Crescent City Journey

The laptop battery was dead upon arrival at our campsite. We do not have electrical outlets - I am going to write this blog on my phone. I usually write in Word and use the editor function for spell check and grammar. I guess you could say today’s post is unfiltered. 

This trip to Crescent City, California, and Talent and Bend, Oregon is a trial trip for us before we leave on our U.S. tour in 4 weeks. Loading the car and adding the car shell took about an hour. We left Woodland at 8:08am. 

Our plan was to drive the 6 1/2 hour route in one hour increments so that we could get out and move around for at least five minutes. It was also the time to change drivers, eat a pre-packed  snack, take a bathroom break if needed, and refill water bottles. I also wanted to snap at least one photo from each stop so I could get into the habit.

Our route was I-5 to Hwy 20 to Hwy 101 to Crescent City. The first stop went as planned. We pulled over in a pullout area on Hwy 20. I snapped a photo of the car ( see above). No need for a snack or bathroom. We changed drivers (my turn). 

Our next stop I forgot to take a photo! It was still on Hwy 20 and we could see snow on the mountains ahead. Joe took over the drive.

The next leg ended up going for an hour and 40 minutes because the next two rest stops were closed for maintenance. Grrrr. So we ended up going off of the highway (101) to a small town with a gas station and grocery store. They had no water and so weren’t allowing people use their bathrooms.   

Luckily it was only about 10 minutes to somewhere else. While the scenery was lovely (trees and snow), the bathrooms located around the back of a gas station had standing water and were cold! They were free though and reminded me of the public bathrooms in Egypt. We grabbed a snack from our food box and we were shortly underway with me at the wheel.

I ended up driving an hour and a half before we stopped at Humboldt Coastal Nature Center and walked in a parking lot. Nobody else around on a Wednesday afternoon. 

I continued driving for another hour until we stopped about 20 minutes from our campsite at Florence Keller Park. This next photo was taken where we pulled over just south of Crescent City. 

I always enjoy the ocean. The sound, the smell, and the beauty of the waves relax me. 

Joe took over the last leg of today’s drive so I could navigate to the park. There are 50 sites at $20/night. No reservations - it’s first come first serve. We chose a spot near the bathrooms and the park hosts. 

The top photo is of the bathrooms across from our site. 

The bottom photo is our car backed into the site. We also have a  fire pit and picnic table. It’s too cold to sit outside though! 

Joe is excited about what we are learning with our trial run:

• Bring more bandanas or handkerchiefs for drying hands (don’t have to worry about disposing of paper towels or wipes).
• Our special air mattress should have been opened 24 hours before for the first use. We didn’t think to check the instructions cause we had been scurrying around all week.
• Pre-charge air pumps and laptops before the trip. Do not assume that since they were fully charged last time you used them that they are still charged.
• Not having a specific arrival time line is very freeing and allows for creativity in locating a safe location to stretch our legs and switch drivers.

All in all a no stress day for us even with quite a bit of road work and closed rest areas. We listened to a few podcasts and the passenger was able to gawk at scenery to their heart’s content. Joe even took a nap (while I drove. Thought I should clarify). Our time on the road ended at 4:20pm. Joe took advantage of the daylight to  hike around the campground.

He took me over to show me “the biggest redwood I’ve ever seen.” It was so large I had to take 2 photos to capture the entire width. There are several smaller trees in front of it.

We are ending our day with peanut butter sandwiches and relaxing into the quiet.