Highway 20, aka Fort Bragg-Willits Road

As we prepared to head home from the coast last Saturday, it was already raining intermittently, with a brief hailstorm earlier in the morning just to keep things interesting. The very real possibility of running into snow in the mountains between Fort Bragg and Willitts was definitely on our minds; we had no chains, and I was glad it was the Big Guy driving instead of me.

Light flurries soon turned to large flakes as we ascended toward the pass

Even as snow began to cover the asphalt, we were able to follow the tracks of cars ahead of us on the road. Somewhere along through here, a snowplow passed us, going in the opposite direction. I was so busy wishing for a snowplow that we could follow that I forgot to shoot a photo until it was too late.

Winter wonderland — in March

Instead of a snowplow, we came up behind several cars stopped in the roadway. After sitting for a few minutes wondering what was happening up ahead, we learned we had caught up with a bunch of Porche owners; those in front had stopped to wait for the rest of the group to catch up. Eventually we got moving again in our rental Honda, this time smack in the middle of a line of German sports cars who proceeded to escort us out of the snow and down off the mountain into Willits.

We arrived safely in Willits, along with the Porche drivers

There were no more snow flurries after we arrived in Willits, but the off-and-on rain followed us along the shore of Clear Lake until we finally broke through into sunshine near Williams and Interstate 5. The rest of the drive home was uneventful, and somehow — even after our snowy adventure — we managed to make it home in record time!