Driving home in a rental car

June 28, 2010

It took me 3 days to drive the rental car (Toyota RAV4) from Loveland, Colorado to Eugene, Oregon. My wife picked me up at the car rental office in Eugene and drove me 55 miles south to home in Oakland.

I didn't take very many pictures during the drive, but I did make a point to visit a few scenic places. The Cache la Poudre river canyon was extraordinarily scenic and unspoiled, like I had hoped the Big Thompson canyon would be. Definitely off the beaten track and extremely winding. I could only drive 35 mph most of the time.

I crossed the Continental Divide at Cameron Pass. West of Cameron Pass I had my last good view of the Rocky Mountains. Later I would see more big mountains in Utah - the Uinta and Wasatch ranges.

Final view of the Rocky mountains west of Cameron pass.

I continued on highway 14 to Steamboat Springs, then drove 5 miles north of town on a gravel road to camp at Strawberry Park hot spring. I had never been there before. It's an excellent hot spring.

In Utah I drove a few miles off the route to visit Ogden hot spring. I soaked for about 10 minutes but the pools were in the sun and the air temperature was 98F. Not exactly appealing conditions for a hot soak. The Salt Lake City area was the only place with hot weather during the drive home. Every place else the daytime temperature was in the 70's and 80's.

I spent the next night at a motel in Twin Falls, Idaho. On the way into Twin Falls I detoured to see the attractions along the Snake river gorge.

Snake river east of Twin Falls, Idaho. Evel Knievel did his famous motorcycle jump nearby.

The following day I drove through Boise on I-84, then across eastern Oregon on US 26. In Bend I drove to the top of Pilot Butte. It has an awesome view of the city with several volcanoes visible in the distance.

Bend, Oregon from Pilot Butte. Many Cascade Range volcanoes are visible in the distance.

When crossing the Cascades on highway 126 I took a short stop to see Sahalie falls. It's only a 1-minute walk from the road. Now I'm back in lush forest typical of the west slope of the Cascades.

Sahalie falls, near the headwaters of the McKenzie river, Oregon.

I could easily have driven home that day, but I camped near Cougar hot spring, about an hour east of Eugene. The forest is more lush than anything I saw in Colorado. On the morning of July 1 I drove into Eugene and met my wife at a Hertz agency near downtown. On the way into Eugene I took a picture of the Goodpasture covered bridge in the early morning sun.

Goodpasture covered bridge over the McKenzie river.

I drove the rental car a total of 1298 miles from Loveland, Colorado to Eugene, Oregon. The bike tour was 61 days, but I got home (via a much more direct route) in only 3 days.

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