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| day-21.gpx | Gogle Maps GPX Viewer |
Yreka, CA to San Jose, CA
I don't know if it's that we were still used to BC-style map scales or what, but the distance from Yreka to Redwood Valley looked like a five-hour marathon to us, so we woke at 5:30 and were on the road just after 6:00, a little on the edgy and paranoid side (I'd called the night before and let Mom know that we'd be by between 11:00 and 2:00). After passing Mt. Shasta and descending from the twisties into the Central Valley above Redding, where the speed limit rose to a healthy 70 mph, though, it became clear that we had nothing to worry about. We covered the 100 miles from Redding to Williams in just over an hour, and then it was another 90 minutes over familiar ground to our destination.
The EPC light, which hadn't been seen since before Dawson City, came on again just as we were rounding Clear Lake—neatly blowing apart my theory that it had been caused by a cocktail of smoke, dust, and altitude, none of which were present at the lake. But it went off again after five minutes or so, and we continued on our way.
At around noon we rolled into Redwood Valley and were greeted by Mom, who had a nice lunch spread ready for us to enjoy as we recounted the adventures we'd had and pored through old photos of the places that were now so familiar all of a sudden. Dad wasn't around, unfortunately—work duties had him tied up in Sebastopol. We returned the tent and sleeping bags and took a final photo (Paul and me standing next to the car holding up our empty wallets); we hit the road at about 2:00, with the hope that we'd make it back to San Jose by 5:00 in time to stop in at the car wash before they closed. Unfortunately, fate conspired to keep us in dense traffic all the way south, particularly from San Rafael on. Gassed up one final time just after the Richmond Bridge, then fought traffic all down 880 on the east side of the Bay, and we reached 280 and got to Santa Clara and the car wash right on the spot of 6:00—just as they closed. Of course. But that's a small thing; we got back on the freeway and manhandled our way back onto 880 and 17, then onto 85 and Camden, and finally to our doorstep where we greeted Lance and a pair of very happy dogs who demanded a full half-hour of petting on the back deck.
The final tallies include 3,485 photos, 7,600 miles on the car (plus the distance travelled on the ferry and to Barrow and back), 26 fill-ups of gas (the six-year-old Jetta VR6 averaged between 28 and 32 mpg—not bad!), and about $2100 per person including all expenses (including the ferry tickets). Considering all we saw, it's one of the biggest bargains I've seen in years.