Saturday, May 19, 2001, 7:00 a.m. - Mile 5182.6 - Coos Bay, OR
The motel has the most pathetic "continental breakfast" I've seen on this trip. Basically they set out a few danish rolls, some bagels and some coffee and that's it. We don't drink coffe, so we take a few rolls, eat quickly and hit the road.There is a light morning fog, which is quite typical all along the Pacific coast in the morning.
8:05 a.m. - Mile 5235.5 - Battle Rock, OR
9:20 a.m. - Mile 5294.6 - Brookings, OR
The town of Brookings is advertising an Azalea Festival and has U.S. flags along the street for quite a ways. It looks kind of nice to see all of those flags and we wonder if that is a regular part of the town, since an Azalea Festival doesn't seem like a special enough occasion to get out the flags.
9:30 a.m. - Mile 5299.7 - Back in California
We stop at the California border so that I can get a nice picture of the "Welcome to California" sign and a more decent looking one for Oregon going the other direction. At least they've paved a turnoff area here for people like me who want to stop at the state border. Some states don't do that.
9:50 a.m. - Mile 5318.8 - Crescent City, CA
We stop in Crescent City for gas and my wife gets on my case for waiting until the really expensive gas to fill up. I guess something bothered me about having someone else fill my car up, but it cost me a couple of dollars extra to do it myself.I check the oil, which has been right at the full mark for most of the trip, and find that I'm about 2/3 of a quart low. I buy some oil and top it off. Maybe it uses more oil at sea level.
10:15 a.m. - Redwood National Park
We spend a couple of hours driving around the Redwoods. It's a little confusing, since half of the area is a state park and half is a national park. It's nice driving through those big trees in a convertible, but you still need to go for a walk in the forest to get the maximum effect of these very large trees. We drive on one dirt road to see an area we've never been to before. After all, the car is plenty dirty already, so what does a little more matter.
Words would just detract from the pictures of these giant trees, so enjoy them in silence. It's also hard to get the feeling of how large they are with a two inch picture, so these are a little bit larger.
12:45 p.m. - Mile 5380.3 - Leaving Redwood National Park
We head south a very short distance before I'm convinced to stop at a Redwood Shop to look for souvenirs. I had already received an earful about not getting any souvenirs in Oregon.
1:15 p.m. - Mile 5424.3 - Eureka, CA
We stop for lunch in Eureka. On the way out I spot a High School fundraiser car wash and on a whim decide to get that layer of grime off of my car. I've subjected this car to all kinds of abuse on this trip: dirt roads, gravel roads, sand, fresh tar, and rain. Why not a car wash run by a bunch of high school students. At least the car appears to be a beautiful bright red again instead of the dull red it was before.
Mile 5496.3 - The last of 101
It's hot once again and I finally turn the air conditioner back on.4:25 p.m. - Mile 5517.7 - Highway 1
We're finally back on Highway 1 again. It's very twisty for more than 20 miles before it finally straightens out again near the ocean and the speed limit becomes 55 mph.
5:55 p.m. - Mendocino, CA
I see another S2000 as we're leaving town. This is a white one with the top down that follows us for a mile or two until we get to where they were headed. This makes a total of two other S2000's I've seen on this trip. At least this guy waved back when I waved at him.Highway 1 seems to go on and on and it seems to take a long time to make progress on the map. There is a great variety to the road, from tight twisty up and down sections to fairly straight sections in between. This would all be great, except that I'm tired and really want to make it home tonight.
6:52 p.m. - Mile 5622.7 - Gas stop
I didn't even note the town where we got gas, but it was the most expensive of the trip. We pick up some snacks and that will have to pass for dinner this time. We really don't want to stop.8:15 p.m. - Bodega Bay, CA
We want to get a picture of the sunset, but the good view areas go by when there is about half an hour left before sunset. We pass through Bodega Bay and finally find a place where we can sort of get a picture of the setting sun. We realize that we're still quite a ways from home and it's getting dark.
9:50 p.m. - Mile 5733.7 - Highway 101
After a seemingly endless number of tight curves, we finally come out of the mountain onto Highway 101. I wanted to take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge with San Francisco in the background, but there is so much fog that we can barely tell when we're even on the bridge. We know we're on it when we get to those lane markers that they move back and forth to adjust how many lanes go each way.I originally wanted to finish this trip in Half Moon Bay, but decide to take the Bay Bridge straight home instead. It takes long enough to get through San Francisco on a Saturday night, that we think it really might have been faster to go on down to Half Moon Bay than to drive throught the city. Once we're on the Bay Bridge, it's freeway all the way home.
Going through Oakland, a pickup truck hauling furniture almost runs into me as he tries to make a lane change. I try to stay away from any other traffic just to make it home safely.
11:10 p.m. - Mile 5782.3 - Pleasanton, CA
We finally make it home and it's still Saturday. This has been the longest day of all and I'm tired. In fact, I have no desire to even drive the S2000 again for a few days. I think I've had enough for a while.
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Page last updated July 9, 2001
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