Trip to San Francisco Bay Area

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There was also lots of fog. It made the driving a little slow but made for some impressive views though. Sadly these pictures don't do justice to the view and I could pick up many different views of the forest as it faded into the fog whereas my camera tends to show only a narrow transition from forest to fog.
At the next fork in the road, my choices were Glendale (which was further north than I wanted to go) or Rogue River Camp and Marial, neither of which were on my map. I thought I was a particular junction so headed onto the road to unknown destinations (right again or southern route). The road started out pretty much like the others.
However, as I proceeded I got to another fork where both roads were one lane dirt roads. Uh oh! I took the road to Rogue River Camp until I got to the camp which looked like a regular horse farm. They had a map and I realized that I had gone to the dead end shown on my map. Drats. The drive along the dirt road sections was especially slow as there were lots of bends and winds and you really had to take it about ten MPH just because you couldn't see that far ahead. I also saw deer crossing the ro ad in the distance as I took this picture.
Once back on the beaten (or paved) path, I resolved to just go to Glendale as it was clearly on my map. However, I did get adventurous and take a fork to 'Grave Creek'. I passed a few areas which had been clear cut. Here is a section forest which seems to have just been clear cut in that the leaves were still orangish rather than dark brown like they get later.
I finally ended up in Glendale having travelled a net distance of about 40 miles in about 5 hours of driving. That made me a little anxious as it would take me a long time to reach San Fancisco at that rate, but I remembered that this was the only National Forest I planned on cutting across like that. Also, the scenery had been gorgeous throughout, so it was OK. I also figured out why Glendale was so prominent a marker on the roads through the forest. It had a major lumber mill (shown here).
I had also paralleled a train track for a ways through the forest and had wondered what that was about, but I imagine it was mostly to take the finished lumber out as it went right by the lumber yard. I also noted that they had sprinklers on over the big stacks of logs waiting to be processed. I presume they don't want the lumber to dry out as it would dry unevenly and then warp when it finished drying. Here is one of the haulers they use to move the logs around. It was BIG, but that is hard to fi gure out from the picture.
From Glendale, I took Interstate 5 on into California (with a brief section where I took Route 99 as it paralleled I5). In California they stopped everyone and asked about agricultural products. He seemed unimpressed with my bananas and waved me on through. I asked about a visitor center and he mentioned a town and gave me a little booklet of maps and advertisements. What, no visitor center until I was well into California. Oh well, I enjoyed the trip through the National Forest and the little booklet did show me that there were three visitor centers along my route. Shortly after that, I took Route 96 headed West and passed some pretty (but dry) country.
Route 96 paralleled a river which made for lots of nice views.
Also, as I got closer to the coast, it got greener and greener.
I took Route 96 to the end at Willow Brook where I stayed the night. I stopped in front of a food store and used the pay phone out front to call and visit with family and friend (OK, Karyn). While I was on the phone the local sherriff came by and started shining his lights to check out my car (presumably they were wondering what was up as the store was closed by then). I waved to the them from the phone booth and they went on, but I decided that was not such a good place to stay the night. I found a quiet street a couple of blocks off the main drag and stayed there uneventfully.
Route 299 took me back to U.S. Route 101 which I had left in Oregon. However, here it was a lot more like a divided highway through the inland, not nearly as interesting to drive along, though I was making good progress. That was becoming important as it now been almost 48 hours since I showered and I was noticing it. Here you can see the different hills being obscured by the fog if you look closely. It was much easier to appreciate in person. There was also the first of the information centers that I passed at 8:30AM, but they didn't open until 9AM. I decided not to wait and went on.
The fog and rain stuck with me throughout the trip, but would clear up periodically (though never quite to the point of letting me see that yellowish thing up in the sky somewhere). There were impressive views when it cleared up a bit as well.
Here's another view of a river from U.S. Route 101 headed South.
At my first opportunity, I took Route 1 toward Fort Bragg and the coast. The road was pretty desolate, narrow and winding. Mostly I just saw lots of dense pine trees and not much else.
Then there was a turn in the road and I was right over the Pacific again. I imagine this section coast looks a look more hospitable with warmer temperatures, sun, and light breezes.
In places the road went along the side of rocky hills.
But in other places it was cliffs above a turbulent ocean.
This view is really high up a steep cliff, but it is hard to appreciate from the picture.
Well, having been over 53 hours without a shower (not like I was counting or noticing or anything) when it got to be noon on Saturday, I decided to give up on scenery and pretty views and head for San Francisco with a desired arrival time of 3PM (and a shower). So, I took Route 128 East from the coast and on to the main drag into San Fancisco area, Route 101. Shortly I was into very pretty pine forests (liek this). In one case there were some really large trees that the road wound through, but there was no place to stop and take a picture. Drats.
Just before hitting Route 101, the views turned to nice farm lands. Here is a vineyard along the road. Then it was Route 101 all the way in. I passed another information center along the route about 30 minutes north of San Francisco. It was open a nd I got my map of California. I arrived in Hayward, CA about 4PM and showered. Then headed to a Mensa video/pot luck dinner that evening in San Jose, CA (southern end of the bay area). There were about a dozen people and it was very nice. We saw the video Vanilla Sky. Very Cool!I stayed until about 11PM (which is way late for me), so just stayed the night a few blocks away in San Jose, CA.