As you can see we are about to enter the state of Nevada where gambling is not only legal, but encouraged. The folks who live here want you to gamble so much there is a slot machine everywhere you turn. We have been in this state for a little over 250 miles and in 4 hours have passed about thirty-four thousand casinos.
Somewhere not too far into the state of Nevada the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport clicked past the 34,000 mile mark.
For our 101101th1 Anniversary we decided to throw caution to the wind and take a little 3-day mini trip to the Oregon Coast. We had a free night at a Holiday Inn so the first leg (80 miles) of the journey was just over the mountains to Medford where we spent Sunday Night. The second leg (215 miles) was to our next overnight stay in Gold Beach. The last leg (226 miles) was coming straight home. To make the drive a bit more interesting we opted to hunt out some Oregon Post Offices along the way.
Sunday instead of going straight to Medford we went an alternate route so we could start in Ashland and work our way north the short distance to Medford with stops in Talent, Phoenix, Jacksonville & Central Point.
Monday we headed north and west to get to the coast. The shortest way to our destination would have been to go south to Crescent City in California, but we were saving that for our return trip. I added all the Post Office addresses for the rest of our loop to the car GPS and because we abhor Interstate travel we selected “avoid highways” in the settings.
This worked out well for the first few Post Offices because they were close to OR99 which parallels I-5, but once we got to Merlin the GPS could not find a route to Wolf Creek, turns out from here the next 40 miles OR99 combines with I-5 because of the mountains. Donna looked at the map and realized there was a loop of 35 miles, instead of the direct 15 miles, that would get us to Wolf Creek with out using the Interstate.
Not being in a hurry, we headed west along a two lane road that ran along the Rogue River. It was very scenic and we passed several little county parks for the first 20 miles. Everything was fine until we crossed a bridge over the river to head east to our our next Post Office. The road got a little narrower, almost 1-1/2 lanes instead of two and clung to the side of a mountain on the left and a steep drop on the right with no guardrail. Our forward progress slowed considerably, hoping that some large truck wouldn’t be coming our way around the next corner.
A mile or so in, rounding a corner, we came upon another Miata coming our way. I don’t know who was more surprised, us or them, but we squeezed on by with a wave and kept on going.
A couple of miles later our 1-1/2 lanes dropped to a solid one lane. Now it was getting scary, but even when the road did widen back to a lane and a half there was still no way to turn around and go back. For the next 10 miles the width of the road varied back and forth and fortunately the only other car we came upon coming at us it was on one of those wider spots. What would taken maybe 20 minutes on I-5 turn into over an hour of white knuckle driving. After arriving in Wolf Creek we took off the “avoid highways” setting and we vowed to not do that again. We’d stay on back roads when they stayed close to civilization.
As we were getting closer to the coast and having already photographed 15 Post Offices, by mutual agreement, we opted to not do the last few on the way to the hotel and not any along the coast at all. This would be saved for a weeks vacation either next spring or fall where we’d get all the Post Offices along the entire Oregon coast.
Because I had the odometer to trip so I could see tenths of a mile as Donna called out mileage to my next turn, I didn’t notice that the CTBNL had gone past the 80,0002 mile mark.
About fifteen miles from the actual coast the cooler misty weather made us put the top back up and when we did get on US101 the fog/mist/clouds made actually seeing the beach impossible.
Tuesday morning in spite of the off and on light rain, we did walk down to the beach and take a fairly short out and back walk because, after all, we drove all this way to see the ocean.
On the trip home we did stop and get the remaining four Post Offices on US199 from the border back up to Grants pass. Bringing our total for the weekend of two dozen or about 6% of the total of around 375 Post Offices in the state of Oregon. All in all , even with the white knuckle side trip and cool misty weather, we had a pretty good time.
This morning we got up early in Longview, WA to finish our run to Granite Falls to visit family. It was dark and raining which in itself doesn’t make for a fun drive, but add in a very busy highway with trucks on I-5 and it was miserable. The spray coming off all the 18-wheelers felt like about 16,000 gallons.
An hour or so into the drive, even though it was getting light, we decided to get off the interstate and loop around Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle on two-lane roads even if it meant it took us a couple hours longer.
