Didn't write yesterday, as when we got into the campsite we were sketched out and wanted to crash so we could get out Early.
We rolled out of Waldport pretty early, it was cold but clear. Rode south along the Oregon coast. Unbelieveble riding. Curly roads right along the ocean, occasionally branching off through the tree's but mostly with the pacific on the right and the hills and forests on the left. After an hour or so of smooth ocean the beaches turned to cliffs and jagged rocks, and boulders rose out of the sea like the mangled teeth of some fossilized titan. Great views.
After a breakfast of Chicken fried chicken (don't ask why they don't just call it fried chicken) we rode basically straight south to California. Called my Uncle Dan to tell him we were coming, and he told us to take our time and see the trees.
We crossed the border and almost instantly were in the coastal redwood forests. 101 goes straight through them, and as we got deeper the tree's got bigger. Until they were fucking massive. We stopped at the 'drive through Redwood' and paid three bucks to get in. We thought it would be a long winding road to a massive redwood deep in the woods, it turned out to be a massive redwood two hundred yards from the booth. The tree was about 1200 years old. When they are struck by lighting sometimes the cores die, and the tree keeps growing, which is what happened to this tree. The hole wasn't massive, maybe the size of a small car, but it was pretty cool, despite being a total tourist trap.
The woman who sold us the tickets told us of some other sights we had to see. She talked on and on. She told us to take the old highway 101, which was the scenic route through the heart of the forest, and to stop at the Big Tree, which had a sign that had said it was 1500 years old since she moved here fifty years ago. She complained about how we age, but the trees stay the same. decent point.
We rolled on and took the scenic route. The tree's stretched up hundreds of feet above us. I let Yann go ahead and saw how tiny his bike looked next to the redwoods. We really are inconsequential. We stopped to hug some trees. When you look up at them from right next to the base your eyes follow the bark all the way up into the canopy. Often it corkscrews and you don't notice unless you look straight up because they are so fricking huge.
We saw the big tree, which was really big. 1500+ years old (at least 1550). What a beast. I wonder at all the things it must have seen.
After scenic 101 gets bck to Normal 101 the trees thin out. We tailed a truck covered with redwood 2x4s the last couple miles out of the park. By now it was dark. We drove another thirty miles until we were freezing cold and stopped at an RV/Campsite. It wasn't a park, and had no late pay option we could fake, so we decided to set alarms and wake up at 6 and get out hopefully without paying. Passed out pronto.
Woke up today at 6:08, and were packed by 6:25. As we drove out of the campsite some woman yelled at us from the RV by the gate, but we just drove past.
We got off on Avenue of the Giants, which goes through the second major Sequoia (Redwoods are Sequoias, there are two kinds, the coastal, which are slightly older, thinner, and taller, and the inland which are fatter, or something like that) grove in Humboldt park. These tree's were also insanely huge. We watched the clouds slowly burn off the mountains as we drove past the trees real slowly, wondering at their size, stopping to hike into the woods a couple of times.
After the Avenue of the Giants we got back on 101. We stopped for breakfast at a little breakfast joint, which was Organic up the wazoo. Our waitress was one of two incredibly good looking twins, and the third waittress was their mother, who wasn't so bad herself. They told us about wine tasting and Route 1 west, which is a longer but more scenic route. The owner of the restaurant came in and sat further down the bar from us, and we talked to her and told her about our journey. She told us how she had used to have a motorcycle back in the day, and she had opened the restaurant 27 years before. She said she wished the girls could meet nice guys like us. I don't know how nice we are, but I sure wish we could meet some girls like them. I wanted to stay and ask one out to dinner (not sure how I would have picked), but it was far too early in the day to stop. I was tempted for the next fifty miles to come back some day later and try for a date, and who knows, maybe next time in California.
We kept on and then hit 1 west to 1 south. 101 turns into a major highway and goes inland at this point, while 1 west goes back to the coast and runs along it south into San Francisco, through Mendicino and Sonoma county. 1 west may have been the best road we have driven so far. nonstop twisty turns through georgous redwood forests (not as huge but still beautiful) for miles and miles. Each turn made us slow down to twenty miles per hour, and the turns were lined up one after the other. We curled up through the hills and back down through the woods.
After thirty miles we emerged onto a straightaway and the world filled with mist, and through it the giants teeth rising out of the pacific ocean appeared ahead. Clouds blowing off the saltwater enshrouded us as we continued on 1 south, directly along the coast, with white verbena and yellow buttercups and golden daisies lining the path towards the sea, and tall pines and curled moss covered trees reminiscent of middle earth covering the mountains rising up and stretching inland.
We followed this route through Mendicino county until we reached Fort Bragg, and fueled up at some two bit gas station, and then kept on south. It was cold, but the vistas took my breath away as much as the wind.
Another hour or so south and 1 south hits 128 east which leads back to 101 south, which we needed to take to San Francisco. 128 East led us into another redwood grove, this one just as majestic as the last, with ancient giants rising on the left and a dry riverbed with more trees on the far side stretching away to the right. We cruised through nice and slow, visors up, soaking in the grandor of nature. We stopped to hike and walk along a fallen redwood trunk, ten feet tall, and I drank a drop of water out of a hollow tuber. It was clear and sweet and tasted green.
After the forests the road enters wine country. Neat lines of grapes began to pattern the hills. We stopped at the first winery we saw for a tasting. I greatly impressed the lady who poured us our tastes by guessing the predominant flavors in all of the wines. I even described the smokyness of one Pinot Noir which had been made during 2008, when forest fires greatly affected the wine crop. The wines were excellent. Some good Pinot Noir, though I'm not ussually a big fan, and a delicious Syrah, as well as a not half bad Sauv Blanc (but still no Sancerre). We continued on and went to two more wineries, tasting at each. Almost all the wines were excellent, we tried one Noir Blanc champagne which was weak and a rose which was godawful, but other then that I found most to be pleasant and delicious. We were careful not to get drunk, and kept on riding.
In Wine country, for the first time in a few days, it got warm. We went down to T-shirts and kept on, riding past Mendecino and deep into Sonoma county.
An hour of curvy roads later and we were back on 101 South. It's a big highway at this point, not too exciting. Warm mixed up with occasional bursts of insanely cold air from the coast. Very strange.
The ride was fine until we got close to San Francisco. Then it got really windy. My front tire is done, it needs to be changed, the tread mark is not only reached but is all but gone, and it doesn't break anymore and the wind was blowing the front of my bike six inches back and forth. Ten miles out of San Francisco clouds covered the road. It got really cold. We figured we were close, and bore through it.
We passed the Golden Gate bridge unable to see more then fifty feet, with ice cold mist droplets spitting all over out hands and necks. Our directions to my Uncle Daniel and Aunt Deedee's house were wrong, but we had the Address, and after wandering for forty minutes through the city, going sixty or so blocks, we finally reached their house. I had to pry my fingers off the handlebars.
Uncle Dan welcomed us with open arms, and we got inside and warmed up. He was watching the Allstar game, and a few minutes later his buddy Johnny showed up. A half hour later and Aunt Deedee came in, and we hugged and said hello.
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| Oregon Coast, Giants teeth |
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| More coast |
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| California coast |
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| HIghway 101 |
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| Yann Pee's off a redwood |
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| Coast in Mendecino |
