San Francisco to The Gorge - Quincy, WA in 2 days (Eugene: distance, locations)

[descendents]

Hi all,

This summer some friends and I will be travelling from Phoenix, AZ to the Sasquatch Music Festival in Quincy, WA. Our first night we will be driving non-stop to San Francisco. After that we will have 2 days to arrive at Quincy, WA (Hopefully before nightfall). While I-5 seems to be the quickest route to our destination, I would really love to see some of the Northern California and Oregon coast.

I have been considering leaving San Francisco on the 101 and driving to Eureka and then along the coast for a ways. Since time is important I was wondering if anyone had any reccomendations for where to exit the coast and head inland. I would really like to maximize my experience of great views, but would not like to overextend myself. Potential spots that we could possibly stay the first night after leaving San Francisco include Eugene, Newport, Albany, Florence, or any other recommended locations. These locations would allow us to arrive at Quincy, WA before nightfall the following day.

I have begun planning my trip in MS Streets and Trips and have uploaded my route thus far. Days 4 and 5 are the return route from Quincy to Tucson AZ. Stops are in Tempe, AZ and San Jose, CA to pick up/drop off friends. We will be spending the night in San Francisco at a friends on nights 1 and 4, and potentially around Newport on Day 2. If you have any suggestions or improvements on this route please make suggestions. Also, do the times that are being given by Streets and Trips seem reasonable with your coast driving experience?

My Route
http://members.cox.net/descendents8085/SASQUATCH.htm

For some reason the software is showing me as entering the Avenue of the Giants and then exiting and re-entering. This is a mistake as we are hoping to drive along the Avenue for a good portion of it's distance.

Thanks for the advice in planning my route,
Kelly

[Waterlily]

My favorite route for cutting over to i-5 is taking highway 38 across at Reedsport. You'll follow a river along for quite a ways. it's not usually too crowded on highway 38.
Driving up the 101 has some mighty nice scenery. The California part of the drive seems slower due to curves and hills. Don't expect to go 65 miles per hour because you can't most of time.
You can do this in 2 days but they'll be long days. I've gone down 101 to LA many times. I've taken the i-5 too. Yes i-5 is much faster but boring until you get up to Mt. Shasta. North of there it's much nicer.
Have a good trip!