2008 – Week 21

Tuesday, September 16, 2008:
Today we were scheduled to visit the Joss House Historic State Park in Weaverville, go to the Post Office and Susie’s Bakery for breakfast goodies before heading west to the Coast. Well, one out of three isn’t so good but that’s all we could accomplish in Weaverville. The State Park is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, the signage to the Post Office and Gabby Garmin directions were both incorrect, but the bakery was open. We headed west on CA299, turned south on US101 passing through Eureka and then turned west on CA211 to drive CA’s Lost Coast. We found a Post Office and a cheese factory in Loleta CA. The Postmistress was originally from Virginia Beach VA and most of her family still lives there. This is another large milk producing area, similar to Tillamook OR, and everywhere we looked there were dairy cows. We continued on CA211, heading west through the town of Ferndale. When we arrived, we had to stop. It is an historic town, founded in the mid-1850’s, and many of the buildings have construction details of a wealthy town from the late 1800’s.

The original settlers were Danish and Portuguese with the Danes being primarily dairy farmers. The dairy industry was so successful that the houses they built were known as “butterfat palaces”. We walked around and then continued our trip on CA211. We headed generally southwest, climbing from an elevation of 75 feet above sea level to 2,000 feet then down to 38 feet then up to 700 feet down to 25 feet and then up to 2,340 feet before stopping at the Albee Creek Campground in the Humboldt Redwood State Park at an elevation of 250 feet. The road was narrow but adequate although Susie had a scare when a woman driving a SUV and talking on her cellphone, crossed the yellow line while negotiating a curve and was completely on our side of the road. During all these ups and downs we were able to see cattle ranches, brown fields (still haven’t figured out how the cattle get their nourishment), heavily wooded areas, black sands on the Pacific Ocean beaches, fog and sunshine. It was hard driving, but we imagine the The Lost Coast isn’t a place many people visit but should. There was one spot named Capetown at the intersection of the Bear River and the Pacific Ocean. If there is one spot that is really a tsunami danger zone this is it. The only ranch is in the river valley that is about 1/4 mile wide with hills on the north and the south forming a funnel. It is obvious that no tsunami has hit here in recent history. Once again, the vistas are so large that photographs were not representative. We finished the drive by entering the campground in the Humboldt Redwood State Park and driving through a large stand of redwood trees. We found a campsite and took Daisy for a walk back through the way we came in. Once again they were wonderful, and it is a treat to be camping within them. The campsite is completely surrounded by redwoods and a few other species of very tall trees. There are not too many ground plants, making good viewing of the trees. All of us were exhausted, and we went to bed early.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008:
The high-level fog or low-level clouds (take your pick) are back in this morning, and when Daisy and I took our walk the mist was so heavy that it was almost a drizzle. We walked the entrance road again, and it seemed more magnificent than last night. The campground was very quiet, and it wasn’t until after 9:30am that we heard any movement. It was a slow morning for us, and we finally left on a 2-mile walk through the redwoods. This was much better than the one we took a few days ago in Elk Prairie because of the length of the walk, and the number and size of the redwoods. We saw the Big Tree and the Tall Tree, both of which are about 360 feet tall, but the Big Tree has larger diameter.



The Rockefeller name is part of the history of the Humboldt Redwood State Park. In 1930, John D. Jr. donated $2,000,000 to purchase 10,000 acres along Bull Creek. The Park is 53,000 acres so this was a very important donation. We never fail to think how different the park system in this country would be without that family and its influence on other wealthy families. Susie and I had heard about the redwoods and how big they were, but it was not until we walked beneath the canopy and stood beside the fallen trees did we understand how huge they are. When you cannot see the tops of the trees, you become a bit humble. As we were driving south on the Avenue of the Giants, a 33-mile stretch of scenic highway through the redwoods, we saw signs indicating the high water mark of the 1964 flood. It was high and well over the road. When we stopped at the Visitor Center there were numerous articles of that particular event plus several others. It doesn’t often snow here, but that year it did and then was followed by a very strong storm with large amounts of rain. The storm stalled and kept dropping rain, and the Eel River overflowed. The photographs were very telling and if there had been more population, it would have been much worse. We stopped in Leggett CA on US101 in another state park and will take CA1 down the coast. We have adjusted our schedule so that we will not go through San Francisco during the week.