Just outside Yelm, Washington the Note passed through the 16,000 mile mark.
Our rental vehicle for the week is a 2019 Nissan Versa Note. It has a little over a hundred horsepower and it is mated to a CVT which makes it seem even slower than that. Yikes. The interior is noisy and, at least on this particular car, there is some real prevalent wind noise and air intrusion on the drivers side. They claim it has great gas mileage, but I’ll let you know.
There is a lot of space in this thing, compared to the Mini, it has a ton of rear leg room and two more doors to get you into the back seats. I suppose that if you wanted an inexpensive, yet new, car this would fit the bill. I just hope you don’t want the hatchback version, because for 2020 they have stopped making them.
On yesterday’s day trip to Ashland, we went west on a couple county roads, Clover Creek Road and Dead Indian Memorial Road instead of the slightly shorter, but longer time way of OR-66 because both Google and the Garmin recommended it. To get to Ashland you have to go up and over the Cascades. Klamath Falls sits at 4100′ above sea level and on the way over we hit altitudes of around 5,500 feet. The Clover Creek Road section out of Klamath Falls climbs easily and steadily to the plateau section that hovers at about a mile high. After about 33 miles you turn left on Dead Indian Memorial Road and in short order you cross the Pacific Crest Trail. The road settles into a smooth run through ranches and by small lakes until you hit the last 20 miles where you drop down a couple thousand feet of elevation. But unlike in the east, the open land allows a more shallow drop per mile traveled, most of the way down is in 4th gear with occasional foray into 3rd gear.
On the way home, we opted to try OR-66 because I kind of wanted to avoid the same road when going back. So the road profile is similar, just backwards, the 2,000′ climb is at the start, then plateau, then a shallower 1,300′ descent at the end. The Google map image above shows the approximate ascent. It is no Deals Gap, for one it is not really flat, it is a hill climb. And I didn’t count the turns, but there were probably about half the number as on the Tail of the Dragon, but I drove this road a lot slower than I do the dragon for a couple of reasons. The first is familiarity, we started going to drive the Gap in 1997, and in those intervening 22 years I’ve probably traveled that road a hundred times in one direction. The other is, on about 60% of the climb up on OR-66 there is no guardrail. And on the way up you are on the outside lane of the mountain! I don’t know about you, but I am not really afraid of heights, I am just not comfortable at all while at the edge of those heights. My testicles were residing somewhere up in my abdomen for a lot of the drive up.
If you look at the Google map again it says that stretch of road is 9.3 miles and it should take you 17 minutes. That averages out to be just under 34 MPH, I bet my average was more like 30 MPH. Now we were in the Mini, so when I get to drive the Miata and I’ve done it a few times that average speed will be reduced a bit. But I probably won’t get it below the Google estimate until I’m in the Miata and I’m going down on in the other where I’ll be up against the mountain not the edge…
On our last day of driving we went 283 miles from Carson City to Klamath Falls, 211 of those miles were in California and for the most part were on very rural forested roads. The biggest town we passed through was Susanville with a population of around 18,000. The rest were small little places, I hesitate to call them actual towns they were so small, named Hackamore, Newell, Ambrose and Buntingville.
Just outside one of these kinds of places, Adin, population 272, we stopped at a little gas station called Juniper Junction for a nature break. There was one other vehicle there too, getting gas, but we didn’t really pay attention to it. We both went inside and Donna asked the clerk if they have a restroom and was given the key, attached to a small plunger so it wouldn’t wonder off in a pocket, and pointed around outside to the other end of the building. As we were leaving the store we could hear another individual ask about a restroom as well, so I turned and said, “Follow us.”
As we walked by the car gassing up I noticed a familiar looking license plate. Donna went into the bathroom leaving me and the guy outside, where upon I asked him, “Is that SUV yours?” He replied, “Yes.” So I pointed at the back end of our Mini and said, “Small world.”
I launched into our story of selling our house and moving to Klamath Falls and that it has been a long and scenic trip, but were happy to be near the end. He told me that it sure is a pretty drive, but all his family and friends said he was crazy to drive all this way instead of flying. He lives in Duncan, South Carolina and was returning there from Klamath Falls. He was in K Falls because he had just attended the funeral of his father, who was a lifelong resident there.