HISTORIC EL CAMINO REAL

Our attempt to get some sleep before picking up our load proved to be less than successful, but on a high point, our load was ready an hour ahead of time. We hooked up, stopped to get fuel and were on our way North before 4pm. Along the way, on Highway 101, you can see many mission bell markers, some with signs attached stating "Historic El Camino Real".

Between 1683 and 1834, Spanish missionaries established a series of religious outposts throughout the present-day U.S. State of California and the present-day Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. To facilitate overland travel, mission settlements were approximately 30 miles apart, so that they were separated by one day's long ride on horseback along the 600-mile long California Mission Trail. I remember back in the third or fourth grade learning about all the missions and having to do the obligatory "mission project", an event I got to relive through my twin nieces when they as well learned about the missions.

We love traveling on the weekends, as the traffic is much lighter, especially going through the Bay Area. As we approached the Benicia Bridge, I had an opportunity to take some pictures of the "mothball fleet", so named for a large flotilla of retired WWII and Vietnam-era ships that reside in the Suisun Bay just east of the Benicia Bridge. Although the original intent was to have them capable of becoming battle-ready within a month, most of the ships have been quietly rusting away for years and are beyond repair. The fleet has been used in a couple of movies, including "Down Periscope."


As darkness fell, we did our exploratory stop at the Super WalMart in Anderson, CA. Given it was a Saturday night, and much earlier than what we would have wanted, the parking lot is tight, but Craig was able to maneuver the truck and trailer to a safe parking spot and then upon our return, get us safely back out onto the Interstate. We both think that we will use this as our routine stop instead of Redmond, OR where they have rerouted the Highway around it.
Just shy of the border of Oregon, it was time to take a quick power nap as the fatigue was starting to hit. After a two hour nap, we took off again and made it into Rice Hill, Or as the sun was rising. That leaves us just over 300 miles for our delivery in Seattle at 3am. We plan to leave tonight at 7:30pm, which will allow us time for a fuel stop in Tacoma, WA. Since our second drop is only 25 miles away from Seattle, but 6 hours later, we are hoping we will be able to catch a few ZZZ's in one of the two receiver's lots. Next update as soon as we know where we are headed next!