We stayed the night at a "normal"
RV part in Crescent City, CA. The next morning, we headed south
along U.S.101 to Arcata to see a long-time friend Mark. We stayed
a night and most of the next day and then continued down the coast.
The photos below are what we saw.
One interesting attribute of the
coastal areas is fog. It is "cool" in some ways, but it does
block visibility. And, if you are traveling at night it can
create a white-knuckle drive out of an otherwise easy road. We
encountered patches of dense fog as we left the Crescent City area and
headed south.
The road signs warned about elk,
but I have leaned to ignore the warnings. This time, the sign was
right. I have always wondered how they get teach the elk to do
what the signs say. There was a nice buck close to the
highway.
The herd was resting in the front
yard of one of the houses in the area.
The side effect of the herd was
that it caused a traffic jam of folks taking photos of the animals.
We encountered many bicyclists on
U.S.101. I fully understand the appeal of a bike road trip.
But, the concept of cars and trucks whizzing past you at 60 mph only
inches away gives me the creeps.
The highway passed coastal lagoons
that had nice reeds. We stayed with our buddy Mark at his place
in Arcata and had an awesome dinner at a local Italian bistro.
Late the next day, we motored south and then inland into the Coast
Range. We stayed at Grizzly Creek and then continued our trip to
the east toward the central valley. Passing over the Coast Range
was very slow going and the road had steep grades. Finally, we
made it to the I-5 corridor and headed south into the Sacramento area
where we stayed at a KOA. KOA usually has nice facilities, but is
always pricey. This one in West Sacramento was no exception.
From Sacramento, we headed toward
Mariposa to see our unimog friends John and Glori. We took a
winding route that took us through the communities along the foothills
of the Sierra Nevada. Outside of Sonora, we passed this
cross-country team from the local high school hoofing it along the
highway
Further south we passed this
significant mine right next to the road. The foothills area is
sometimes referred to as "Gold Rush" country due to the gold rush of
1849 when gold was discovered near Sutter's Mill. The Gold Rush
changed the west forever.
Further south we spotted this
sign. Unlike the coastal areas, the foothills are nearly always
dry and fire is an ever-present danger.
Why the burning permits were
suspended. This fire was clearly caused by a smoker tossing his
lit cigarette but out the car window.
The foothills of the Sierra have
real rivers that drain the winter snow melt. Many reservoirs have
been constructed over the years both to control flooding and to provide
water in the dry months. Above is a small portion of New Melones
reservoir.
A number of bridges were
constructed to allow passage over the reservoir.
Further south, we passed the
Moccasin Powerhouse that is part of the Hetch Hechy project.
We wound our way through the hills
on a steep narrow road. CA 49 gave the truck a workout, but
offered some great views. Above is another reservoir we passed.
We passed a number of road
construction gangs that caused us significant delay.
Near Mariposa, we passed yet
another fire fighting base used by helicopters. This base had 2
Sky Cranes and plenty of ground support equipment. We spent the
night with John and Glori in Mariposa and headed out the following
morning.
We passed many, many fire engines
south of Mariposa. Some were oncoming, some passed us and others
were at the side of the road.
We continued to see these rigs for
several hours.
We continued south along CA 99,
then east over the Tehachapi Pass. The rolling grasslands were an
interesting contrast to the oak tree covered hills we had passed
earlier in the day.
Further up Tehachapi Pass, we
encountered one of many freight trains traveling up the famous
Tehachapi Loop grade. The tracks cross over themselves in a loop
due to the steep terrain.
In addition to the Loop, the
Tehachapi area is also famous for its wind farms. The wind blows
strong and frequent in this area and the ridge lines of the hills were
crowded with windmills. Note the very large mill in the center of the
photo above.
Most of the mills were of nominal
size, but they did come in small, medium and large sizes.
Most of the ridges of Tehachapi
Pass were covered in structures.
Further east near Boron, CA we
passed significant infrastructure associated with the borax
mines. U.S. Borax was sold to Rio Tinto mining, but they still
use the Twenty Mule Team Borax brand. From Boron, we headed south
to Hesperia, CA to see another mogger, Norm.
We had a nice dinner with Norm and
Mary and got a chance to see his current projects. The
following day, we headed south along I-15 to San Diego. Once we
saw the V-22 Osprey aircraft, we knew that we had made it back home.
The V-22 training facility is run out of MCAS Miramar and we passed this bird doing go-arounds near the base.
We had a great time on this trip, but it was nice to return home. We actually cut the trip short to meet the new owner of my 1300L and provide him a briefing on the truck's care and feeding.
My neighbor had been caring for the house in our
absence, so things were in great shape. The 1017 ran well and
only had a few minor issues during the trip. The primary issue,
the clutch master cylinder, was a known problem before we departed and
I had parts shipped "down the road" and we installed the parts at Rob
and Erin's place. The fuel issue we encountered at NWMF was
simply that the primer pump had come loose and allowed air into the
fuel lines. The fix was as easy as re-tightening the handle.
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Copyright Bill Caid 2011, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.