Day 31 Big wood

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. It came and went on and on up until gone 11am when I should have relinquished the room to housekeeping. She was reluctant to start, the cooler spark plugs seem to demand more choke in the morning . She smokes, like a nicotine dependent, while she warms up to greet the day. I resolved to switch the plugs back to 6’s, suitably gapped, at the earliest opportunity.

We chased the clouds up the coast, sometimes slowing, when the showers started, so as not to catch up. There seemed to be a micro climate effect going on where the rain clouds were held back inland by the coastal range. We ran the gauntlet between the water in the clouds and the water in the ocean.

I’m really feeling the pressure now to settle the plans for the rest of the trip and getting some miles in will help relieve it. The rain and the twisty highway 1 have concertina’d my perspective of what can be achieved. Google maps isn’t helping, over 5 hours to Eurika it told me until I realised that it considers Route 101 a motorway, turning off that option reclaimed 4 hours.

Eurika! We found it and Fortuna first, two western outpost towns resting quietly in the afternoon sunshine, yup sunshine, the clouds finally cleared and we pressed on up the road to Crescent City through Redwood National and State Parks. The trees are astonishing and I regret that the scale of them cannot be captured on camera, close up they extend a neck achingly for ever and some are as broad as car. I passed on and passed by the novelty attractions, drive through tree and home in a log, but could not resist these fellows as the sun began to set.

Crescent City is mainly closed on a Sunday night and having walked the streets I settled for a two can supper in the motel 6 room. Zoran and Darlene from Vancouver Island rolled in on a big KTM and we chatted about the road. They’re heading south down the same roads that I’ve just ascended only on the ocean side of the road, clever.