Monday October 25th (Dante View)

Sunset Campground Furnace Creek to Stovepipe Wells Campground

30 Miles  

We got up early this morning to go for a 25 mile drive out to Dante View with an Elevation of 5475ft, this was meant to be the place to capture the sun rising. Unfortunately today was not the day to be there as it was very cloudy. The views we got from there were amazing, there was a cold wind that blew through you and we weren’t dressed for it. The last ¼ of a mile to Dante View the road had a 15% grade, there was a water tank beside the road that was to fill your radiator with, and fortunately we didn’t need it. On the way back to camp we did a one way road, called 20 Mule Train Road, it was a narrow and windy road. We stopped and looked at the famous Furnace Creek Motel at Sea Level Elevation. It is an old motel with the exterior build of stone.

While we were being tourists the wind really came up at the camp, the camper a few spaces away from us noticed that our awnings were been given a hard time by the wind, so he was kind enough to pull them in for us and secure them under Cassie.

We arrived at Stovepipe Village and noticed that the price of gas was 75cents a gallon less expensive than Furnace Creek, so we filled Chevy up here.

It was very hot here, but we are in the desert, the wind came up late in the afternoon while we were visiting Mosaic Canyon. We did a short hike here, so far our favorite place in Death Valley. The rock in the canyon appeared to be like polished marble, we didn’t get all the way into the canyon as it was getting late. 

Sunday October 24th (Bad Water the lowest Elevation in the States)

Sunset Campground Furnace Creek

We did some driving to scenic spots today. We went to Golden Canyon this morning and went for a 2.5 mile hike to the Red Cathedral. This was a beautiful canyon hike, with a cool breeze following us up the canyon, and cooled us off coming back. We had to scramble a bit towards the end of high, but it was worth the effort. .

The next stop was Devil’s Golf Course; this was some real rugged salt flats, then onto Bad Water the lowest elevation in the States, 282ft below sea level. On the way back to camp we did a little detour on a one way road to Artist Palette, some colorful rock formations.

We had more live music this evening, being Sunday the music by the 49ers had a gospel theme, more musician had arrived. 

Saturday October 23rd (Death Valley)

Barstow Calico K.O.A. to Sunset Campground Furnace Creek

160 Miles

We drove thru many miles of desert landscape, turned off at Baker to get to Death Valley and set up in Sunset Campground at Furnace Creek. We walked across the road to the National Park Service Information, where we got a lot of good information and saw a slide show about the history of the area, about the Borax mining on the salt flats, and about the 20 mule team which took the Borax 160 miles to the railroad at Mojave. We walked around Furnace Creek in the afternoon and enjoyed the museum there. In the evening we went to a writer’s workshop which really introduced us to the area. When we went back to our campsite, there was live music at the Campground. A group of people called the 49ers meet here each year. Don’t know too much about them but they like to have a good time. The actual event they come for doesn’t start for a couple of weeks. Sunset campground is below sea level.  

Friday October 22nd (Mojave Desert)

Kingsburg to Barstow Calico K.O.A.

220 Miles

Another days driving along straight roads, we drive thru Bakersfield. We then up into the Mojava Desert, climbing to an elevation of nearly 5000ft. The farms we saw in the Mojave Desert were windmill farms, miles and miles of windmills along some of higher elevated mountain ridges, all spinning up electricity. The campground we stopped at is very nice and clean, and they do have a swimming pool which is open, so this afternoon we both went for a swim. A lot of people were arriving at this campground today with their dune buggies and most popular buggy seem to be old much modified VW Beatle 

Thursday October 21st (A longs day driving)

Richardson Grove to Kingsburg (south of Fresno)

420 Miles

Today was a day of making miles, many miles, as we have decided to head inland and south.  We got an early start, and followed Hiway 101 to Hiway 20 then onto I-5 to Kingsburg. Leaving a sparsely populated coastal area to and get into the Sacramento Valley was quite a change. We traveled from the coastal redwood forest where the roads are winding and interesting with little traffic to a farming region where the roads are straight and congested. All I can say about the camp at Kingburg it was nothing special close to the hiway and place to sleep.

Wednesday October 20th (A day in the Redwoods)

Village Camper Inn RV Park Crescent City to Richardson Grove

160 Miles

We left the campground about 11 this morning, drove along the coast from Crescent City, and there was a lot of heavy ocean fog.  In Crescent City there is a fog horn blasting continuously night and day, honking several times a minute, now we got a little idea why. We did a couple of detours today one was when we left Hiway 101 to get onto 99 and drive thru the Humboldt State Park. We took a short walk to see the Big Tree. Humboldt is another red wood forest.  Next to the hiway, and close to the coast we saw a couple of herds of Elk sitting in meadows, 1 stag in each herd surrounded by his harem of does.

