I started the day at the Wild West Inn.  I took my time getting ready and missed breakfast by 15 minutes, so I had oatmeal in the car while adding air to the tires and checking on things.  Car was very dirty, but I figured I might be hitting rain soon.  I tried to get the weather channel on the TV while getting ready in the hotel, but I wasn’t able to get the TV back on the Dish input instead of the over the air channels, so I had only a vague idea of the storm hitting the Pacific Northwest.

I drove up the 101 North to the entrance to the Avenue of the Giants. I decided to skip the tree you can drive through since I looked it up last night and I don’t think the Tesla will fit.  The Avenue of the Giants was an amazing drive!  I took a bunch of pictures but found I was having a very difficult time trying to show scale.  I tried a few selfies, but they were terrible, as they usually are.  The best picture was my car next to a piece of a fallen tree.

The Model S is a large sedan.  It’s the largest car I’ve owned.  Larger than the G8.  These trees are massive!  Two more pics:

I used the SuperCharger in Eureka and walked around a bit.  I tried, again, to buy new shoes, this time at Kohl’s.  They had Asics in women’s but none in men’s.

Based on my friend Alyssa’s suggestion, I went over to the Cafe Waterfront restaurant for lunch.  The food was excellent!  I had halibut over wild rice, with a salad and a side of bread.  I ate it while drinking a beer, listening to The Doors and looking out at the bay.  The building is an old saloon that had a brothel on top.  So, that was lunch.  🙂  Picture of the plaque outside the front door of the restaurant:

Just down the street was a waterfront mansion.  I grabbed a few pictures on my way out of town.

At this point it was clear I was driving into the storm.  I figured I would head up to the SuperCharger at Crescent City and decide what to do from there.  On my way, I saw a nice view of the waves coming in as the 101 came over a hill crest.

While charging in Crescent City, I realized I need to either go on to Grant’s Pass, Oregon or backtrack.  I decided to press on.  The rain was coming down at this point and I had to choose between charging extra and driving some in the dark, or leaving with less of a charge and more sunlight remaining.  I chose the extra charge.

The drive over to Grant’s Pass was not fun.  Heavy rain, poor visibility, mountain roads, one lane pieces, falling rock signs, animal signs, wet leaves on the road and flying in the wind, etc.  I stopped twice to relax a bit.  I finally made it to the SuperCharger and stepped out of my car into a puddle.  Sure hope this one is grounded… yup 🙂  I’m behind a Black Bear Diner, so I decided to finally try it.  As I walked across the lot, both feet submerged in that puddle, so both shoes and socks are socked as well as the bottom of my jeans.  Glad I wasn’t wearing new shoes. 🙂

I ate a turkey dinner and thought about where to go from here.  I’m trying to coordinate seeing my friend Chris in Portland tomorrow, but I’m concerned about pressing North into the storm remnants of the typhoon.  Based on the forecasts I found online, it looks like it will rain well into next week for all of the cities North of here I had planned to visit (Portland, Seattle, Vancouver).  Also, there will be high winds around Seattle.  If I don’t go North, I’ll have to backtrack into California, again, to stay on a SuperCharger route through Nevada.

I’m thinking I’ll try for Portland and decide from there.  I don’t want to miss out on the cities, but this weather is not great for driving.  Still figuring out next places on the journey.

I’m running the heat in the car overnight tonight for the first time. So far it’s used about 5 miles of range in an hour and a half.  Not bad.  I’m close to the SuperCharger so I can add energy in the morning.

Miles: 2415

 

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