Santa Barbara CA

And we’re back.

Although Paso Robles is about a two and a half hour drive away, we’ve never made it home in less than 4 hours.  This is because we have our stops and side streets to follow.  We detoured to Morro Bay because it was so close, then meandered side streets through Shell Beach, Pismo Beach and Grover Beach.  There is also the drive through Santa Maria and a stop in Buellton.  All in all, it takes a good while to go the 125 miles.

Morro Bay

Pismo Beach

We couldn’t believe how small Lili looks to us after spending a month with her cousins, Guv’nor and M’Lady.  What a hoot!  Surprisingly, Lili came running when we came in the door and has taken a couple of hours to settle down and be quiet (she's been very vocal).

The cousins

It's about time you guys came home!

I know I'm cute. . .

Stats:  5.5 hours, 155.1 miles

Paso Robles CA

An uneventful dash to the coast to escape the heat – and we broke our driving record for one day this trip at 245 miles!

We made a stop at New Melones Lake and you can see that the water level is down more than 100 feet.

When we heard this morning that the high in Morro Bay today was expected to be 62 degrees, we shouted “hurrah” and planned to stop there for the night.  But, by the time we got to Paso Robles we decided we’d had enough and stopped at the Black Oak Motor Lodge for a great swim and lovely dinner at Big Bubba’s Bad B-B-Q.

Stats:  5 hours, 245 miles

Angel's Camp CA

Travelling on Hwy 50 took us to Lake Tahoe.  Although the water level is down a little, there is still a lot of lake, not like the half dozen large lakes we’ve seen in the past couple of days that are totally dried up.  So sad.

We walked around downtown Placerville, a quaint gold rush town, which was very reminiscent of Deadwood, South Dakota.  Placerville was named after the gold deposits found in the 1840’s although its most common historical name is Hangtown because of the numerous hangings that occurred there.

We’ve ended up in Angel’s Camp for the night and tomorrow we start heading to the coast – it’s very hot – low 90’s and the air conditioning in the cab has decided to go on strike.  We still have the A/C on the roof so all is not lost.

Streaming Robin Williams' biography from the computer onto the TV while dinner is being cooked.

Stats:  6 hours, 154.6 miles

Carson City NV

An uneventful drive down Hwy 89 and then over to Hwy 395 and Reno NV.  It was quite warm in Reno – 90 degrees and there was a car show downtown.  Although the photos don't show it, there were a lot of people walking about and we walked through every casino we could to escape the heat.

We walked around in admiration for a couple of hours then back on the road to where we found an RV Park beside a casino.  Fun!

Stats:  7.5 hours, 184.9 miles

Hat Creek CA

No service here and WiFi pathetically slow.  Will add photos hopefully tomorrow when we are closer to civilization.

On May 28 we continued on Hwy 97 into California, then over to Hwy 89 after a stop in Mt. Shasta.

Mt. Shasta

When we got to the headwaters of the Sacramento River we saw many people with jugs and various containers filling up with the water in the springs.  When we asked why they were taking the water we were told that this water was the purist in the world.  Of course, there were signs everywhere saying that the water is not tested and you took it at your own risk.

Mount Shasta Big Springs, Headwaters of the Sacramento River

We moved on to tour the Mt. Shasta fish hatchery.

Not much else to see on Hwy 89 until we decided to stop at the Rancheria RV Park in Hat Creek.  This is a pretty spot and we have a great site beside the pond.

Canada Geese family beside us

Stats:  8 hours, 189.1 miles

Chiloquin OR

We started off this morning at the crack of 9:30 and stopped in to see the Kla-Mo-Ya Casino which was actually rather sad; the few folks inside were definitely not a happy bunch.

Entrance to the casino

At 11:30 we heard this huge noise and when Norm pulled over he could see that one of the inner tires had exploded. 

Then it was hurry up and wait until AAA could send someone out to replace the tire.

We got on the road again at 3:30 and a mile down the road saw the Wagon Wheel Campground.  What a lovely spot.  We really lucked out!!

.
Great spot to relax and celebrate Norm's birthday . . .

Crescent OR

We continued our way south on Hwy 97 through the center of Oregon.  Our first stop was at the Stonehenge Memorial at the border.  This is a full scale replica of the Stonehenge in England and was built as a monument to military personnel who lost their lives in World War I.  It was completed May 29, 1929.

We made a quick stop in Shaniko, categorized as a ghost town even though people still live there.  The store proprietor told me the population is now 22 (since a family of 8 recently moved in).  It’s a cute little town with buildings from the early 1900’s.  In fact, the store now occupies the space of the first saloon in town (1901) and has the piano and mirror that once were in the saloon.

A stop at the Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint had some fantastic views.

Crooked River Canyon

 

Unreal looking photo of Mount Hood from Hwy 97

 

Three Sisters from Hwy 97

 Todays stats:  7.5 hours, 198.7 miles

Maryhill WA

Don't think there is service at the campsite so posting this from across the Columbia River.

I am obviously in error since we got 4G at our campsite, just not at the entrance to Maryhill State Park.

Maryhill State Park beside the Columbia River WA

No choice today but to take two freeways (I-90 and I-82) and since it’s Memorial Day we wanted to do those in the morning and make an early stop today to let the traffic get where it’s going. We went through the Yakama Reservation on Hwy 97 until we reached the Columbia River and the border of Oregon and here’s where we stopped about 2 pm.

We had a stop at a viewpoint close to Vantage WA which had a spectacular view of the Columbia River. 

Columbia River

Columbia River

The rest of the drive today was uneventful.

Stats:  5 hours and 206 miles

Wenatchee WA

Two scenic highways today.  First we followed Hwy 9 which runs parallel to the I5.  A lovely two lane road through forests and alongside farms and through small towns .  When we reached Arlington we walked through the Angel of the Winds Casino; nothing really different from any other casino but beautifully maintained.   Across the street was a water tower that caught my attention.

Love the painting of the water tower to have it blend in

TripAdvisor mentioned a Kangaroo Farm so we went to check that out.  Enjoyed the lemurs putting on a great show but we didn’t take the tour (with all the kids).  We got a big kick out of the sign in the waiting area though.

Lemurs put on quite a show

In Gold Bar WA rooster sculptures are very popular - in every size imaginable!  These were $400 each.

A stop at Deception Falls was incredible.  The incredible force of the water and the sound was a little frightening as the pathway was right beside this enormous energy.  It’s hard to get the sense in the photos.

Hanging onto the railing for dear life!

Then we turned east onto Hwy 2 and followed that up to the summit at Stevens Pass (an elevation of 4,061 feet).  This highway has a multitude of outdoor activities and the traffic and number of people around spoke to that.  We followed the Wenatchee River which was just gorgeous and when we reached Leavenworth (a Bavarian village) we found no place to stay so we continued on to Wenatchee and decided to stay in a hotel rather than drive even further.  What a shock to get out of the RV to 80 degree weather at 5:30 pm!

Wenatchee River

Wenatchee River

Yeh!  We've stopped moving!!

Today’s stats:  8 hours of driving=198.2 miles