was cancelled
due to an emergency on the part of my Uncle and Aunt, so today would be a long
drive to Dayton, Oregon. Our departure from the I-5 was at Rt. 99 E/22.
Salem was just as crowed as I remembered
from our last trip (2015), working our way through town would be slow, tedious
while snaking our way through town.
It was late in the day before arriving
at my cousin’s place. They held dinner for us; we talked about our day’s
travels, then bedtime.
7/15/2018, Day 5
Rising early for some morning
photography and as usual Maggie has to get into the photos.
Ken and Gwen would be taking us to
Lincoln, Or. for a day at the beach, a dog friendly beach. Breakfast however
was first thing to be done and that meant a stop at Otis Restaurant where dogs
are welcome to sit in the patio area. The food here is very good, homemade.
It was a short drive from Otis to
Lincoln, Maggie’s first time at the beach.
Some light fog faded in and out,
creating the effect of people, animals and buildings being ghost like.
Time we all got back to Ken and Gwen
home it was dinner time, pizza from Papas Murphy was ordered. While we ate I put
Maggie in the cab of our truck, unleashed, this would prove to be a mistake.
While we ate pizza, Maggie ate the door jamb seals and the window seal.
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7/16/18, Day 6
A trip to the local Ford dealer,
ordering new door and window seals set me back 302 dollars, Maggie would never
be unleashed inside the cab for the rest of the trip. The seals would arrive the
next day. Meanwhile, back at the farm it was blueberry picking time. My cousins grew
3 different kinds of blueberries, Julie and I couldn’t tell the difference
between them.
7/17/18, Day 7
The door seal came in as promised and
three hours later I did installed them. Today we would be just be lazy, Ken
would fire up the bar-be-que in the late afternoon to burn some chicken. This
is our last day at my cousin’s home.
7/18/18, Day 8 Wednesday
After breakfast we said our good bye’s,
Ken and Gwen told us to stop at the Multnomah Falls at Benson S.P. on our way
to Troy, ID.
Making our way back to the I-5 was a
small adventure in it’s self. Having to deal with traffic going through town.
Our route would take us south on the I-5
to I-205 heading somewhat northeast. Once reaching I-84 our heading was east
and Multnomah Falls were just short commute away.
Parking for the Multnomah Falls was a
bit unusual in the fact that the parking area is sandwiched between the east and
west lanes.
Access to the falls would be through a
under pass on the east bound of I-84. Sometimes while traveling one sees some
unusual vehicles.
Most of the side trails were closed due
to falling rocks because of all the rain. Our pathway leads Julie, Maggie and me along
a stream up to an open area where a lodge is at. Multnomah Falls could be easily
seen from here and the trail head upwards is nearby.
Our climb up to the falls was easy as it
being asphalted all the way up to the above bridge. Unfortunately the bridge was
as far as one could go; it is blocked by chain link fencing.
Our last look, Julie and I enjoyed our time at Multnomah Falls but it was time for our
departure Troy Idaho was calling calling our names.
Boardman’s Rest area would be our next
stop some 130 miles later. During our travel Julie took many good photos and
some in creditable ones as well. Julie took the following photo from our moving TC.
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| Super Scooper on the Columbia River |
Boardman's Rest Area on the East I-84, Or.
We made Boardman’ rest area and good thing, Maggie was already letting us know she had to go. Free coffee was being offered at the rest area, a nice touch and one we have noted that many rest areas have done. Once again it's on the road again, sounds somehow familiar.
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Before you could spit (not really) we
were crossing into Idaho, going through Moscow (how the heck did we get there,
damn wormholes). Entering Troy (Idaho, took another wormhole) not long after
leaving Moscow. My Aunt Loretta and Uncle Danny have lived there forever, Danny
was even the major of Troy one time!
   
Danny had us park in front of their
house, he really liked my trail (1956 Ford Fleet-side truck bed)
July 19 – 21, 2018
While at my Aunt and Uncle’s place, our
needed a oil change and as before we took it to….for the oil change.
It was weird seeing my truck up so high.
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We would go with Danny & Loretta to
Lewiston to visit some of their kids and grand kids for the day then back home
to Troy.
 
Most of our time was hanging around the
house, visiting and watching the deer and some quail run through their back
yard. It was a quiet evening, peaceful.
 
July 21, 2018
Our last breakfast with Danny and my
Aunt Loretta was wonderful and she made sure we had plenty to eat, filling our
bellies to the busting point. About 09:30 am we said our good-byes, jumped into
the truck, drove off to the RV dump and fuel station.
My Aunt and Uncle were directly involved
in the creating of the RV dump. Since 2015 three pull through had been added,
all supported by donations.
This would for us be the last time Julie and I would being seeing my Uncle Danny, for he would pass away in 2019 from a vehicle accident, life is short enjoy your family while you can.
R.I.P Danny
A
quick fuel stop at the locale place, (starting mileage 155513)
About 10:15 am we finally are on way out
of Troy, Id. Our next leg stretching stop would be Mineral Mountain rest area (I-95).
Maggie was whining to be let out, so we stopped, yea it was only 38.5 miles.
   
We took advantage of this stop to use
the faculties and clean the windows. The guy riding the motorcycle came back to
his two wheel speed machine and of course I wander over to talk to him. He was
on his way to Alaska and on to Deadhorse; he having never been there I gave him
some information about the fuel stops up on the Haul road, (Dalton Road).
Day light is a burning and we wanted to
make the Canadian border today. The I-95
will shortly be running through the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation. Here’s
some photo along that route.
    
The following photos are of what we saw
while traveling through Coeur d’Alene.
    
On to Sandpoint, crossing Lake Pend Oreille
on the Sandpoint Long Bridge, which in itself has a long history of the original
started back in May 26, 1908 (Bridge History) A few more photos as we passed through
Sandpoint, Id.
click on YouTube icon for full screen      It wasn't much longer and we were in Bonners Ferry, Id. Also time to top the diesel tanks they were getting low  |
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