Retirement Road Trip: Days 28 and 29, Thursday and Friday 9/22 and 9/23

334 miles total for the two days.  Camped at Mattole Beach Thursday night and parked at my sister Karen Sipher's house in Oakland, California Friday night.

I left the Riverwalk RV Park about  9:00.  My plan was to camp Thursday night at Mattole Beach.  This campground is small with only 15 sites and no services.   It is a part of the King Range National Conservation Area and is managed by the Bureau of Land management.

First, I had to get there.  There are two choices, a northern route and a southern route.  The shortest option was to drive in from the north and leave by the south.  In hindsight, I was lucky with my choice because I think the best views of the ocean was from the northern route. After crossing the historic (it turned 100 this summer) Fernbridge.  It is listed on the California Historical Landmarks.

The Victorian village of Ferndale was my first stop.  This small village of 1400 people supports an extensive collection of very well preserved Victorian homes and shops.  In fact, the oldest pharmacy in California is located here.

In addition to tourism, there is a strong dairy farm influence here.  The area is noted for high quality cheese.  Most of the cows I saw were Jerseys and were they were grazing on pasture.

From Ferndale, the campground is about a 35 mile steep and winding drive with very narrow roads and hairpin turns.  But the view of the Pacific Ocean is stunning when you break over the crest of the Coastal Range Mountains.

As I said, the campground has 15 sites, separated from the ocean by only a sand dune.  From my camper door, it was a two minute walk to the ocean.  This area of California is called The Lost Coast.  Because of its steepness, remote location, and geo-technical challenges, a major highway was never built here, leaving it the longest portion of the California coast to remain undeveloped.

Friday morning I left Mattole Beach via the southern route, which took me through Redwood State Park.

The road out was just as narrow, hilly, and twisty as the one in.  I eventually got back to Highway 101.  I made good time so I called Karen to tell her I would arrive about 5:00 PM instead of Saturday morning. Of course that means I would get to experience another cultural immersion called "Oakland Afternoon Rush Hour."  Eight lanes of wall to wall vehicles!!  Sorry, no pictures of the rush hour.  My hands were too tightly clenched to the steering wheel to pick up the camera.  :-))

Guess that's all for now.........