Day 100 – Today is a travel day; going to the next campground. It was 44 degrees when we got up, partly cloudy. We packed up, then sat outside looking at the Bay once more. There’s still very few campers here; it’ll be busy again on the weekend.
43 miles
Day 99 – Beginning of Week 15. At 8 a.m., 44 degrees & sunny. Oddly, the parking lot is ½ full of trucks & boat trailers and the line of fishing boats leaving the harbor is long. Rob checked online to see if today was the first day of a fishing season for a specific catch, but it wasn’t. He looked further & it turned out that yesterday was very windy at sea with wind warnings posted, so no one went out. Today it’s windy here in the Bay but not at sea. Aha, mystery solved.
Day 98 – Wow, we were looking at the blog re the first trip we took after Rob retired earlier this year. Today, being the 98th day on this trip, is the longest we’ve been on the road ever. The first trip was 97 days. This one will be much longer. Cool! We think we could do this full-time. Lots of people do. Hmmm……
Day 97 – We were up by 7:30 a.m., 47 degrees & the sun was about to come up. A decent breeze going, but still warmer here than it’s been lately. It was clear this morning, YAAA, but it started getting hazy out later in the morning. We went outside with our coffee & sat by the Bay, watching all the birds dive for breakfast. The Park is still surprisingly quiet. Lots of reserved campsites have yet to be filled. We don’t mind.
Day 96 – 34 degrees at 7:30 a.m., still hazy out. We left the redwoods once again at 11:10 a.m., heading southeast on Route 128 to Highway 101. The Anderson Valley is so beautiful. We were happy to have the chance to see it again. There was a very winding stretch of road but that was nothing compared to an entire trip of hanging on for dear life for hours if we’d taken the coastal route. We stayed on the 101 until Santa Rosa, then headed back to the coast driving through Sebastopol. We were on Highway 101 but evidentally not the area of Santa Rosa which burned recently.
100 miles
Day 95 – A little warmer, 37 degrees this morning, still hazy. We decided that we would leave today rather than Friday as originally planned. When we took the drive south to Bodega Bay in the car on Tuesday, the entire trip was extremely winding on the narrow road, right next to the cliff’s edge. While it was pretty, in an RV towing a Honda, we’d probably develop ulcers by the time we got there. Road work once again to repair the road where the cliffs had caved in to the Ocean below, mudslides – cliffs being put back together with various solutions – cement made to look like rocks, netting holding the cliff up, plantings to keep the sides from crumbling, etc. What made a real impression on me was when we saw an area where parts of the previous highway were slightly below the current highway and houses had crumbled down the cliff into the sea leaving just bits of the foundation. Just not worth risking being run off the cliff because a truck or another RV is going by you in the opposite direction…..
62 miles
THAR SHE BLOWS!
Day 94 – Cold this morning, 32 degrees, still quite hazy out. We hung around the RV waiting for it to get warm enough to either bike or kayak. After lunch it still wasn’t comfortable & the wind was increasing, so we took a drive – there’s a heater in the car.
SMOKE ON THE WATER.
Day 93 – It was 34 degrees this morning, quite hazy & breezy. Brrrrr. The sun seemed far away & was unsuccessful in burning though the haze. We had thought about going kayaking this morning but decided to put it off a day or two when hopefully the sun will be back out in all its glory.
One month ago, we were camping near the Pacific Ocean by the redwood forests in Northern CA. We spent much of this month still camping near the Ocean or in the redwood forests, but we’re slowly moving south & things are changing. It’s raining much less now; there’s more sun & less clouds and fog. We still see redwoods, but by the end of Month 4, we’ll be away from them completely. The coastline here in northern CA has been less rugged than in OR but just as lovely. We’ve continued to encounter areas where fires have recently come through & destroyed most in their paths. And the trees, brush, and bushes are more desert-like plus everything is drier. More people, but for the most part, not overly crowded, plenty of great country roads, farms, orchards, and wine country, very nice scenery. We’re headed out tomorrow for a new campground, and it, too, will be near the Ocean. We travelled only 352 miles in the RV this month, lots more miles in the car. We stayed at only six different campgrounds. We’re still enjoying the slow pace, camping for longer periods of time at one spot & thoroughly visiting everything in each area that interested us. The redwood forests, the wine country, the beautiful rolling hills, and the Pacific Ocean where the rivers meet the sea – it’s all been worth taking the time to really see everything.
SMOKE IN THE SKY.
Day 92 – Beginning of Week 14 and the beginning of the fourth month of this trip. We were up a little after 7 a.m. this morning. 59 degrees & very overcast, which was strange because it was supposed to be sunny today with no clouds. We walked over to do a final load of laundry before leaving this campground. The air was thick; I mentioned to Rob that it smelled a little like smoke, but then we realized people could’ve had fires going at their campsites. We checked the status of the forest fires – still going strong with the Ventura fire moving into Santa Barbara County. Big Sur, one place we’d thought about going to, had a fire beginning last night. They’re saying they should have it under control later today. Time to get ready to go. We took long showers, taking full advantage of the amenities of this campground. Back to no hook-ups again soon.
58 miles