A Grown Woman: More plans

So I've been stressing a little about this long trip, not the trip part but the 15 hours driving part, and how we were going to work this out without either arriving in Seattle at midnight or me driving all through the night and falling asleep at the wheel at 10am. Or being cranky and irritated for the rest of the trip.

So now the plan is to leave on the Saturday around 6pm, arrive in Medford, Oregon or thereabouts around midnight, stay in some cheap dirty motel, and then back on the road around 7 or 8am. We would then arrive in Seattle around late afternoon.

We'll probably do the same on the way home, leaving in the afternoon, staying in a cheap motel on the way home, and then arriving back home the next afternoon. This extends the driving part of the trip and the being away from home part, but will greatly lower the stress level and the likelihood of me plowing into a tree.

Spike has offered to help drive, and I'll let him, but he doesn't understand how tiring long trips can be so I'd never be able to sleep with him at the wheel. But we'll see how it goes.

It almost made the $900 train trip seem worth it, but it's still a few hundred dollars cheaper to drive. We'll work it out. We'll need a vacation to get over our vacation but I'll have 2-1/2 days of rest before it's back to work.

The main reason I'm worried is my mistrust of Mapquest's time estimating. I drove to Medford long ago with a boyfriend and his brother (rotten boyfriend, but his brother was driving up to surprise his 9 year old boy on his birthday, and it was one of the most touching things I've ever seen) but anyway it took us 12 hours just to get to Medford. This included enough rest stops that I thought I was driving with two 4-year olds instead of 2 grown men, but I just don't want to end up driving 24 hours straight. So a motel stay is what it's going to be.

My dad lives in Ashland, which is about 20 minutes south of Medford ... I drive up that way a couple times a year, and other times I end up flying to Portland and driving back south with my sister who lives in Washington to visit our 92-year old father. In fact, I am doing just that next week ...

You can easily make it to Medford in eight hours or less from San Jose (I drive from Ben Lomond, and it takes me about seven and a half hours to Ashland.)

Have you considered flying to Seattle? Southwest (and sometimes Alaska) has some good fares, and if you're staying near Pike Place Market, you can walk to plenty of places, and also get around easily on public transportation in Seattle. If you factor in the cost of gas, parking, and the motel in Medford, it might be just as cost-effective to fly ... and you will be rested (well, as rested as you can be after dealing with SJC, in my opinion the worst airport ever) and have less time traveling and more time to play in Seattle.

If you decide to stay in Medford, here's a hint for your motel - use Priceline.com. Just do it a day or so ahead of your arrival and low-ball the room rate. Often you can get a really good last-minute deal.

Have a great vacation!

Also - if you do decide to drive, there is a HUGE outlet mall right next to the freeway south of Portland. Great variety of stores, great prices, and NO SALES TAX in Oregon. Won't Spike and Buffy be needing clothes for the fall? (And also - don't forget it is against the law to pump your own gas in Oregon - they always do it for you.)

Posted by: Leslie at July 25, 2008 12:24 PM

Remember last year when I drove to D.C with two of the children? I left about 3 o'clock in the morning and got there around 4 that afternoon. The drive there wasn't too bad, the drive back was horrendous. It took us 4 hours longer!

All I can say is, let Spike drive when you're tired!

Posted by: Lanie at July 25, 2008 2:40 PM