We were up at 4:30 AM and delivered Rachelle and the girls to PDX in time to catch their 6:00 flight back to Albany. Bon Voyage! Their trip was over, but I still had the task of returning the RV to Los Angeles. We could have rented the RV one way, but would have had to pay $3000 extra to do so. Instead, I convinced Neb to join me for a "haul ass" southbound return trip while Rachelle and the girls had some time to readjust to East Coast time and pack for summer camp.
The traffic was very light as the sun was just starting hit the road. We had 1000 miles to cover in three days, but no particular agenda other than to enjoy each other's company...and the
quiet.
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| Leaving Portland, Heading South! |
Sixty miles later, we stopped in Salem, the capital of Oregon, for breakfast at a place called the
Sassy Onion. I had already polished off my jalapeno chipotle breakfast burrito when Neb struck up a conversation (making best friends...) with the manager, who simply couldn't believe that we hadn't ordered any cinnamon rolls. Of course, we had to try some. Holy crap! Unbelievably good!
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| Pigs at the Sassy Onion |
After breakfast, Neb was on a quest to find a pawn shop so that he could buy a guitar. I thought he was just looking for a $20 junk guitar for the road trip, so I stayed in the RV while he was in the pawn shop. An hour later, he emerged with a Gibson guitar and a letter authenticating the signatures on it: Johnny Cash & Brian Wilson. Presumably it had been part of a charity auction at some former time. I won't say what Neb paid for it, but it was way more than $20! Neb tuned her up and she sounded pretty good. For the rest of the day, we played and sang at the tops of our lungs. My favorite was an extended version of "Sardines...and pork and beans."
Horse from singing, we stopped for lunch in Ashland, OR, the home of the annual
Shakespeare Festival. Neb was interested in checking out the town as a possible future home for his family. Ashland is a super-crunchy place. It has a similar vibe as Burlington, VT or Boulder, CO. Lots of knit caps (in the summer) and beards. We drove the RV up some residential streets on the outskirts of town. The views were pretty sweet, but getting the RV out of there was a little dicey. Lunch was at a funky place called
Wiley's World Pasta Shoppe & Eatery. When the cook discovered that he had none of the ingredients for the noodle dish I had ordered, he came out to the table (he may have been riding a skateboard) and worked with me to design a replacement. To make up for the inconvenience, he agreed to name my new recipe "The Rager Tom."
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| Wiley's World |
Neb drove the stretch of highway between Ashland and Redding, CA that crossed the mountains. There were a few sections where there was a steep dropoff on the passenger side of the RV and I had to close my eyes and breathe deeply. It's way more nerve-wracking to be the passenger than to be the driver. I think this is why I'm no good at riding roller coasters...
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| Watch this! |
After lunch, I calculated that if we kept rolling, we could reach Chico, CA—the home base of
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company—in time for dinner at the
brewery restaurant. Game on! Once we got past Redding, Interstate 5 became incredibly boring again, but we made excellent time. I made reservations at a campground in Chico and we rolled in to the Sierra Nevada parking lot an hour before closing time. It was too late for any kind of tour, but the restaurant had—count them—NINETEEN different house beers on tap. I sampled all of them. Fantastic!
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| Yes, please, I'll have one of each! |
We had driven 500 miles over about 13 hours, including stops for breakfast, guitar purchasing, lunch, and Ashland touring. On top of that, we had shot our voices out from all of the singing. Overall, a highly successful first day—and pilgrimage to Sierra Nevada!
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| Mecca |
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