August 15th

All good things must come to an end and today we continued our westward trek.  We drove through Lake Tahoe and on through the Donner Pass continuing westward on California highway 20 toward Yuba City.  From Yuba City we continued westward past Clear Lake, the town of Willits, where we caught U.S. 101 heading north through the coastal range to Eureka, CA on the coast.  We now encountered our first major temperature change.  Going through the coastal mountains the temp. dropped down to the low 50's.  We weren't ready for that.  We dug out our sweats and parkas in an effort to keep warm.  Can't believe it, one day in the 100's, the next day in the low 50's.  By the way the TR3A heating system works well.  Just a side note: on those ocassions where the car ran extremely hot, we turned on the heater and the fan to allow water to circulate through the heater core, thus providing additional cooling for the engine cooling system.  Unfortunately that meant our legs were roasting from the heat but the good news is that the engine never overheated. 

Basically we made it from Reno to the Pacific Ocean in one day, going through deserts, mountains, and finally cooler temps. along the coast.  We found lodging in Eureka and got a good night's rest.