Thursday, September 18, 2008:
We decided last night that this was a scary State Park campground. There is no host or ranger to watch over what is happening. The homeless and some very scary people seem to be living here. This morning one very scary looking guy walked by the right-hand side of the RV rather than down the road and was looking in to see if anyone was at home. In the woods there was a scruffy old guy performing some strange religious (for lack of a better word) rites and 2 scruffy people watching him with great intensity. We decided to forego our showers and left. We left Leggett and drove south on CA1 the entire day. The first 20 miles we headed southwest and finally reached the coast. That portion of CA1 is very curvy, and it is used to haul logs to the mill. The drivers are good at staying on the proper side of the yellow line, but they are a bit intimidating. When we reached the Pacific Ocean we discovered that the Pacific was really pacific. The sun was shining for the first time we could remember when we have been on the coast. The ocean was blue-green and the color of the sea stacks was bright. We drove, stopped, drove, and stopped and so on for at least 75 miles, making very slow progress. We saw some people trying to surf, but there just weren’t enough strength in the waves. We stopped at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Reserve, but it was just too late in the year for a proper display. Rainy season starts in October. We passed numerous areas where trees have been planted as windbreaks. The tree of choice seemed to be the Bluegum Eucalyptus, a native tree of Australia, but it appears to be taking hold here. We passed through a tunnel formed by McNab Cyprus trees on both sides of the road with their branches interlaced. One sign that caught our attention was for the Adopt-a-Road program. The service was provided by “Medical Marijuana Users Union”. We saw our first ocean going freighter since our time in the San Juan Islands. Most of the drive along CA1 was along the top of the 200-300 foot cliffs, giving us great views in both directions.


We had a campground all picked out, but as we drove in, we noticed a lack of activity. We turned in, and it was open but when I asked for the cost, it was $50 per night plus tax and internet. No wonder it was empty! I should have offered them $30. We continued south, and had our eye on a county campground, but it was closed this week for paving repairs – “sorry for the inconvenience”. There were 2 bicyclists who had checked with the local Visitor Bureau and were told that this same campground was open. It is one thing to step on the gas pedal and go somewhere else, but pedaling another 3-5 miles at the end of a long day is another. We found another overpriced campground but had no choice. We eventually stopped after 112 miles at 5:30pm. Susie gave Daisy a bath, and then we had our showers. We spent a long time trying to figure out how to visit a friend of Susie in Walnut Grove (near SF) CA and find a campground, plus how do we get south and avoid the area of the forest fires that devastated the Big Sur along the Pacific Ocean. We really need to get on the internet to find out what’s happening. There are rumors of rain tonight and possibly tomorrow so that may well affect our plans. We want to get much nearer to SF so that the trip to Walnut Grove will be relatively easy. I am insisting that we drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, so that probably complicates things. Oh no! I just looked at my map program, and we are camped on the ocean-side of the San Andreas Rift. Hope the big one doesn’t hit tonight.

Friday, September 19, 2008:
Well, I’m still here so “The Big One” didn’t hit. We left the campground and headed south, still on CA1. The roads was up and down and winding. We were right on the edge of the ocean, sometimes as much as 700 feet above the ocean, but more often 200-300 feet. Wherever there was a beach and access to it, there were several access points and parking areas. There were surfers, some in good surfing water and others in not so good areas. The further south we were, the larger the waves seemed.

There is a section known as Sonoma Coast State Beach that runs from Fort Ross in the north to the sand cape at the north side of Bodega Bay in the south. There is a large and well-protected harbor called Bodega Harbor that I think is the best shelter we have seen since this trip started. I wonder how a sand cape survives on the rocky shore of this ocean. Bodega Bay is south of this cape and ends at the northern end of the piece of land known as the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. This piece is unusual as it is on the west side of the San Andreas Fault and is moving independently from the rest of the CA coast. Between this land and the mainland is a bit of water known as Tomales Bay, and it sits on top of the San Andreas Rift. Near the southern end of the Bay, we stopped and had a seafood lunch, Oyster Rockefeller for Susie and Clam Chowder for me. We had noticed several oyster companies as we drove down the Bay and talked to the cook at the restaurant about oysters here and the Chesapeake Bay. This Bay is particularly healthy for oysters because of the flushing action of the ocean and streams. The owner of the restaurant has been farming oysters for 20 years and has just recently begun to provide seed oysters for his own use as a defense against some of poor seeds he has been purchasing from WA and OR. His company produces 500,000 seed oysters per year, and he purchases another 250,000 every quarter. The seed oysters are placed in tubes for a while and then moved into bags about 2’ by 3’ that hold 200 oysters. At low tide, the bags lie flat in the mud, and a high tide they are vertical in the water. After a total of 9 months, the oysters are of a suitable size for appetizers and after 12-15 months are large enough for Oysters Rockefeller. By the way, the lunch was great. We moved south into the town of Olema and a campground for the night. We checked in, and then drove to the Visitor Center of Pt Reyes National Seashore to plan what we want to do tomorrow. We will probably spend tomorrow night here, as we don’t think there will be many campground spaces open towards San Francisco. We washed our clothes and huddled in the RV as a heavy fog or light drizzle damped the area. We drove only 92 miles today in 6 hours including 1 hour for lunch. Oh, I think we are on top of the San Andreas Rift tonight. I have heard said that dogs will howl before an earthquake, but Daisy was snoring happily as I wrote this.

