• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Road Trip

9

98SVTC

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Dec 17, 2001
Messages
1,220
Location
Hong Kong Heights, Ca.
This coming Friday I'll be taking off on a trip up to Mckinleyville, which is above Eureka, in order to deliver the Ranger GT that I've had since new to it's new owner. Obviously I won't be towing it with my SVTC! Anyway, although I haven't decided exactly which route I'll take either up or back, I'll probably stick to the I5 or 99 until somewhere around Stockton and then start looking around for a suitable road to get to the 101. There are several choices but they are probably all two lane country roads. Mapquest and my GPS thing say to use the 299 which is between Redding and the coast. But the 20 does the same thing farther south and isn't as long of a drive before it meets the 101. Anyone have any better solution to either of these choices? I want to miss the Bay Area congestion so that's why I'm not heading for the coast before then. Coming home won't matter as much as I won't have time constraints to worry about. I'll probably just come home nearer the coast. We'll be staying at motels a few nights so taking into consideration my theoretical route, any suggestions for a decent place to stay would be helpful as well. Thanks!
Karl
 
its been over 15 years since I made that drive to Oregon and Back, but if the ease and speed is what your looking for I recommend staying on the 99 until you hit Sacramento area then jump on the 5 from there. That will keep you out of the bay area completely and still take you through very pretty areas north of Sacramento. Now if you just have a urge to drive the 1 (PCH) I wouldn't head that way on the return drive until south of San Jose.
 
Stick to I-5 North, avoid the 99. Hwy 99 is where the massive pile up was that killed 2 people last week.

I've driven to Cresecent City multiple times which is about 90 miles North of Eureka. The path I always took is Hwy 80 Richmond/San Rafael Bridge to Hwy 101.

Its a great drive through great National & State forests. You get to see the vineyards surrounding the Healdsburg - Hopsville area as well. The Coast line as you come close to Eureka is also pretty damn nice!

Hwy 299 outside of Redding is a killer. 3hrs of backroad windy 2-lane highway with lots of coastal hills/mountains. I drove it once, never again. Perhaps in a 400HP RWD Vette it would be fun, nauseating for the passenger though.

I'm not sure what is the easiest cut through to Hwy 101 would be for you, Hwy 152 off I-5 in Los Banos or through Tracy or I-80 through Sacramento.

Bay area traffic is light in the evenings after 7pm and also light after 10am.

If you are truly adventurous and wouldn't mind an extra hour, drive through San Francisco by taking the Bay Bridge and then cross over to Hwy 101 by taking the Golden Gate.
 
Just a follow up to my trip. I ended up taking the 5 up to Redding. The reason was that I didn't want to have to take any of the state highways over to the coast at night and we were on a rather short schedule and needed to be at our destination by 2 or three the next afternoon. The 299 was nice - we took it during the daylight hours as it was safer. It wasn't too bad of a drive. I kept the OD locked out but there were a few hills that I had to crawl up. A diesel would have been nice but the 5.4L did okay. The total weight of the tow vehicle, trailer and cargo was probably nearly five tons. Coming back we thought about taking the 101 to get away from all the hills and valleys of the 5. Bad choice. Same or worse hills and towns with 25mph speed limits. We cut over on the 580 to the 5 and took that the rest of the way. I could have done better with a lighter trailer but the one I used was free and the money I saved by not renting mostly went into gas. I averaged just over 12mpg over the 1418 miles. I might have bettered that by staying out of OD the whole time.

Anyway, the northern California counties were quite pretty. I especially enjoyed the delta area near Sacramento - pretty much everything from Stockton on up to Redding. The coastal mountains were nice. I just wouldn't want to have to drive those roads all the time. The coast was foggy but nice too for as little as we saw of it.

Well, on to my next project. Hopefully I won't have to go as far if I have to deliver this one.
Karl
 
Its amazing by travelling a few hours away from SoCal how the scecnery changes......I mean that in a good way....Just going up to Paso Robles a few times this year with that nice drive each way made me appriecate what a beautiful state we live in....Glad you made the trip up and back safely......
 
The pile up was due to fog in the morning. It is usually burned off by 9am (I have no idea when you would go through there) and 299 is a killer of a drive. Its so winding it takes FOREVER to get from Redding to Arcata which is where it meets 101.
 
We hit fog on our way back down the central valley. We had stopped in Wesley (?), I think, after cutting over from the 101 on the 580. The 5 was okay but it looked like the 99 was socked in so we just stayed with the 5. I don't think I've ever traveled on the 99 and wanted to see what it was like.

The 299 was a bit of a chore but there weren't too many other choices for us to take without either spending more time or else traveling them after dark. I probably should have used the 580 to get to the Bay Area and then headed north on the 101. I might have saved a little time even though there were all those towns that you had to go through at 25 mph. Right now there's a bit of 580 construction going on near the 101 but it wasn't slowing anyone down.
Karl
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top