Today we got down to some bona fide fooling around. We decided to head to the coast west of Healdsburg on a road that goes out to Stewart’s Point on the Pacific. We got a late start due to procrastination and lack of effort.
We left Cloverdale’s TT campground at Russian River and, after getting fuel and tobacco, headed south to Healdsburg. The road to Stewart’s Point on the east end is wide, well-marked and easy to drive. For the next 43 miles the road gets increasingly challenging to drive with long, blind single lane only portions, continuous sharp curves, 10% or greater climbs and descents, ancient one-lane bridges across waterways and stunning scenery right from the outset. On the east end we started in rolling hill pasture with oak and conifer clumps and by the time we got to the west end and the ocean, we were driving in almost exclusively second-growth Redwood forests. The road follows two local streams that seem to be about a circuitous as possible. I don’t think we went more than about 12 miles as the crow flies but it took us 43 miles and an hour and three quarters to make the crossing from east to west. To eliminate any confusion about our sanity, we returned the same way after a short trip up the coast for a picnic and a whiz.
When we got back almost all the way to Healdsburg, we came by some superb viewpoints to see the fires raging in the country east and southeast of our current camping spot. The columns of smoke are truly impressive. I’m glad nobody I know is over there on a fire crew. It looks like a terrible job this year.
Peggy tricked me into taking her out to dinner on our way home. She first said, “How about taking us out for dinner tonight?” and I answered, “Okee-Dokee” so we pulled off at a place called the Hamburger Ranch and BBQ on the north end of Cloverdale. The prices are a bit high but the food was excellent. A brisket plate with 2 sides and a very large cheeseburger with sweet potato fries was about $35, no drinks but tip included. Their baked beans are to die for.
We got some pix along the way. Click here
Due to a complete lack of talent on the part of the operator, today’s pictures also can be seen in the album for the 21st.

We can tell the fires are still burning around us because the sky looks like mud. We chose to fiddle around instead of performing any productive work today since you can’t breathe or see through the smoke outside. We did find the first Bank of America branch in about 3000 miles in nearby Healdsburg so we went there and got naughty with the ATM. I think the last one we saw was in Eugene back on the 22nd of August. We also drank what some would call too much but, since we are old, we don’t give a shit.
Some of our Cloverdale buddies can be seen by clicking here

Despite our fears about road closures, we left Richardson Grove and headed south on US-101. Recent fires have ravaged the counties where we are headed and we are not entirely sure we will be allowed to proceed south on this route.
101 along the Eel River in Humboldt County was beautiful with clear skies and no indication of any fire. Soon we passed out of the Eel River watershed and into the Russian River Valley in Mendocino County. We drove along miles of scorched terrain on the east side of 101, only occasionally seeing areas where fires jumped the road and both sides were scorched. At one particularly challenging section, we passed more than a mile where the guardrails had melted and the support posts had been incinerated down to skinny jagged sticks. The southbound right lane of the highway was closed because the surface was melted and broken into little jigsaw puzzle pieces.
After the burned area, we headed further downriver and broke out into smoky but undamaged country near Ukiah. The remainder of our drive was pretty uneventful and soon we got off 101 at Geysers Road and pulled into Thousand Trails Russian River. This campground is situated on the side of a hill and backing into many of the RV spaces can be challenging. Fortunately, due to the recent evacuation of this campground due to fire, there were plenty of good spaces available. We even got a pull-thru which is pretty rare around here. There is no wifi or sewer but we will be okay for a few days until we take off on what we expect to be a miserable trek through the San Francisco Bay area. There are no open parks north of the Golden Gate because they burned up in the last week. There are virtually no parks in the 75 miles south of the Golden Gate because the property values are too high. The next TT park south of us is in Morgan Hill and we understand it flooded recently and we won’t be staying there in the immediate future.
There are some photos of scorched stuff we saw if you click here

