We left Clearlake behind us and headed towards Sacramento. It's been over three years since we've actually had to be in an urban setting, so we are a little apprehensive. But we arrived yesterday and it's time to put the retirement setting aside and get down to business. We are here for a wedding and have to stay put for a month, at least....ugh! Fortunately we were able to secure one of the best sites in the park so that's a huge plus....my posts will be sparse for the next few weeks as I'll be fairly busy. Got fitted for a tux today...boy are they expensive to rent!....I'll post whenever possible and for sure when we hit the road again. We are not sure where we will be going yet, but it looks like we will head east toward Reno and Salt Lake City. We've talked about Albuquerque for the balloon festival but it's pretty expensive so we may simply head south towards Zion, Las Vegas and Lake Powell.....

Here's a picture out our front window from our site in ClearLake. We really enjoyed our stay at this park despite the condition of the lake. It was relaxing and gave us a chance to catch up on some things like reading, laundry and washing the coach....

Many of you have heard of the massive fire that burned along Hwy 20 in this area a few weeks ago. These pictures were taken just a few miles east of the Hwy 20, Hwy 53 interchange.

As you can see, the devastation was pretty complete. There was no sign of greenery or life anywhere along this long stretch of highway. It was pretty sad to see the destruction. A couple of bright spots were the two farm houses we saw still standing, untouched, in the middle of all this. The fire department must have worked their magic for those two families. Kudos to the hard workers who fight these infernos.

We arrived at our destination safe and sound. Since all sites are first come, first serve, you never know what kind of site you'll end up with. Sometimes, we will take one site for a few days, then move to a nicer site if one opens up but usually we pick the best one left and simply stay put....

That said, you can see by the pictures here and below, we lucked out to a pretty nice site. Lots of grass on both sides of the coach. We were promised the lawns would be mowed tomorrow in preparation for the Labor Day weekend.

This side of the coach shows how much room we had. Nice playground for Jasmine.

We had the kids over for a BBQ. My daughter brought along her boyfriend and their two dogs to play with Jasmine. Josh came with his mom and her boyfriend. After burgers and trimmings it was time for them to burn off some energy.

We finished off our site by putting up the "skeeter" and bug screen so the table would be safe from critters. There is so much to do with so little time. We will see how it goes for the next few weeks.....

We are now in Clearlake, California and the lake is anything but clear. Actually, we are in Nice, California on the north shore of Clearlake. Since the lake looks like it's polluted, I did some research to determine what, if anything, the State of California plans to do to clean it up. There are many small towns scattered all around the lake. All of these small towns have businesses that depend on the lake to survive. There are no other landmarks around that these places can fall back on. Well, it turns out the lake is anything but polluted. With the onset of warm weather, especially the really hot temperatures in this area the past month or so, the blue green algae has bloomed out of control. This algae rises to the surface and creates oxygen during the day. It then sinks to the bottom and consumes oxygen at night. Some of these blooms die off during the day, and it's these blooms that give the impression of pollution. The lake and fish depend on the algae for food. It is this same algae that keeps the lake healthy. In the past two days we have seen a marked increase in the clarity of the water along the shore. Our host says within a week or so, the water will once again be clear. Regardless, the lake was very pretty, the sun shone every day and the nights were very comfortable in shorts and T shirts....

We decided to fill up with fuel before heading to the campground as the casino fuel stop had diesel for $4.15/gal. cheapest we had seen. Anyone who travels, knows cell phone service can be a challenge at times. I have Verizon service and Debi has AT&T. Her service has been non-existent the past two weeks, so she passed the time waiting for the pump to finish, catching up on her texts and emails while I walked Jasmine and of course, snapped her picture. She looks small next to the coach!

We checked in and set up our site. We have a view of the lake out the front window. Watching the water and the boats is very relaxing.











This is the view out the front of the coach. We drove around the lake yesterday and checked out some of the other "resorts"....we are glad we chose this particular campground.

 We saw this guy fishing in one of the coves. You will have to enlarge this picture to get the full impact. That is an inflatable wader type boat that he moves with swim fins. What makes it interesting enough for a picture is all the fishing poles he carried with him. The fan like structure is all fishing poles...about 12 in all. I never carried that many on my boat..!!

This is one of the "locals". He would come down to the shore every evening. I tried to get close for a good picture but he would always fly away. He did not like Jasmine and let her know by screaming loudly as he flew away.

This is looking across the lake from our campsite at Mount Konocti, a long ago volcano.

Clearlake holds two distinctions: It's the largest natural fresh water lake in California, and has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake entirely in California. It is 19 miles long and 8 miles wide. While not proven, it is also believed to be the oldest lake in California. at nearly 500,000 years.




Here is another picture across from our site. The pilings are from a defunct marina that used to occupy what is now the campground. The launch ramps still remain. Fishing is one of the main recreational activities around Clearlake, which is also know as the "Bass Capital of the West". Many bass tournaments are held here each year as well as many fishing television shows.

