November 6, 2005

November 6, 2005

Eugene, Oregon to Redding, California

YEAR 2 DAY 142

 

Well, we’ve made it to California. The temperature has improved, but we still haven't escaped the rain.

This morning after regular morning routines and chores, and preventive maintenance, we left the I-5 mm 205 rest area and continued heading south on I-5. It was raining lightly when we left. As we drove, the rain became heavy. We drove for a couple of hours, stopping at Roseburg, Oregon to buy some groceries and supplies at Wal-Mart, and fill up with diesel at Love's, which is an RV friendly chain of full service stations like Flying J. After filling up with diesel, we realized that Love’s had a trailer dump station, so we pulled over to it, dumped the holding tanks, and refilled the fresh water. Having empty holding tanks and full fresh water always gives us more boondocking options.

We stopped for lunch at another road side rest area. Oregon and California seem to have large, park like rest areas every 50 miles on the Interstate. After lunch, Joanne drove for an hour or so. We crossed over about half a dozen mountain passes today, with steep, curving ascents, and steep, curving descents. Joanne handled one of these difficult driving challenges today. It's her first time driving the rig around and up, over, and around and down a mountain pass ... and she did it in heavy rain, adding to the difficulty and challenge. Her rig driving skills are certainly improving. Not too many women can drive a 47 foot long truck and trailer combo through winding mountain passes, in heavy rain. Nice work, sweetheart. Although ... her turn at driving was supposed to be a rest for me. Coaching her through an hour of that kind of challenge is more fatiguing for me than if I drove it myself.

We stopped to change drivers again just as we entered California. Wow ... nice road side rest area. Must be a pretty healthy tax base in California to be able to afford road side rest areas as nice as that ! We continued south on I-5. The topography changed as soon as we entered California, from heavily forested mountains to sandy mountains with much less vegetation. The heavy rain continued. It got dark by 5:00 P.M.. The last hour and a half that we drove, in the dark, was more up and down and around mountains, with heavy rain, in the clouds / fog. Good thing I have my IFR license. HA HA HA ! Fuel was getting low. I didn’t want to fill up because there’s a Flying J not too far south of Redding. I stopped at Castella and bought just $20 worth of diesel. The last half hour of driving was actually becoming scary. The rain was the heaviest we’ve encountered in 16 months of being on the road. On winding, climbing, descending mountain road, in the dark, in the fog. Visibility was pretty much zero. I just slowed down to a crawl and followed the taillights of the tractor trailer in front of me.

We stopped for the night at a Wal-Mart in Redding, California. The torrential downpour stopped as soon as we arrived. We parked, walked the dog, fed the animals, then went for a long walk. I was stiff from sitting in the truck all day, and the area we were in was full of stores and restaurants. We were looking for an excuse not to have to make supper. We found one ; Olive Garden. We had a nice leisurely dinner at Olive Garden, then walked back to the trailer. I worked on the computer, doing today’s accounting and journal, while Joanne went Wal-Martin’. She just came back with a rain coat for Bo. It doesn’t fit well. She’s gone back to get a refund.

I don’t know why the stupid dog needs a rain coat. He’s a dog !

DSK