Our next detour was to “The Avenue of the Giants”. We left 101 to take the scenic route about 30 miles of driving between giant coastal redwoods; I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing these magnificent trees. Richardson Grove is about 70 miles south of Eureka. All that seems to be here is a campground, a few cabins, a gift shop, a wood carving shop and a couple of gas stations. This is another nice campground, among the trees and next to a State Park. Note don’t camp under an acorn tree, as they have a habit of dropping onto your rig all night. 

Tuesday October 19th (A day in the Redwoods)

Village Camper Inn RV Park Crescent City

Today was another leisurely day; we started off by reorganizing our gear from the Chevy and Cassie. We went for a 30mile loop drive from the camp to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. In this state park we saw hundreds of towering old-growth redwoods, a wonderful and surreal feeling, being dwarfed by these magnificent trees. Our 1^st side trip into the forest was down Walker Road to the Smith River, everywhere there were large redwoods and the road weaved among the giant trees. We went for a short walk when we got to the Smith River; it is a clear inviting river. Our next stop was to go for a walk along the Stout Grove Trail, we walked the river trail to get to the Stout loop, probably walked for 2 hours in the redwoods, and it was wonderful feeling to see these immense and magnificent trees growing so well. We drove thru the Park to Crescent City on a very narrow winding unpaved road that also weaved between the towering trees, where motor homes and trailers are not advised. In Crescent City we went for a walk around town and enjoyed looking at Murals that are painted on several of the buildings in town. 

Monday October 18th (Onto California)

Harris Beach State Park to Village Camper Inn RV Park Crescent City

70 miles

We crossed from Oregon into California, and the price of gas jumped about 50cents a gallon. We found a real nice campground on the outskirts of Crescent City. There are many redwoods growing in the campground, which gives the camp a real nice feeling. We drove back to town on Hiway 101 and went to the docks to see the Sea Lions. The 1^st one we saw was sun bathing on the end of a dock we thought it was a statute until it moved. We drove the scenic tour of town, sat at a point and watch several grey whales blowing mist. Today was also the 1^st day in many that we had internet access, but this was limited. I had to drive down to the office and sit outside to get wifi connection, it kind of felt like I should have been sitting outside a library.

Sunday October 17th (Lots and Lots of Sea Lions)

South Beach State Park to Harris Beach State Park

200 miles

We had a long day driving today; it was a much longer 200 miles than we though it would be there were so many Scenic stop to get check out In many ways the Oregon Coast reminded us of the Great Ocean Highway in Australia, with its many pull offs and magnificent scenery. The highlight today without a doubt was south of Heceta Head Lighthouse where we saw thousands of sea lions on the beach and rafts of them in the ocean. The noise they were making was incredibly loud their barking never ceased. We also saw several light houses today, dotting the Oregon Coast there are nine light houses, we saw eight of them. The one we didn’t see the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse which is perched upon a rock to help guide ships entering the Columbia River.

Saturday October 16th (Whale sightings)

Cape Lookout State Park to South Beach State Park

70 miles

Today we had a nice casual drive down the Oregon Coast. The highlight of today would have been from one of the many scenic lookouts that we stopped at and saw Grey Whales swimming along the coast; the whales were also heading south. South Beach State Park is another massive campground nearly 300 sites, but the nice thing is that there is plenty of space between the sites and lots of green area and trees. Between the camp and the ocean in the sand dunes there is a pave trial where we rode our bikes. It was particular nice as we were in the trees and protected from a strong northerly wind. There were several people kite surfing, which was fun to watch. In the evening the couple camped next door to us invited us over to share their camp fire with them and their dog Larry. Thad and Misty were from Wenatchee Washington, and were taking their 1983 Volkswagen van on it first trip since putting in a new engine.

Friday October 15th (Coastal Drive)

Cape Lookout State Park

We unhooked Chevy and went for a drive south of here along the coast to Pacific City.   We sat on a windy beach for a quite awhile watching a sea kayaking class getting a lecture on surf entries and exits. We saw the class do a lot of playing in the ocean with out their kayaks, they looked like a pot of sea otters the way they were floating about and been pounded by the surf. We went for a walk to the northern end of the beach and climbed a sand dune that was fun; the wind was blowing real hard we both got a bit of wind burn today. When we were out of the wind it was a very relaxing day. Got back to Cape Lookout State Park and went for another walk on the beach here, the wind was really blowing a gale, blew us back to Cassie, one of the few comfortable places to be in the high wind.

Thursday October 14th (At the Beach)

Tillamook Bay City RV Park to Cape Lookout State Park

17 miles

Well we had a short drive to the coast today, and found a lovely place to camp at Cape Lookout State Park. We are camped about 100 yards from the Pacific Ocean, so we get to hear the sounds of breaking waves, which is always nice and relaxing. We had a nice walk along the beach where we meet a Lynn who was looking for agates along the beach breakwall. Well Holly’s good eye spotted a couple of nice agates, and I thought oh no we have found a new hobby looking for agates, but fortunately that was short lived. We got to witness a beautiful Pacific Coast sunset this evening, took lots of photo’s at different stages of the sunset.