San Diego north through the Pacific coast to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and then back through Nevada to Burning Man.
I spent the summer of 2004 driving a Vanagon up the Pacific coast and into the Northwest, a trip of roughly 3,400 miles before I got back to San Diego. The Vanagon had a second deep-cycle battery, a solar panel velcroed to the roof, a cranky fridge (worked better on propane than battery), and bunk beds I’d built into the back.
In Arcata, I stopped at the Humboldt Brews Taphouse. I had a Dogfish Head Raison d’Etre from a bottle, seven dollars, which tasted like drinking a fine wine that had also been a beer.
On the Oregon Dunes at Spinreel, I rented a four-wheeler for an hour. Quad bikes on sand dunes are approximately the same experience as skiing, minus the vertical and the cold. I had a really good time.
In Portland I stayed with Britt's parents, the Cubbages, who walked me through a park that looked like a temperate rainforest. Her father spent Sunday morning looking for car batteries with me, which is exactly the right thing to do with a visitor who’s driven a Vanagon fifteen hundred miles.
At Bridgeport Brewery in Portland, I had what I thought was the best brewery I’d encountered so far on the trip.
I ended the trip at Burning Man, arriving around 10pm on Saturday after driving from Boise.