Road trip story. (archive)

A good friend got married yesterday (the horrors!) up in Medford, Oregon. I drove up from Santa Rosa, California on Wednesday. Took 101 up to Crescent City, CA, then 199 up to Grant's Pass, Oregon. If you've never driven up 101 that far north, don't pass up the opportunity if it presents itself. Normally when I travel up there it's in a 1-ton Dodge van full of dogs. Taking the 2002 was quite a treat. Beautiful, and 101 is a very interesting drive up there. Plenty of twisties, not much traffic, generous speed limits, lots of sunshine (and some fog for good measure). Route 199 is fantastic too. The first part goes through Redwood National and State Parks, then through the Jeddidiah Smith reserve along the Smith River. Once you get into Oregon, though, the speed limit gets cut down. They're pretty harsh up there.

On the way home I took I-5 (yuck!) to Williams, then 20 west towards Clear Lake. There's construction on 20, avoid it for the next few months. However once I got near Clear Lake, I took 53 south to 29, to Calistoga, where I picked up the Petrified Forest Road over to Santa Rosa. This last part--29--is a real treat. If any of you get the chance, drive 29 between Lower Lake and Calistoga. It's 25 miles of the twistiest, niftiest road I've seen around here.

The 02 was fine, except I broke the bolt that supports the alternator at the upper bracket--twice! I don't know why. I've got all the rubber bushings intact. I could understand why the first bolt broke--it was probably older than me, and I'm feeling a bit old these days. The second one was brand-new, though, and only lasted a day. I bought it at a well-stocked True Value Hardware in Crescent City. If you're in CC and need a bolt, it's on 101 on the way out of town. Great selection, lots of metric, lots of stainless. Well, the second bolt broke and I bought some more at NAPA in Redding. Bad selection ("uhhh- we could order you a shorter one."), stay away.

Other than the bolt oddity, everything was peachy. 22 mpg average with big sidedrafts. About 900 miles round trip. Saw 3 or 4 02's along the way. Only scary part was on that 29. On a sharp bend I was leaning into it hard, and a bump sent me sliding over towards the guard rail. Very low speed--these are turns labeled "15mph" or "20mph"--but still disconcerting. Maybe some Bilsteins are in my future, the KYB's seem kinda twitchy.

Happy Motoring.

Mike

Follow Ups:

Re: Road trip story. Jaycen 10:32 9/15/2001 (1)
- beatiful as in beatific or heavenly? Ken E. 22:13 9/15/2001 (0)
northnorth cali is totally kicksass RobS. 23:33 9/14/2001 (0)

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