The return home from the final day of an Oil Leak can easily become an anti-climax, as the desire to be home as quickly as possible leads to the selection of the fastest route which is usually largely freeways. When it also involves long mileages in high temperatures the only highlights are often the cool blast of the air conditioning as you enter the foyer of the next hotel/motel at the end of a long day's driving.
My lovely wife Debbie has the right idea. I drop her off at the nearest airport to the end of the Oil Leak, and she flies home. However, the car has to get home somehow, and so I drive... Where possible, I try to find a route that contains some interesting roads at the expense of a few additional miles/hours behind the wheel.
This year, having dropped Debbie off at Boise airport, I retraced the route I had used to get from Fernley, NV to Boise at the start of the trip. Though not freeway, the route has little of interest and I was glad to arrive in Fernley and get out of the heat. For the final day of the drive I did, however, have a treat in mind. Some of you will recall that on last year's Bass Lake to Mount Shasta Oil Leak (BLMSOL) our drive over Ebbett's Pass from Murphys to Lake Tahoe had to be abandoned when we found that the road was closed due to road works. I decided that the additional time that taking the pass would add to my return trip would be worthwhile, so on Tuesday morning I set out early for the east end of the pass. It proved to be good choice as I really enjoyed the drive. There were a couple of stops due to road works, but very little traffic. At the summit of the pass, I stopped for a couple of photos at the location where the 2013 California Oil Leak stopped when heading west for an impromptu snowball fight.
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| Memory from the 2013 Oil Leak at the summit of Ebbett's Pass |
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| Earl takes a break at the summit after climbing Ebbett's Pass |
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| The sign at the summit giving some of the history of the pass |
Throughout the Oil Leak I have recorded the view through Earl's windshield on a dashcam. Sometimes this is the best way of capturing unexpected incidents or views. I rarely include much in the way of videos in the blog, but this time decided to let you see the drive over Ebbett's Pass in an extended video. Just click on the center of the video. It's long, so running it at double speed (settings on the Youtube Gear Wheel at the bottom of the screen) is a good idea, as well as making it more exciting! The summit of the pass is reached about 24 minutes into the video. The pass also has a second summit on the Pacific side which is reached about 39 minutes in. You will see two fishermen standing by the roadside fishing in the lake that is right at the summit there!
As I descended the pass the temperature rose and was in the 90s as I crossed the California Central Valley. I reached home in mid afternoon after 3.497 miles covered. I'm glad to say that everyone got home safely, and we look forward to the 2025 OL, wherever it is...
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