Nov 6, 2012 - Smoooooooooooth!

We put 188 miles on our rolling home today and the ride was smooooooooooth. I had Firestone air bags installed on the rear suspension of our truck last Thursday...what a huge improvement in ride! Hwy 101 is still somewhat rough despite a lot of summer resurfacing efforts, but the new air support made the ride very comfortable. After far too many construction zones along the highway, we arrived at Riverwalk RV Park in Fortuna, California at about 3PM. The later arrival was also due in part to a rather late start in Port Orford this morning....

Jun 21, 2012 - Victorian Age

Fortuna, CA. Ferndale, California, elevation 50', has a population of about 1388 people, living within one square mile of the city limits. Sometimes referred to as "cream city," it is known for well-preserved Victorian store-fronts on Main Street and for homes throughout the community, which are also known as "Butterfat Palaces" due to their construction during a time in the 1880s when considerable wealth was generated in the dairy industry. The entire town is an historical landmark. We loved it. We walked the entire street, poked in many...

Jun 20, 2012 - Avenue of the Giants

Fortuna, CA. The Avenue of the Giants is a 31-mile long drive through giant coastal redwood trees. Redwoods are often mistaken for Sequoia’s. Sequoia trees can be as much as 3,200 years old and grow to a height of 250’. Coastal redwoods can live to be 2,000 years old but most live between 500 and 1100 years. They are much taller, however, than are Sequoias and reach heights of 360’. We saw quite a few today in the 340’ to 350’ range. It was pretty neat to drive through the heavily forested, winding, narrow roads. We made a number of stops...

Jun 19, 2012 - Whale of a tale

Fortuna, CA. Every time we have had car trouble, we have been very fortunate. This time when we tried to start the car, we heard only clicks. A call to AAA soon got us a new battery and we were on our way. First we stopped at 3 thrift stores in Fort Bragg and then headed to MacKerricher State Park. At the park we got up close and personal with the skeleton of a gray whale. The gray whales come past here during migration and can be seen easily from the shore. Unfortunately it is not migration season so we had to be happy seeing 16 harbor...

May 22, 2012 - John Earns His Stripes

As if he wasn't before, John is now officially a Master RV Driver. He has officially earned whatever stripes you can earn for driving a big rig over Highway 1 on the coast of California. We left Fort Bragg this morning under foggy, drizzly skies and headed north on Highway 1. We did not want to return over Highway 20 to Willets and then go north. John said he was up to tackling what has to be one of the most stressful roads to drive. And what's more, he really enjoyed himself. He said many times that he really enjoyed the drive, especially...

Apr 24, 2012 - Didn't Travel Far Yesterday

Fortuna, CA. 57 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind. Forecast = Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain. Fog early. High of 64F. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%. We didn't have far to go yesterday morning, so I was kind of surprised when we left the CG in Garberville as early as we did. In fact, it was only 10:10 when we pulled out of the park, just 10 minutes after our usual departure time. Once back on US 101 and heading North, I saw some of those huge Redwood trees that CLT had talked about. In fact, just North of the CG,...

Jun 19, 2011 - End of 2010-2011 Trip

Well, here we are again, back in not so sunny Fortuna, CA. Arrived here yesterday and after a few hours of sunny but cool weather the overcast and drizzle returned. I've attached a map of our trip with a summary of time, miles and states visited. We'll be here at least a couple of weeks for doctor, dentist, optometrist and audiologist visits. We hope to be on the road again in a couple of weeks, this time taking the northern route back to the northeast and east coast. In the near future I will be adding pictures of the later stages of our...

May 15, 2011 - Fortuna, CA

May 13 – 14, 2011 Riverwalk RV Park, Fortuna CA We visited Scotia, one of the last existing company towns in the US. In 2007 the city of Scotia faced an uncertain future when Pacific Lumber Company declared bankruptcy. Fortunately Humbolt Redwood Company is the new owner, preserving jobs, the city and its 270 picket-fenced cottages and well-kept yards. Scotia’s population hasn’t changed much in 82 years, 1000 in 1929 and 1117 today! Be sure to step back in time and visit if you have the chance. . Another time portal is Humbolt Redwoods...

May 12, 2011 - Fortuna, CA

May 12 – 13, 2011 Riverwalk RV Park, Fortuna, CA Fortuna, located in the lush Eel Valley, is bordered by the Pacific and redwood forests; residents chose Fortuna to show how fortunate they felt. The RV park is across the street from Fortuna’s Riverwalk, a 2 mile path along the Eel River. Ferndale’s restored Victorian four block long commercial district on Main Street is as cute as heck and it takes no time at all to walk from one end to the other. This quaint town was featured in the films Outbreak and The Majestic – it’s a glimpse back in...

May 4, 2011 - Along the Avenue of the Giants

Today we went down to the Humbolt Redwood Forest and drove down the Avenue of the Giants through several redwood groves. At our first stop we walked a short loop trail to a Triple Tree with three trunks reaching up to the sky. The redwoods are truly giants. The largest tree in this forest was estimated to be 370ft. tall before it was felled by another tree. Next we stopped at Founder's Grove. This time we took a half mile loop walk. We saw Founder's Tree which is 346 ft. tall and 31 ft. in diameter. Next we saw a tree that had been badly...

May 3, 2011 - Visiting Eureka

Today we were having work done on the RV but they could not be there until afternoon so we decided to go into Eureka and see the town. Eureka was and is a lumber port but there is also fishing. We went to the historic downtown area and took some pictures of some of the buildings. We were headed to the Samoa Cookhouse for breakfast but when we called they said they had a power outage and would not be open until 11:00am. So we drove over to see if they were open and found they were still working. We drove back to Eureka stopping at the...

May 2, 2011 - Up to Fortuna

Beginning Mileage 114450 Ending Mileage 114710 Riverwalk RV Park 2189 Riverwalk Dr. Fortuna, CA 95540 707-725-3359 10/10/9 $34/nt We headed out of Vallejo on Hwy 37 then got onto Hwy 101 for the rest of the trip. We had no problems though there were some 6-7% grades and some tight curves. We met up with a couple from Oregon when we attempted to stop for lunch (the restaurant was closed). They said we would be better off going straight up Hwy 101 to north of Coos Bay then taking Hwy 18 or 126 across to I-5 into Portland so that is what we...