Saturday, September 20, 2008:
The morning weather was low-lying clouds, but there were promises of clearing by noon. We stayed in the RV until we saw blue sky and headed southwest to Point Reyes with hopes that we would see the lighthouse and ocean. It was a 21-mile drive, and as we drove into Inverness, which has a small yacht club, I thought I saw a boat I was familiar with. We’ll check on the way back. We stopped at Point Reyes South Beach to let Daisy stretch her legs, but the fog was pea soup thick, and we could see about 50 into the ocean. The rollers came in, we saw the shadows and then crash there was the water. The sand on this beach was very coarse, and we had a good walk as we threw Daisy her ball. We played for a half-hour and then continued to Point Reyes. We were concerned about the visibility but we have found that the weather conditions 1/4 mile away can be very different. There were dairy farms on both sides of the roads, and the smell was much more than even we were used to. It must have been the fog holding the smell close to the ground. We passed a group of bird-watchers looking at a great owl and declined joining them as we’ve seen many at home. We finally reached the parking area for the lighthouse, and we could hear the ocean waves but could not see the ocean. There also was a lack of parking spaces for RV’s so we decided to leave after talking to a group who had been to the lighthouse and seen nothing. We were very discouraged and considered bypassing the road to Chimney Rock.


This viewpoint is almost due east of the Point Reyes Lighthouse and directly on the water. As we approached, there was no fog and we could see at least 6 miles over the water to the east. We took the Chimney Rock Trail and had a wonderful view of the ocean and the adjacent sea stacks. In the distance we saw a sailboat headed south before rounding the point into Drakes Bay. We also saw a powerboat and another sailboat beating to windward into Drakes Bay. Sir Francis Drake visited the area in 1579 and there is evidence that he careened in an inlet off of Drakes Bay. There have been some whale sightings during the last few days, and Susie thought she might have seen one, but was not sure. On the walk around Chimney Rock, we looked down and saw 20-25 very large seals sleeping on the beach below. There was some tussling going on, and one of the large animals was awaken (and annoyed) and broke it up. Looking west from Chimney Rock I thought it would be possible to see the Point Reyes Lighthouse, but the fog and probably a poor line of sight made that impossible. By looking to the southwest we were able to see the Farallon Islands and the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge located 30 miles due west of San Francisco. We walked some more and visited a USCG Lifesaving Station. The motorized lifeboat in inside a shed resting on a steel-wheeled dolly that rolled on tracks into the water whenever it was needed. This facility was opened in 1889 and continued in service until 1968 when it was abandoned and replaced by a better-equipped facility in Bodega Bay to the north. The National Park Service did a major renovation in 1990. We walked to the Elephant Seal Overlook and saw several seals, but we were too far away to really feel comfortable calling them elephant seals. We had lunch in the RV at 4:00pm and decided to return to the campground and prepare for the next few days. On the way back, we stopped across the road from the Inverness Yacht Club, and I jumped out to see the boat I saw on the way out. I was really surprised, because it wasn’t just one boat, but an entire fleet on 110’s, a 24’ double-ended sloop designed by Ray Hunt before WWII. She has a fin keel of 300 pounds and a balanced rudder and a 3’-10” (I think) beam. The boat rigging has changed, as has the rigging of many of the old one-designs such as Lightning, Star, Thistle, etc. The boat now has a flexible mast with adjustable backstay and the crew hikes on a trapeze. It was a helluva boat to sail when I was racing them, and they must be more exciting now. I raced these boats from 1951 (I was 10 years old) through 1958 when I bought a Star with financial help from family. I also saw a Lightning but was unable to determine the vintage. What we expected to be a lousy day, turned out to be great!

