Routes
GTW Hop 31: Tillamook, OR, to North Bend, OR
169 miles via OR 6 and US 101. Cumulative distance: 5,513 miles. The OR 6 portion of this hop was the couple of miles from the Wilson River RV Park into downtown Tillamook; the rest was on US 101. It is a very scenic route, but with a lot of curves and turns. Jett did … Continue reading
GTW Hop 30: Canyonville, OR, to Tillamook, OR
240 miles via I-5, OR 22 and US 101. Cumulative distance: 5,344 miles. The weather broke enough for us to make the long trek to the coast on Monday. It was a long trip – 5 hours total, with a lunch break – but with the exception of one brief downpour, was mostly done in … Continue reading
GTW Hop 29: Redding, CA, to Canyonville, OR
219 miles via I-5. Cumulative distance: 5,104 miles. Yes, folks, we have actually made it to Oregon, the last state that we will visit on the GTW. From here to the end it will be a trip down the coast to San Jose. I wish I could be confident that we will arrive safely, but … Continue reading
GTW Hop 28: Sacramento, CA, to Redding, CA
167 miles via CA 160, I-5 and CA 299. Cumulative distance: 4,885 miles All but a handful of these miles were on I-5. This was essentially a trip up California’s central valley on a drab, dreary day. I was impressed with how flat the valley is – it reminded me of Kansas. It is far … Continue reading
GTW Hop 27: Kingsburg, CA, to Sacramento, CA
196 miles via CA 99, I-80 and I-5. Cumulative distance: 4,718 miles. This was supposed to be entirely on CA 99, but a wrong turn in Sacramento resulted in a 7-mile error. Oops. But at least we didn’t run into any low bridges. The 180+ miles on CA 99? Boring, boring, boring. Flat, nearly featureless … Continue reading
GTW Hop 26: Boron CA to Kingsburg CA
180 miles via CA 58 and 99. Cumulative distance: 4,522 miles If you have been following this blog since the early planning stages, you will notice that we have deviated from our planned route in a major way. The plan called for us getting to Oregon via Reno and northeast California, east of the Sierras. … Continue reading
GTW Hop 25: Las Vegas, NV, to Boron, CA
193 miles via I-15. Cumulative distance: 4,342 miles. This hop involved long stretches of arrow-straight highway cut through desert. Starkly beautiful, but boring after 30 minutes. And lest you think it was hot, I will tell you that the outside temperature never broke 60 degrees. A sunny but very cool day. We stopped for lunch … Continue reading
GTW Hop 24: Williams, AZ, to Las Vegas, NV
220 miles via I-40, US 93, I-515 and I-15. Cumulative distance: 4,149 miles. This hop started at 7000′ and 60 degrees and ended at 2000′ and 83 degrees. Downhill the whole way, including some sections that were so downhill that Jett closed her eyes. The entire route was beautiful in a rugged, desolate sort of … Continue reading
GTW Hop 23: Sun City, AZ, to Williams, AZ
170 miles via I-17 and I-40. Cumulative distance: 3,929 miles. I knew that this hop would involve some climbing as there is no way to explain a 20-degree change in temperature in less than 200 miles without some serious altitude adjustment. But I didn’t expect the climb we got: we topped out at over 7,000 … Continue reading
GTW Hop 22: Tucson, AZ, to Sun City, AZ
133 miles via I-10 and US 60. Cumulative distance: 3,759 miles. We opted for a good night’s sleep, vacated the “Whispering” Palms park and hot-footed it up to Sun City. I found that Phoenix is snowbird central: it has numerous mega-parks that cater to long-term occupants. They look more like trailer parks than RV parks. … Continue reading