North to South – Highway 395 OR, CA, NV

Took a little different route to get from Olympia to Chandler this year.  Through eastern Oregon, across northern California, briefly into Nevada, then through eastern California, mostly down US 395. Very enjoyable drive.

First we went through Bend, OR, but decided it was too early in the day to stop, so continued south to the Collier Memorial State Park, a very nice state park located on the Williamson River. The Williamson River runs along the boundary and Silver Creek runs through the middle of the park.  The Williamson is known for its trophy sized trout, both rainbow and brown.  Silver Creek is a spring fed creek known for its trout fishing also, very beautiful, water looks like it just came out of the tap.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to get rigged and do any fishing prior to dark, but this is a for sure stop on the return trip. Drove down the road to the casino for dinner and was pleasantly surprised, it was very good and had organic salads…

Next day we cut across to US 395, via OR 139, beautiful drive through a lot of lava beds and Modoc country. Then continued on US395 into Carson City, NV. This is a nice drive, with surprisingly little traffic, especially 18 wheeler traffic. Carson City is a nice small city with all amenities, we spent an extra day here to refresh ourselves and do some shopping. Had lunch at Schaf’s Bakery, a great place for lunch. Next time we will go just a little farther south, the next town, Minden.  They have a few better RV Parks in this area.  All located next to a casino, but better than the one in Carson City.

Then it was off on US395 south through California.  We had never been this way before and it as a very pleasant drive.  This is listed as one of California’s scenic drives and it lives up to its name.  Through some beautiful mountain country, road follows streams and rivers, great scenery. We stopped for the night at Boulder Creek RV Resort in Lone Pine, CA.  This is a nice RV park with plenty of amenities, store, etc. Mostly sandy desert style pads, but nice never the less.  The area has a ton f stuff to see, but we didn’t do any touring.  Think we’ll go back and spend a few days there later.

We were planning on going through Death Valley, but the temperatures were in the high 90’s low 100’s, so we decided to pass and continue south on 395 to Needles, CA.  This drive while not pretty (desert landscape most of the way) was pleasant in that there wasn’t a lot of traffic until we got to I-15/40. Stayed at Desert View RV Resort, nice park.

From Needles, we went US95 to I-10, then home to Chandler.  Just flatlands and desert al the way so not much scenery.  US95 was pretty busy with big truck traffic until we reached the Parker cut-off, then not too much after that.  Not sure we’ll do that again, my just cut across at Parker and through that way.

Anyway, we’re in Chandler for the winter, or at least until we decide on our trip to AR. It was a nice drive down and maybe the most relaxing trip we have had.  The new truck made a lot of difference I think, it is very comfortable for both driver and passenger. I highly recommend using US395, especially through California, beautiful drive.