DAY 7
DAY 9
FINISH:
miles
Salinas, CA
5418.8
stretch of Interstate 5 from Springfield
to Grants Pass. Once I exited the
interstate, I was only 45 miles from
California, and it was Route 199 which
would bring me there. For whatever
reason, I felt about the same level of
accomplishment having made it to
Crescent City is primarily a scenic, downhill drive with many twists and turns. I turned
onto Route 101 south, which took me through Del Norte and Humboldt counties. In
this stretch of highway, I drove along the Pacific coast for a while, and then the scenery
changed, where I was afforded the view of northern California's many redwood trees.
onto Route 1, which winds its way
down the coastline, but I found myself
capable of mainting a speed of only
about 25 mph. The scenery was
magnificent, but I opted to head back
to Route 101 once I got to Fort Bragg.
Rosa, I knew I had about 160 miles to go, and I figured that, under normal
circumstances, it would take 2-1/2 hours, but since I knew I would be passing through
large cities such as San Francisco and San Jose around rush hour, I allowed an extra
hour. It ended up taking over 5 hours. Traffic got backed up shortly before I reached
San Francisco. Once I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, it was pretty smooth sailing
coming out of the city, it was pretty
much stop and go for the rest of the
night. Traffic seemed particularly slow as
I passed by San Jose (which is actually
a larger city than San Francisco, even
though SF is more famous.) I did
point to make Day 9 a short day.