And we're off!
Today (now yesterday, 12/26) marked the beginning of my travels. After some brief but ever present tears saying goodbye to my family, my sister and I ventured out at 10am but swiftly had to return because I forgot to load my bicycle onto the back of my car! Can't forget that! We went to the "5 Minute Rock Chip Repair" at the Everett Mall but... don't let that time fool you. It turned out to be more like a half hour at least. We got gas, put some much needed air in the tires of my car, and FINALLY we were off at noon.
The first leg of our trip was from Everett, Washington to Redding, California. That's a total of 621 miles and basically 10 hours and 40 minutes. Our longest drive of the whole trip, so luckily getting it over with right away.
We stopped at a rest stop around Chehalis, WA and let me tell you, metal toilets with no seats, just the bowls, are super cold on your bum....
We then continued on to Oregon, stopping at the Portland LDS Temple. My sister Rikayla and I met up with my best friend, Leslie. We exchanged Christmas gifts and said our goodbyes, for now.
We had to fill up gas in Albany, Oregon. If you don't know already, I HATE filling up in Oregon. This state fills your gas for you... that's all nice and dandy, but it doesn't do well for the occasional traveler. We pulled up and waited for an attendant. He started to pump the gas but it kept stopping. Annoying. Yeah... guess who forgot to turn off her car? *face palm* So, I turned off my car, embarrassed. He filled me up and just walked away. We sat there for some time and realized it had finished and we kept waiting... we hadn't paid yet. He finally came over and asked if wed gone over to pay. Uh, no. I guess we have to get out of our car to pay, but can't be trusted to pump our own gas. Argh! Oh Oregon.
Gassed up, we continued. We went for a few more hours and switched drivers (finally!) at a rest stop. (This one had seats and it was actually warm in there.)
Not long after that, we received notice of snow in the pass and that we needed chains or snow tires. Yuck. Snow. Not what we wanted, but knew we'd see it eventually. We continued forward with the best of thoughts in mind and started seeing rising elevations and snow on the mountains beside us. It continued like that for some time, dry roads and clear skies, and then we hit fog. The fog went off and on for some time. It is always a bit dicey when you're on a two lane highway next to large semi's and you can't see very far in front of you. Despite persistent flashing signs of snow and chains or traction tires needed, we went forward. Before we knew it, we'd gone 100 miles through the mountains and were now in our final destination of Redding, California. No sign of snow on the roads or even hitting our windshield. Only few moments did we even have rain coming down. PHEW!!
It was midnight. We pulled into the Travelodge, got checked in, and went to our lovely room. Basically, we went right to sleep and enjoyed 8 hours of blissful sleep.
So, that's our first day of our 9 day journey. Stay tuned for more tonight!! For we ride on to Los Angeles!
Today (now yesterday, 12/26) marked the beginning of my travels. After some brief but ever present tears saying goodbye to my family, my sister and I ventured out at 10am but swiftly had to return because I forgot to load my bicycle onto the back of my car! Can't forget that! We went to the "5 Minute Rock Chip Repair" at the Everett Mall but... don't let that time fool you. It turned out to be more like a half hour at least. We got gas, put some much needed air in the tires of my car, and FINALLY we were off at noon.
The first leg of our trip was from Everett, Washington to Redding, California. That's a total of 621 miles and basically 10 hours and 40 minutes. Our longest drive of the whole trip, so luckily getting it over with right away.
We stopped at a rest stop around Chehalis, WA and let me tell you, metal toilets with no seats, just the bowls, are super cold on your bum....
We then continued on to Oregon, stopping at the Portland LDS Temple. My sister Rikayla and I met up with my best friend, Leslie. We exchanged Christmas gifts and said our goodbyes, for now.
We had to fill up gas in Albany, Oregon. If you don't know already, I HATE filling up in Oregon. This state fills your gas for you... that's all nice and dandy, but it doesn't do well for the occasional traveler. We pulled up and waited for an attendant. He started to pump the gas but it kept stopping. Annoying. Yeah... guess who forgot to turn off her car? *face palm* So, I turned off my car, embarrassed. He filled me up and just walked away. We sat there for some time and realized it had finished and we kept waiting... we hadn't paid yet. He finally came over and asked if wed gone over to pay. Uh, no. I guess we have to get out of our car to pay, but can't be trusted to pump our own gas. Argh! Oh Oregon.
Gassed up, we continued. We went for a few more hours and switched drivers (finally!) at a rest stop. (This one had seats and it was actually warm in there.)
Not long after that, we received notice of snow in the pass and that we needed chains or snow tires. Yuck. Snow. Not what we wanted, but knew we'd see it eventually. We continued forward with the best of thoughts in mind and started seeing rising elevations and snow on the mountains beside us. It continued like that for some time, dry roads and clear skies, and then we hit fog. The fog went off and on for some time. It is always a bit dicey when you're on a two lane highway next to large semi's and you can't see very far in front of you. Despite persistent flashing signs of snow and chains or traction tires needed, we went forward. Before we knew it, we'd gone 100 miles through the mountains and were now in our final destination of Redding, California. No sign of snow on the roads or even hitting our windshield. Only few moments did we even have rain coming down. PHEW!!
It was midnight. We pulled into the Travelodge, got checked in, and went to our lovely room. Basically, we went right to sleep and enjoyed 8 hours of blissful sleep.
So, that's our first day of our 9 day journey. Stay tuned for more tonight!! For we ride on to Los Angeles!
Oh Mallory!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it's been pretty easy so far. But my oh my were you not taught to squat NOT sit on public toilets. Ewwww:( the metal ones are not to be sat on!! Ok enough lectures for the day. Drive safe, have fun & blog on...
Mamie