Silverton, OR to Kelso, WA

Might want to stop for a while in Longview, an old timber company town. Lots of nice bronze statues scattered about downtown. Good public art does exist!

Thanks everyone....would have gotten on sooner but RV park WiFi was down completely. But, of course, not their fault; had to be my computer. Won't go into that but, whalla, all of a sudden it works fine this morning and I did not change a thing.

I did the 214 - 205 - 5 and it went just find.

As always, thanks for input.

Be safe.

In all due respect, paulj, I have not a clue why or how I would get from Silverton to Carson to drive the 14 back over to the road I need to be on in the first place.

Marv - will be in Cannon Beach 15 nights, Newport 5 and Bandon 7. Been all these places but have not stayed at Bandon before; particularly like Cannon Beach for photo work.

Lauren wrote:
Hi, Marv - always good to hear from you. Thanks for the input - will want Safeway for both food and fuel.

We will be in that area for 4 days and had hoped to hike up (part way) to St. Helens from the south. Have done that before. But A/C went out right off the bat and will have to see if temp ok to leave the dog ---- windows open and fan going!

Then on to OR Coast for just short of a month!

I had the two teenage grandkids with me, so our trip was much shorter than normal for us. After St Helens we headed for the coast. Landed in Cannon Beach, Lincoln City and Florence. Taking about a week total for the coast. This was my first time touring before September and I was amazed at the traffic and crowds. Had a good time. A great mini golf course across the street from Tillamook cheese facility. The kids made glass orbs in Lincoln City and Dune buggy ride in Florence. Made our usual stop at 7 Feathers on the way home. That park just gets prettier.

Have a great trip!

An alternate way to St Helens is from the Columbia Gorge (from Hwy 14 at Carson)

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5160314.pdf

Hi, Marv - always good to hear from you. Thanks for the input - will want Safeway for both food and fuel.

We will be in that area for 4 days and had hoped to hike up (part way) to St. Helens from the south. Have done that before. But A/C went out right off the bat and will have to see if temp ok to leave the dog ---- windows open and fan going!

Then on to OR Coast for just short of a month!

Lauren - was just in that area last week. Definitely want to take the 205. I-5 thru Portland is a real zoo. Stayed in Kelso a few days. There is a Safeway station real close to I-5, a good place to fuel up a RV. Easy in and out.

Best/safest/easiest route: 214 to I5 at Woodburn then I5 to I205 then back to I5. You will hit a little congestion in Woodburn as they are building a new overpass at the 214/I5 junction but only slow for a mile or so.

yes 90 miles is correct. Give or take a couple.

When Google (or any other mapping program) gives you a 'best' route it means 'fastest' (usually) or 'shortest'. It isn't saying 'this is a better route' - unless it has a way for you to set multiple criteria.

Shortest is easy to calculate. Fastest requires estimate speed on various types of road. Those speed estimates can vary in quality. In some cases it has enough information to base the speed estimate on traffic conditions (but for when, right now, or next Sunday at midnight?).

With Google Maps you can check the quality of a road by zooming in. With Streetview you get a 360deg view at road level, giving the clearest picture of whether the piece of road is divided highway, 4 lane, suburban, rural, narrow, mountainous, etc.