MONDAY 15th AUGUST 2016 - FINALLY, THE WEST COAST

We rode south along the Oregon coast road and only saw the odd sand-dune initially.  The area is well known for dune-buggying. We rode over some fantastic, historic bridges such as the North Bend Bridge.

It wasn't until we got to Port Orford that we saw the North Pacific Coast for the first time.  It was a proud moment for us, but more than that, we were proud of Ellie.  YAHOO, we've achieved our goal of coast to coast.

We sat and enjoyed the coastal view for quite a while and reminisced about our cross-country ride.  And what a ride it's been.  We could see the little fishing port from the look-off so we went down to explore.
There was a rustic fish'n'chip shop and had it been a little later in the day we would of eaten here.  The fishing boats were up on blocks and the surrounding coastline was quite rugged.  We of course went down to the beach to dip our hands in the ocean.

 

We continued south and followed the coast most of the way to the Californian border.

We stopped at Brookings for lunch and found a quiet little area by the yacht club.  We ate at 'The Hungry Clam' which had been recommended to us by a local, but it turned out to be very, very average. But that was more than made up for by a specialist coffee house which served an excellent hot drink.
As we got on our bike to leave we were awestruck by an old car driving in to the carpark.  It is a 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country Wagon (whew, what a mouthful).  WOW.  It was fantastic.   We immediately came to a halt and chatted with the long, white, whiskered owner and his equally white dog Jeff.  The car was in 100% original condition.

Before we left another fellow on a 1980 Honda 400 breezed in and introduced himself as Walt. We thought he'd had far too many coffee's as he was bouncing of the air around him!  He was also keen on the old car but more so, seeing Ellie.  He offered to lead us to the Californian border the scenic way.  We accepted.  Once at the border he announced he was a minister.  We nearly fell off the bike in surprise!   He said a prayer on our behalf wishing us a safe journey (which we gratefully accepted) and then he was on his way.

We were thrilled to finally be in California, our last State.  We rode through Crescent City (despite it's name it was a lovely and smallish town).   Our next destination was Klamath to visit the Redwood Tree that you can drive through.   Mission accomplished.

We detoured off the main highway and took the Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway route through the redwood forests.  They are magnificent.  We commented dozens of times during the ride at how beautiful the trees were.

 

We rode through Prairie Creek Redwood State Park and stopped to see The Big Tree.  It was a lovely walk through the forest.  The Big Tree has some impressive stats.  It's height is 92m (304 feet), the diameter 6.6m (21.6 feet), the circumference is 20.9 meters (68 feet) and the estimated age is 1,500 years old.

Further south as we came across an open field area we spotted some wild Elk.  We pulled over and watched them for some time.  What was especially nice was seeing the little pointed ears sticking out of the grass, they were the babies.

We continued our way south and watched the sun setting over the ocean.  It was rather stunning.

Our destination for the night was Eureka but when we got there we discovered the whole town was booked out due to College Orientation Week.  We were freezing cold but had no choice but to continue on to Fortuna where we were lucky enough to score a tent site.  We set up camp then walked to the nearby shop, The Funky Monkey, which was about to close.  We ordered a pizza, they gave us hot drinks for free (we must of looked cold) and then it was back to camp to eat.  Once we had something warm in our bellies we too warmed up and slept soundly, grateful we were able to put our heads down after a long day.