West Coast Road Trip, Part 1

Over the course of my second year of grad school Team Carol periodically discussed a post-graduation road trip. Team Carol, by the way, is the name of our basketball team, named after Johnathan, aka Carol. The other members are me, Lucas, Matt, and Chan. Lucas and Johnathan are also from the Midwest and didn't have any job or post San Diego plans lined up, so they were wide open. Matt is from San Francisco, and he'd probably head home for awhile, but also didn't have a job to rush into. Chan is from South Korea, and he had to head back for work soon after spring quarter, so he was out (plus he has a wife and kids).

From left, me, Chan, Lucas, Johnathan (Carol), and Matt

For most of the year, we tentatively planned to drive south into Mexico, all the way down the Baja Peninsula to Cabo and back. Lucas and Johnathan would take their motorcycles, and I would ride in Matt's car. During spring quarter, however, things changed. Johnathan had to fly to Texas for a wedding the weekend after graduation, so we delayed the start. Then Matt firmed up plans for a trip to Tahoe in early July and dropped out--he also didn't like the idea of a long road trip (not sure why it took that long to realize driving 1,000 miles to Cabo and back meant long days on the road). Around the same time, we were considering changing the course. The flat desert wasn't the most exciting route for a motorcycle. Another option was driving north up the coast of California into Oregon and possibly Washington. That way, we'd have a more scenic road, and we could also visit Matty in San Francisco.

Our original plan was a trip all the way down
the Baja Peninsula from San Diego to Cabo

Since Matt was out, that also meant I had no car. I didn't need to worry long about it though; before finals, Lucas crashed his bike (a car cut him off in traffic) and injured his right wrist. The motorcycle was wrecked, and even if it was drive-able he couldn't use the clutch. The injury was certainly unfortunate, but in a way, Lucas' pain was my gain. He could still drive his car, so I didn't need to worry about a rental. His Saturn has over 300,000 miles on it, however, so we would be rolling the dice on a long trip. It seemed like a breakdown waiting to happen (it was; more on that later).

Taking the old Saturn across a remote stretch of Mexican road seemed foolish, so that kind of sealed the deal on our route. Instead, we'd head north. We gave Johnathan a day of rest after flying back from the wedding, and on the 25th of June headed out. Our tentative plan was to drive north along 395, which cuts between Sequoia National Park and Death Valley, and camp near Yosemite the first night. On day 2, we'd drive around Lake Tahoe and through Lassen National Forest before finding another camp site. On day 3 we'd reach Portland and spend a night in a motel. The next night would be Seattle, and then we'd loop around Olympia National Park and drive all the way down the Pacific Coast, stopping in San Francisco for a few nights.

Google street view of a stretch down the Baja; I thought an adventure
in Mexico would be fun, but maybe not with a Saturn on its last leg

The first half of the trip, up to Seattle went mostly to plan. We made it to Yosemite by afternoon on day 1 and found a campsite at the edge of the park (I shared a tent with Lucas and Johnathan brought his own). On day 2 we drove up to Tahoe and then continued north through Plumas National Forest. We planned to drive by Lassen Peak, but the road was closed off until July 1st. Instead, we detoured west to Redding and then up the 5 until we found a campsite. The next morning we ventured back off the highway and stopped at Crater Lake before continuing on to Portland.

We planned to drive by Mt. Rainier on our way to Seattle, but the evening we arrived in Portland Lucas' Saturn started acting up. The following morning, before leaving Portland, Lucas and Johnathan took it to an O'reilly Auto Parts shop down the street from our motel. I had to print and mail off some documents for my Japanese visa, so I took the opportunity to head to a Fedex. I also had to get specialty sized passport photos downtown, so I was worried that I'd hold them up. I called to check in when I was finished, and they reported that the Saturn was even worse: they took it for a test drive on the highway, and couldn't get it over 40 mph.

Since I was downtown already, I walked over to Portland State's campus and then looped back around to the river front. I finally gave in and got lunch at one of the many food trucks (I assumed we'd be on the road by lunch). At 2 pm I finally got word that the Saturn had a new lease on life--they first replaced the cylinders with little change, and afterwards removed and reinstalled them several times and then voila--it was running like new. I picked up some more food for them and caught an uber to the O'reilly's. That was all a process, and by the time we got on the road it was 4 pm. Long story short, we scrapped the Rainier stop and shot up the 5 to Seattle.

I'll save the return journey for part 2. Below are a few pictures from the first half of the road trip:

Driving along route 395, before we got closer
to the mountains and Yosemite.

The road cutting across Yosemite was closed after we arrived
(it closed at 3 pm, because of possible avalanches). We were still
able to drive about 10 miles into the park and explore a side road.

I was surprised about an avalanche at the end
of June, but there was still a lot of snow.

A nice commercial for the Saturn, still going strong (at that point).

Johnathan and Lucas brought MREs and I tried
my first one in Yosemite for an early day 1 dinner.

Even the edge of the park had spectacular views

Just before dark near our campsite

Driving around Lake Tahoe; many of my pictures were in
the car since we had so much ground to cover most days

Although we did occasionally stop for photo ops

Johnathan, aka 'Carol' cleaning his bike before we hit the
road on day 3. The previous night it took us an hour to find
an open campsite. This one was off the main road and full
of RVs that hadn't moved in months, or years.