Subi & The 5

Highway 14 – Washington State

We rarely do individual posts on highways we drive in our Class A motorhome but we felt this highway deserved its own unique write-up.

We drive to the Oregon coast several times a year and we usually take I-84.  As much as we dislike traveling on the interstates, I-84 provides fabulous views of the Columbia River and provides a direct route for us to the coast. And the traffic is usually not bad until you hit Portland. But this trip we decided to explore new territories. We had been discussing, for quite a few years, to drive Highway 14 instead of I-84.  I-84 runs east west along the northern most part of Oregon and parallels the Columbia River to the south. Hwy 14 runs east west also along the southern most part of Washington and parallels the Columbia River to the north. Basically same views, almost, but a highway instead of an interstate, so less traffic and just a different road to travel.

We spent the previous night at Le Page in Oregon and in the morning crossed over the Columbia River on Hwy 97 north to Maryhill, Washington.  Right after you cross the river you head west on Hwy 14. A nice, quaint, quiet road.  It affords beautiful scenery and a few stops along the way to admire the river and the magnificent views.  BUT, warning, there are a few tunnels to travel through with one of them being only 12′ 9″. Luckily we are 12′ 4″ and made it safely through but many big rigs would not make it. AND there isn’t really much room to turn around since the river is on one side of the road.  We did stop a few times just before the tunnel as no one was behind us and waited for cars to pass through so we could drive through the center of the tunnel.

As we got closer and closer to Vancouver, Washington the road got narrower and more windy and much more traffic. A beautiful drive but we won’t ever do it again!!

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