Nevada to Oregon

We left Carson Valley, Nevada this morning just about 8 am and pulled into the KOA north of Medford, Oregon at 10 pm. The drive out of Carson Valley up into the mountains was beautiful but the view just after the summit of Lake Tahoe was spectacular. I feel like I am running out of adjectives to describe the scenery we have been privileged to have 99% of this trip. From the "mountains" of western Maryland into the rolling hills of Kentucky and every day since, we have had great weather (except for that one horrible day through Arkansas) blue sky and sunshine.

We drove from South Lake Tahoe into Sacramento, CA and then I-5 north. It just didn't seem right to blow past Orland and not see Mr. & Mrs. LaGrone, so we ended up meeting them at the Berry Patch restaurant which they secretly own. How fun it was to see them again after all these years. Sarah wanted to stay and help feed the cows back at the ranch but we had to hit the road again if we wanted any chance of seeing Whidbey Island by Thursday. Just as we were leaving, the sky started looking ugly and we saw a rainbow in the distance. Lynn LaGrone said rainbows were a sign of good luck. Hmmm....save that thought for later.

We made it to Shasta Lake and on to Mt. Shasta just at dusk. Just as we made it past the mountain, it started to snow. After crossing the Oregon state line, the snow got heavier and the temperature dropped quickly. Pretty soon the temp light on the rear view mirror was flashing ICE and sand trucks magically appeared on both sides of the highway. The snow got heavier and temps got colder and visibility got rapidly worse. I was a nervous wreck but Billy got us up, over and down the other side of the Siskyous in one piece. Then, just before Medford, we started seeing highway signs that I-5 would be shut down between 10 pm and 4 am! A quick glance at the clock told us we had about 10 minutes to get past that area before they closed it. We passed about 10 tractor trailers all carrying huge I beams. They were all hanging out on the side of the road in the dark just waiting to get to work. We were so grateful that we didn't have to detour off the road in the dark and snow. When we safely pulled into the KOA we were commenting on the bad weather and grateful that we made it through before the highway shut down. We thought the kids were still watching a movie but we heard a small voice from the way back say, "Mrs. LaGrone said rainbows were good luck!" Sarah has always been and will continue to be our positive energy girl. She is the optimistic one for sure! So it's past 11:30 pm and we are dead tired.

Our plan is to get up at the crack of dawn for our 10 hour trip to Oak Harbor. Stay tuned to see if we actually make it! Our love to all. Good night.