After having some enjoyable times along the California (and briefly Oregon) Coast, it was now time to officially turn around and begin the long journey east. In one sense the trip really begins now. The hard deadline for the conference is now over. While I did set a return date for May 22nd and I do have something I want to see in Oklahoma on May 14th, these are "soft" deadlines. I could always miss the OK event and I could always extend the rental car, though it's expensive to do that.
One thing I forgot to mention in previous posts was that I could somewhat see the allure of the Redwoods as an idea for the second half of the movie Return of the Jedi (1983). The premise was ridiculous: people riding flying "speeder bikes" at super high speed through dense forests of giant trees (obviously with the actors sitting on a model bike with a blue screen background). But I could still see the allure of moving a camera through the Redwood forests and then speeding up the film to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
I also forgot to note in yesterday's post that I did fall for the tourist trap of driving through a live Redwood tree. It was only $5. For all the hype, it was underwhelming. The tree also was not nearly as big as I expected, particularly compared to other trees. In fact, despite having a small car, I was really afraid my mirrors would get scratched or even taken off when trying to squeeze through. After I finished, someone went through with an SUV and just made it.
Fortuna is inland. I did plan to take one last look at the Pacific Ocean. It would be a forty minute ride north to do that. Then I'd add an extra forty minutes to my destination. However, the day was so dreary and overcast that I figured it would be a waste of time as the beaches would probably either have a lot of fog or just be too dreary. It was better to remember what I saw from the previous days.
My destination was Yuba City, CA. Beyond going to church, there was nothing particular that I wanted to see there. It was simply a reasonably priced hotel. I did recall many times seeing the name Yuba City on the map and thinking it was an interesting name. Yuba City is 4 1/2 hours from Fortuna. My next tourist attraction was Virginia City, Nevada (staying in Carson City, the state capital), but it was just too much to go all the way there in one day. And, as you'll see in the report for April 25th, it's a good thing I didn't try it.
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Much of the ride to Yuba City involved going south on US 101, covering the same territory I had covered Thursday. However, the sun was out (on Thursday it was mostly overcast) and I somehow saw a lot more than I had seen going up. There were spots where there were Redwood trees along US 101. Somehow, I didn't notice that going north.
The road twisted and turned quite a bit and cell phone service was generally not available. I noticed signs for other tourist traps allowing people to drive through a living Redwood tree. So, the one I saw was not the only one despite some of the advertising to the contrary.
Gas became significantly cheaper as I left the coastal area. It ranged from $3.05 to $3.11 rather than $3.25 or $3.29 along the CA coast.
One thing I noticed throughout my time in California, particularly in the north, were the number of hitchhikers. I have seen hitchhikers throughout my travels, but never this many.
As I left US 101, there were various small towns and at least one very beautiful lake along the way. The mountains I passed through were gorgeous. Abruptly, the mountains went away and I came into totally flat land with farms. Things didn't smooth out to rolling hills first; it was just very abrupt.
Yuba City is a fairly flat area. Apparently, Yuba City and Marysville next door were part of the gold mining area. However, the modern tourist area related to mining is Nevada City, about sixty miles east of Yuba City. For the most part, Yuba City (the parts that I saw) were just a series of shopping areas with big box stores. The only thing lacking was a Walmart. I wanted to find a Walmart and looked it up in the GPS. The GPS took me to a now vacant building which looked like it could have once housed a Walmart supercenter.
This would be my last night in California. The next day I would be heading further east into Nevada.
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