A final pickleball round robin and
pizza delivery at the courts before we leave Happy Trails.
Left early Saturday, March 12 to travel I-10, to 395 to Bakersfield for one night at Riverside RV.
I-5 North of Bakersfield - agriculture for miles!
Just prior to Tehachapi, near Palm Springs the Joshua Trees are in bloom.
Due to some recent rainfall, low temperatures during the winter, the desert flowers are abundant this year and earlier than normal. First time we have seen Joshua Trees in bloom.
Highway 101 - 680 to Santa Rosa. (Highway 680 is 'rough' - thank goodness it was a short section around San Francisco as the potholes will eat tires).
Our first heavy rain in several months.
Fortunately for us, the traffic accident that caused a three-mile backlog was flowing in the opposite direction. With the rain, emergency services were kept busy.
A $20.00 toll bridge to Benicia on I-680
Sears Point, around San Pablo Bay en route to Santa Rosa, California where we will stay for three nights at the Fairgrounds.
Santa Rosa, California
Been raining for a couple of weeks prior to our arrival and full on the night we arrive.
But, the skies parted and the sun shone once we arrived!!!!
Four outdoor pickleball courts now. Nice for us to catch up with some past pickleball friends from when we passed through October 2013.
We were hoping to get in a day of mt biking at Annabel State Park but the trails were extremely soggy and unrideable.
There is a camp host on site but same as last time we were here, things happen in this part of the city. Our last visit we witnessed police helicopters and nightlight circling overhead through the night and a police chase through the park.
This family camped out in their car for the night on a cold, very windy and wet night to use the power. Plastic over one window, a microwave and a heater - the family of three stayed the night and fled early in the morning.
Galvin Community Park
Mantanzas Creek is flowing full-on.
This park is adjacent to the Bennett Valley Golf Course and usually mowed, and in need of watering.
The grass is full and plush but the dogs got thoroughly soaked when playing frisbee - water splattering as they ran as the ground is totally rain-soaked.
Highway 101 to Myers Flat, California
We take a road trip to the Redwoods and stay in a remote area so we can enjoy some sightseeing in the Redwood Forest.
Just north of Ukiah at the intersection of 101 and the Leggett connector, a bad accident had just happened before we came along the winding road. A semi and a car crashed - appears the car was turning left from the Leggett connector onto 101 when the semi broadsided the car.
A passenger was being extracted from the car when we drove by and some people had traffic moving in a single lane, waiting for emergency crews to arrive. The news later indicated the driver was a 67 year old male who is deceased, the passenger was sent to hospital and the truck driver was okay but shaken.
Meyers Flat
We drive several hundred feet down a beat up paved road with 8' tall wooden fences, some very sketchy properties and at the end of the road, the RV and camp right on the banks of the Eel River.
A mixed park of RV's and some tents. It is a very quiet park and all becomes very quiet by 10 pm - a rule strictly enforced.
Two small buildings with showers and bathrooms and a small laundry facility all set amongst some old redwoods.
Three years ago this riverside jewel was a local hang out for weekend locals to have campfires, parties and free range of the area. Along the banks, permanent dwellers were parked in rusty, derelict RVs and makeshift tents.
New owners built a fence, cleaned up and built sites and put in new rules. No one can stay longer than 28 days during peak season (April-Nov). Only a couple of residents are allowed to stay on the premises (in trailers) - the local physician and a park ranger.
This is the Humboldt County - and this area is a major marijuana growing district. With extremely limited housing available, the RV park gets packed during harvest season (Aug/Sept). The locals are allowed to grow a specific amount of plants but some of the major harvesting involves 30,000 plants in the region.
Of course, expansion of the growing opportunities is not monitored and occasionally the Sheriffs are called in to control a major problem but all-in-all, people are left to their own devises here.
At the small office the male camp host tells Marc he doesn't know what there is in town at Myers Flat as he doesn't go out of the park.
For those of you who have seen the movie Deliverance ..... we are getting a feeling here.
For those of you who have seen the movie Deliverance ..... we are getting a feeling here.
We decide to risk it - we walk out of the park and make the short trek to 'uptown' and do the Boy Scott Road loop (a dirt road full of potholes) back to the park.
Vehicles and RVs trashed and abandoned along the road to the "Avenue of the Giants" road, passing through the main street of Myers Flat.
Today, the town has a population of approximately 145 people. The town has a post office, a gift shop, The Myers Inn, a general store, saloon, a coffee-espresso shop and the Riverbed Cellars Winery.
A sign at the local saloon
This is the home of a woman and small dog across from the market.
This property was a mill site from the early 1900s to the 80s, owned by the Myers family. The town served as a coach stop for travelers on their way to San Francisco.
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| Photo courtesy of the internet |
There is now Riverbed Cellars Winery on site with a restaurant open only in the summer season.
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| Photo courtesy of the Web |
For $16.00 you can get a photo of your car in the middle of a large redwood (there are now several of these attractions).
And a chance to photograph yourself in a hobbit house. The 8 foot wooden fence around the property keeps us tourist intruder types out.
Only two properties along our loop were without eight-foot high, solid wood fences.
TOWN OF GARBERVILLE
Checked out this small town (population of approximately 200), had breakfast before heading in the heart of the Redwood Forest.
Garberville is known as a centre for homeless people. During tourist season the area is apparently flooded with homeless people.
Various coffee shops, organic health stores, and motels we ate at the Eel River Cafe.
Marc was approached by a woman who was frantically driving around with the R-Pod trailer who was circling town and couldn't find a parking spot. She wanted ours because she didn't know how to back up and had to stop for breakfast.
