09-29-09

I accepted the position with Americorp Vista in the southern tip of Texas on the Rio Grand, the Mexican border. I want to see Yosemite, Death Valley and the Grand Canyon on my way so I’m headed out with more than two weeks to get to McAllen, Texas.
I left Port Orford on a cold, rainy morning. It had been a great stay. I’d been there for almost 2 months. It was an amazing summer. Corey was very nice to let me stay. Not many people would have gone out of their way like he did for me. I’ll miss him and all of the wonderful people and sights on the southern Oregon coast.
I drove south on the 101 into California. My fruit and fire wood was inspected at the border. The apples that Jutta picked in Port Orford passed even though they were not store bought and my firewood passed too. Apparently Montana is not on the list.
I looked for a place to stay in the Redwood Forest. One state park campground was closed and another was full so I just kept traveling. My lack of trip planning seems to get me further down the road as I’m never quite sure where to stop.
I had fish and chips in Klamath California and kept rolling. I turned east on highway 299. It looked as though it would be a straight shot to Redding California and Interstate 5 which I could take south to Sacramento.
Ever since Red Lodge, Montana I had been on curvy, hilly, treacherous roads. I was looking forward to driving flat and straight for awhile, not to mention averaging over 50 mph.
Highway 299 is not straight, nor is it flat. It does confirm my theory that the more difficult the journey the more spectacular the view. Highway 299 is beautiful. It goes up and over the Salmon Mountains, through Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Trinity Forest, Trinity Lake, Trinity River, everywhere I looked I was reminded of my good friend.
Miles ticked by slowly as the road switched-back through the mountains. Road construction slowed things down too. I felt far from anywhere, so I listened to my Lake Wobegon pod casts to feel close to Minnesota. I was a bit frustrated until I saw the best rainbow I’d ever seen. I stopped on a pull-out to get a picture. A young couple also stopped. I talked to Bradley while his girlfriend took pictures. They were from Boston and too were wandering. We agreed that without wandering we never would have stumbled across such an amazing rainbow. After we left we wound up leapfrogging down the highway honking as we’d pass each other. Thanks to Garrison Keillor, Bradley and the rainbow I now felt great and thoroughly enjoyed the drive.
As it got dark I turned on my headlights. I was a bit worried because when I was bringing the bus home from Florida the summer before, the headlights cut out a few times. I’d traveled during the day and hadn’t needed them at all since leaving Minnesota and wondered if they would work. They were very dim. So dim that several people flashed their lights at me. As is grew darker it was harder to see, then the lights went out completely. I was sandwiched between a rocky cliff and a drop-off with nowhere to pull off and unable to see the road. I turned the lights off and on and flipped them from low to high beam frantically in vein to try to get something to happen. The lights flickered on and off randomly. They didn’t seem to be doing it because of my actions. I came to a safe place to stop and eventually the lights stayed on so I proceeded. This scenario repeated itself over and over. I looked for a place to stay, but the best option was to try to push through to Redding.
It was very dark between the tall pine trees. I was afraid to go too fast in case the lights went out again. I know to not “over drive your headlights”, but now I was trying to not “over drive my NO lights”. Traffic would stack up behind me and I’d find a place to pull off and let them around. Even when the lights were on they were very dim. I tried driving with my high beams on, which were almost as bright as regular low beams. This seemed to make the lights shut off more often so I opted to keep the lights on low.
I can’t be certain, but it seemed like these were the tightest mountain curves I’d been on yet. It may have just been due to the circumstance, but there is no doubt that this was the most difficult driving I’d been through in the bus. I often wondered if I would seriously be plummeting to my death that day.
Patiently, cautiously I kept plugging along. Redding, just 60 more miles, 48 miles, 35 miles, 27 miles, 16 miles, 10 miles, it took forever. At the 3 mile sign I saw the bright lights of Redding. The road flattened and straightened and soon I was on lighted streets. I still had a mechanical problem, but figured I was no longer in a potential life threatening scenario.
I got on Interstate 5 heading south. I stopped to let my sweat dry and my nerves settle. I looked up the Redding Wal-Mart on my laptop and found that it didn’t allow overnight parking. The interstate was flat, straight, lit and had no on-coming traffic, so I headed south looking for a place to stay for the night. I pulled into a rest stop. The sign said, “No Overnight Parking”, but there were many trucks and a few motorhomes. I investigated a bit more. The official rules said that you can stay there for 8 out of 24 hours, so I decided to stay.
Rest stops are not supposed to be very safe places to sleep, but I felt safe tucked inbetween the semis. I was thankful to have had my trucker training and felt right at home. The diesel engines that kept me up previously on my journey now comforted me. Their gentle rumbling was like a lullaby which quickly sang me to sleep.