I said goodbye to Sarah and continued on my trip with Henley back in the front seat. I headed to San Francisco to explore more. I ended up just driving most of it, not having an easy enough time finding parking that it seemed worth it. I drove through Hayes Valley again and got a strawberry jelly-filled brioche donut and coffee at Arlequin Cafe. I drove down Lombard Street, through Union Square, Chinatown, North Beach (the Italian section), Ghiradelli Square, and walked around Aquatic Park on the water. I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and took the first exit hoping for some photo ops. I stopped at a Jiffy Lube a little farther north in Mill Valley and got the full work up.
The following day I had to be in Portland, but this day was just working my way up there so I had some wiggle room. I was driving through wine country and wanted to take advantage of that, but I also wanted to see the giant redwoods and sequoias. I also had a ton of ground to cover, as much as I could in order to have less time driving the next day and more time in Portland. I chose to take the longer, slower route on the 101 to drive down Avenue of the Giants to see the big trees. I saw that the Avenue was on 101 so I didn’t look more into directions because I’d be driving right on it.
I passed wineries in Sonoma, wishing I had more time. When I got to Eureka I thought I’d double check where the Giants were because I thought I would have seen them by now. Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of big tree everywhere, but not the enormous sequoias I was driving far out of my way to see and not making other stops for. I was right. It is south of Eureka, and it is on the 101, but it’s on the “old Highway 101” and not the real, current 101 I was on. In California’s defense, there are signs that possibly suggest I exit off the 101 to go down the Avenue of the Giants, but I thought it was an alternative route or something!
I wasn’t about to turn around so I kept trekking on without wine in my belly, without trees in my eyes, and some extra miles driven and time wasted. I had planned to camp in Klamath National Forest, but after driving a little while, I decided I wanted to get farther north than that, as far north as I could before falling asleep to at least gain something from this day. I stopped and used the GPS to find the quickest route to Portland and I’d hopefully just be able to pull over if I were in a national forest or find a rest stop to spend the night.
The quickest route involved backtracking forty miles. I couldn’t do it. Next option was continue the way I was driving through Klamath National Forest. It was a very slow, winding road for hours. I was rushing to get as far as I could, not wanting to waste any time. But I didn’t care about time when I saw a pizza sign in a little town and slammed on the brakes. About half way in I felt like the fat slob that I am, regretting spending a half hour on a stop like this.
When I finally made it to the I-5, there was a rest area and I stayed there for the night. I was glad to be on a major highway to be able to shoot up (in five hours) to Portland in the morning. I had been haulin’ ass north all day. And listening to the same goddamn twenty two track CD for about five thousand miles. Still don’t know most of the words, but Henley doesn’t seem to mind. By now, I’m quite certain my voice is becoming more Stevie Nicksesque, though, and my Stevie Wonder head sway is on point. I had just recently switched it up to some nursing podcasts. Looks like the only studying I’m getting in. I must remember to put some music on my phone before I go crazy...
E&H <3
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