Well, that wasn't that bad.

Well, we did it.  San Diego to our place in the Tri-Cities in one day.  We left San Diego at 0520, and pulled into our drive way at 2345.

According to all the online map programs, there were two main ways to do this trip: Head up I-5 to Weed, Ca, then swing up through Central, Oregon on US-97 to I-84(which runs across the top of Oregon) to the Columbia River Bridge on I-82 OR swing East out of San Diego on I-15, I-115, I-215, and then up the Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway on a variety of smaller roads that eventually lead you to US97 through western Nevada, up into Oregon, then Idaho, where you get on I-84, back into Oregon, and eventually to I-82.

Whew.  Most map programs considered this just about a coin flip, with about half-an-hour difference.  I agonized for a bit, but eventually, after the harrowing traffic experience I had had earlier in the week when we went into LA to visit a few museums, we decided to take the more rural route.

 

 

Without sending a drone simulating my driving techniques up the I-5 corridor, there is no way to KNOW that we made the correct decision...but I really can't imagine that route being faster...and I know it wasn't prettier. 

 

It's funny how each type of desert looks a little different, and has it's own form of pretty.  It's also interesting to see of the conditions our fellow human beings, even here in America, live in. The route we went through brings some SMALL centers of population, where people are scratching out a living. 

 

It was also a good lesson in how geography can effect weather.  Granted we had a car full of clothes and supplies, but we were dressed in comfortable style for the marathon drive, meaning shorts and t-shirts for the most part.  This left us woefully unprepared for the 41 degrees and hail in McDermitt, at the Nevada/Oregon border, one of those towns eeking it out at 4400 feet. 

 

Home.  Yes, I have had my family with me, so in a way, I have never not been home...but it's nice to have a night in my bed, and Mothers Day promises to be a 'lazy day', or at least as lazy as my conscience will let it be.  I'm looking forward to seeing my attempt at gardening in the light of day.

 

And maybe a nap at some point for dad and mom.