March 3-5, Portland, OR to San Luis Obispo

By Chris Ransdell

After Brian went to his job briefly for the last time, we successfully got our last things packed into storage Tuesday morning. 



Though long, the trip to Central Oregon to pick up my mom went well and after dinner with family we headed out.  Our destination for Tuesday night was Shasta City California.  Dinner was a Black Bear diner (meh) and our hotel in Shasta City was the Best Western Treehouse which was beautiful.  I was able to get a family room so Brian and I had our own room with a bed in it away from the main room.



Wednesday was another long day.  We headed from Shasta Lake to Ukiah via I-5 and CA-20.  My grandmother thought we would be there for dinner so we ended up spending a lot more time in Ukiah than we planned.  On the upside, by the time we left there was amazingly light traffic all through Santa Rosa and especially the Bay Area.  It's rare to hit the Golden Gate at highway speeds except in the wee hours.  I did my best to grind down  19th Ave as fast as I know how and soon we were on I-280 headed towards San Jose.  It was a beautiful evening and the rest of the trip to Gilroy (our destination for the evening).  Driving out of our way for two different Shell stations, neither of which were accepting gift cards for payment, was just about the only irritation of the trip.  As I got near Gilroy I was increasingly aware that I have either allergies or a cold.  Hopefully this clears up soon.

Thursday started off with a lame breakfast at the Gilroy Best Western and then a scenic drive near San Antonio reservoir and Lake Nacimiento along county route G-14.  It was a nice alternative to US-101 for 40 miles. 

Normally it is my nature to have hotel reservations in advance everywhere we go but we really hoped to stay at the Madonna Inn this trip and at a rate lower than the very high quoted rate on their website.  I tried to work a deal with them but was not successful and they are fully occupied Saturday anyway.  Next we stopped at a Ramada Inn that my step-mother used to enjoy in town.  They did offer a rate that was slightly lower than my now cancelled Best Western reservation for 3 days but the property is very basic and neither Brian nor my Mom seem pleased with it.  Sigh.

Hopefully our evening plans (dinner mostly) go well.

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