Slept great. The wind died down during the night. Got hot at times.

When the sun rose over the trees to the east, and cast rays through the coastal mist, man it felt great to be in Humboldt county. I can see why people live here, though, when I was there in January 2020, the dreariness almost overwhelmed me.

Made coffee. Broke camp. Let my tent dry by the sun. Love my REI hiking tent. It’s so easy to set up.

Left before 9. Headed north on US 101 towards Oregon. Stopped at Trinidad to satisfy Mr. Tummy with a breakfast burrito. I agree with Mike Judge that these are one of the great inventions of Western Civilization.

Got to the borders of Redwood National Park. There’s a 380′ tall redwood tree somewhere inside this park. It’s literally the tallest tree in the world. An attendant would likely put me on the right trail towards it, but would not specifiy which one it is. When I was here before, I figured I’d try to find that tree the next time I pass through here. Nope. Wanted to head north.

However, I did stop at the Lady Bird Johnson grove of redwoods, which I’d seen before, in the rain. But pure blue made the lighting in the forest pretty. The air was was dank and cool. Fern covered much of the ground. It looked like Endor from Return of the Jedi… that’s because the land of the Ewoks was filmed just a little southeast of Eureka at Grizzly Creek Redwoods state park.

Soft patches of sunset light illuminating a reddish path through the dark canopy would have been fun to seek out. The light was too hard at midday for a resemblance of this. And the impulse to drive north was too strong. No waiting.

Of course the giant redwoods were everywhere. It would have been something to see the old growth redwood forest before the days of logging. It would have been something to walk under their canopy for miles and miles… though it would have been a splendor to do this under the canopy of all of North America’s primordial forests, even east of the Mississippi where silver pines, I have read, often grew over 200′, and some to 250′, and many of them become masts for British sailing ships….

… yup, a book explaining and illustrating the size, location and compositions of American forests, from sea to shining sea, would be fascinating. It would be a book explaining how the forests morph across the continent. By “morph” I mean how the species and density of trees composing America’s forest change across the landscape, based on moisture, soil, and whichever other pertinent factors. A book like this probably exists already, but a book explaining this composition of the primordial forests, which I don’t know how could be written, would be even more fascinating.. .

Thirty minutes at the Lady Bird Grove was enough. I just wanted my feel. Time to head to Oregon.

But construction made this drive painfully slow. Having to pay $6.40 for gas in Crescent City, just south of Oregon, made the pain worse. Good gosh I was ready to get the hell out of California.

Then, Oregon. A new state. Neat.

Well, the drive looked like Northern California. Go figure.

However, there are state parks all along the Oregon coast. You can check out the scenery all along the way, which is neat. Stopped at a couple. The ocean breeze was cool, but not cold like at Eureka. No photos though. The scenery wasn’t moving me to play photographer.

But the winding roads got old. I decided to break down and get a motel. Ten straight days of camping made me feel entitled to this. Everything felt gritty for the sand and dirt I’d been living in.

Got on Google maps and found a motel for $80 a night just outside Coos Bay, which a friend recommended I see. Got the motel. This lifted my spirits exponentially.

Got to the motel. Had to unload all my stuff into the room, as I didn’t want it left in the car. Thereafter, took a little walk, washed clothes, read a little, stared at maps and, yes, played the most addicting game I’ve come across in a long time called Woodoku.

Fell asleep by 10.