Got up early this morning and had breakfast provided by the Humboldt House. Not a bad breakfast. Right after we ate, we packed and took off for the Avenue of the Giants - Rt 274. 33 miles through an area where about 80% of the giant Coastal Redwoods grow. Huge unbelieveable trees. Calling them trees actually doesn't do them justice. There is truly something majestic and spiritual embodied in those Living Things. You can drive for a bit in a relative clearing and suddenly you realize you're completed surrounded by these giants. We took a short side trip off the Avenue and headed into the Rockerfeller Forest. Met a couple from NC while visiting the Giant Tree - 42 foot circumference, 368 feet high! Taller than a football field is long, and then some! We walked around and took some pictures. Hopefully I'll post some to this site after we get home. Very cool place.
We left a little after noon and took CA 36 East. 132 miles to Red Bluff where we would pick up RT 5 and head north another 2 1/2 hours to Klamath Falls OR. The ride on 36 was ... well difficult to appreciate. The road goes east through the mountains. Lots of hairpin turns and switchbacks. At one point, we were stopped for roadwork. On a mountain road, long narrow and windy, the work crew stopped us and we waited a long time (maybe 15-20 minutes) before we saw the cars coming from the other side. We waited so long, cars starting to backup, I swear I saw vultures circling overhead. Finially cars came from the other side and then we followed a car through to the other side with a sign on it that said something like "Follow me". The worse part of the 3+ hour ride on 36 was that there are no services! No gas stations, no restaurants, no homes, no restrooms... no nothing! We took turns peeing by the car. Thank goodness (more for Janice than for me) the traffic was light.
There was one town, can't remember the name, but the sign said POP 20! And I swear, not 10 yards further past the POP sign, was a sign for the Volunteer Fire department. Probably Andy, Opie and Barney make up the Volunteer Fire Department.
We finally hit RT 5 and found an Indian restaurant off one of the exits. Thank you Trip Advisor. On the almost 2 hour trip up RT 5 To Klamath Falls, we passed Mt Shasta. It stood out majestically... the only visible mountain with snow on it. See picture on yesterday's post.
Found our hotel, the Cimmaron Inn and checked in. Not as nice as last night's place, but we're just sleeping here. They provide breakfast in the morning, then we'll be off for Crater Lake. About 2 hours to get there, spend a few hours there, then a couple more hours on to Eugene. Hope to connect with Patrice there (see Saturday's post). She'll be there on a business trip.
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