THUR, JULY 16th - Traveling Scenic Coastal Hwy 1, Calif.

Greetings,
It is 53 degrees (no more complaining about 100 degrees) and we have left SF to drive the famous CA1 scenic route for 200 miles up the coast.

We talked to Whitney (daughter), she was having contractions so she went to the hospital around noon EST. They stopped later and she went back home.

Back to the drive up the coast, the fog had moved in, and hanging along the coast, as we drove north. This road is great for sport cars, motorcycles, & bicycles but it is not friendly to motor homes. Thousands of twists and turns, up and down the terrain, as we followed the coast line with the elevations changing from 13' to 650'. I could just imagine the both of us riding our Gold Wing through these curves. This would be a great ride.

When we got closer to Highway 101 and the end of Hwy 1, the elevation climbed to almost 2100' with the curve warning signs posted as low as 10mph. Either the cliffs or the big rocks were on the edge of the road. That of course didn't deter us from driving the length of this scenic road. It took us 8 1/2 hours to cover the 200 miles and we did stop a few times to take pictures and eat lunch.

I think everyone should drive part of this road at least once in a lifetime. I think I would prefer to do it on a motorcycle the next time. The beaches are nothing like what we are used to in Florida. Most of the beaches is where the gulches drain to the Pacific. The rest of the coast is cliffs and huge rock formation in the water. In spite of the weather, we noticed surfers in different areas along the way.

We made it to Garberville, Ca. and found a nice campground to stay in for the night.
Tomorrow we will leave early and travel to the Redwoods National Park.


Like the Blogger title "From Sea to Shining Sea" says.
We left Vero Beach, Fl. which is on the Atlantic Ocean and here we are on the Pacific Ocean at Jenner, California.
As you can tell the Pacific is not too shiny with all the fog on the coast today. It's still a great site to see.




Oh by the way, the MH made it too!

We didn't expect any less.


The fog moved in yesterday while we were in San Francisco.




This is definitely a different kind of coast than we are used to in Florida.





This is the lighthouse at Point Arena. It is situated on the closest point of land to the Hawaiian Islands in the Continental United States. The point is surrounded on 3 sides by the Pacific which keeps the area cool. Set in one of the most spectacular yet peaceful surroundings on Calif. northern coast, the Point Arena tower is the only West Coast lighthouse of significant height (115') that you can tour and climb to the top.
The first Point Arena Lighthouse was constructed in 1870 and in April 1906, a devastating earthquake struck the tower. It was damaged so severely that it was torn down and 18 months later in 1908, the new lighthouse began operations. It features a 1st order Fresnel Lens which is over 6' in diameter and weighed more than 6 tons. In June 1977 the lens was discontinued and it was replaced with an automatic aircraft type beacon.



The road (CA1) follows the cliffs and the gulches, with lots of curves and many ups & downs.








This is a rock formation in the water - through the fog you can see many different colors on the rock.






A group of large seagulls taking a bath.
Since I'm retired and traveling, I made myself useful by counting how many times a particular seagull put his head under water before moving to the beach. 11 times

Now how many times can you do that before someone has to haul your carcass to the beach? (haha)





The gulls are quite larger than the ones we have in Florida.







Sharon took this picture of the surf and the fog - on the right you can see the curvy road ahead.






Many motorcycle riders travel this highway.

We passed quite a few bicycle riders whose bikes were loaded down with gear. I don't see how they climbed some of those hills along the beach.





200 miles of curves and very slow driving. It took 8 1/2 hours to cover the 200 miles. That equals about 23mph. The bicycles were going faster than that.






The big trees are Redwoods.








The hills were only 2000' high but the road made it feel like you climb 4 times as much.





We camped at a nice campground (Richardson Grove CG) in Garberville, CA. on US Hwy 101. This is a much better road than we were on and we will have some better views further up the coast. Redwoods National Park is next on the agenda.
Until then......Happy Trails!