Where is here?

Wish I was there right now.

Mike in Cotati

On Jan 1, 2013, at 12:54 PM, Don Hanson wrote:

>   Well , just finished another incident-free but tiresome drive down the
> Western US...  I left the Columbia River Gorge, near Portland, Oregon,
> about noon on Sunday, with the reported road conditions along the eastern
> slopes of the mountains dictating that I use the Interstate to avoid ice
> and snowy inland highways.   I did have some freezing fog as I left home
> but once I made Portland and turned south, there was even sun for a
> bit....and a gorgeous full moon came up around the time I passed Lake
> Shasta...maybe 8hrs of driving later..
>
>  I put my speed limiter (self-enforced) at about 70mph, attempting to keep
> it right around 65...Inline VW ABA motor in a tin top van with 5sp and a
> westie interior.   Even with a full load of stuff to last me a few  months
> in the desert Southwest, I was cruiising easy,  and even when I was
> 'snookered' by traffic into a line behind really slow trucks, I could get
> back to 65 without problems.   A smooth and easy drive.
>
>  Found a good sleeping spot about 11pm , just off the freeway  in Corning,
> Ca...where there is a Petro, a Travel America and a Loves..all truck
> stops....but in the midst of all these, one row of walnut trees to keep the
> Big Rigs at bay....I had to shuffle my toolboxes and bicycles around to
> make a flat spot on my bed....then down for a flawless sleep till 6am, when
> the next day's driving chores began with a pot of coffee off my stove,
> prepared the night before.
>
>  Luckily no fog in the Central Valley, which can happen frequently in
> winter and make driving this route really nasty.     I decided to take Hwy
> 99 rather than I-5, once past Sacramento....I get a real kick out of that
> route...it is such a 1970's era road, with broken pavement and potholes,
> abbreviated exits and left hand off ramps, etc etc..   About Fresno, the
> speed on the highway makes a dramatic increase....I'm rolling along at 70
> and people are passing me like I am standing still, while there are
> decrepit trucks trundling along at 45-50 in the right lane....Exciting
> stuff, compared to the super-slab of Interstate 5, across the central
> valley  to the west....Kept me interested (and awake)   I did see Buck
> Owen's ghost in Bakersfield.....
>
>  I left 99 at Bakersfield and took the Tehachapi Pass road up across the
> high desert to avoid driving right through LA.....There was snow in the
> Tehachipi Mts...not usual...and it was chilly in Mojave as I pass through
> that beautiful town on my way to Boron, Ca...Caught Hwy 395 and cut into
> San Bernardino,,,,Now my 70mph speed really made me feel like a
> slowpoke....I swear, the speed the So Cal freeway drivers go, when the road
> isn't gridlocked, it is amazing!    No cops dare enforce the limits
> there....90mph seems about average, when there is an open space.
>
>   Then, it being New Years eve, the deserts behind San Diego were very
> full of Off Roaders....The new thing is 'LED lighted antennas" this year...
>
>   Cheapest gas was $3.25/gal    I averaged 21.5 mpg and burned up two
> quarts of oil on the trip...  About 21hrs of driving time....No freezing
> fog here.
>
>   Don Hanson