Day 6-NV to CA

Day 6/Fernley, NV to Orick, CA 
Distance today: 354 miles
Total to date: 1975 miles

Cut across CA today & oh what scenery! I see now why people rave about northern CA! The mountain visa to the right was the first 'official' scenery I saw today! It was hard to drive today for there were just too many beautiful vistas & I wanted to stop & capture all of them on film! But somethings just don't portray the beauty, ya just gotta go see um!

We ran into alot of road construction on our travels. Guess CA is paving some roads & cutting the road back from the roads. But well worth it for our entire day was spent weaving thru valleys or cutting thru forests. VERY nice change from the interstate. Fauna & trees right along many sections of the roads, especially since this area cuts thru alot of State parks & National Forests.

Trees at rest stop
along Trinity Hwy

Map of SR 299

We took Scenic Route 299, also called Trinity Hwy, across CA & this road is absolutely fantastic! If I ever drive this way again I will definitely take it!! 

Trinity Hwy winds thru hills for miles upon miles & is a biker's dream, as you have these banked curves & the road runs along Trinity River. These pictures just don't do the scenery justice! Followed this hwy at least a couple hundred miles. Simply fantastic!

Trinity stream along hwy

So travelled hwy 299 west to 101 north & the temp suddenly went down. Was confused about this for we were out of the mountains. Had gotten used to knowing when we were high, elevation wise by the temp going down, so this confused me. Was surprised to pop over a rise & see the Pacific Ocean!! Now I know how Lewis & Clark felt!!  

Pacific Ho!!

Night's destination

We followed the coast, past smaller (relatively speaking) redwoods. One tree was HUGE & was right along the "redwood hwy" that was another name for 101. 

Finally reached Orick, a very small town of about 347 souls that has an elevation of 28'. Wikipedia sez that The first post office at Orick opened in 1887 & that Orick is one of the three Yurok Indian villages at the mouth of the Redwood Creek. The town later became known as Orckw, then Orek, then Orick. Some say it means "mouth of the river." Others say it means "home of the driftwood."

Checked into our motel, which was really noteworthy, mainly because of the profusion of flowers they had growing in containers-probably 100 of them! Really made a difference to the face of an rather old Mom & Pop place that would have looked alot sadder if these splashes of color were lining the parking areas. But the room was clean & the beds very comfortable!

Covered parking too! Note
flowers in background in containers.

Also liked being at this motel for the man that checked us in was obviously a Native, as was another Native that was our waiter at the adjoining cafe. Both very friendly & nice, although I never had the opportunity to visit with them about what tribe they were, etc..

The waiter told me a bit of history about Orick, how the place used to have about 3,000 residents, two saw mills, lots of lumber related jobs, etc...Sadly just another prior logging town that saw its hey day, then declined. 

Enlarge this photo to
read the history of this log

Larger view of pic to right

Went into the local grocery store, just across the road from the motel & reminded me of my childhood, in that the floor of the place was linoleum & that there was an order about the place, the combo of freezer smell & general funk. But the liquor & beer selection was impressive!! Must be alot of drinkers in this town!

Rob & I spent some time sitting outside the place, just drinking a cold one, watching the locals. Then off to bed early for me. Still really tired after a day of riding. Rob mentioned that I have now driven my motorcycle from coast to coast, FL to CA. That's a milestone!!

Tomorrow we check out the redwoods! Won't get as early a start on the road but we can use a break, then we plan to head north. Destination yet to be determined!