Colorado Cruiser: Oregon and Washington drive Days 1, 2, & 3

I can't believe it's been 2 years since Kyle... excuse me.... Elder Jones left for his mission to Tacoma Washington.

I've read his emails for the last 2 years and heard his testimony and marvelled at just how much he has matured and grown, both in the church, and as a strong young man. Much of his growth came in the 4 months prior to his mission, when he just decided to become ready for a mission. He became much more outgoing and self assured, and those changes have continued through his time in the Tacoma area.

So now the time has come for "Elder Jones" to come home, and he mentioned to us that he would like to drive home rather than fly, so that we can have time to talk. We thought about it for a while and decided that I would drive up, then Nannette would fly up and we could all drive home together.

I know what you're thinking, "What a saint you are Clay, to drive and let your wife fly". But I had an ulterior motive. I called my buddy Mike in Lehi Utah, and asked if he wanted to drive highway 101 and the Oregon coast with me. He said yes and we were all set.

I also managed to schedule a business trip in Salt Lake, so the first day of the drive was actually a "work travel day"

I left on Thursday October 11th. But rather than just taking I-80 to Salt Lake, I took I-70 to Rifle Colorado, then turned North and East toward Vernal Utah to visit my cousin. I'd never been to Vernal, and I hadn't seen Holly in quite a while so it was all good. I got to Vernal by 2:00 and had sandwiches with Holly. We talked about the joys of living a little ways from the rest of our families (we love you all) and about the fun of raising teen agers (we love you too mostly).

After lunch I turned North and drove to the Flaming Gorge to look around and get some pictures. The whole area was empty but it was beautiful.

Next I drove up to I-80 and then West to Coalville to meet a mission companion named David Bell for dinner. We hadn't seen each other or even talked much in about 5 years, so it was great to catch up. It turns out that he and his brother bought a motorcycle recently, and he has yet to take any long rides. So next summer we'll try to go ride somewhere together.

The drive to Salt Lake was uneventful as was the business meeting the next day. Even the first drive in the afternoon was pretty boring all the way to Reno Nevada. We checked into the hotel then went to get dinner. But as we arrived back at the hotel, a couple of guys were just entering and one of them held the door open for us. It turned out to be Dick Wells, a guy I serve with at church. I had been telling him on Thursday about this trip and he gave me some suggestions for places to go and things to do. He flies charter Lear jets and just happened to be in the area. What a coincidence.

Saturday morning we woke up pretty early and headed towards the coast. We saw some beautiful scenery crossing California and drove allot of twisty roads. They would have been even more fun on a motorcyle.

We hit the 101 just North of Eureka, then stopped in Trinidad for lunch. There was a seafood restauraunt down by the pier and we got some great seafood. But there was fog everywhere so we didn't get many pictures

After lunch we drove up to the Redwood National park and walked around the Lady Bird Johnson grove. It's hard to capture the sheer size of those trees and the feeling of age being around things 800+ years old. It was beautiful and relaxing to walk there.

Next we drove down to the beach and walked around. We arrived as a large group of college kids were packing up. They had left some sand sculptures and sand castles that we admired for a bit. The tide was coming in and we walked around taking in the sounds and smell of the ocean. It's been a long time since I've been on a beach.

We continued North, and as we climbed up a bluff, we saw a beautiful shot of the sun setting. We pulled off and took a few pictures, then noticed that a black bear was right across the road from us. It stayed around for 10 minutes, then ran up the hill and disappeared, so we disappeared too.

My cousin Holly and I