Benbow to Whaleshead

  Brookings, Oregon, United States
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

We went over to Bodega Bay before leaving the San Francisco area. Bodega Bay is where Alfred Hitchcock filmed "The Birds" a helluva long time ago. We saw the school, and maybe some other stuff but we couldn't remember [a very long time ago]. We saw some more water and rocks. For Texans from central and west Texas these two things put together are a rarity for us, and we must take pictures of them at every occurrence. I also was able to glimpse Hwy 1, and see for myself why everyone with half a brain has been telling me, for over a year, to keep off this road when I'm towing.

Bodega Rocks

Bodega Water

Water and fog

We then went up to Benbow/Garberville. This area is in the middle of the Redwood Forest areas. The RV park was nicely landscaped, but it stopped there. This is where my name changed to Murphy, because it was wrong. The services were lacking , and I'll just stop there.

We traveled South on Hwy 1 through a gorgeous Redwood Forest, and we emerged to see the ocean - water and rocks. We continued into Ft Bragg to enjoy the drive. We did a grand tour of Bragg. Stopping for lunch at Denny's and then over to a small grocery store where we bought a tiny box of cereal for $5.00. Took the reverse route back home and enjoyed it again. Lots and lots of fog has been with us while we've been on the California coasts. Again fog is alien to us so we enjoyed the eeriness of it all. I can see how it could affect people after a long time of gray.

Twists, turns and fog

Redwoodds

My Precious

The Redwood forests were something everyone should see. My Precious will describe them a lot better than I can, but they are our National treasure and we need to protect them. I'm not really a "green" kind of guy; I don't recycle nearly like I should but these trees could turn George Wallace into a decent human being. It's obvious that he never made it over here. A long 22 years ago I traveled this Hwy with my son Greg. That was a trip both he and I will always have memories of. What a wonderful thing to be able to relive that trip, and to bring back memories of such a great time we had.

Under construction

Redwoods & Fog

Lots of trees

Log wagon

My precious in a hole in a tree

Slow driving

The next day I had the pleasure to meet some more of Pat's bird friends; Don and his wife Grace, and Janet. Don picked us up and took us up to their home outside of Eureka using the back roads so we could enjoy seeing more beautiful trees. The Avenue of the Giants is a road lined in Redwoods so tall that they block out enough of the sun that the only ground cover is moss, fern, and needles from the trees. You look up and they just tower above you. We drove through an old town called Ferndale that is in the middle of dairy country. They had kept all of the historic buildings, and they were nicely painted.

Downtown Ferndale

Pretty Old House in Fendale

We ate a great lunch at Don and Grace's house. I had a Buffalo Burger, and Pat had an Elk Burger. Both grilled by Don. They have two birds, Gauguin and Linus, that are very sweet birds and they are both fully flighted. Janet is a wonderful person who brought me the most delicious chocolate slug. She has a bunch of birds, too, and they all get on the internet to gab, swap pictures, and offer each other advice on caring for their birds.

Don & Grace's Window

Don & Grace's view

Grace, Don, Janet, and Precious

We left Benbow and California for Oregon. We both enjoyed California's sights, and found the people there to be very friendly and helpful. I have to, again, thank the people on the Airstream Forum for their advice, and to apologize to those I wasn't able to meet. My special thanks to Excella3287 for his suggestions, and to both he and his wife for their hospitality in LA

We got to Brookings, OR in high spirits because we have sunlight!! It seems that Oregon has stolen all of the sun from California. We arrived at Whaleshead Beach RV, and found it to be a really beautiful rv park on the coast. Another nice treat was that diesel here is $4.95 p/gal, and that's full service. I was amazed that there could be such a price difference. Taxes make up some of the difference, but then you have to factor in that Oregon is full service and that's what makes the difference dramatic. I don't even count the price gouging going on in the Monterey Penn, 5.79 p/gal.

Whaleshead island

Nice beach scene

They're pelicans

There they are

We drove back into California to see the Redwood forests in the Northern part that we had driven through with the trailer in tow. In tow, I had not been able to really look at hardly anything other than the yellow stripe in the road. There were 6% grades up and down, spiced with 30mph ess curves that kept my attention. There was one place that I really wanted to see - Paul Bunyon. Don had reminded me of him, and it really brought back memories off my earlier trip with Greg.

Hwy 1 was built long enough ago to have a plethora of tourist stops up and down the coast. As they expanded the highway, and rerouted it in some areas, some of these stops have closed up while others have continued and prospered. They have been passed down from generation to generation. The "Trees of Mystery" is one of the survivors, and that is where Paul and his blue Ox, Babe, live. This was the introduction to the Redwoods that Greg and I received on our trip South. Pat & I got there, and I looked across the highway to see the motel that Greg & I had stayed at in the last century. Until then, the memories had been vague, but boy did they jump back up to the front of my brain! This was the best part of the whole damn trip. Pat & I took the same tour my son and I took and marveled at the same things - just how damn cool is that. They have even added a sky ride for something new.

Tomorrow we head up the Oregon Coast, and hope for more Oregon sun.