The above picture is of train cabooses converted to a bed and breakfast. It is adjacent to our campground and was very interesting. For $190/night, one can stay in an authentic Southern Pacific caboose. The owner bought these from SP in Sacramento when the caboose became a thing of the past. He brought them here on his property and converted each one with a "theme". There is a Bogart suite, a Harley suite and many other interesting themes. Each caboose comes complete with a bedroom, a bath and a two person jacuzzi tub. The property also features a swimming pool. The grounds are impeccably clean as are all the facilities. What a unique idea!

Today was one of those days you're just happy to be alive ! Warm, sunny, slight breeze and the smell of Redwoods in the air. We left early this morning to head over to the coast and see the small hamlet of Shelter Cove. When the planners in California envisioned travel from the south to the north, they thought Hwy 1 would run right along the coast all the way to Oregon. Well, just north of Leggett they found they had a problem. The coast was so remote and challenging they ended up discarding the idea of continuing Hwy 1 and instead settled on Hwy 101. Shelter Cove sits north of the terminus of Hwy 1 and is accessible by way of a narrow, winding, up and down road. It starts just outside Garberville and heads westward through Redway and over to the coast. It is home to Black Sand Beach, the relocated Cape Mendocino Lighthouse and it's own airport. Although the road was challenging at times, the views were spectacular. It was an awesome day...!

The King Range starts just outside Redway, and is one of the most rugged and remote areas of the California coast.

The road begins in the Redwood forest and winds, twists and turns up and over the King Range mountains and descends downward into Shelter Cove.

As the road climbs over the pass, you're greeted with spectacular scenery. They get snow here in the winter...

Once you crest the mountain range, the road descends towards the Pacific Ocean. This picture was taken just as we began our descent.









As you arrive near the bottom of the mountain, Shelter Cove comes into view. Here you can see the Cape Mendocino Lighthouse in the middle of the picture. There is a campground across the street from the lighthouse, but it is geared towards smaller rigs as ours would not meet the criteria for the road into this area as we are 65' long with the car in tow.

This is part of Shelter Cove itself. This part of the Cove was rocky and filled with seals, seal pups and sea lions. With it being low tide, the tide pools here were abundant with sea life.

Here is the Cape Mendocino lighthouse. Originally on a hill, almost 35 miles north of Shelter Cove, it was in danger of being destroyed after it was decommissioned. Left to Mother Nature after being abandoned, high surf, earthquakes and brutal storms threatened to pull the lighthouse into the sea. Through efforts of "Save the Lighthouses" group, it was decided to try to move the lighthouse to Shelter Cove. The GSA offered the lighthouse free, to anyone who would move it from it's location on the coast.

Moving the lighthouse was no easy task. With the help of a National Guard helicopter, the top was removed and transported to Shelter Cove. Every portion of the remaining structure was then marked, categorized, disassembled and transported to Shelter Cove. The entire assembly was then repainted and reassembled on site. Here we are looking out one of the portholes inside the tower portion of the lighthouse.

At the north end of Shelter Cove lies Black Sand Beach. It is named after the black sand and smooth rocks that makes up the beach. The sand is coarser than regular sand and serves as a polisher for the many rocks and stones on the beach. Of the top 10 Black Sand beaches in the world, 7 are in Hawaii. This beach ranks number 5 for it's remoteness and beauty.

We were alone on this wonderful beach. We found many interesting stones, what appears to be a tusk and some interesting shells here. After several hours, we decided it was time to head back home. Jasmine enjoyed the surf although it was much greater than any we experienced in Oregon or Washington. The offshore reefs here produce consistent waves with winter waves much larger than those in the summer.

For the ending to this day, I thought I would include a couple surf pictures. The top one shows some of the nice waves that consistently hit this beach. Perfect for surf boards, wake boards or boogie boards. The water was very warm. The bottom picture was taken further down the beach and shows many of the rocks that have been polished by the wave action and the black sand.

Wow! Here it is Wednesday already. Yesterday we went to tour the Loleta Cheese Factory and tasted a lot of the delicious cheeses they had displayed. Of course, we came home with a bag full!...Today, we decided to explore the Lost Coast which starts at Weott, Ca. and travels through places like Honeydew and Petrolia and ends up in Ferndale on the north end, just south of Eureka. Since it was going to be an all day trip, we packed a picnic lunch to enjoy at Ferndale's Fireman's Park....

What is the Lost Coast ?? The Lost Coast is a section of the California North Coast in Humboldt County, which includes the King Range. The steepness and related geotechnical challenges of the coastal mountains made this stretch of coastline too costly for state highway or county road builders to establish routes through the area, leaving it the most undeveloped portion of the California coast. Here is a picture taken off our GPS unit. As you can see, the road was not very straight....!




The road begins through a lot of old growth redwoods. It is a two lane road of sorts, that varies from somewhat smooth, to rutty, to downright annoying.... Still, it was a beautiful drive through a lot of wonderful country. We saw lots of wildlife, including deer and birds, but no bigfoot....

The trees were huge as you can see in this picture. This was basically a fairly wide single lane road. We maintained about a 25 mile per hour speed.

As we left the redwood forest, the loop road climbs to over 3000' and the redwoods give way to straw grasses, scrub oak and some sycamore trees.

