Eugene, OR

The Craziest 3 Days of Driving I've ever done!

We just arrived in Eugene. This is first time in the past 3 days that we have had internet or cellphone access. We've been tucked in among the redwoods between Eureka, CA and Eugene. We are glad to be back in civilization!

We left Healdsburg on Monday morning. The plan was a 260 mile drive up to Eureka and stay there for 2 days. Well, after just getting over my cold/flu thing, I was ready to give up after only 160 miles. Of course, it didn't help that almost 50 miles of the drive was US-1 from Fort Bragg to just south of Eureka. It was the worse 2 hours of driving, in the RV, I've ever done.

If you have never driven this road, let me explain. Its a beautiful drive along the Pacific Ocean. There are also numerous 15 and 20 mph curves, many 8 to 10% descents, with those curves thrown in the middle, and, they don't seem to be proponents of the "guard rail" on this portion of road. We also didn't see the signs that said "vehicles with trailers over 30' NOT recommended", until it was too late! Laura and Snuggles both knew not to say a word to me while I negotiated this stuff (thanks!) We got through it OK, but I was finished! Lucky for us, it was middle of the week and there was not much traffic. We only had one close call, on a 10 mph switchback, we used up both lanes and even then just barely made the turn without scraping the Suzuki on the side of Redwood tree that had to be 15' thick and literally was on the edge of the white line of the road!

We escaped that test unscathed. Got ourselves back on smooth, flat road, we searched for a campground. We found Dean Creek RV resort, in the middle of nowhere along side the freeway. The place was old, built before RVs' were built over 30'! They had a space for us, but we had to negotiate tight roads, huge redwood trees and roots that had made their way up through the pavement! Great, test number 2! Once we got parked, again unscathed, we discovered no cell phone service, not even a roaming signal, and no internet. We did pick up a few local TV channels. They did have a hot tub, just thing I needed after a stressful day (that and a drink!)

We divided the remaining 300 miles to Eugene into Tuesday and Wednesday. We stopped in Crescent City, CA at the Redwoods, KOA. Wednesday would include a 70 mile segment on 199 through Grants Pass, OR that would include many more 20-25 mile, tight curves and steep descents/climbs. Even though they didn't recommend trailers over 30', we knew from reviews on the RV board we could make it OK, especially if we traveled this portion separately, rather then hooked up. True to the reviews, we did not run into any problems. The drive was almost easy, especially after my "trial by fire" of the previous days. We arrived safely at Deerwood RV resort around 2:30PM, with our friends Rick and Sue having already picked a spot out for us!

After the past 3 days, I think I have graduated from Novice to expert motorhome driver...Don't I get some sort of certificate or something? ;)

-Rich-