Big Solo 3!

   Recently I have written about my first 2 solo road trips, which were quite long in mileage and time. The first few were from San Diego to Sonoma County or vice versa. Not much changed in that time span. My buddy Scott and I took several road trips together in that time as well, but my next big solo excursion happened in September of 1997. As it was round trip, I had a lot of mileage to cover.

   To set it up, my sister and her family moved back to the Seattle area in summer 1995. I had gone with my mom and my dad separately via plane to visit them a few times. In early September 1997, my dad gave me his old 1986 Volvo with 120K miles on it. Having spent a fairly dormant summer lazing around after getting my bachelor's degree, I decided a big road trip to make the Volvo truly mine (for better or worse) was necessary. I'd done the San Diego trip enough, so Seattle seemed the right thing to do. Not only was my sister and her family there, my childhood friend Derek Coller was there as well. I wasn't particularly close to my sister or her husband, but her 2 sons were dear to my heart and she'd also recently given birth to a little girl and I wanted to see her.

   The night before the trip, I stayed the night at Scott's parents' house in Fairfield so as to get right on the freeway early in the morning. At about 5:30 am, I got onto I 80 east, cutting through beautiful northern California hills into Vacaville just a few miles later. It was impossible to eat breakfast yet, I had to make 100 miles at least before submitting to food and drink, an old family tradition my wife has since made me end!

   In Vacaville, I turned on to I 505, a 33-mile rural freeway with no frills, just flat agriculture and dirt on the western edge of the Sacramento Valley. Near Dunnigan, it merges with I 5. I was excited because this was all new territory for me to cover. 5 continued in the Sacramento Valley through Yolo County into Colusa County, where in Williams it intersects California 20, which goes west to Clear Lake and east into Gold Country and the Sierras...one of California's nicer state highways. 5 continues into Glenn County, staying rural and interecting with connections to Chico and other valley towns. In Tehama County, 5 crosses through Red Bluff, the first real town since Vacaville. As I'd gone 140 miles, it was time for breakfast, and a Denny's right off an exit ramp seemed perfect.

   Getting back onto 5 afterward, the freeway began to gradually climb for 30 miles. By the time I passed through Redding in Shasta County, I was clearly in mountain country. 5 was now passing through beautiful hills and forested areas, not to mention a few tight curves here and there. It was definitely better than the flat farmland I'd been tortured with earlier. Passing beautiful Shasta Lake and Dunsmuir, I entered Siskiyou County and passed through Weed, a town I suspected was aptly named by a relaxed population. Weed is also where U.S. route 97 begins, cutting into Oregon then Washington. It is notable that gorgeous looming Mt. Shasta was almost always in view.

   Soon after, I passed through Yreka, pondering the weirdness of such a town name, though the surrounding land makes it a nice village. 5 then begins a very steep climb toward Siskiyou Summit. Before the climb was done, I was in Oregon. The descent was steep yet beautiful and before long I was in Ashland, home of a popular Shakespeare festival. Down the road is Medford, another nice southern Oregon town. 5 then curves west along the Rogue River Valley for several miles. The surrounding hills make this stretch pretty fun to drive along.

   Before long, 5 curves north to the east side of Grant's Pass. Scott and I had traveled here a year before, staying in a really hot motel room due to bad AC one night. Continuing north, 5 weaves in and out of steep hills and curves for many miles. In Roseburg, there was an interesting anomaly. U.S. 99 had been decommissioned more than 20 years ago in Oregon, but there was an exit sign remaining with the U.S. shield. I was lucky to get a photo of it, a risky move while driving, but I was lucky to get it, as my next trip through there saw the Oregon state highway symbol for 99 replacing it.

   5 continued through hilly and curvy country for over 50 more miles before hitting the outskirts of Eugene and Springfield. 5 stays clear of both, but I have been in Eugene and it is one of the prettiest small towns I've been in! North of Eugene, 5 enters the Willamette Valley, Oregon's version of California's long-ass San Joaquin/Sacramento Valleys. Luckily, this valley was not so long, and after gassing up in Salem, continued into the Portland area. I remember asking the gas attendant (you can't fill your own car in Oregon) if there was a bridge toll across the Columbia and he smiled and said only crazy California does that...actually a lot of east coast bridges have tolls as well.

   Portland, Oregon is a really gorgeous area filled with trees and mountains on either side. 5 is fairly congested here, but it is not forever and before I knew it I was crossing the Interstate Bridge into Vancouver, Washington, a small but fairly industrial river town. From there, 5 follows the Columbia river for about 30 miles , then goes through Longview and Kelso and leaves the river. 5 then crosses several small creeks and wooded areas for over 50 miles, passing through Centralia, Toledo, and Vader (I laughed here), before hitting the capital of Olympia, where one of my favorite roads, U.S. 101, meets its demise.

   After Olympia, 5 cuts northeast toward Puget Sound and enters Pierce County before coming into Tacoma, a very congested area at rush hour! Before long, I entered King County, the home of Seattle. I got off 5 onto WA 516 and drove into Kent. Soon I was at my sister's house ready to stretch my legs!

After a few days of visiting with 3 year old Ian and 1 year old Shawn and baby Megan, as well as Derek and his wife Vickie, I headed back toward Santa Rosa.

I definitely wanted to try a different route home to keep life fresh. I followed I 5 back down to Kelso where I got off the freeway. As it was 110 miles from Kent, I was legally able to eat breakfast. I chose Shari's, a Denny's-like diner with a counter...my kind of place!

