So we had to travel to California last wednesday the 5th to shoot a wedding, we started around 4:00 in the morning and had no idea of the news and the severity of the flooded areas. we had to exit on 88 on I5 and got stuck there for an hour deciding what route to take, they wanted us to go back to ellensburg and start from there??? what!?! farther back north, no way! I have a GPS and a MONTERO we are going 101 and we started from rochester on old hghway 99 and every time we find a way to go to 101 the police and the military blocked off the road. so we decided to go back to olympia and used the 12 there to reach 101. every exit that goes to 101 is closed except from aberdeen which is the start of 101, whew!

101 is a nice but tiring drive, I kept reminding my self that I am joan nani roma or luc alphand driving the repsol Mitsu. most of the roads are OK except for most parts that are muddy, wet and fallen trees on the road. the flood areas are bad and the water are level with the road and that makes drving a bit challenging. one other challenge is w-4 which connects us back to I-5 is also a twisty road. and the weird thing is the rain followed us all the way to california?? what the? I love the rain in seattle, but please stay in seattle

I hope that the flood waters start receding as it impacted a lot of lives, specially in vernonia. I hope rebuilding starts soon.

the Montero perfomed well on a full load, five passengers(1 cranky toddler), luggages, Camera gear and two cases of chains. fueled every half tank (paranoid) and 4H all the way until over shasta. speeds of 30-50-65-70-80 mph, I thought I will feel the supposedly underpowered engine but I never felt that. 4H performed very well and helped me very much on the twist wed/ muddy road. M-ASTC ROCKS!!!

I wish I can travel the same road next time on a Lancer EVO.

>>>12/12/07>>> Back in Seattle I-5 is such a fast and boring drive, Montero such a joy to drive for 12 long hours...