Last night we chatted with some folks who told us they had been evacuated from an area where the fire danger from California’s current spate of fires was high, namely our next scheduled destination. We started the process of rejiggering our travel agenda because it seemed the route south was ablaze.
We called our next RV campground, the TT facility called Russian River, but nobody answered the phone because it is Sunday. We got the owner of our current campground, Richardson Grove RV, to allow us to extend because we were going to be gone today. We got out the maps and started checking out our options, all of them grim. Going east from the Humboldt County area over to I-5, the next available route south, is difficult. Either CA-199 or CA-299 are the only choices and they are both harrowing drives for large vehicles. Our remaining option was to go north about 200 miles to Coos County, OR, to take OR-42 to I-5 where we could go south. It is about 550 miles out-of-the-way.
Strangely, we got a call from the management at Russian River this morning who confirmed that they were closed due to fire hazard. However, by midday, the same folks called back and told us that a district manager had told them to open the campground so, again, we intend to go south down US-101. We’ll see how it turns out. There are not really any campgrounds in the Marin County / San Francisco / Silicon Valley area so we need to stop at Russian River before embarking on our feared passage through the Bay Area. We really do not enjoy passing through this area but there’s no other way if traveling on the coast.

Today we took a spin up the Avenue of the Giants, a stunningly beautiful drive through the Redwoods. We started by heading north on 101 which passes right in front of our campground. Immediately we entered Richardson Grove State Park where it looks like the campgrounds are open but the visitor center is closed.
We had to stay on 101 for about 10 miles until getting on the Avenue of the Giants at Phillipsville. The Avenue runs down the Eel River on the opposite side from US-101. There are many impressive groves of old-growth Redwood forest alongside the road with some truly impressive trees right next to the road. The groves of trees look like giant clumps of attack submarines standing on their bows. At a couple of the groves with places to get off the road, Peggy and I bailed out of the truck for some strolls through this magnificent forest. The floors of these groves are pretty clear except for an abundance of ferns, massive windfalls and plenty of poison oak waiting to to make the unsuspecting itch.
Peggy and I took a very pleasant stroll through a place called The Founders Grove, an astonishingly beautiful wonderland of giant Redwoods. We had almost finished our hike when we found a sturdy bench where we could get off our feet and commune with nature. We happily took a seat and settled in for a few minutes of admiration. It was almost silent with the whispering of the breeze passing through the trees and some bird calls as the only audible sounds we could detect. It was dark and shady due to the almost opaque canopy. We could tell it was sunny above the canopy because sparkling shafts of light pierced our cool, dark, quiet observation post. Then a large party of Oriental folks arrived, chattering loudly in a language we do not speak (Not English) and gathering into a noisy crowd around the nearby stump of the gigantic Founders Tree. Once they had a quorum, they started down the trail, passing right behind our comfortable bench. About the third platoon of the noisy visitors were passing behind us, making loud undecipherable sounds, when one of the girls blasted out a very melodious, plainly audible fart without missing a beat in her conversation. It was all I could do to restrain myself from asking the perp if she couldn’t do that next time downwind. I looked over at Peggy and she was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. She isn’t deaf, you know, and farts can be funny. We are so culturally unaware that we didn’t even know that Orientals fart but we do know that Blacks and those with Hispanic surnames definately do.
We continued to the north end of the Avenue at Pepperwood which somehow has its name transformed into Peckerwood in my mind. I must have watched too many movies about the Old West and that portion of America referred to as “The South.” We could have taken 101 south back to our RV park but instead we turned around and headed right back down the same road we had used to get there. The Avenue of the Giants is just as impressive going south as it is going north. I would suggest that anybody passing through the Eel River Valley take the Avenue instead of nearby US-101. The Avenue is a bit slower but the scenery is unforgettable.
Once we got back to Richardson Grove, we struck up a conversation with our neighbors in the park and they indicated they were evacuated from our next destination in Cloverdale due to the proximity of some of California’s current forest infernos. We may have some schedule changes coming because we originally intended to leave tomorrow and that looks pretty grim now.
We did get some nice woodsy shots you can see if you click here

Today we departed from Eureka and continued our generally southward progress. There are currently some real nasty fires burning in Central and Northern California that had closed our route but, last time we checked, the road south (US-101) is now open and we are giving it a whirl. We headed into the gorgeous country south of Eureka and had a pleasant drive although there were a few extra short delays due to construction.
About 90 miles down the road, we entered Richardson Grove Redwoods State Park where there are some really large trees only slightly encroaching on the twisty highway. The trees are truly majestic but they did keep this RV driver creeping along when trying to maneuver our lengthy arrangement past their massive stalks. We will go back for a closer look tomorrow, without the 34′ of trailer.
Right on the southern edge of the Park, we pulled into the Richardson Grove RV Park where the nice reception lady gave us a great rate of $20 a day. The place has no wifi but we did get a pull-thru spot with good satellite reception and full hookups.

