"Knowledge is Good" - Half Moon Bay to Bigfork

Two and a half days on the road, and a very pleasant drive.

Friday’s route was 565 miles and 9 hours from Half Moon Bay to Eugene, Oregon, the bulk of the ride on Interstate 5 North. Beautiful day, with temperatures in the 80s and 90s. The air was very hazy through the Lake Shasta National Recreation Area, and it wasn’t really very clear (in spite of cloudless skies) until I was north of Yreka, thanks to the recent wildfires.

After an early dinner at the Villard Street Pub, where I sampled a couple of local IPAs with my fish tacos, I took a walk across the University of Oregon campus. As I strolled, I recalled that this was the site of Faber College, where the 1978 documentary “National Lampoon’s Animal House” was filmed. I also took a walk in the Ruth Bascom Riverbank Path System along the Willamette River and over to Autzen Stadium, home of the Fighting Ducks.

Saturday: 485 miles and 7.5 hours Eugene to Spokane Valley. Surprisingly heavy traffic out of Eugene in the 9AM hour. Columbia River Gorge stunning. (Photo doesn't do it justice.)

Best view was Mt. Adams popping into my rear view mirror a few times. Lots of amber waves of grain after leaving the CRG area until the arrival in Spokane County, where the trees reappeared. Overcast morning/temps in 60s gave way to cloudless blue skies and temps in the low 80s. Early to bed this evening – I’ll watch some British Open coverage early in the morning before the half-day drive to Bigfork.

Sunday: 250 miles and should have been 5 hours (I missed a left turn – thank you Google Maps for re-directing me to my destination). The drive through Idaho and Montana was beautiful and the weather was great – cloudless and upper 70s.