April 30/Eurika

Left the campsite heading for the Avenue of the Giants. They are not kidding! it is another winding , twisty  secondary road  but those Redwoods are breath taking. Tall and majestic. One thing about the Americans... they knew a good thing and were smart enough to preserve it.  We travelled about 60 miles of these awesome giants following the Eel River. Now, there were some kitchy, touristy displays. Such as the 1 log house, the tree house, another drive through tree, and the miracle tree (it's survived, fire, flood and logging). It took about 2 hours of very scenic viewing.
The only thing that is bothering me is that we have gone from shorts and sandals to jeans and jackets. Not too sure I'm liken this! The sun is still shining but the wind is still blowing. Can't seem to get away from it.
Our friend, Flo, from the Kingman KOA had recommended diferent sights around this area. One of the many suggestions was to have a meal at the Samoa Cookhouse. We did just that tonight for supper. We were not disappointed! It is a surviving logging camp cookhouse that is now a restaurant. They serve everything family style at long tables. There is no menu. You get what ever they are serving. Tonight it was homemade soup, salad, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, roast pork and gravy, corn and spice cake.
They rolled us out of there and we are now laying out here at the KOA just north of Eurika moaning and groaning.
It looks like we are heading for Oregon tomorrow. Can't believe we've been on the road for a month!

April 29th

Highway 1 is everything they promised. Windy, twisty, scenic up and down. I think of you, Nancy, and Cheryl! Wow! They can sure make hairpin corners down here! But the scenery.... bluffs overlooking the Pacific with small villages. Still can't figure out where the people are  or where they shop.
Did stop in a couple of spots to get some shots of the ocean and even saw a mother seal with 2 pups.
Then we turned inland to Highway 101. Still windy but huge redwoods. We even saw for ourselves the tree that you can drive through!! Our truck wouldn't fit but we saw cars that went through. It doesn't look that big until you see it for yourself!
Stayed in a campsite along the Eel River. Nice sites but the bathrooms were a little sketchy!

April 28/Highway 1

Said good-bye to the peacocks and goats ready to see the Pacific Ocean. It started with great promise. Saw what we thought would be the first picturesque ocean village complete with the seaside restaurant. Little did we know that would be  our last! It is a very scenic drive with lots of coastal cliffs and great twists and turns on the 2 lane road. We did have to go through some road work where they were fixing the road. Not sure if that was were it had gone into the ocean or were making sure it doesn't. The winds don't want to leave us! Very gusty! There are small villages that we went through but it looks like fine dining and wine tasting not to mention the inns with spas seem to be only places to eat. Not a fish and chip stand in view! It isn't what we thought it was going to be.
We have camped out at a small, crowded campground on a little bay called Caspar Cove.

April 27/San Franscico

It felt great  spending a day just camping out. The two previous days were long and grueling with lots of miles covered. We did see lots of country though! The only beef about the campground was that they didn't have their pool open yet!! What the....! I had to lay out in my chair but that was okay.... got some quilting done and worked on my tan at the same time.
Met a nice couple that had been from the Toronto area originally but had lived in MapleRidge for a while and still use it as their mailing address. But they are really full time RVers. They go from campground to campground working. They gave us some tips on Highway 1, such as the best place to pick it up to get to the coast and how to get trhough San Franscico.
Well we made it through San Franscico and over the Golden Gate!!! It was the Billy Bob Economy Tour (no stopping, pictures taken from moving vechicle). We did stop long enough for a pee break (thank goodness for that) and get our picture taken with the bridge in the background. Was surprised at how cool it was. Still accustomed to that desert weather.
This KOA is the nicest we've stayed in so far! Also, the most expensive! They even have us wearing wrist bands. Rob figures they only do it to us old people so if we wander off they know where to return us! It does have lots of green grass and big trees. I guess we didn't realize how starved for greenery we were after being out in the desert for so long (almost 2 weeks).
Guess what Sofia? There are peacocks here! I feel like we are camping out in Beacon Hill Park! They have a petting zoo with lot s of animals and the peacocks roam free. Daisy isn't sure of what to make of them! There is even a playground almost the same. This is a great spot for families.
So we're off to the Pacific Ocean and the state parks. They are forcasting sunny (I don't think they have any othe kind of weather) but with wind gusts (what else is new). but the temperatures are supposed to rise to the mid 80's by the middle of next week. It get quite cool at night!

April 25/ Sequioa National Park

Left Visalia around 10:00 am to see the giant Sequoias. We went from the lush orchards and started climbing. The start elevation was under 1,000 ft and by the time we hit the sumit it was around 7,000 ft.! And lots of snow... don't know what we were thinking... we should know there would be snow in the mountains in April!! Rob had socks and underwear flying to dig out his longjohns! But I had hidden them well. The twists and turns to get to the top (not to mention the construction) had Daisy looking at the back of the seat! We were literally up in the clouds! And the trees!!!! They are astounding! What those loggers must have thought! There's one sequoia that took 2 men 13 days to cut down. Imagine that! So what goes up must come down. So down we came and started looking for a campsite... how hard can that be? Where are they when you want one? So we drove and we drove and we drove! We finally hit one at Los Banos, just off of Highway 5 at about 8:00 pm. Boy were we glad... that was too long of a day! So tomorrow, if the wind dies down we are going to plant ourselves here for an extra day just to unwind.

April 24/Visalia

What a long day! Rob and I were tired of the desert and the wind so we went over the mountains to see what we could see... and saw an amazing change in the geography. From barren desolate desert to huge orchards of oranges and olives. The sweet aroma from the organge groves is devine. To me it almost smelled like clover but Rob described it as almost like wintergreen. There are little fruit stands along the way selling everything from oranges, tangerines to olives and almonds and honey. We stopped at one and picked up a huge bag of navel oranges and some jars of olives. The oranges are as big as grapefruits and so succulent  you have to have a napkin to catch the juice.
But it was a long trip... we didn't reach the campground until almost 7:00 pm. Too Long a day!

April 23/ Barstow California

We had quite a chat with one of the residents of the campsite. Flo was her name and she seems like quite the character. She originally came from northern California and was a fountain of information on the area. She even gave us maps that she had and told us of the interesting places to visit. Sounds interesting!
So we put the camper back on the truck, packed up again and headed west. It really was gusty and dusty. Can see why no one lives out there. Very barren and arid with mountains off in the distance. At one point we thought there had been a huge grass fire but apparently it is cooled volcanic lava from about 20,000 years ago. Not even much cacti or even scrub bushes.
California's rest stops leave alot  to be desired! There was only 1 open in all the miles we travelled. I guess because they are so out in the middle of nowhere that they are hard to keep an eye on. The only one that was open had the doors taken off all the stalls except one and the hand driers were all broken.
When we finally made it it to Barstow the wind and dust was awful. We had to sit behind our camper and finally with the plastic bags and garbage flying around we retreated to the inside.
Supper was fun though! We went to a 50's diner called Peggy Sue's. The place looked like something out of the 50's with the waitresses dressed in costume of the old uniforms, right down to the caps on their heads! Quite the place... filled with memorabilia of  Elvis, Betty Boop, Lucy and even the Wizard of Oz. It sure was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside.