Going to the rally - day 3

Monday, August 22 - It was cool when I woke up in Yuba City, the bike was covered with dew. That's something you don't see where I live. I wiped it off, loaded it up and headed through town on Hwy 99 - the last leg of my journey to Crescent City. I passed through the city of Chico, a college town. The upper Sacramento River Valley is nothing but agriculture, as far as the eye can see. Orchards, farm fields, the whole nine yards. I have developed a new respect for California, the immense scale of their agriculture industry is very impressive. I know now where a lot of the food I eat comes from.

Further up 99, I crossed the Sacramento River again as I entered the city of Red Bluff. It was a real nice, clean town with a lot of old well-preserved buildings. I went through town, stopped for gas, then turned off of 99 onto Hwy 36, which would take me west to the coast. Hwy 36 starts out in gently rolling hills, passing small ranches and farms as you start to climb into the mountains. I stopped in the town of Platina for some water. Here's the General Store:

Hwy 36 is essentially 150 miles of twisties and up/down grades, it took me 4 hours to get through it. I was exhausted by the time I reached the coast. The best part was the last 25 miles or so, as it takes you through a dense redwood forest. It was in the afternoon, but it was so dark it was like riding at night. I reached Fortuna, and stopped in at the Eel River Brewing Company to pick up a t-shirt. A special request from one of my sons.

I then started north on US-101 towards Crescent City. Since I was now near the coast, it was much cooler and I made good time to Eureka, where I stopped for gas and visited Redwoods Harley-Davidson to pick myself up a t-shirt. From there, it was about 80 miles to Crescent City, and I arrived at the Curly Redwood Lodge shortly after 5:00PM.