4Peaks 2021 Road Report

With CoViD-19 impacting all facets of life, it came as a surprise to me that the fine folks who run 4Peaks were going to hold a festival this summer. In March, they set the date in August, rather than their usual mid-June. At the time, it was reasonable to assume that the vaccinations and such would make for a safe-enough festival experience. I will post all about the festival itself later. Today is just about the getting there and getting home.

Getting Outta Dodge

As you've read before, Boo and I like to leave the night before the day we intend to arrive somewhere. This is especially true when driving Hapy. Boo took departure day off from work, so while I finished up project work for our days away, she got started on our departure preparation. The night before, I had pulled everything not bolted down out of the bus, and stacked our gear in the car canopy space. This made for an easier, and much earlier departure. One thing I forgot: my toolbox. Gulp.

Unlike pretty much every other exit from home, this time we left in daylight. We filled up with B20 at our usual filling station (30+mpg again) and hit the highway. I noticed along the way that the engine missed a few times, and that continued throughout the trip. In fact, there were times when Hapy laid down some black smoke, and even threw a code. I think it was the fuel since we did not have that experience during our round-trip to Leisureland a couple of weeks earlier. I will use standard dino-diesel for this next fill-up and see if the stumbling goes away. I have not had a bad tank of fuel from Sequential before, but after that bad fuel experience in 2019, I know the symptoms. This was similar, but not nearly as bad. I mentioned the wind sheer in my post about the drive to Leisureland. The passing trucks and crosswind were more noticeable south of Portland, before reaching the OR-22. As I drove, I thought about ways to remedy.

Dash Light

It had been a few weeks since the drive to Leisureland. Recall that I discovered that the dash light for the speedometer was not functioning. Well, after a few weeks passed, and all that daylight driving... I completely forgot about it. The dash light did not resolve itself. So, about the time I passed the correctional institute on OR-22 as it started to grow dark, I turned on the headlights and, again, the dash light did not illuminate. Unlike the drive down I-5 a few weeks earlier, this time, I was driving on a windy up-down state route. So, I could not just point the bus in the right direction, and mind my speed by watching my RPM's. Instead, I just drove slower. This, I am sure, infuriated the few other cars sharing the highway with me, but I decided that getting there was more important. Besides, there are passing lanes every few miles so any inconvenience by my speed was quickly resolved.

Getting to Bend

We arrived in Bend after 10, and headed for the WinCo. After our late-night dinner at the WinCo on our way south to Eugene a couple of weeks earlier, it was just too easy. And funny. Again, the store had few fellow shoppers, and we grabbed a salad and a sandwich. We ate in the parking lot, and decided that this was where we needed to get groceries for the festival anyway, so we motored around to the rear of the store and vagabonded. We awoke before 8 the next morning and hit the WinCo for fest-food. We shared the store with a large group shopping for a camp. They literally had 20 shopping carts or more filled with food. One cart had just large flats of eggs. Fortunately, we checked out through a different line, but wow, that was something to behold.

We were still hours early for the opening gate, so we found and visited nearby Sawyer Park. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, and sat by the river for a few hours until it was entry-time. All of the pictures except the last one on this post were taken there. We followed the multiple turns to arrive at the festival grounds, surprised at how different everything looks after 2 years. We passed a new high school, through multiple new rotaries, and then the gates. We were waved through to possibly our best festival camping spot, at least since Chinook, where we had green grass underfoot and the music clearly reaching us from the stages.

From Bend to SkiBowl

4Peaks ended on Sunday without any morning events. This shortened the festival by many hours, and effectively encouraged everyone to leave earlier. Boo and I were no exception, being on the road home by 11. After the crosswind experience, we agreed that we wound try the OR-97 to OR-26 (north then west) route home instead of the usual OR-22 to I-5 (west then north). The departure from Bend was lovely, and we stopped at Quince Park in Redmond for a picnic lunch. There were a handful of young families enjoying the play structure while we used a stone picnic table. Then, we were back on the road north through Madras and on to Mt Hood.

This part of the trip was very similar to the last time we drove this way with GratefulEd in 2017 (See 4Peaks Road Report 2017) with several pull-overs to let Hapy cool down (his high temp only barely crossed 200* twice), and to let traffic pass. Unlike that trip in 2017, however, we were driving into a gusty off-center headwind that battered Hapy relentlessly. I found that I had to slow way down (under 40 mph) just so I could keep him predictably between the lines. So, our original reason for driving this route (less wind impact) was foiled.

