The Long Way Home

Bonneville Salt Flats!

Grant and Jacquie were up and on the road by about 6:00 AM; Linda and I were about an hour behind. We followed the route we had taken to get to Moab. At Salt Lake, we turned west and followed I80. This led us to Wells Nevada. As we drove we passed through the Bonneville Salt Flats. We took a break there and read the information posted on the flats. It was very interesting and walked on the salt taking pictures.

Truckee, CA - Snow!

Our accommodations for the night were in Elko, NV. We chose the Walmart parking lot and nestled into a back corner. The night went well after about 9:00 PM, prior to that we had a few cars doing doughnuts in the lot. Exciting Friday nights in old Elko I would say.

We were up and on the road early. Our path was straight and smooth. We for a campsite at Coachland RV Park in Truckee, CA. It was shower night and we were looking forward getting clean.

The RV Park was very nice, but the snow! There were about four feet of snow piled all around the campsite spaces. We pulled in and got set up. Out came the chairs and we both sat out enjoying the sun. As we warmed we made plans for our final push to the Redwoods.

Our route, as we decided, was to go up through the Grass Valley following highway 70. We confirmed this with a guy who worked at the RV place. This would take us up through Chico to I-5 where we would by-pass Redding to Weaverville ending up at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center located in Redwoods National Park.

Morning arrived and we prepared to leave. Stinky Jeep got into the mix by deciding to not start. The battery was completely dead. It was inevitable that this would happen sometime on our trip, I have been having starting problems for quite a while. We decided that the best solution would be to buy a new battery before we got to the Redwoods. To do this, Linda called the Firestone dealer in Eureka and set up an appointment.

The drive was miserable. Roads were up and down and so winding that we had to drive slow. Our breaks were getting a workout. Up, down, curve left then right. I was about a tense as I have ever been.

Arriving at Eureka, Linda led us to the tire dealer and then went in and found out where we needed to park the camper and Jeep. She called and then guided me into the driveway where we parked, blocking everything. A worker was there immediately and changed out the old battery and installed the new one. Within an hour we were back on the road north to the Redwoods.

We arrived at the park at about 3:00 PM and found a very nice camping spot. Our spot was a pull through with very good sun. No hookups, so sun on the solar was important.

The first thing we did was to drive up through the park and look at all the trees. They are huge!

Our visit in the park lasted three days. We spent the first day driving into look at the trees and all the viewpoints. The next day they closed the road into the park to do annual maintenance. We were glad we had driven there that first day. For the next two days, we explored various trails and roads that led to sights within the park boundaries but off the main park road. I cannot tell you how amazing the redwoods are, you have to visit there to grasp how magnificent.

The weather was beautiful the entire time we explored. By the end of our stay, we had checked our maps and decisions as to where our next leg of the journey would take us.

Thursday we headed north and wound our way over to I-5, which led us to Eugene, OR. We pulled into Linda’s sister’s place and set up the camper. By the time we were all moved in the Sollingers arrived. The next four days we did the family thing, visiting, laughing, eating, celebrating birthdays and exploring the area.

Our final stop was a short visit with our friends Don and Caroline. To do this we drove from Eugene up I-5 to Olympia and then cut over to the coast via Aberdeen. Westport is such a nice place and we were able to walk on the beach each day we were there. After three nights it was time for us to get on the road for our final drive back home. We had been away from our house for almost a month and we were both looking forward to sleeping in our bed.

The drive home was very uneventful. The weather was nice and we timed the big city traffic perfectly. We arrived in early afternoon, backed into our spot, cleared out the camper and were resting in our chairs by 5:00 PM. Hum, wonder where we will go next?

3151 Miles of driving, 6 states, 4 National Parks, 1 Jeep Battery, and a whole bunch of laughs.

WWII Radar station in disguise. 

Seal at the mouth of the Klamath River.

Hiking the beach along the mouth of the Klamath River.