Thursday, September 22, 2011

Updated September 22 at 9:30 p.m.

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~Photos~

Photo one was taken by the side of the road on I-5 south of Dunsmuir, Ca. It shows a partial view of Castle Crags. When driving north (at 60 mph), your first view is your best and the most brief. By the time you realize the beauty of the scene you are past it with no time to pull over for a photo. Additionally, it is not a safe spot to stop anyway. This shot was made a half-mile or so at an exit.

Photos two and three were made at a rest stop north of Mt. Shasta (seen in the distance in photo two). The rest stop is between the highway and the Weed Airport. The airport is used by both general aviation flyers and fire fighters flying borate bombers. The airplane in the photo (a Grumman S-2 tanker?) has been retired and now serves as a reminder of fighting forest fires.




~Narrative~

Today was rather relaxing. We got out on the road early, I adjusted the automatic climate control to 70 degrees, turned on the blues station on the Sirius satellite radio, and sipped my coffee as we sped along I-5 at 73 miles per hour using the cruise control. All I had to do was keep it going in a straight line, so to speak!

I did, however, feel a little remorse because we had traded two more days of back roads for a fast trip north so we could be home by Friday evening. But the thought of spending more money on hotels and meals, plus the work of driving those twisties made the prospect of home and my own bed too good to ignore.

Not to mention I have some last minute loose ends to secure to get the Covered Bridge Tour ready for next week! And I need to prepare my monthly contribution to the Fiat club's newsletter. Also I am actually missing being at work! The work is enjoyable and I do enjoy my co-workers' company. A couple of days ago I felt a little concern about my job-I even checked our company website to see if they were advertising for it-two weeks seems like too long to be away!

The saying is that 'time flys when you are having fun'. On this trip I have been having fun and yet the time seems to have gone by slowly. I have been staying aware of this and wondering why that is so...if only I could identify why this is happening.

We will be home late Friday evening. I don't expect to have anything to post about the final day of our road trip. I will be compiling more statistics and thoughts about the car and how it performed and I expect to post those by Sunday evening.

If anyone cares to do so, we'd like to hear your thoughts about our trip and what we have posted here!




~Statistics~

Today's starting point: exit 334 on I-5, California

Today's departure time: 6:45 a.m.

Today's end point: Medford, Oregon

Today's arrival time: 4:30 p.m.

Miles driven = 503.8

Elapsed driving time = 8 hours 8 minutes

Average speed = 61 mph

Average miles per gallon = 39.5

Route followed today: I-5 north to I-5 exit 30 in Medford, Oregon.




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