The drive from Madras to Government Camp is 62 miles. For the first 40, it is open desert with little to buffer the wind, and only 1 lane traveling in each direction. The last third of the drive, however, is through increasingly dense forest, so the wind eased up, but the incline shifts from sporadic to constant. So, we pulled over a few times even after reaching the forest. By the time we reached Government Camp, I was ready to not be behind the wheel for a little bit. So, we stopped at SkiBowl and visited the spot where Boo and I spoke our wedding vows in the snow. It looks very different in the summer, with a stone patio and a big event tent in the area, but we used the location of the trees to guide us to the spot.

From SkiBowl Home

This last leg of our journey was the easiest. We pulled out of SkiBowl and continued west on US-26, but from Government Camp westward, it is all downhill. We pulled over in Sandy for a snack (in the bus), but otherwise drove without event. Hapy stayed cool, and there was no noticeable wind impact. We chose to avoid the interstates and took OR-212 to OR-224 into Milwaukie and then crossed the Willamette River over the Ross Island Bridge. Even crossing the bridge had less wind than the central Oregon desert had.

Ultimately, we arrived home before 6, stretching a 4 hour drive into 7. As much as I lament how hard the driving is in the wind, I will say this much: driving a bus in the wind forces you to be present like nothing else. Most folks, who are driving modern cars can afford to think about other things. No sooner do you leave somewhere then you are thinking of tomorrow or what you're going to eat for dinner or something. Not in Hapy, not in the wind, no way. You are extremely in the moment, twitching the steering wheel against the wind gusts, fighting the pitch, noting your speed, the engine temperature, the cars behind you, the cars coming at you... there is no tomorrow to think about; you need to survive this moment. So, for others, who left the festival, and were mentally in their old paths by the time they got home, I was very much in the same mental state as I was when I left the festival, albeit more tired.

Reflecting

I write all that down so that as I address the things that may be contributing to Hapy's handling, I will not forget the gift that these shortcomings provided: living in the moment... for hours. As I sit in reflection, I also recognize that this was another successful trip that did not include a flatbed towing us home. Consider too, this trip included no wrenching of any kind, no tweaks to any systems. In fact, this trip did not even include a tool box. 

As I try things to address the handling, I will post them here so others can follow. I do not intend to do anything before Hapy's birthday out of concern that he not be road-able for that. I might try adjusting his shock absorbers, but even then, I could break off a mounting stud and then he's stuck at home. As with all trips, there is a mental list of things I would like to look into, but handling needs to be first.

Thanks, as always, for following along. I will post about the festival and the music later-

Newberry 2019 - Getting Home

I know. A reasonable response to having 2 separate posts about driving to a single festival means either I have become too wordy, or I'm running out of things to write about or something happened. I don't think it's the second one. Apologies for no personal pictures from the drive home. You'll see why. Before I begin, to my US readers, Hapy belated Labor Day (yesterday). Now begins the "most productive" block of weeks of the year, from Labor Day to ThxGiving. I hope one day our compensation again reflects that production so more of us can afford to spend time doing things like drive to festivals.

Getting Home

Odell Lake from gmap

Every time we leave 4Peaks (except once) we go through Sisters via US-20. And, every time, we have temperature challenges until we hit the pass. This time, knowing I'm barely getting by temperature-wise, I took some advice from Tony and drove south on US-97 and used a cut over to OR-58 out of Crescent. OR-58 is a much easier over-the-pass route heading west. The longest inclines were actually on the cut-over from US-97 to OR-58 past a rock quarry. Once on OR-58, there are still some up's, but they are brief. I welcomed the new views as well. Shortly after getting on OR-58, we passed a large lake (Odell Lake) with dark, almost brown water. It was super big, but I didn't see anyone playing on it. Maybe it's more for fishing, even though the state site says louder watersports (water-skiing, eg) are approved. There were numerous turn-offs for various campgrounds (Princess Creek, and Trapper Creek being right on the water) so it was a fairly popular place to camp, at least. Still thinking about the campgrounds, we reached the summit of "Willamette Pass" and passed the ski resort by the same name. Until this point, I was pulling over every 20 minutes or so to let Hapy cool down from his higher temperatures. At no point did Hapy's temperature get above 202*F, but I usually pulled over as he was hitting 198*F and let him cool down to 190 before resuming. Willamette Pass had a bunch of stuff going on. There was a go-kart track rolling and folks with mountain bikes and hiking gear filling the parking lot. I wondered if there was a larger crowd for summer activities than for skiing in the winter. After the peak, we started the long downhill, picking up the Salt Creek on our left until we reached Oakridge. Similar to the drive out, once we started going downhill, Hapy didn't have temperature issues.

