Day 13

 Day 13 – June 19, 2013

It was another chilly, windy night, but by dressing warmly, staying under layers of blankets, and turning on the toaster oven, it helped us sleep comfortably. Ed made some breakfast burritos for the two of us while the kids slept in.  Like clockwork, after everyone was up and dressed, we were driving off the lot in no time.

Ed decided to change our route to drive up I-5, taking us north up the center of California and so we found a town (Mt. Shasta) on the map that would be 4 ½ hours away. That would be the halfway point to our next destination on the coast of Oregon. I was able to connect to the internet and found a highly-rated campground there. Ed called and they had an opening.  We had a heck of a time getting out of San Francisco, though. We kept missing our exits to get to the freeway. It was maddening, but after missing the road more than three times, I just had to laugh. Maybe the city wanted us to stay longer? We were delayed by at least 20 minutes by the time we got to where we needed to be. And, to add insult to injury, we had to pay another $15 to cross the bridge. Thanks so much, San Francisco. We did our part to support their economy.

The freeway went through marshes; we saw the Coast Range to the west, and then the Cascade Range to the east. We pulled off at Redding to get lunch at Taco Bell and discuss Ed’s new plan. We were only an hour from Mt. Shasta, but he really wanted to head to the coast. If we had gone directly up the coast on 101 from San Francisco, we would have been much further north. The highway going west cut off at Redding. This highway went directly through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. More winding roads! At least we had no brake problems. We stopped a few times at rest areas to stretch our legs and take turns driving the roads with steep cliffs on both sides. The highway ended in the northern California coastal town of Eureka. It took a total of 9 hours, twice as long as we thought when first leaving the campground this morning. The boys were getting on each other’s’ nerves, but for the most part, they did better than expected, considering the length of time being cooped up with the van and the few stops we made.

Since this was the first time we stopped at a town for the night without reservations, we used the GPS and the intermittent internet we had in the car to help us find a place to camp. I read about the KOA Campground in Eureka, which received excellent reviews, but we’d have to backtrack and go further south a few miles. The Hidden Springs Campground showed up first going north, only 5 miles, as this was the direction we were already headed in. We followed the nice lady’s voice on the GPS to find our spot for the night, but true to its name, the campground was really hidden. We drove passed the house that the GPS directed us to for a half a mile, but it was still hidden. It’s not so fun trying to make a U-Turn on a small country road, but Ed’s been getting good at this, and back around we went. We looked at the spot once more, but it really was just a piece of land with someone’s home on it. Definitely not a campground. I finally got phone service again, so I called the KOA to see if they really existed and, if so, did they have any openings. I was keeping my fingers crossed that someone would answer as we have discovered during this trip many of the offices close by 8:00 and it was now 7:58. The manager answered and told us to come on down and she gave us the non-GPS-friendly directions to get there. We needed that for the other campground!

We drove alongside the Pacific Coast for a few short miles (breathtaking!), and soon after we were driving into the KOA. Their office doesn’t close until 10, so we had plenty of time to check in and get the info. about what services their place offers. They had a lot (heated pool, mini-golf, badminton, basketball, arcade room, etc.), but too bad that we got here so late. Maybe the kids can enjoy them tomorrow. Immediately after setting up, Ali and I started preparing dinner and the boys checked out the grounds. Black beans and rice were ready in no time. After dinner, Ali and I went to do laundry- our dirty clothes bag was getting full. I realized that I didn’t have enough quarters to get two loads washed and dried, so I ran up to the office to trade in my dimes and nickels. I got there at 10:05. Darn. The manager was leaving out the side door and asked me what I needed. She was so kind to go back in and trade my coins. Ali and I sat and waited while the machines hummed and whirred while getting our clothes cleaned and dried. I found a magazine to look at; haven’t done that in a while. We got the clothes all folded and found an extra sock not belonging to any of us. Socks in the laundry have always been a mystery to me. Why are there always ones that go missing? I think there is some sort of conspiracy going on. Ha! As soon as Ali and I got back to the guys who were already asleep, we dropped the laundry bag on the camper floor and climbed into bed ourselves.