Day 7 - Oregon to Reno, Nevada

I wake up in Dunes City, Oregon feeling pretty good. But looking on the map, I know I have a looooong ways to go to be in Reno, Nevada the next morning.

Campground morning fog

I took the twisty 101 down along the coast. I took a few photos along the way in Oregon. The rocky and hilly coast here is quite different from the flat and sandy shoreline of most of the East Coast.

As long as a person is stopped several minutes for road construction, they may as well look around and try to find something interesting.

I stopped for a bit at Coquille Point, Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge.

This part of a tree trunk is at least eight feet high.

Deer tracks on the beach

More Oregon coast

I drove through the Redwood National Park and hiked a tiny bit. The trees are huge. It is difficult to get the perspective with a photo. The road through the park is full of curves with these big trees within five inches of the pavement on either side.

Corkscrew tree and other redwood trees in Redwood National Park

Strange moss or fungus on this fuzzy tree

In northern California, I stopped at a “beach” sign before the road headed inland. Silly me, I thought I might take advantage of this rare opportunity to swim in the Pacific. It had been years since I had done that down near Los Angeles. So I brought a towel down dozens of stairs to the beach below. There were several large rocks. But I thought there should be a swimming area somewhere down there. The only people there were walking around fully clothed. I at least waded a bit. But the water was very cold. And that surprised me since it had all summer to warm up. So I walked around with brief moments in the water. And that was my “in the ocean” experience for now. That wasn't exactly what I hoped for.

Trinidad Beach

It was now getting to be late afternoon with many miles to go. The shortest, and originally planned, route would go through the mountains to Redding, California and then down to Sacramento. But it was going to be dark. So the scenic route had little appeal. And I had driven nearly continuous curves all day long with all kinds of 15-70 M.P.H. curves without guardrails. So I chose major roads down to the Bay Area.

Rather than taking time to fix something to eat, I stopped for fast food. I had not eaten a Carl’s Jr. Western Burger since 1985. They still make them. And they are still good. If I remember right, it has bacon, barbecue sauce, and an onion ring on it.

Eventually I got down to the Bay Area where I could find a major road headed east to Sacramento. As I approached Sacramento, I got on the start of U.S. highway 50. That is a destination road for more of my 50^th birthday trip. The sign said Ocean City, Maryland is only 3,073 miles ahead on highway 50. I thought briefly about doing that and throwing out the other plans. But I stayed the course. Either way, I needed to head east.

It was already late. About 1:00 a.m., I see the sign “Curves next 30 miles”. Normally, this would sound fun. But at this point, miles of curves in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the very early morning aren’t quite so appealing. But there really isn’t any alternate route at this point. So I carried on. I could see enough in the moonlight to know this area is probably very scenic in daylight. There were plenty of curves at 30 M.P.H. or slower. I only saw a couple deer crossing at one place. Traffic was light. And there was no snow yet. One of the highest points along the way was Echo Summit at 7,382 feet. I saw signs for ski resorts and other tourist attractions.

Coming down the mountain, I was able to buy gas at a “closed” gas station with pumps still on. And I arrived at South Lake Tahoe around 3:30 a.m. From there, I made my way up to Reno, Nevada. I got to Reno around 4:30 a.m. Surprisingly, I wasn’t that terribly tired. I guess the “fun” road had kept me awake.

I had to get up early. So all I needed was a place to nap for an hour or so. After scouting out some parking possibilities and looking for any Mazda dealers on auto dealer row (I saw none.), I settled for a casino parking lot. They had plenty of lights and security cameras. I set a wake-up alarm. And I leaned over on the seat to rest my eyes for a bit.