North by Northwest

All I can say is WOW!

If you've never driven the coastal highways in California and Oregon you're missing a great treat. My ride today was on one of my favorite highways in all of the United States. Today we headed out of Ukiah, CA and headed north on highway 101 to Crescent City, then took 199 across the Oregon boarder over to Interstate 5 and up to Salem.

First of all, it was Cold, Cold, Cold...56 degrees when we left the hotel, then it got even colder. It's amazing, two day's ago it was 97 degrees at 5:30 AM when we left the hotel in Las Vegas...a 40 degree swing. Right after we left the hotel we came across a nice sized herd of Elk grazing in a filed. Shortly after that we entered the Redwood Forest. What a unique opportunity to travel this highway on my Harley. The road is curvy with hills and goes by these giant trees, truly so big they defy description. When my kids were little we took a family trip, our "west coast trip"...probably the best family vacation we ever had. Anyway, we visited the Redwood Forest on that trip, but it still blew me away to see these giants again.


Going up the 101 we passed a number of trucks hauling cut trees as well as finished wood right from the mills. It was mostly redwood, but there was also an assortment of other woods. The smells of Pine, Redwood and Eucalyptus trees as well as fresh cut grass were all along our route. The main sensation I felt was...Cold. I can't describe sufficiently the majesty of the "Avenue of the Giants" through the Redwood Forest. It was also interesting to see these wood mills scattered along the route, they had huge piles of cut trees and they had sprinklers set up watering the piles of whole trees. I'm not sure why they do that...so if anyone knows please enlighten us.

The beauty continued as the highway turned toward the coast. We crossed the Rainbow Ridge and drove along the Northern California coast. It was very overcast and cold, but the rugged beauty of this part of the country can't be masked by fog or clouds. The road followed the outline of the coast and went through several small seaside villages and towns. I'm not sure if the weather is like this year round, but what a magnificent place to live.


When we got on highway 199 we started driving along a beautiful river that wound through the mountains. The name of the river is the Smith River and apparently it was named the cleanest river in America. I'd believe it after seeing how clear the water was. The gorge next to the road was very deep and there were rapids all along our route. You could clearly hear the water from the road.


We crossed into Oregon, my 42nd state. The terrain continued to be beautiful, with rolling hills covered with trees, although once we connected with Interstate 5 it became less interesting. There was a major accident on 5 and the interstate was closed about 5 miles from our exit. We "bypassed" the line and got to the exit rather quickly. Tim was extremely creative and we found a side street that got us around the traffic with virtually no delay. Which was great because we were meeting a friend, Lindsay, for dinner in Salem. It was really great to see Lindsay and to meet Blake, the "special man" in her life. I'm just sorry that the pace of this trip has not allowed me to spend sufficient quality time with so many friends across the country.


Number 42


Today was my last day with riding partners. I really enjoyed riding with our friends from England, Robert and DeeDee and Tim and Nikki...and Kristen. The companionship and support was just what I needed right now and having someone to share the road with on a trip of this length has really helped. I said good bye to Tim and Nikki tonight and will head out on my own tomorrow for the final leg of my journey. I expect to finish the trip in the next 4 or 5 days, so keep checking the blog for a countdown to number 50! Blessings and good night.