The plan was to leave Missoula at about 11:00 am to get to the RV Campground in Burns, Oregon at about 8:00 pm because the temperature was due to be 105 degrees there. So it was south on US Hwy 93; west on US Hwy 12 to Kooskia, ID; south on State Hwy 13 to Clearwater, ID; west on Luke Gulch Rd. to Grangeville ID; south on US Hwy 95 to Weiser, ID; south on State Hwy 201 to Ontario, OR; west on US Hwy 20 to Burns, OR and close to 8:00 arrived at the Burns RV Camp for the night. It was smoky everywhere. Probably worse in Idaho. It’s about 470 miles to Burns through winding mountain roads, close to a 10 hour drive.
Friday morning we got up early for the 3 hour 190 mile drive to Alturas, CA which was south on US Hwy 395 for a total of 660 miles to get to Alturas, CA. As we left Burns the smoke got worse the closer we got to Alturas.
The Alturas DMV has exactly 6 chairs in the waiting area. When I arrived there was one DMV official and one customer at his window, and another customer was seated in the waiting area. I grabbed a driver’s handbook and took a seat expecting to wait until my 10:40 appointment time. At about 10:20 he called me up and I was done renewing both my driver’s license and the van registration before my appointment time. Diane and I had breakfast then got back on the road and into the Burns RV Campground at about 3:00. The drive back to Burns was the smokiest. At some points we couldn’t see more than 3 miles.
After leaving at 6:00 am we arrived in Missoula at about 4:30 pm, a 9 ½ hour drive from Burns. We followed the bread crumbs we left on the way to Alturas to get us back to Missoula. We immediately showered and walked to our new favorite Brewery, Imagine Nation Brewery. At the brewery we met Jock, an interesting fellow. He had actually been to Laguna Beach and was very familiar with Humboldt County. After our maximum amount of beer allowed we went back to Masala and had another great meal. We were pretty worn out after dinner and it was easy to fall asleep.
You three are amazing travelers! Way to get it done! San Diego DMV has 3-7 hour waits. Even people who have appointments are waiting an hour. So great that you got in before your appt. Love your descriptions! Party on!
Wow! Glad you are back on track. By the way, the smoke has been really bad here recently (from BC Canada they are saying). We are headed to Lake Chelan Thursday. A wonderful place but the smokes going to be a bit thick most likely. Kevin