Saturday morning dawned a little cooler and slightly overcast in Jacksonville OR. We got up, showered, had an adequate breakfast at our B&B and then hit the road. The top was down and the traffic was light as we took the back roads from Jacksonville to the I-5. We passed through Ashland OR . It looked like a town we could spend some time in. The Main Street was full of pedestrians and there was a farmer’s market or some other market set up in a square. There were banners advertising their Shakespeare Festival and everywhere we looked we saw wonderful old houses, in various states of repair. We also passed by the main campus of the Southern Oregon University. This way was really the scenic route!

Back on the I-5 we drove along, enjoying the scenery and checking out the licence plates of the vehicles we passed, or that passed us. We saw quite a few from far away, like Maine and Tennessee, mostly on the transport trucks. We drove over the Siskiyou Summit, the highest elevation on the 1-5. There were many warning signs as we headed down into California because of the steepness of the grade.  At the bottom we had to stop at a checkpoint. California does not allow people to bring in fruits and vegetables from other places. Our agent however, was quite taken with our car and our trip. He gave us detailed directions but did not ask us if we had any produce. It was a good thing we didn’t!

 

 A little further along Mt. Shasta came into view.  This area of the Cascades is clearly volcanic and it was interesting to see. We stopped at the town of Mount Shasta and got some iced teas as it was heating up again. As we continued driving south, the temperature continued to climb. We stopped at Redding to get gas and something to drink. Before we left we put the top up. New road trip rule: if the temperature goes over 35 C, put the top up on the convertible.

We drove through some very beautiful areas. At one point there were miles and miles of olive trees on both sides of the divided highway. In the median between the roads were flowering shrubs. When the groves of olive trees ended, fields of sunflowers started. However, it was very clear that Northern California is in a drought. All the creek beds we saw were dry and in some areas there was no green vegetation at all. We passed by a roadside fire, most likely caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette. The dry grass at the edge of the road was burning and spreading at a quick rate. We could see a fire truck speeding towards us on the other side of the highway. Luckily, the median in that area was easy to cross.

The last part of our trip today was in heavy traffic, but we made it to our hotel safely. Dale is off to the race tomorrow. On Monday we’ll head west to get on the California coast highway to make our way home.