Wednesday 7th September 2022
I sleep well - straight through to 0830
- I clearly needed it.
It's a beautiful day (natch) and this afternoon I aim to be at Fort Bragg, still on the Pacific Coast, about four and a half hours south.
I ablute, dress and get the bike kitted up. In a moment of sheer bravado, I reset the bike's clock to the correct time...
This is a strange hotel. Really nicely appointed rooms and very reasonably priced. On the opposite bank of rooms from me (near where I did the work on the bike yesterday), there's a chap - probably about my age - who is suffering from some mental affliction. Or perhaps he's a tweaker (meth addict). He keeps walking into his room then immediately coming back out again, smoking a cigarette and then throwing it away, before retrieving it and smoking it again, twitching all the time he does this. I don't know what has left him in this state, but it must be awful...
I finish packing - check the room and - with a frisson of excitement - press the starter. The bike starts perfectly and I make my way onto the 101 South...
My hotel was on the northern side of Crescent City, so I ride through the town on the way south...
It's a beautiful day, with some wispy clouds and a temperature of about 73F. You couldn't ask for better weather...
Everyone is going about their regular Wednesday. Except me. Hi everyone at work!
I'm soon out of town and the road enters some woodland - eventually it'll climb into some stands of Redwood trees...
There are a
lot of roadworks - often, like this one, to repair the highway after landslides...
You get the occasional view of the Pacific through gaps in the trees...
...the view still a bit smoky, although this will get better as I head south...
The bike is behaving impeccably. When I have switched off the engine, to take a picture for example, it has started up again perfectly normally...
The stiff onshore breeze from a few days ago has vanished, and it's just a pleasure to ride along the road, soaking in the views...
(I'm smiling behind the visor)
Well there's something you don't see everyday. This is
Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe, American legends, at the Trees of Mystery centre at Klamath...
Onward - bridge fans - two for the price of one! For whatever reason, a new bridge is being built here and this temporary structure is providing a dry way for vehicles to get across the river in the meantime...
I cross the Klamath River, the bridge guarded by gilded bears...
Route 101 then moves inland slightly and becomes a Freeway, with a speed limit of 65mph - enforced by aircraft according to the signs...
Even at higher elevations, it's pretty warm...
I've used the last of the water from my CamelBack and decide it would be good to stop for lunch soon...
At the top of any steep hill, there is an area set aside for trucks to stop so they can check their brakes. If it all goes horribly wrong, there are escape lanes like this one, which end in troughs of deep gravel, that will stop a truck in an emergency...
...some of them end in a steep uphill section. Quite exciting, I should think...
They have some great signs over here...
I turn off at Trinidad - fill up at $6.31 per gallon for Super
...
...then make my way to the Trinidad Eatery, where I have to wait 15 mins for a table...
The lovely Lani tells me about the specials and I select...
...a 'cup' (small bowl) of their Clam Chowder - quite the best I have ever tasted...
...followed by their special BLT - delicious...
I ask my dining companions if their dog, Gunner...
...would like some of the crackers that came with my soup. They said OK, and Gunner never took his eyes off me again. I swear he was looking at me out of the back of their car as they drove away...
I eventually pay the bill (ouch! - but they have a queue here...)...
...fill my CamelBack with iced water and set off again...
It has clouded over a little whilst I have been stopped and the temperature has dropped slightly, as I rejoin the 101, then pass through Eureka...
I overheard at lunch that Google have bought the town of Orick, just north of Trinidad. The whole town... I was going to stop there, but the only café looked closed, so moved on to Trinidad. What does Google want with an entire town?
It looks as if it's trying to rain over towards the coast, but the rain is evaporating before it hits the ground. This phenomenon is called Virga. So now you know...
The 101 here is getting a little monotonous - but I know I'll soon be turning off towards the coast...
I decide to avoid the Bigfoot Store...
...and pretty soon I'm at the junction at Leggett, where I turn right onto the Route One cut through to the coast. I rode the reciprocal of this route when I was here three years ago, so I know I'm in for a treat. I get off and stretch my legs - it's only about 45 miles to Fort Bragg, my target for tonight, but it'll take me over an hour to get there, because this is a
great road...
Right - let's go...
The road starts with about 20 miles of these twisties, as it climbs and descends a series of hills. I came across four cars -
every one pulled into the next lay-by to let me overtake...
It's a great ride - I'd rate it higher than the much-vaunted 'Tail of the Dragon'. When you finish that you get to a motel. Here, you get...
The Pacific Ocean...
No contest.
It's beautiful - and unexpectedly warm (around 84F)...
I'm soon entering Fort Bragg...
...and checking into the Super 8 motel. I stayed here three years back and it has been remodelled since. The rooms are great, but like all Super 8's, seem to have a stock of 1980s bedspreads they are using up...
I walk next door to the filling station and grab a six pack of Corona (the irony) and carry it back to my room. I then go to start the bike to park it outside. It slowly cranks, before bursting into life - but enough to zero the clock. It's like it's telling me not to relax...
The minx...
Great day
