Sunday, May 24, 2009

day fourteen: Ukiah to Klamath, CA






Today was fun.  Mike and I got up and went to a small church in Ukiah.  The people were friendly and welcomed us like brothers.  This put us leaving town and getting on the road a little late but hey, we’re Presbyterian, it was meant to be!  We traveled up Hwy 101 to the town of Legget.  Some of you may know this but if not, you’ll immediately enhance your store of worthless trivia by storing the fact that Legget is the town where the tree lives that is in all the pictures with cars driving through it.  I’m not sure my syntax is exactly correct here but you English majors can correct it in your head to have it come out properly.  We didn’t actually get to see the tree because it now costs five dollars to drive through it and have your picture taken with it and I’m just too cheap for that!  Legget is also the town where we thought Hwy 1, we referred to yesterday, took off to go further north.  We took its winding, twisting way for about 10 miles before I lost traction on some gravel and shot off the road into the bush and ferns and gorse and trees.  (Does northern California have gorse?)   Thankfully both the bike and I were unhurt and the crash did actually have a purpose.  We got to meet a really nice guy named John, who not only helped me back on the road, but also explained that Hwy 1 only went one way at this particular point and that, unfortunately was south!  Since Oregon was our destination and Oregon, last time I checked, was north of California this seemed an appropriate time to turn around.  Hey, I said we were Presbyterian!  For those of you who may be worried that I seem to be dumping my bike excessively, don’t let it bother you.  I’ve found that picking up this @600 lb beast is a particularly good way to work out the hams and glutes.  I try to dump it about every three days whether I need to or not.  This is also a great way to meet people who come by to stare and shake their heads and watch a great workout!  Finally, it is an absolutely perfect way to maintain my humility, a quality some have suggested I have need to develop more fully.  In any event, Mike and I got turned around successfully and headed in the right direction up Hwy 101.  We passed through a bunch of towns with great-sounding names like Weott, Pepperwood, Scotia, up through Eureka and McKinleyville (sounds at lot like our South Carolina contraction-esque Rutherfordton!).  After McKinleyville, we came to a really cool little town called Trinidad.  We ate at a little café and had fish and chips.  I’d love to recommend the place but I forgot the name and didn’t get a picture.  Here we also met an equally really cool girl named Ana MacKinnon.  Anna is a horse and flying tomboy who also just happens to own and ride a great 2000 BMW 1150 GS.  She’s actually been featured in the BMW owner’s magazine for having taken a trip from San Francisco to Vancouver and back . . . by herself!  No kidding!  We talked with her for about an hour and used a few southern “y’alls” to make her feel back at home (she went to high school in Charlotte, NC), took some pictures and gave her a parting hug (we’re still from the south) and boogied down the road for parts further north. The evening turned cold and foggy and the sighting of an Elk on the roadside helped us decide to get off the road at Klamath to camp for the night.  Anyway, that’s where we are tonight.  We’ll let you know where we get to tomorrow.  See you then.

 


6 comments:

  1. Today's tops:

    1) Getting to join our brothers and sisters in Ukiah for worship this morning--so refreshing!

    2) "Avenue of Giants"--The part of hwy 101 that we travelled today is called 'Redwood highway" or "Avenue of Giants." Never have I ever seen trees this big! We only got one or two pictures because the road was really narrow, and lacked adequate turn-offs. If you've never seen these trees, you need to put it on your bucket-list. We passed one called "grandfather tree" that they estimate to be around 1800 years old--as you can imagine, it's had plenty of time to grow to gargantuan proportions. It was neat driving through dark, shaded forests with lush fernish undergrowth that more than tripled the height of our east-coast forests. I hear that Redwoods have been known to grow over 350ft. tall!

    3) Ok, time to let my stomach do some commenting. The cafe that we patronized for dinner was delicious. The fish and chips followed by blueberry bread pudding (and ice cream) probably fetched about 3-grand (in calories, haha!!) Yes, that's like a day and a half's worth of calories at one sitting, but hey, you only live once right??

    4) The intense heartburn (which I am currently experiencing) that ensued!! Haha, well worth it!!

    M

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  2. P.S.--The weather here is cold! How is it at home?

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  3. I love that y'all went by Netherland (picture with rocks sticking out of the water)to see Peter Pan on your way here! Looking forward to seeing you guys...can't wait for y'all to see the brown otter-dog! :)

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  4. weather back home = rainy (hartwell should be more than overflowing by now!) ...

    love the pictures! i'm a little disappointed that you only got a couple of the redwoods though! .. your bikes are small - definitely small enough to pull over for a picture! (:

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  5. Hey, Alan, I think your sentence is technically correct, if a bit of a run-on. Also, I think we're not used to seeing "tree" as an active object in a prepositional phrase. Come to think of it, you have strung together an impressive amount of prepositional phrases, too.

    But don't worry about it. Just keep blogging. I love checking up on you guys.

    Man, I'm an incurable Grammar dork, and I can't help it. Does this construction read any better?

    Some of you may know this but if not, you’ll immediately enhance your store of worthless trivia by storing this fact: Legget is the town with the tree famous for all the pictures of cars driving through it.

    Love you guys.

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  6. Matt, you are the man . . . the English man! Thanks for the correction and enhanced sentence structure. It is clearer- a new and improved version!
    Alan

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