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It's really not that bad here in Oregon, we are allowed to go a little over the speed limit, personally I try to keep it within 5 miles over the limit. It seems like we hardly ever see anyone pulled over for speeding anymore. I drove from Oregon to Nevada (Tahoe) last week and I was more concered with my speed when I passed over the border into Calif.
Sea Lion Caves just north of Florence on the Oregon Coast is pretty cool. You take an elevator down into a cave and can see all the sea lions laying around on the rocks below. Can get pretty noisy and smelly at times.
Also Old Town Florence has some nice shops.
Mo's has great clam chowder, there is one in Old Town Florence and also I believe there is one in Newport.
jesse
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Good restaurants and pastry shops in Eugene.
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Another take on it is that it's 13 hours from SF to Seattle if you took I-5. I did much of OR once at about 110mph as we were following a truck doing the same. Depending on the make/model of your car, you can often get away with 10% over as that's what some car mfg's have for their speedometer and the feds say it's okay. In WA there's also a 5% tolerance for the radar guns.
Also keep in mind the pump-your-own-gas thing in OR can be a major hassle. Make sure you have a full tank in the evening. Finding gas after 6pm can be very, very difficult. Same on holidays. I made the mistake of trying to drive through OR on Christmas day. I had to try several towns off of I-5 before I found one with an open gas station. I don't know why I didn't run out of gas, the light was on for a very long time.
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Personally I hate having to pump my own gas. I was in Reno on Thursday filling up before making the drive over to Virginia City and I could here the people on the other side of the pump discussing how to do it, I took a peek around the pump and sure enough they were also from Oregon.
With the amount of truck stops along I-5 that are open 24/7 you wouldn't think finding gas would be a problem.
jesse
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Stop in Eugene and go to "Track Town Pizza". It is the best pizza in the world. I am not joking. I lived off of that stuff back in the days when I was a duck.
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If you get as far North as Arcata which is beautiful don't think that little blip on the map is a couple hours to the I-5, it is five hours. It is the I-5. I do not know what these people are kidding about. It is the I-5.
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Actually, by two different routes, I-5 is 3.5 hours from Arcata....
Either by highway 299, or up 101, to Highway 199 and over to Interstate 5.
I recommend Highway 199, as it's been improved more recently than 299.
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I forgot to mention...
DO NOT be fooled by any on-line maps that say Highway 36 is the "fastest" way to I-5..
THAT road will take you a solid 5 hours from 101 to I-5.
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I have lived in the vicinity of I-5 for about 14 years. I have also traveled up and down it from Canada to Mexico. This is the first time I've heard it referred to as "the I-5."
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It's mostly a southern california mutilation of the language...
Where normal english speakers would say "Interstate 5", or "The interstate", in Southern California, they say "THE 5" or "THE 405"... etc.
I first noticed it in the late 80's... not saying it wasn't common earlier, but that's when I noticed it among some friends fresh from Los Angeles and North Hollywood.
