Washington to California

As I said in the last post, I'm going to work my way backwards...so now I'll fill you in on the trip from Washington to California I made with my mom right after Christmas. With all the CRAZY winter weather, we were quite anxious to get out of town, although a bit concerned that we would make it, given all the snow they had! Mom's car had brand new snow tires on it and only about 10 miles before we left Spokane on Sunday, December 28th. Rick flew back to Spokane that morning and Josh, Mandy and Jayden had left, driving back home as well, so we were on our way...and anxious to get to drier and warmer weather! Just about a mile or two before we reached Ritzville, some guys in a car came along beside us with their window down, trying to tell us something...after catching up with them and rolling our window down, they told us we had a flat tire!!!! Now, how could that be since the tires were new and had hardly been driven, maybe 60 miles! We slowed down and made our way into Ritzville since the side of the road wasn't very appealing to us to be stuck! If you've been there, you know that there is NOT much there, and on a Sunday only restaurants and mini marts with gas are open... We pulled up to some AIR and filled u the tire, it was really low, but not completely flat. We asked inside the mini mart if there was any place we could go to have the tired looked at and their best suggestion was to call AAA...so we did and were REALLY nervous about having to change into the spare since the truck of the car was packed COMPLETELY full, every nook and cranny...unpacking it in the snow and slush (dirty at that) was not appealing! THANKFULLY, we didn't have to do that...the AAA guy seemed to think that maybe the tire just hadn't sealed on the rim since it hadn't been driven much and suggested we check it every time we stop and fill it if needed. Our first night we spent in The Dalles, with Scott and Betsy so that wasn't too long of a day and thankfully, the roads were all bare and dry all the way there! Considering we left FEET of snow behind in Spokane, this was a real treat! We enjoyed a nice evening with Scott, Betsy and the girls (Sam and Syd) and headed out the next morning...bound for California by the end of the day!

Day two had us still nervous about the tire, filling it up ever time we stopped, but it never got nearly as low as it was the day before. Driving through central Oregon was really quite nice...roads were clear and dry and the landscape quite interesting. We made our way into California through Dorris and and the next sight was Mt. Shasta - what a sight as we approached it in the late afternoon with some great light on it! OH, it would have been fun to stop and take some pic, but no time for that...so just "drive by shooting" was all I got! At Weed, CA we joined up to I-5 and the weather turned a bit on us, some rain, fog and now and the trucks were flying by us, making it really tough to see! Redding was our destination that night and were were very happy to make it there and get checked into a room. After unloading the car (no not all of it, just the necessities!) and having a drink to unwind, we grabbed some dinner and got to bed since we had another long day ahead of us!


Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon
Mt. Shasta, California
Ugh...the fog is upon us during our last leg of the day!










Day three, December 30th, we started out a bit slow as we wanted to get the tired looked out so I found a place that carried the same tires on the car...and someone must have been looking out for us as this place, Redding Valley Tire Co., was awesome. They took us right in, let us sit in the office while they checked it out, started with submerging it in a bin of water, assuming there was a nail or screw in it - but found no leak. After some more work on it, they discovered it had a bad valved and replaced that and sent us on our way...no charge! Wow, talk about service...we were so fortunate to find them and our minds were now more at ease with the tire not losing air. We headed south on I-5 with a quick stop at the Olive Pit before continuing on. We ended up cutting over to Hwy 101 on Hwy 41 and spent our third night out in Pismo Beach. Our room was amazing and when we opened the slider, we could hear the ocean...oh, that is what we were wanting, water and warmer temperatures, it was about 60 degrees that evening when we arrived there! We'd had a late lunch, so just stayed in and had a few snacks that night.

Day four, New Year's Eve, was a shorter day for us. After breakfast, I spent about an hour photographing around the grounds of the hotel (right on the water...lots of pelicans) and then we loaded up and headed south. This day we made it to Newport Beach in the late afternoon and stayed with friends of my mom, Cliff and Honey Hosteler, and spend the evening with them and some neighbors as we "rang" in the new year. Oh wait, we were in bed before midnight...but we did celebrate the new year with New York...we were just too exhausted to stay up till midnight...three days of driving had wiped us out!


Terri and her mom, Sis, celebrate New Year's Eve together
Suzanne, the neighbor, shows off her "new" glasses as does someone in NY on the TV!!


A new year...New Year's day, after breakfast, we headed for our final destination in Oceanside, where my mom has a house rented for the winter. Thankfully, the drive was just over an hour, so we arrived, got into the place and started unloading the car...phew that was a chore. We were really glad we only had to do that once...and didn't have to do it in Ritzville that first day!!! We also had several boxes of things that my mom had left with a friend last winter that we unpacked and found places for. Her house is just right for her and will be great while she's there...and it sure beats the cold and snow that Spokane has had this winter! It was nice to be there and not have another day ahead of us to drive...other than across the development to a friends place for dinner!

My mom has some good friends down there and has kept busy since arriving (a month now!) and is enjoying the milder weather (and sunshine!!!)...getting out to golf and walk as well as a bit of shopping and dinners with friends. I stayed there until the 5th and then flew home, leaving her to rest and relax a bit! Rick and I will return in March for a few days before we drive over to Sedona to meet Rick's parents for a week there (can't wait!) and then will return to Mom's place and Rick will fly home and I'll stay for a few more days, for a girls weekend with my mom, and sister's Krissy and Sarah!

Phew, two down and one to go, I'm almost caught up...yeah!

Some flowers from California, figured that many of you might want to see something you haven't seen for a while with all the cold and snow!!