Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Coming home, the main thing to see was the Avenue of the Giants, an area of redwoods which has some of the oldest and biggest samples of the species.

Years ago I went there with a friend, in a car, and vowed that I would ride that road on a motorcycle.

Because of the shade, I was able to withstand the horrendous heat a little better. It was foggy coming out of Eureka, but that soon burnt off as we got further south! Whew!

The big tree is the Immortal Tree, which is about a thousand years old and has survived all sorts of nonsense.

The photographs I took were disappointing. I think I had my camera set to the wrong setting, so they are all either blurred or overexposed, or both. I’ll just have to go back.

We met a bunch of Harley riders just finishing their “highway cleaning” duties (adopt-a-highway). They were cool people, and I took a group shot for them. They took one of me and D. but I’m not allowed to post it online. It’s nice, though. We don’t get many “couple” pictures.

Yesterday, we came down through parts of the wine country. The last picture is a bit of well-needed shade in Petaluma.

And that’s the end of the travelog, brief but with pretty pictures. I hope you enjoyed it. I know I did :: grin ::

While D. slept, I went on on snarfari. I looked up the National Register properties and went hunting.

I also visited the Clarke museum and found out where the other three museums were. The Clarke was full of gorgeous bright quilts.

I found a town with many fascinating old buildings, built at the mouth of the River Humboldt (I think that’s it). There were also countless weird and wonderful murals everywhere you looked. D. was so intrigued by one of them that he wandered out with me later and I showed him it.

The rest of the day was one for relaxation. I rode roughly 43 miles too far the previous day, and D. was aching too. My feet were very sore. I guess I learned a bit about what I can do and what I should do. ;-)

I had a leisurely morning with Lissyvigeen and Lios, then set off with hugs and regrets. This time, I obviously bribed the cats sufficiently, and received only a few speckles of rain. The clouds got fewer and fewer as I travelled south.

The first day, I stayed in a generic and somewhat disappointing Motel 6 just south of Eugene. I travelled on I-5 and got fed up. I deeply regretted not going just a few miles further and stopping in one of the lovely little towns along Oregon 38. This was the route that LV and Lios take on their way to the Oregon coast, and they’d recommended it to me.

What a gorgeous route! It swoops and curves and goes between grassy and tree-lined banks and through old towns and alongside a tidal river with water so clear that it reflects the sky. I had to stop for a while and chatted to the traffic controller, a man from San Jose, as I did. He told me to watch out for the elk, and I did: there is an elk viewing
area and I saw a herd, grazing quietly.

I discovered then that my camera battery was flat :: sigh :: I did squeeze out a couple of pictures, but at the first opportunity I also bought a disposable camera to at least get a few shots.

I was surprised to not be at the coast. US-101 isn’t always the coastal highway, but I did go in and out of some nifty towns and forests! Then I was suddenly right beside the Pacific, so incredibly blue and vivid that it brought tears to my eyes.

I didn’t stop as much as I would normally, as I had got into a riding groove and decided to try to make it to Eureka. I would never have made it in one day if I’d had my batteries charged. I can’t wait to go back and see that fantastic blue again.

Around the 300 mile mark my energy started to wane, and I took a break in a rest area alongside a beach. I walked a bit and rested a lot, and then I did the last 43 miles. 101 rolls into Eureka’s high street, and I settled at the Sunrise Motel.

D. showed up at 7 the next morning, having ridden all night.

2,344.6 miles!

Shortest day: 193.5 miles
Longest day: 343.5 miles

5 states visited: California (duh!), Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington. Four out of five were my first visit on a motorcycle.

State lines crossed: 7

Highest altitude reached: 7,227′ (about 2,355 m)
Lowest altitude reached: sea level

Highest temperature suffered: 106°F (about 41° C)
Lowest temperature: probably mid-fifties (about 13 ° C) in the fog crossing the Golden Gate today: brrrrr!

Days on the road: 15
Days spent riding: 10

Amount of fun and satisfaction: impossible to calculate :-)

Well, I’m back.

I don’t have the trip mileage yet: I’m about to jump into the shower and then start on the disaster which is my house (two weeks of junk mail, things that are where they don’t belong, you know the kind of thing). I have found one out of three cats. The other two probably melted. ;-)

There will be more “updates” later - I still have a lot of pictures to show you :-)

I’m in Petaluma which is roughly 90 miles north of home, so we’re well on the way back now.

We’re heading down and we’re going to go over the golden gate bridge, because we can. And…it’s a lot cooler down here - there is actually air you can breathe, which is always an advantage. I think it was about 70 degrees when we left at approximately 9.00 this morning, but we’re not exactly racing, we keep stopping.

Erm, defintiely in the Bay Area - We’re not only picking up radio out of Oakland, but, erm… the traffic is heavy and obnoxious.

But nothing we can’t deal with and haven’t dealt with a million times. So I guess that’s it, it’s almost done, and in the next few days I have to scramble and post all the pictures I didn’t post over the last few days.

So I’m done, unless Don wants to say something.

Do you want to say some-thing??

“Something”

Yeah! There we go!

Should be on the road sometime in the next hour or so. It’s already hot outside, but at least today it’s fast roads. I think we’re going to go down 101, and then cross the Richmond Bridge (or the Golden Gate), and then come home on I-880 or I-280.

Last night we watched “The Day After Tomorrow” on HBO and adventurously collapsed at about ten.

My nose is sunburnt! I’m going to look like Rudolph by the time I’m done with this. ;-)

103°F in Ukiah, California. I almost passed out in the lobby of the motel.

Home tomorrow. Hopefully it won’t take long, it’s only 154 miles.

I am not built for these kinds of temperatures.

Today is day 14…I should be home tomorrow. It’s foggy right now in Eureka, but by the time D. gets up it won’t be. The temperature is set to rise as high as 96F today. Should be ok as long as we keep moving. The idea is to see the Avenue of the Giants, then progress to about the halfway point between here and home.

I doubt we’ll be on the way much before throw-out time, which is usually 11 or 12. I’m going to get some coffee and buns now - what passes for breakfast in this motel. ;-)

Lissyvigeen knew of an historical park in nearby Tumwater. I got extra landmarks. ;-)

If anyone recognizes the birds, please let me know. I think they are a species of swift (these are juveniles).

The white house is the Crosby house, where Bing Crosby’s grandparents lived.