We are on our way up to the Northwest. First stop is Grants Pass, Or. It was a pretty easy drive. We left at about 10:00 am and had very little traffic on our way up. We made great time and covered the 400 miles in about 7 hours making several stops along the way. The reasons for the stops had nothing to do with "filling up", you see the motorhome has an 80 gallon fuel tank and were are getting good mileage. Instead, the stops were all about "emptying out". You see, my Doctor has me on a program that requires me to drink a minimum of 64 oz of water but preferably between 80 to 100 oz of water a day. Drinking it is pretty easy, but now I'm sure you understand the need for some "emptying out".
We were a little worried about this leg of the trip because much of the state of Oregon is currently going up in flames. As soon as we crossed the Calif/Oregon border, the skies were thick with smoke and clouds. Fortunately, for us I-5 has not been directly impacted by the fires which are burning to both the West and East of I-5. When we stopped and stepped out of the motorhome we could smell the smoke in the air. But luck has fallen upon the firefighters. Just a couple of days ago, the air temperatures were well over 100 degrees, the wind was up and the air dry - perfect conditions for wildfires. But today, the temperatures were in the 80's and the air was thick with humidity. We even could see that it had recently rained in the area. This change in the weather, is a godsend to the firefighters.
We are only spending the night here in Grants Pass and tomorrow we head up to Issaquah, Washington, which is just outside of Bellvue and Seattle. I'm sure we will run into a lot more smoke as we pass through Portland. The Coumbia Gorge fire is huge. I hope that this cooler and damp weather has made its way up there.
More later!