Day 2: A drive through Oregon

 

A lovely drive through Oregon today, mostly along I-5. It was a leisurely pace compared to yesterday and in much nicer weather. Compared to California, it was at least 20 degrees cooler.  It was also cloudy for a few hours in the day.

For the first few hours, I-5 winds its way through the mountains, going up and down passes, through lush green forests. It is spectacular and reminded me of the drive on Hwy 17 from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz.  Listening to old hindi songs amid this beautiful scenery, the time flew by quickly. Oregon is much more green compared to California, but not in all places. There are many dry patches (or golden grasses!). 

The stops for recharging the car every couple of hours became more of a routine habit today. On major highways like I-5, the Tesla superchargers are plentiful, with one every 50 miles or so.  You could literally forget about range anxiety and just stop at the next supercharger when the range left drops below 20%. This is similar to how I would stop at the next gas station when the fuel gauge drops below 1/4.   One advantage of charging when the range drops very low is that the charging stops are shorter. The charging rate is highest initially and then tapers off as it goes over 50%. Most of the time the recharging is done sooner than what I needed to do in the break - coffee, restroom, lunch, nap, etc.  I've typically spent between 15 to 35 minutes at each recharging stop so far. 

In Oregon, there are frequent "Rest Areas", very conveniently located right next to the freeway. They are nice and quick, but I wish  they had EV charging stations as well. 

I also experienced my first big traffic jam of the road trip. Stop and go traffic for almost one hour. This was an hour south of Portland. There was a Jetski that had fallen off and was being carried away :-)  It might also have been due to all the folks heading home after the long weekend. The net result was I was not able to spend time in Portland and had to drive directly to Multnomah falls to keep my entry ticket time slot. 

The iconic Multnomah falls with the classic pedestrian bridge between the upper and lower falls did not disappoint. It is a spectacular setting. I am sure the water flow looks even more beautiful earlier in the summer. I did a 5 mile hike to top of the Multnomah falls and towards Larch mountain.

After the visit to Multnomah falls, had a quick drive to Vancouver (the one in Washington, Not Canada!) to my AirBnb. A very warm welcome by my hosts and a beautiful room with a balcony looking out to green meadows. A much better experience than the typical hotel stay. 

 

 The raw numbers for the day:

• 348 miles driving, 10900 steps walking
• 2 Tesla supercharger stops
• 2 states - Oregon & Washington

Next:  Day 3: Mount Rainier National Park (Sept 6, 2022)