For several hours before and after Sacremento, the I-5 is straight, flat, and boring. Driving it is like paying a penance for having spent too much time in Socal. Out here a scan of the AM radio dial will reveal all the God and Right wing quasi hate speech a normal man can stomach. If you’re still wondering who the f*ck elected George W, you can start looking right here.

At last the road stats to make some turns, and the flat becomes hills. The hills became mountains and suddenly Mt. Shasta is huge in the windshield. I started to smell smoke form dozens of fireplaces. I stopped for gas and the cold was a pinch on the cheek from Mother Nature. It smelled so familiar and felt so good. I was halfway to Canada but I was already home in the mountains.

I like spending the night in Yreka for some reason. The Comfort Inn has terrible coffee and spotty wireless, and still I have stayed there more than once on the way home. I think it’s because when you start the drive again, inevitably first thing in the morning, there is a stunning view just up the road. It’s Shasta of course, and all the little misty farms that sit down at it’s base. I dunno why I like it so much. But I do.

All the crazy turns and passes in Southern Oregon are what start to make me feel like I’m getting close. To me they are the physical if not spiritual manifestation of the border to the Northwest. Southwestern Oregon is beautiful country.

Seattle has the worst traffic. Even on a Saturday afternoon. I think it’s partly because people round a curve on the freeway, see Ranier standing there like a God in the pink glow of evening, and they just can’t help but slow down to admire it. View-based traffic. I swear.

And then I start getting close. The radio picks up the CBC (thankgod), I start to see more and more BC plates on cars, I get nervous about the border (still, but not as bad) and then it’s all over. The guy in the booth says “have a nice day” and I’m home. The lights from Grouse, Cypress, and Seymour are winking at me, everything is clean, my San Diego phone shifts to “twice as expensive” mode, and I let out a long easy breath.

I slept like a baby last night.




Tags:travel canada home shasta yreka vancouver
Published by dspphoto: 11:31 AM
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