Drive to Redding
We woke up to a bright, clear day. The sun was shining, and the sky was gorgeous blue. It was the Oregon Coast’s way of saying, “Good riddance!” We’ve seen nothing but clouds nearly every day on the coast and had no clear mornings—until the day we leave. It was cruel.
We briefly left Oregon, entered California, and then returned to Oregon on Highway 199 as we left the coast and drove northeast to join I-5 at Grants Pass. Highway 199 follows the Smith River through incredibly beautiful landscapes with the river flowing between steep cliffs. Thick fir and pine forests covered the surrounding mountains. The big problem is that the road is so narrow and often lacks any shoulder at all, so it's very hard to enjoy the scenery. It’s also very slow. It took us over 2 ½ hours to drive the 99 miles to Grants Pass.
Once we reached I-5, the drive was much easier. We had to cross two mountain passes as was we drove south, but our motorhome handled it without any issues. We were shocked once again when we crossed the bridge over Lake Shasta. The “bathtub ring” seemed to be over 100’ high. The seriousness of the drought couldn't have been clearer.
We reached Redding about 4:00, so it was a 7-hour driving day. We have the same campsite as we had on the way north 10 weeks ago. Today, it was in the upper 80’s in Redding, so the trees shading our campsite made a big difference. Our temperature range today was nearly 30 degrees from the coast to Redding.
Just to top it off, we watched the supermoon rise through the trees while we ate our dinner at our campsite. We’ve had 3 months of moonrises and sets, and we’ve only had two that were visible because of cloudcover, including tonight. It was that kind of trip.
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