Well so much for planning. Not much happeded according to the plans we made. We left later than we had planned to, and also stopped earlier. We stayed night in Sparwood BC. Nice little motel, the lady at the desk was learning english. Thursday morning we slept in a little, and made our way to Cranbrook, we stopped there for about an hour and I saw my favorite Great Aunt Angie (nick named GPS), she got my Aunt Carole and I lost while trying to find her son’s house in Kimberly a couple of weeks ago.
So off we go in a cloud of heifer dust and small stones. Through customs, boy the US customs guy was nice and friendly. And down on through Idaho and across Washington. We got to the Columbia River, picked the way we wanted to go on the map, but be darned if we could find the “blankety blankety” highway, so we went out of our way, and finally got to where we wanted to go, but we wasted some time. We were both feeling crappy, between a migraine and a head cold, so we decided to stop early again. We stayed in The Dalles on the Columbia River.
We “slept in” and didn’t leave until around 8 am (late for us on the road). We wandered down I5 for a bit, and then over to Newport and Highway 101 on the coast. Got there around noon. stopped at a little store, got gas and ice, made a sandwich, and somw ice cream dibbs for desert.
We started down the coast stopping every once in a while, and decided we would only make Coos Bay, so we phoned ahead for a reservation. We got there around 5 pm, and the room wasn’t ready !! so we went off to find the coast and a lighthouse for maybe a good sunset. After we got part way over, I decided the heck with it, I wanted to go and lay down, my head hurt. So back to the motel, and then decided we should eat something. So we went in search of food, and found the casino. We had prime rib for supper, very good, but we lost 20$ each. Then back to the motel and an early night. We phoned Sacramento to warn that we would be in late on Sat.
Up late again on Saturday morning (6:30), and on the road by 7. The fog was in so not much to see along the way for most of the morning. Got into California, and the sun was shining through. We stopped in the first bunch of redwoods we saw and got some great photos of the sunlight streaming through the trees and the fog. Farther on down, we took an exit that said “coast trail” – and off we go again. The road got progressively narrower, and went from pavement to gravel and very bumpy, and right along the edge of the cliff. We have been there before, I think, and we went up and down hills, and around corners were the road was only a car width wide.
Finally back to 101, and into more big trees – WOW.Now to make the trip across the coastal mountains to I5 and down to Sacramento. We forgot how “scenic” the highway was, to go 129 miles it took almost 3 hours. As we emerged from the mountains, my phone went off with a message – were the heck are you? You should be here by now. Well, we got to Sacramento at 7:45 pm, unpacked the car, and then took Francis to the Casino – she has been waiting since last year.
I lost another 20$ – the last of the big time spenders. We shared a burger and fries, and headed back to the apartment. I’ve had too much sudfed, my head is spinning. Time for a long sleep.