We started the day by trying to make reservations for RV parks ahead of us as we continue south. The first guy I talked to at Redwood River RV Park near Leggett apparently thought I was snippy because he hung up on me. That was weird. I jumped on the computer to make reservations online but right away the wifi at our park went off. Foiled, we tried the phone again. We got responses from Verizon that the lines were all busy going into Mendocino County. It seemed strange.
Further investigation found that some horrible fires have erupted south of us, one burning 1,500 or more homes just today near Santa Rosa and another fire near Willitts. We intend to go south on US-101, which runs right through both of these fine, possibly no longer standing, communities. We then got news that the fires have killed communications, including our wifi access to the internet. Phones are kaput into southern 707. That was enough for me. I sauntered right over to the office and booked us for three more days here so we can turn tail and run with a head start.
We then dove back into exploration mode today, hoping to take a leisurely cruise through Old Town Arcata where there is an abundance of gorgeous Craftsman and Victorian houses. Indeed, there are many beautiful residences but the majority of them are located on streets that were originally made for buggies and wagons. The streets are very narrow but they allow parking on both sides, hilly, some streets are one-way sometimes, students and other funny-looking folks from the adjacent state university engage in ubiquitous and distracted jaywalking, homeless persons creep through intersection crosswalks, there are bicyclists going in all directions and the city has installed stop signs in a fashion that is quite incomprehensible. In addition, we drove through this mayhem in what must be the most inappropriate vehicle in existence to master the conditions – our 21-foot long F-250 which is just a bit narrower than the the distance between the parked cars as long as nobody comes the other way. We did a lot of “Watch out!”, “Watch the guy laying in the road”, and “Are you gonna stop at that big red hexagonal sign?”
Peggy had identified nifty old houses and their addresses. Last night she had created quite a list of structures we wanted to see before we departed on this expedition. We thought we were prepared but found we weren’t. To truly make seeing the buildings pleasant, you need to get someone with a small car to drive you, dropping you at many locations around town or to walk, although it would be a long stroll.
We chickened out after a while and instead drove up US-101 to the town of Trinidad. It is a cute little community built in a sloping ravine with a magnificent bay at the bottom. We dropped into the beach park at the water and noted some terrific views of the Pacific coast. Leaving town, we took Scenic Drive from Trinidad back to 101. It is very scenic with stunning views of the coast which is just a step away if you drive a wide pickup truck off the one-lane dirt road repair where the old section has slid into the sea. Once back on 101 southbound, we spotted an enormous brown cloud of smoke coming from the fires. We may have a bit of a rerouting of our southward progress because it looks funky down 101.
Check out today’s pix. Click here