Completing the loop
It’s been a long week of driving. Since leaving Astoria we set on driving each evening, after work, to arrive in the Bay Area by the weekend. Newport was just the beginning with numerous stops plotted out along the route. We could not drive far on any given day, but as long as we drove each day we would arrive on schedule – actually two weeks ahead of schedule.
After Newport the first a stop was a scheduled one at AM Solar to remedy the battery charging issues that have popped up in the recent months. The appointment was first thing in the morning so we spent a night at the Valley River Mall. It was peaceful enough to wake early and arrive at AM Solar at 8:30am where it took half the day for the repairs.
Luckily, with a waiting room and free Wifi, the workday was not too interrupted and by evening we were on our way down I-5 to the Gold Hill Moose Lodge. I had stopped here for a week two years ago so I knew it would be a great place to hang out for a night and the following work day. This is where I happened upon Moose as well, nearly 2 years to the day. The evening consisted of a few drinks in the Lodge, explaining to the Moose Members that we full-time travel and work online (it’s always the same question-and-answer) then we settled down early for the night, waking too the sight below…
Again we stayed put for another day of work then set out at 6PM to put in a few more hours of southern migration. This time we stayed at a rest area right off the Interstate, arriving fairly late in the evening. Not really the best solution, but we parked well out of the way of the rumbling trucks and woke to a surprise visitor (seen below). We officially crossed into California during this drive.
Anderson, CA was our next night’s stop to stay another night at a local Moose Lodge. The standard questions and answers were asked and answered as we shared a few drinks (and pizza) with the locals. Another work day was spent here and off we went at 6PM for a but more driving Southward. It was here that the realization came to me, that if we kept up at this pace we would be driving *through* the Bay Area on Friday night after our work, and that is a bad idea. We were just a few hours north of Sacramento and out destination was the South Bay. This meant, I-5 to I-80, to I-680 and a whole lot of commuters would be doing the same. A quick discussion resulted in a change of plans which detoured us to Cache Creek Casino for a Friday overnight stay in their parking lot.
This allowed us to do the final 160 miles through the heavily congested areas on Saturday without commuter traffic. Here we camped at Sanborn County Park for a single night so Kerri could see her Grand Mother and Aunt before we made another long haul back up I-680, I-80, and into the foothills and Grass Valley where we currently sit.
It has been 7 consecutive nights (just over 1000 miles) of driving in the dark – something neither of us prefer to do – followed by work days and/or visitation. I welcome the three weeks of stationary life where I get to meet Kerri’s family and friends. In a few weeks, the roles reverse as we go back down I-80 to spend a week with my family who Kerri has not yet met.
By the way, this completes a full loop for me (and Kerri too). I left Northern California on Jan 1st of this year and have just returned. Check out this crazy loop (and all this year’s adventures)
