We pulled into the KOA campground in Eureka, CA around 3:30pm yesterday after leaving the Marina Dunes RV Resort at 8am. It was another beautiful day here on California’s west coast and that helped to make the uneventful, and rather long for us, drive yesterday seem relatively easy.
Heading into Oakland along Hwy. 101
Traffic was fairly heavy on Hwy. 101 through San Jose and I was dreading what Oakland would be like. However, when we arrived on the outskirts of Oakland, just before 10am it was fairly quiet and we breezed right through the city at a steady 55mph. That was a nice surprise.
Richmond Bridge
Speaking of surprises, we sure got one when we drove up to the Toll Booth to go over the Richmond Bridge spanning San Francisco Bay. I saw a sign saying $5 and I handed the bill to the ticket clerk who gave me a funny look before saying I owed $20! Wowza! With the 5’er in tow, I was counted as a 4 axle rig – 2 for the truck and 2 for the fifth-wheel. I guess we paid this last time, I just cant’ recall.
One last look at the City by the Bay
For our $20, we got a nice view of San Francisco out the driver’s side window. Paulette did her best to get a good shot even though the city was quite far off in the distance. Plus, she kept telling me to get my head out of the way – we’re lucky we didn’t end up in the cold waters of San Francisco Bay!
At the far end of the Richmond Bridge, out on a point with a spectacular view, sits the infamous San Quentin Prison. I find it rather ironic that Alcatraz and San Quentin sit on properties that must be worth millions if they were ever developed for residential use.
San Quentin
I imagine it might be a kind of spooky place to live though even if the prisons were razed to the ground. Must be ghosts there!
Heading north on Hi-Way 101 from San Francisco, we entered “wine country” with vineyards appearing one after the other. The really big vineyards were a bit further east over in the Napa Valley but the ones along this stretch of hi-way all seemed to be doing very well.
Pretty soon we were in the rolling green hills of the central California coast. By this time, we were well away from the Pacific Ocean as the hi-way wound inland. It was an interesting drive with no fear of dozing off as using cruise control really wasn’t an option. There were a lot of steep grades and every so often we’d come across a little town that required us to slow right down.
It seemed like a long time before we arrived in Willits. Originally, we had planned to stop here for the night but it was only 1pm when we drove through so since I wasn’t the least bit tired and Paulette was o.k., we decided to push on to Eureka, a place where we’ve overnighted before.
Leaving Willits, it wasn’t long before we were in the “Land of the Giants” – the monster Redwoods of Northern California. Traffic was pretty light here so we were able to meander along the road at a slow pace and marvel at the sights of these amazing Redwoods.
Many of the attractions in the Redwood Forest require taking side roads off the beaten path. There was no way we were even going to think about taking our 5’er down there. I can just imagine getting stuck in one of those big “drive-thru Redwood trees”. I wonder what Good Sam Emergency Roadside Service would say about that?
Leaving the Redwoods and driving up and down a few more steep grades it wasn’t long before we found ourselves driving alongside the Pacific Ocean again. Eureka! We were in Eureka. Our site at the KOA here was dead, flat level so we didn’t even have to unhitch. In the morning, we’ll be making our way to Oregon!
A fog shrouded lighthouse between Monterey and San Francisco
Have a great Tuesday, and thanks again for visiting!
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