A rather pricey spot - $25.00 for a pancake and egg benny (with the drop of 40% in the Canadian Dollar it is pricey). Also, have to tell ourselves, this is not Arizona pricing and we are in a tourist town.
When we cross the street, heading towards the truck three homeless people were in full verbal battle. The man with the pitbull tells the other man, carrying a small bicycle and a large dog on leash tells him that he better not come down to the river camp or he will kill him. A homeless woman following up the street tells him to leave him alone.
Further down the street as we are driving, the man with the bicycle and large dog, now loose, cross right in front on a Sheriffs car. They eventually turn on the lights and pull him over.
Law enforcement has tried to keep the problems under control and would frequently send the homeless to the Eugene jail, only to have them return days later.
They keep an eye on things but for the most part, this is their 'home.'
With recent rainfalls, there is flowing water.
The native range of coast redwood is from the northern California coast north to the southern Oregon Coast.
Mature Coast redwoods live an average of 500-700 years, a few documented to be 2,000 years old. They are highly resistant to disease, due to a thick protective bark and high tannin content. The mature trees can reach over 370 feet to the top.
A forest floor of shamrocks (with the shadows of the forest ferns).
True forest floor shamrocks
A long-ago fallen redwood with decaying outer layers
and shamrocks growing in the fertile soil.
Marc says, "Wheres my Bike ,,,log rides galore!!!!"
Traveling up the coast on Highway 101
Port Orford (south of Bandon)
we make a pit stop after about 6 hours of traveling, for lunch.
Fabulous chowder and fish and chips. Large, fresh cod with a very light batter ----yummo!
Onward to Newport Oregon
Along the way are several signs to watch for Elk crossings. We spot two separate herds - this one was large, with about 30 elk, resting in a far away field.
A quick pit stop to let the dogs out at a viewpoint, and a trail down to the beach.
They recognize the smell, the waves and the sandy beach!
Beginning to feel like we are arriving back to familiar territory - the coast and waves, wind and off and on rain squalls.
A change in everything - humidity, temperature, terrain. The crashing waves of the west coast.
We arrive in Newport, Oregon after about a ten hour day - staying at the South Marina RV Park - right next door to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Will be here for seven nights then off to Seaside for 3 nights, Bellingham for one overnighter, then Comox next Wednesday.
Only two properties along our loop were without eight-foot high, solid wood fences.
TOWN OF GARBERVILLE
Checked out this small town (population of approximately 200), had breakfast before heading in the heart of the Redwood Forest.
Various coffee shops, organic health stores, and motels we ate at the Eel River Cafe.
Marc was approached by a woman who was frantically driving around with the R-Pod trailer who was circling town and couldn't find a parking spot. She wanted ours because she didn't know how to back up and had to stop for breakfast.
A rather pricey spot - $25.00 for a pancake and egg benny (with the drop of 40% in the Canadian Dollar it is pricey). Also, have to tell ourselves, this is not Arizona pricing and we are in a tourist town.
When we cross the street, heading towards the truck three homeless people were in full verbal battle. The man with the pitbull tells the other man, carrying a small bicycle and a large dog on leash tells him that he better not come down to the river camp or he will kill him. A homeless woman following up the street tells him to leave him alone.
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| Its not unusual to see vehicles with fender dents and missing grills. |
Law enforcement has tried to keep the problems under control and would frequently send the homeless to the Eugene jail, only to have them return days later.
They keep an eye on things but for the most part, this is their 'home.'
They were not begging for money or carrying signs - not sure if things change once tourist season really begins. Seems to be more of a territorial battle.
Off to the Avenue of the Giants
In 1850, old-growth redwood forest covered more than 2 million acres of the California coast. Redwood National Park was created in 1968, by which time nearly 90% of the original redwood trees had been logged.
With recent rainfalls, there is flowing water.
The native range of coast redwood is from the northern California coast north to the southern Oregon Coast.
Mature Coast redwoods live an average of 500-700 years, a few documented to be 2,000 years old. They are highly resistant to disease, due to a thick protective bark and high tannin content. The mature trees can reach over 370 feet to the top.
Calla Lilies in bloom
THE IMMORTAL TREE
This tree is estimated to be between 950-1000 years old with a trunk diameter of 14.5 feet and original heigh too 298 feet. This tree has survived lightning which removed its top, a forest fire in 1908 and a flood in 1964.
A forest floor of shamrocks (with the shadows of the forest ferns).
True forest floor shamrocks
A long-ago fallen redwood with decaying outer layers
and shamrocks growing in the fertile soil.
Marc says, "Wheres my Bike ,,,log rides galore!!!!"
Traveling up the coast on Highway 101
Port Orford (south of Bandon)
we make a pit stop after about 6 hours of traveling, for lunch.
Fabulous chowder and fish and chips. Large, fresh cod with a very light batter ----yummo!
Onward to Newport Oregon
Along the way are several signs to watch for Elk crossings. We spot two separate herds - this one was large, with about 30 elk, resting in a far away field.
A quick pit stop to let the dogs out at a viewpoint, and a trail down to the beach.
They recognize the smell, the waves and the sandy beach!
Beginning to feel like we are arriving back to familiar territory - the coast and waves, wind and off and on rain squalls.
A change in everything - humidity, temperature, terrain. The crashing waves of the west coast.
We arrive in Newport, Oregon after about a ten hour day - staying at the South Marina RV Park - right next door to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Will be here for seven nights then off to Seaside for 3 nights, Bellingham for one overnighter, then Comox next Wednesday.
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