Sunday, September 21, 2008:
Last night I was awakened by the sound of a coyote off in the distance. Today we headed south into San Francisco and then east to Walnut Creek to spend the afternoon with Clark Sharrick with a friend of Susie’s from Ohio. With Susie driving, we headed south on CA1, passed by Bolinas Lagoon, (directly over the San Andreas Rift) at the south end of the Point Reyes National Seashore and stopped at the Muir Beach Overlook. We were able to walk out to the end of a point of land and were 200 feet above the ocean.

We left CA1 to take the road to the Muir Woods National Monument, but the area was overwhelmed with hikers so we decided to push on. We joined the Panoramic Highway, reconnected with CA1 and then US101 into Sausalito to get gas. For all the horror stories we’ve heard about CA gas prices it was only $3.97/gallon (we later saw $3.75/gallon in Walnut Creek). We returned to US101 and headed south over the Golden Gate Bridge.
There were fleets of sailboats inside and outside the bridge, and the edge of the fog was 2 miles offshore. We left US101 and headed in San Francisco proper, traveling the city streets and through Chinatown with the help of Gabby Garmin. She did her job well, and we found the Bay Bridge (part of I-80) and headed east to Walnut Creek, the Clark Sharrick’s home. We arrived at 12:45pm, 15 minutes ahead of schedule, and that gave us a time to change clothes and look presentable. Clark took us to meet his daughter Sarah at her mother’s house, and the four of us went for lunch. The Shantze family gave us free vegetables and figs from their private gardens. We had a great time! The town of Walnut Creek doesn’t have too many walnut trees anymore, but they have bike paths and all sorts of sport activities for the residents. The town has become a shopping mecca over the last few years and is certainly not the same place as it was when Clark moved there 20 years ago. We left Clark’s, went to the Safeway for a few things and headed to Mount Diablo State Park for the night. The campground is 2,160 feet above sea level and promises to be cool for the night. We pulled into a site just as the sun went down. There is only one other person in the campground, but there may be animals that we’ll hear.

Monday, September 22, 2008:
The morning was beautiful as the sun came over the hills. The fields are light brown with green trees every so often. Susie worked on here drawings, and I tried to figure out where we would stop tonight. We decided Santa Clara might be a good spot, but we needed to be there at noon to secure a spot if there was one. We left the campground at 11:00am and had to use the north park access road since these was repaving being done on the south entry we drove on last night.
It is ironic that as we exited the park, we ended up in Walnut Creek and drove the same roads we did last night. We worked our way around the south end of San Francisco Bay, through Sunnyvale (the home of iPods and iMacs), and eventually south on CA17 to Santa Cruz. We went to the park, which was on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and had a look. We decided that, while this was beautiful, it was not the spot for us. We continued south towards Monterey and planned to stay in the City’s Veterans Memorial Park. Driving south on CA1, we noticed a number of emergency vehicles on the shoulder of the northbound road. Included in this line was a completely burned out 18-wheeler. The northbound traffic was backed up for at least 5 miles. Continuing south we passed miles of farmland in which radishes, brussel sprouts and lettuce were being grown. We continued into Monterey, found the Visitor Center and were directed to the campground. It was 3:30pm, and there were available spaces. We took one, took Daisy for a brief walk and spotted another black German Shepherd. The dog’s owner wanted to left them sniff, but we declined as the dog was a bit out of control, and we were too far from home to risk a dog fight. Daisy was very good and behaved well. We then took the bikes off the back of the RV and dusted them off before riding downhill into the town. First we went to Fisherman’s Wharf and watched the birds and sea lions, then rode east into the older and restored Cannery section.


It was a beautiful ride on the walking/biking path along the water. On the way home, with the help of a kind young lady who saw us looking at the map, we went to the Farmers Market (on a Monday?) and were able to buy a few peaches. Riding back to Fisherman’s Wharf we passed the biggest and best-shaped eucalyptus tree we have ever seen. Unfortunately, the renovated old buildings were filled with the standard big chains and nothing unusual.
We had dinner on Fisherman’s Wharf and watched the sea lions playing in the harbor. Often they were floating on their backs with flippers in the air as if performing water ballet. We saw a few one-design sailing boats, maybe IOD’s or Shields, so there must be some racing activity. The dinner was good with fresh seafood, but we couldn’t linger because the sun was setting. We were told the police would issue a ticket to folks riding bicycles after dark without lights. We road/walked uphill to the campground, arriving just in time. Daisy was fed, I took a shower and Susie worked on her drawings. I started to work on my blog, but discovered that we had charged the wrong computer while driving so I was stopped. I read a bit and then went to bed. Susie came to bed a bit later and found that I had forgotten to move the model airplane box from the bed. She had to remove it. We went to bed with the noise of the sea lions in the distance.