Speed Limiter Engaged

wiki image of Lookout Point Lake

I stopped for diesel at the ExxonMobil station on the western edge of Oakridge, filled my water bottle from the 5-gallon barrel-cooler on the floor in front of the passenger seat, and nosed back onto OR-58. By the time I reached Lookout Point Lake, I started noticing what felt like a speed limiter. We could get up and go from a dead stop okay, but 4th gear was becoming gut-less. The traffic around the lake was kind of heavy so the speed-limitation wasn't much of an issue yet. Lookout Point looked fun; there were boats, swimmers, and ski-doos, everywhere. Tons of teens just getting their summer on, it looked like a great place for Eugene-residents to go when they want some lake fun, and the weather was perfect for it. On we pressed, or tried to press, with Hapy's accelerator becoming less and less responsive as we went. Interestingly, though, since I couldn't go very fast, the high temperature issues subsided as well. I no longer had to keep one eye on the temperature gauge. Which was good because soon, we were merging onto I-5 North. This was borderline scary. Consider, we are just trying to maintain 45mph* as we merge onto an interstate where the average motorist is trying to achieve 75mph. Flashers on, I held my own through Eugene but by Coburg I just couldn't take it any more. Between the cross wind buffeting, and the speed limiter, I needed a rest, and the rest area just north of Coburg was perfectly timed.

Avoid Freeways

Peoria Rd from gmap

I pulled out the Gmap and requested a route home, to see how much longer I was going to have to do this. 2 hours, and it assumes you can drive the 65mph speed limit. So, I flipped the switch to "avoid highways". As it was calculating, the voice-over said there was an accident on I-5 causing a 27 minute delay. I figured that was kismet, but I still needed to get on the freeway long enough to get off. As scary as the OR-58 merge was, getting back on from the rest area was even worse. I could not get up past 35 mph* so, with flashers on, I hobbled to the next exit. No sooner were we off the freeway than Hapy started acting better. It was short-lived, but for a minute, he seemed almost grateful. We made our way to Peoria Road and then through the middle of hay farms, along the Willamette River. It was a little surreal; on one side of the road are large hay farms with big circular bales sitting in the middle of their sandy-colored fields and on the other side of the road are houses surrounded by trees backed up to the river, docks jutting out into the water. Peoria Road took me to OR-34 and then to 99W which ended up being my main road home from there. With the speed limiter in full effect, I followed a pattern similar to my drive east: when the passing lanes are too far between, I used the shoulder to allow the traffic pressure through. With the accident on I-5, there were lots of "i'm in a big ol' hurry" types trying to 'make up time' by taking 99W after getting bottled up on I-5. I guess they had an important meeting.... late afternoon on a Sunday?... Of course, some of 99W is multi-lane, so those who don't understand that the journey is part of the trip had a lane to speed past well above the posted limit. I did get a courtesy wave during one of my use-the-shoulder pressure releases, though. More proof that there be nice folks in rural Oregon.

Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers from gmap

I followed our usual cut-through from Sherwood down Roy Rogers and was surprised to see just how much progress had been made on the massive housing development going on there. It had been almost 2 months since we did this stretch on the way home from JRAD (See JRAD Eugene - Road Report), and I swear there are multiple blocks of occupied housing where they had just foundations the last time through. I know progress can't really be stopped, but I remember that road as the road where the boys and I declared success as we took Hapy on his first journey with his new engine (See One Small Step for Van). Now, that country road is becoming a major road between Beaverton and Sherwood and instead of hay fields and grazing horses, the land on either side are filling with multi-level condos, townhouses and McMansions. It's pretty hard to watch.

Home At Last

3! 3 Round Trips! Ah Ah Ah!

I arrived home just before 7, in time to see Boo's mom and best friend... who were the last to leave the family obligation I mentioned in the "Getting There" post. Tired and hot, both Hapy and I were glad to be home. My next order of business is to solve his heat problem... and the speed limiter problem... before our next trip in 2 weeks. Regardless of how much we may have limped home, this trip was a win: we made it home without the help of a flatbed. That makes 3 complete round trip journeys, each over 3 hours one-way this season for a total of over 1000 miles... so far.

Thanks, as always, for following along. I'll post as I solve things. I'll be starting with a cooling system flush or changing the fuel filters. Whichever one I feel inspired to do first when I get out to the bus.