Going to California with an Aching in my Heart

Today we left Les and Sue and Sydney and struck off for California. But of course our hosts provided us with a delicious breakfast and coffee, and best of all Les filled a shopping bag with apples, pears, and plums from his orchard. We probably have enough to get us all the way back to Pennsylvania.

Shortly after leaving, we boarded the Wheaton ferry, a nine car ferry that crosses the Willamette River. Total cost: $2.00.

We travelled along I-5 down the Willamette valley, and then turned West on US-199 towards the coast. That's when we hit the rain and the mountains. The rain combined with the tight turns and switchbacks made for slow going. 



During this time, we hit the 4,000 mile mark, and at 1:12, we entered California. Immediately upon entering California, we saw a sign: "Agricultural Inspection. All Vehicles Must Pull Over." My heart sank. We had a full grocery bag of organic produce, and now it was all going to get confiscated.

"Hello, sir, do you have any produce in the vehicle?"

"Yes, I have apples, pears, and plums from Oregon."  (I cannot tell a lie.)

"Those are fine. Go ahead."

Whaaaa? Carol and I were wondering what exactly they were looking for, but were happy that we were able to keep our fruit.

Oh, and it was still pouring rain. Not fun driving at all. 

Shortly thereafter, we began to see why this section of The 101 is called the Redwood Highway. Because there were...you know...actual redwoods all around us!



Our original destination was Crescent City, CA. But it was still rather early in the day, so we figured we'd press on to the next town, Kalmuth, which puts us closer to Redwood National Forest. We stopped by the ocean on our way to Kalmuth for a quick photo. Quite a difference from yesterday's visit to the coast:


The rain went from a normal rain to a wind-driven downpour, so we were anxious to get to our hotel ASAP. We got to Kalmuth and got a room at the Holiday Inn Express in town. As luck would have it, adjoining the hotel was the Redwood Casino. Both the hotel and the casino are fully owned and operated by the Yurok tribe. 

We checked in to the hotel and went to the casino restaurant for dinner, and then afterwards we had to live the dream and play the slots. Look at how happy Carol is at winning:


Don't I look excited to be gambling? It's SO my thing...


Spoiler alert: We spent $5.00 and won $0.00 dollars. Let's consider this our contribution to the Yurok tribe.

Tomorrow's plan is to tour Redwood National Forest and then drive to the outskirts of San Fransisco.

Comments

  1. ScottSeptember 18, 2019 at 6:42 AM

    Too funny on the produce encounter! Made me laugh because I cannot tell a lie either. I am picturing myself in that same scene with Michelle saying 'don't mention the plums, etc' and my face frozen in fear like a saw a ghost. LOL :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SteveSeptember 18, 2019 at 7:16 AM

      Lol, I can totally picture you: "Please help me!"

      We're still confused about what exactly they were looking for. But I'm glad we could keep our fruit. We're having it with our crappy hotel breakfast.

      Delete

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