We took a spin south of Eureka today, visiting the communities of Scotia, Fortuna, Loleta, Rio Dell, Fernbridge and the almost adjacent Ferndale. Some smart aleck must have come up with two Fern-somethings across a bridge from one another.
This part of the world supplied lumber at a furious rate for about 80 years but the production has substantially diminished recently. Many lumber baron types and their minions must have lived in the beautiful Victorian and Craftsman architectural style houses and buildings built here in Humboldt County and there are some superb examples in all these communities but the best assortment is in Ferndale.
Peggy and I cruised the streets of Ferndale checking out the magnificent structures. We drove quite a few miles but covered almost no distance since most of our foray was circling the blocks to see all the great houses. As we drove away from downtown, we noted some of the grand old houses are vacant and falling into disrepair. When not properly maintained, they look remarkably similar to the Haunted House at Disneyland.
We hit the grocery store and diesel station to fill up before our departure from Eureka tomorrow morning. We like the Mad River RV Park and the architecture here but Eureka itself is ugly, there are homeless everywhere, food is expensive and we just didn’t have the imagination to be interested in this locale. Time to go.
We took some Ferndale pix you can see if you click here

We made a completely unfulfilling shopping trip today, finding nothing that we wanted. Peggy and I popped into Costco to see if we could get her a decent raincoat but the item she had identified on the internet as being THE ONE wasn’t anywhere to be found. I also made a trip into a Harbor Freight and didn’t find what I needed. Strikeouts on shopping today.
Not to be overcome with disappointment, we spent a bit of time driving around the Arcata and Eureka areas. We spotted a few nice houses. We also spotted what seems like an ample supply of homeless people for a town of only some 27,000 residents. It seems that quite possibly the actual population is higher but a bunch of them don’t have addresses other than “in the shrubs behind the muffler shop” or “under the north end of the Eel River bridge” and, therefore, missed out on the latest census. We also spotted a billboard advertising the Emerald Cup which is a contest to see who has the best reefer. Maybe I’ll check that out.
Someone who went to the Emerald Cup can be seen in a picture by clicking here

Fires burning extensive portions of California surround us. Our intended progress southward is in jeopardy but since we really don’t need to be anywhere until late November, we decided to wait on information about whether or not we can continue on 101 until we were done fooling around. We decided to procrastinate before determining how we are going to get out of here. We therefore had available fun time so we decided to use it.
We had enough fun trying to scope out Arcata yesterday so today we chose to go on a different journey of discovery by heading north from Mad River RV Park. We took 101 north about 20 miles until turning off at the Kuchel Visitor Center of Redwood National Park near Orick. We wandered in, watched their movie, browsed their gift shop and then exited the center’s rear doors for a stroll on the beach. We were careful to avoid getting suckered by sneaker waves by staying away from the surf, which was open for business. The coastline near the visitor center is gorgeous with big seastacks offshore and magnificent cliffs above the shoreline.
After a short walk, we hopped back into the truck and continued north up 101 until we turned off and took the squirrelly road to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove of Redwood NP. The road is very narrow and quite exciting when loaded log trucks come the other way, particularly when we were driving in the lane closest to the abrupt cliff. After a few miles, however, we turned off into a small parking area and crossed the pedestrian bridge starting our hike into Lady Bird Johnson Grove. We did not see any Lady Birds but we were treated to a grand stroll through an astonishingly impressive Redwood, Douglas Fir and Hemlock forest with extremely pudgy trees throughout. We saw some more trees with almost vulgar appendages although it just may be filthy imaginations.
The trail is a bit longer than I am used to but certainly worth the effort I forced my old, stiff, creaky muscles and joints to exert. The surfaces are good and there are not a lot of long climbs, for which I am grateful. I noted a much slower speed for me at the end of our hike than at the beginning. I hope Peg doesn’t get pissed at my snail-like speeds when hiking.
For some pictures of Lady Bird’s Grove and some nearby coastline, click here

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