Road Trip: Day 3

I’m really glad tomorrow is a “recovery day”, as today was another long day of driving through the twisties.

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After waking-up a bit earlier than planned, I headed out to get some breakfast, then started North on Highway 32 towards Lassen Volcanic National Park. I didn’t know what to expect from this route, but it turned-out to be a nice drive. The road worked its way through the pine trees following a river (complete with a fisherman), steadily climbing up into the mountains.

I had a great time laughing at just how much torque the G8 has… I easily climbed to an elevation 7,000 feet at 55mph in 6th gear! Even when I needed to pass a slower vehicle, I didn’t even need to down-shift… just added a few revs and away I went. That being said, there were a few times I “quickly” made the pass… you know, so the other driver didn’t have to stop when using a turnout… and the G8 performed flawlessly at WOT.

When I got to Lassen National Park I was able to purchase a new America the Beautiful annual pass. Last year it took me forever to find one, but this year I’ll have one for my entire trip!

I planned my route to drive through Lassen National Park, because of the twisty roads, but never really thought about the park itself. While the roads only had a 35mph speed limit, I barely noticed… I was far too busy looking at all the scenery.

After leaving Lassen I jumped on Highway 44, but it was boring… very much a “point A to point B” sort of road. I also found myself stuck behind several groups of Labor Day Weekend campers (towing trailers). It was so bad that when I reached Redding I didn’t want to stop for lunch and risk being stuck again.

Yesterday I drove Highway 36, which turned out to be a euphoric experience. Today it was time for Highway 299, and while it wasn’t as good, it was still enjoyable…. lots of long sweeping corners!

This road is more heavily traveled, and with the holiday weekend, I spent more time behind slower traffic (many hauling trailers). In addition to the weekenders, it was also spotted with large road construction projects. Over the ~135 miles there must have been at least a dozen sections that were closed-down to a single lane of traffic. Unfortunately this resulted in large groups of cars closely spaced on the road… at least the G8 had no problems taking advantage of passing lanes!

Tomorrow I get to sleep in and recover a bit. With only 190 miles to drive I can take my time on my way into Oregon.