After a heartburn-creating meal, I went down WA 433 through a quite industrial-looking area still in the dark of early hours. It was also drizzling or flat out showering. Soon I crossed a high but simple bridge over the Columbia River and right on the other side was U.S. 30. I got onto 30 west toward Astoria. 30 cut through a rainy forest for 50 miles. I'm sure it was gorgeous on a sunny day. I remembered 30 as the main freeway through Lancaster in Pennsylvania when growing up. In Astoria, 30 met its demise at U.S. 101, which had come off a very nice bridge over the Columbia just east of the mighty Pacific Ocean.

Now on 101 south, I saw a lot of beautiful coastline mixed with forested areas. I soon passed through Tillamook, and then Lincoln City and Newport down the road. After many miles of rainy forest, I drove through Florence, and before long I was in lovely Coo's Bay. All along the way, I was afforded wonderful views of the Pacific Ocean, although in many areas  it was fogged over.

   From Coo's Bay onward, the weather cleared up quite a bit. Bandon, Fort Orford, and Gold's Beach were much more pleasant to drive through. After beautiful Brookings, 101 entered California and got quite woodsy. After a junction with U.S. 199 (toward Grant's Pass) I went through Crescent City, home of nasty prison Pelican Bay. Afterward, 101 was quite curvy and woodsy, but pretty due to no more rain. At dinner time I finally got into Eureka and decided to spend the night there at a Holiday Inn Express.

   The next morning, I mildly cheated and had the continental breakfast at the hotel, then got back on 101. Just south of Fortuna, I got onto the Avenue of the Redwoods, a winding road which was actually old 101 and much prettier than the freeway. The road finally ended at 101 just before entering Mendocino County. In Leggett, there was a nice tourist attraction with a drive-through tree. Recent rains have destroyed this, I am sad to say.

After Legett, 101 winds through beautiful forests and hills, passing through small Laytonville and eventually going through lovely Willits. After Willits, 101 winds down to Ukiah where it is briefly a freeway. It slims down again through Hopland before entering Sonoma County and becoming a full freeway just before Cloverdale. Passing through Geyserville, Healdsburg, and Windsor, 101 hit my old home of Santa Rosa just in time for lunch.

Overall, this was one of my best road trips. I had a great combo of classic rock and audio books to entertain me and occasionally keep me awake. I'd love to do it again with my family one day.

The Second Solo (not Han Jr.)

   Earlier I wrote about my very first solo road trip in January 1995. Hard to believe that was almost 22 years ago, half my lifetime really. At that point, my parents' marriage was almost 2 months from ending. Having a car in college freed me to be a bit more social...or alone to think, which was necessary form time to time.

   In mid-March, the marriage was over and thus began a long period of adjustment for me, about 3 years worth.Well, I had to get home at some point, and Spring Break in April was the time to do it.

   The trip did not start out solo, as I'd offered to drop two guys from the dorms at the Oakland Airport. We set off pretty early on 101, then grabbed I 580. Almost immediately we were on the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge, a long but unimpressive span across the northern bay. After that we passed through Richmond, El Cerrito, and Emeryville before hitting Oakland...all 3 towns suffering from urban blight As the  northernmost part of the 880 freeway had not been rebuilt form the 1989 earthquake, we had to take 980 to 880.  I got to the airport by about 7am, traffic was still fairly light then. Afterward, finally alone, I continued down 880 all the way through the South Bay urban blight cities...they really all look the same. Early morning rush hour caused a few slow areas, but it flowed well overall.

   In San Jose, I returned to 101. The scenery got less urban and more country. All around were yellow-brown hills with a few green patches for 40 miles. At last I went through some woodsy curves after Gilroy (home of garlic and it smells like it!) and was in Monterey County. By this time I was pretty hungry so I stopped at an IHOP around 10am for some Swedish crepes and eggs.

   The landscape in Monterey County around 101 was still yellow-brown hills for the most part, hitting small towns every 15-20 miles. After getting into San Luis Obispo County, the landscape turned pretty hilly for many miles, going through the towns of Atascadero, Paso Robles, and San Luis Obispo, then a great view of the ocean at Pismo Beach. 101 then turned inland again as it entered Santa Barbara County.  Shortly after Buellton, 101 took a huge curve to the east at Gaviota Pass, offering a great view of the Pacific Ocean for dozens of miles. 101 passed through the picturesque towns of Goleta, Santa Barbara, and Carpenteria before entering Ventura County to pass through blighted Ventura and Oxnard. In one of those towns I grabbed some lunch but for the life of me, I cannot remember where!

    Entering Los Angeles County, 101 passed through the beautiful Agoura Hills before entering the San Fernando Valley. Soon, I was entering motion picture land. 101 turned southeast onto the Hollywood Freeway, but I stayed on the current freeway which was now CA 134 through Glendale and then Pasadena before the freeway became I 210...and also became a bit more congested as it traveled through the San Gabriel Valley through ugly town after town. Twenty miles east, the freeway ended on CA 66, former home of U.S. 66 in its glory days. I now had to contend with lights, but it was a small price to pay to be on a classic road. I went through Sam Dimas, Laverne, and Claremont before entering San Bernardino County to pass through Upland and Rancho Cucamonga. At one point, I stopped at a McDonald's just because it strove for a classic building design. The food, however, was far from classic.

   Finally, I hit I 15 south and took the congested rush hour freeway back to San Diego via Norco, Corona, Lake Elsinore, Temecula, and Escondido. I was tired, it was almost 7pm. It was a strange visit home, particularly because I now had 2 homes: my Dad's house and Mom's new apartment. Both were still getting used to their new lives, having their happy moments as well as tough ones. I think my mom, despite a lower income than my dad, had things slightly easier. For one thing, at that point she and her sister Terry were close and lived close to one another so there was a support system. Mom was also a better cook, and she lived near some pretty decent restaurants by San Diego State.

   Almost 22 years later, I remember this trip fondly for the scenery, music on the radio, and self-reflection.