Here is a view of the Eel River as we dropped down into the town of Honeydew, Ca. Pop. 300. Next up was the Punta Gorda Lighthouse just outside the City of Petrolia. However, we discovered the "path" to the lighthouse was 3.5 miles over sandy hills to reach it. Since it's abandoned, we decided to skip it.

True to form, there are several single lane bridges along this deserted strip of road in the boondocks. The bridge seemed a bit shaky when we passed over it. Glad I didn't have the motor home..!!

 We saw many old barns, many of which were abandoned but several that were not. This one appeared to be a recent abandonment due to the newer farm  gate along the south side. I wanted to stop and explore but Debi convinced me it might be considered trespassing, so we photographed it and moved on.

As you can see, the huge redwood trees are gone and straw grass is the order here. We did see some livestock grazing in these fields. Very remote and no people....

About halfway through the loop, you round a bend and are greeted with the cooling breezes and aroma of the Pacific Ocean. We thought about taking a plunge and perhaps having our picnic there instead of Ferndale.....

However, the area all the way to the high tide line obviously was privately owned, as evidenced by this herd of cattle grazing along the beach. Sort of spoiled the romantic idea of a picnic....

We did venture onto the beach a little further down from the cows. The beach was quiet and unspoiled. Not too many shells, but lots of agates and beautiful rocks polished beautifully by Mother Nature. Although it was upwind of the cows, there was a lot of wind, so we passed on the lunch until Ferndale.

 Here is a photo, taken after we left the beach area and began the climb back over the mountain towards Ferndale. You can see the road behind us that looks like a runway in the picture. The large rock outcropping you see in the middle was the original location of the Cape Mendocino Lighthouse which is now located in Shelter Cove, about 35 miles south of here.

We arrived in Ferndale with it's beautiful ornate Victorian houses. Of interest, was the Ferndale Historic Cemetery, seen here from the top. This cemetery was established in 1868 and is still in use to this day. Because of the lateness in the day, the sun has washed out the view of the ocean in the distance.

After having our picnic at the Fireman's Park in Ferndale, we looked at many of the Victorian homes and churches its noted for. Many are now bed and breakfast ventures, but amazing to look at anyway.

We finished the day with a quick trip into Eureka to see the Table Bluff Lighthouse near the Marina. This is all that's left of this historical building as the Victorian duplex that housed the caretakers, the oil room and all the attached building were destroyed to prevent vandalism. The original lens was shipped and in use at the Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego.

This home was built by William Carson, a lumber tycoon from the 1800s. Mr. Carson was the first to ship Redwood to San Francisco in 1855 and became rich and famous. He had this home built in 1885 at a cost of over $80,000. It was abandoned by Mr. Carson's heirs in the late 1940s and is now a men's club. If you have the time, this is an interesting read...
http://www.ingomar.org/index.html





Another Queen Anne Victorian across the street from the William Carson house. Aptly named the "Pink Lady" this home was built by Mr. Carson and given to his son as a wedding present. It has been preserved and houses a number of business interests...

That's it for today...another wonderful and interesting experience....if tomorrow presents itself as nice as today, we are going to tackle the road to Shelter Cove. If we make it, I promise some interesting pictures tomorrow night....

Today was a cruise down the Avenue of the Giants....Giant Sequoia Redwood Trees along the California Northern coast. Some of these giants are over 300' tall and are over 1500 years old !...We walked through some of them, drove through one of them, drove on one of them and sat in several of them. We also spent some time exploring some roads less traveled. It was a fun day!

This was where we started...North end of the Avenue of the Giants... a 31 mile scenic drive...











Just how big are these "giants"..? This one measured 383' tall, 49.5' in diameter and weighed in at over 100,000 lbs. Don't ask me how they weigh them...










One of my favorites...notice how the bark spirals upward on this tree!...This one is 353' tall and it's branches start 200' up from the base....

Debi got to sit in one.....










She got to stand in one...

No, she's not trying to hold it up..!!
But, you can certainly see how large it is....

She got to drive on one.....

But... I got to drive THROUGH one....!!

Some of the lush vegetation that grows under the giant trees, providing habitat, food and shelter for a number of small animals and insects.









 Another picture among the Redwoods...










As I mentioned earlier, we like to explore off the beaten path a bit. We found this road and followed it for about 15 miles until it turned to gravel. From there we continued a few miles more and found this bridge across the Eel River.

Once we crossed the river, the road abruptly ended and we were simply in the river bed. About 150' further, the road began again, but we decided we had gone far enough and turned back. I should have bought a Jeep....:-)

While exploring portions of the Eel River along the road above, we stopped at various points to view the river. The water was warm, about 75 degrees....









Here is a picture from a viewpoint looking down towards the Eel River. The bridge seen in the top picture is at the middle left, but it's too far away to be seen clearly.

The river was calm and the water was warm. Perfect for floating downstream for miles in a raft, a floatie, or whatever you like. The sun was shining and the temperature at 5 PM was 70 degrees. A perfect ending to a perfect day. Tomorrow we are off to Eureka and the Cheese Factory at Loleta...