Anacortes,
WA to San Jose, CA February 7 to February 10
After a lot
of debate, hand wringing, and weather watching, we decided to leave Anacortes
on Sunday afternoon, February 7. Weather
through the southern OR and northern CA mountains looked good on Tuesday so
that was our target. We could have left
Monday morning, but driving through Seattle in Abe is attention grabbing at
best and Monday morning traffic would have added another layer of anxiety. So, we were jacks-up about 1 pm Sunday
afternoon, after a final Sunday morning service at Anacortes Lutheran
Church. As usual, it was hard to leave
the friends we had once again become close to.
Before departing, though, we made reservations at Fidalgo Bay RV
beginning 7/8/16 and leaving 9/2/16, so we will return to our “home port” and
enjoy some summer.
We expected
minimal traffic as we drove through Seattle two hours before the start of the
Super Bowl, but of course it wasn’t quite that way. On the plus side, the weather was gorgeous
and we had fabulous views of Mount Rainier.
We didn’t
travel far…just south of Olympia to Centralia, WA, and a pretty little RV park
there. We parked, settled, and had the
TV running by 10 minutes into the first quarter of the game. Yay!
We liked this little RV park and would stay here again, to get cued up
for a transit through Seattle.
Monday,
February 8, was really the start of the adventure. We have a new pickup and Jerry
said he noticed the extra weight as we towed the truck behind Abe. We have a
new tow system which made hooking up easier, but, as with any new equipment,
we’ll keep an eye on it to see be sure it all works smoothly. As you can see from the photo, taken at a
rest stop along the way, we travelled in lovely warm sunshine!
Passing
through Portland is always a little exciting, too, but today we took I-205 that
passes on the east side of the city.
That was an easier, less busy route to take. Once again we had lovely views of the local
volcano…Mount Hood this time. Monday
night we stopped at Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, OR. This RV park was rated highly by Good Sam’s
and had a Tiffin rally here last year and it was very nice. After relaxing in the sunshine, we walked
over to the casino, and had dinner at their sports bag. Bad idea!
The food was terrible. And we
lost $1 to the slots!
We were off
again bright and early Tuesday to travel through the mountains. A piece of cake!! Although it was a little foggy, the roads
were dry and the passes had not had any snow in quite some time. Just the way we like it. The photo is taken at the top of Siskiyou Summit
looking into the foggy valley below.
We were
happy to see the water level in Shasta Lake had come up considerably since we
drove through here in November. The
reservoir has a long way to go before anyone could say it’s full, but we saw
lots of snow in the Cascades, so there’s hope!
We had wonderful views of Mount Shasta as we came down the last ridge
and into Sacramento Valley.
Our Tuesday
night stop was at Rolling Hills Casino in Corning, CA. This one wasn’t quite as plush as the
previous night, but at $28 we couldn’t complain. We walked over to the casino here as well,
but neither ate nor donated to the slots. The weather was warm and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, as we looked
west over the golf course. We spotted
Mount Lassen but missed the photo…too dark!
In three days of travel we had seen five volcanoes, including Mount Baker near our starting point, and two casinos. We've travelled this route a lot over the years, but the focus on casinos and volcanoes added a new spin to our trip.
Wednesday’s
drive took us to Coyote Creek RV Park in Morgan Hill, CA, about 20 minutes from
daughter Jill, son-in-law Bob and granddaughter Lauren’s house. We’re taking dinner to them tonight…one of my
crockpot surprise specialties! Daughter Joy
comes in Friday afternoon and we’ll have the weekend to take lots of photos and
spend time together.
As always,
there’s more to come!
