Enter the new British Racing Green 2017 Mini Cooper with room for Laura and Gilbert to have their own seats. Lots of luggage room. I even have a roof rack if we need more space.
Our break of dawn start had a departure time of noon. Despite crossing borders we were able to make it to Kalama a few miles north of Portland.
Motel 6 is definitely dog friendly and very convenient. We had Beef Dip, Salad and Chicken Nuggets meals in the room from the nearby restaurant. These were shared with Gilbert who was very pleased.
The Mini handled fabulously on the highway, a delight to drive. I miss my Miata MX5 sports car but don’t have to feel the mild guilt pangs I used to have looking accross at Laura weighted down under Gilbert and excess luggage. I will miss the convertible but the marvellous sun roof on the Mini ameliorates the pain of loss some.
I don’t feel as cool. It’s a mini touring car and reminiscent of what my father had when he was much younger than I am now. Laura says a lot of Mini’s have racing stripes because they are ‘racing cars’. I certainly experienced this in the Red Wood winding highway.
At the Covered Bridge off I 5 where I fueled up we learned there was snow forecast for Mount Shasta. If I’d wanted more snow I’d have gone hunting in the Queen Charlottes or skiing in Whistler. I didn’t come south to face a blizzard in the high mountains. Laura was insistent she didn’t want to experience again that ugly time we had coming down the Coquahala when the ‘climate change’ (weather person) made an error and we found ourselves in freak blizzard.
At Grant’s Pass we took the 199 south and were so glad we did. Great country driving. Beautiful winding roads through the Red Woods. Suddenly we were entering California. We eventually came out at CrescentCity on the coast. I remembered sailing my 40 foot SV GIRI by this lovely harbour a couple of times. This coast is amazing.
We turned left when we came To Pacific Ocean heading even more south on a terrific freeway that changed into a winding coastal road that at times had red lights for the the one lane passage before returning to a freeway..
I’ve driven it a few times in each direction but it was Laura’s first time.
“The Red Woods are huge,” she kept saying. “I love the beaches, too” The surf and smell of salt air was delightful.
Laura kept saying,”It’s so warm it’s like spring. I see people wearing t shirts and sandals.”
I loved seeing the seagulls. The sailor in me enjoys their company.
We stopped and let Gilbert, our blind dog, gambole about off leash on the beach. He almost ran into the surf but other wise had a marvellous .time knowing somehow from memory, it was safe to run on a beach, his little tale wagging and his legs going a mile a minute.
“That’s the best Christmas gift you could have given him.” Laura said. We so enjoyed watching him running and skipping about for really the first time since he had his last eye removed because of the hereditary glaucoma.
Back in the Mini Cooper I sped along the winding highway as the night set. It was dark when we reached Eureka.
Eureka used to be a major hippy town. There was still a huge neon Peace Sign. Humboldt County Sesame was the competitor to BC Bud. That was back in the day I had flowers painted on my face while dancing in the streets of SAN Francisco. Now the town had Nutcracker showing in the main theatre and there were a lot of ATV and sports oriented stores.
We’d liked to have gone to church for Christmas Eve but this is Gilbert’s holiday and blind he’s anxious in new places. We listened to a Christmas pod cast on advent and Christmas and listened to Christmas carols driving south today..
Now we’re going to have an early night after eating turkey wraps from Safeway. We’ve found another dog friendly Motel 6. I really like the Motel 6 sta..
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment