Day 5 - Ft. Bragg to Arcata

[Wednesday, Ft. Bragg, CA] Time to get up and move on to Arcata! Alarm goes off at 6:30a.m. John was going to cook eggs to have with the leftover Linguica. Not wanting to have to wash more dishes, he opted for nuking the Linguica in the nice, big microwave (Whirlpool) and having it with a piece of toast and some coffee. Linda had her usual...Raw Bits, Twang, Twang.

Just a small correction to the photo gallery from yesterday. Houston, we had a communications problem. Some of the flower photos got labeled with the wrong name. For those who care, where it says azaleas it should say dahlias.

Somewhere around 7:47a.m., we hit the road. But, not before Linda took a photo of the cute doggie curtains in our doggie cottage. First stop, shoot a picture of the Botanical Gardens sign. Second stop, get gas (Oh, yes, only $2.89 per gallon!). Third stop, local espresso stand. The third stop was a disappointment. six cars lined up. Not moving very much. After an impatient five minute wait of just sitting there, John (Type A) pulled out of line and we headed for the Starbucks drive through which was on our way out of town. That didn't take very long at all. Linda (Type B) was daintily sipping her large cup of mocha (coffee plus choco milk mix) from the large pot of complimentary (my, you're looking especially fetching today) she had brewed in the room before leaving.

As we were driving north on Hwy 1, the ocean was, naturally, on our left. And, so were the pull offs and "vista points". The road was pretty winding at this point, but fearless John continually crossed the oncoming lane to get to the views. There are some nice shots of the coast in today's photo gallery. The view of the coast through the Pampas grass was taken at a place with a very picturesque name, "Blue Slide Gulch". The last 22 miles on Hwy 1 before you reach Hwy 101 is very, very winding and very hilly. John even included a shot of our GPS that shows just how winding the road is.

Aside from our goal of reaching Arcata, we had two objectives in mind. First, find the Humboldt Redwood State Park visitor center to see the Charles Kellog "Travel Log". Second, to visit the show room of the C. Crane Company in Fortuna, CA.

Oh, by the way, when Hwy 1 hits Hwy 101, Hwy 101 is also a two lane highway. We stayed on Hwy 101 until we reached the turn off for the Avenue of the Giants. This is a 32 mile road that parallels Hwy 101 and takes you through small communities and through the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The first little burg was Phillipsville. The Avenue of the Giants mostly runs along the Eel River. There were beautiful groves of huge redwoods and lots of woodland plants, especially ferns. Some nice pictures in today's photo gallery. The visitor center we were looking for was at the north end of the park. John went in and asked where we could find "Chuck's RV", meaning Charles Kellogg's "Travel Log". The poor park employee's face sort of glazed over. Then John explained. She said, "I've never heard it called that before." John said, "You've never met me before!"

Charles Kellogg actually lived a lot of his life in Morgan Hill. Kellogg would tour with his Vaudeville bird singing show (this was around the 1920s, long before American Idol) for 3 or 4 months and spend the rest of the year in good ole Morgan Hill. He sold World War 1 Liberty Bonds until peacetime and after that he promoted the preservation of the great groves of California redwoods. He was a friend of John Muir and other naturalists. Kim Moreno, who grew up in Morgan Hill is working on a musical about Kellogg. It's named after the unique home he built in Morgan Hill, something along the lines of Ever Ever After. You can hear Charles's bird calls and learn more about him by visiting this link.. His bird songs were recorded by the Victor Talking Machine Company. You can also go to this link for a description of the world's oldest RV, the "travel log" and Charles Kellogg's unique talents.

After leaving the park, we headed north toward Arcata. Fortuna was our next stop and it's right on Hwy 101. We got there shortly before 12:56p.m. and stopped at the Redwood Cafe for lunch. Linda had a Fiesta (not fiesty) Chicken salad and John had the Chef's salad. Both were very good.

Following lunch, we made our way to the C. Crane Company (CCC from now on) showroom. CCC sells what could be described as high-tech applicances. Things like radios, flashlight (LED, of course), LED Lamps and light bulbs, and a world of other cool stuff. Many years ago John bought their CCRadio+ and it has performed very well. He even bought the solar power panel that will run the radio. You can learn more about them by clicking here. John had been waiting for this trip to see if a couple of gift ideas he had for Linda's birthday (back in September) would be to her liking. They were. One thing we found was that the staff there really knows their products and was able to demonstrate them very effectively.

Purchases made, we got back on the road and made it to the Comfort Inn in Arcata just before 3:11p.m. Checked in and found a very nice room with excellent WiFi. Don't know if the TV works. We don't turn TV's on when we're on a road trip. Nor to we listen to the car radio.

Since we had a nice big lunch, we decided to go by Ray's Market and get some seedless red grapes to have with our smoked provolone and asiago cheese, peanut butter and crackers. The grapes were $2.92/lb. but they are soooo sweet.

Tomorrow we look for a place for Linda to put a letterbox. We may, or may not, do a sunset shot tomorrow. The good news is, if we do, we know better what time we need to get there! Good night for now. Sweet dreams from Arcata, CA.

Link to Day 5 Photo Gallery The gallery will open in its own window. When finished viewing, close that window to return here.