Gold Beach (OR) – Cotati (CA) – 635Km
California here I come. First ride in California. Tonight I am staying in my friends house in the Sonoma county. I don’t want to be there after dark, but Mike and me are chatting along this morning and we make it into Crescent city around lunch time only.
We bid farewell to each other at this point, and we head together for the Redwood park. The twisty road through the forest bypass a boring stretch of Hwy 101 and is really cool. I would recommend removing any shades first at it gets pretty dark.
The fog today seems to be lifting up a bit and the temperature is on its way up. Little do I know then how Hot its gonna get. Hwy 101 takes a turn in land at this point. The road is smooth and speed increase drastically after Eureka, but not enough to cool me down. Instead to keep on Hwy 101 all the way to Cotati (My final destination), my plan is to get back along the coast down all the way to bodega bay by using Hwy 1 and going through Fort Brag.
The 40 miles or so to Fort Brag is the most amazing twisty road I have been on since taking up riding. As I left Hwy 101 behind the road climbs over a mountain range through pretty dense forest. A Jeep cherokee is in front of me, but not slowing me down. After a couple of miles, I am actually sort of struggling to keep up. At the top there is a pull over place, and the Jeep stops. I am so happy behind that I stop next to the driver window. A really cute girl is at the wheel, and roll down her window. I ask the stupid question if wether or not she knows the road, and I ask her to carry on. Man o man, the climb was nothing. The way down was absolutely nuts. I am so glad this amazing driver was in front of me. Well in 4 years and a bit in North America I have no hesitation in awarding the “best driver” award to this cute girl. She waved goodbye only a few miles north of Fort Bragg, and yes I should have stopped.
The fog reappeared on the coast again, despite peoples in Oregon predicting warmer weather down south. I sort of made a wrong turn , or to be exact missed a turn, and got away from the coast via another dense forest. The road was getting nicer with some longer curves, and speed increased again. Hwy128 allows a reconnection with Hwy 101 at Cloverdale level. This stretch of road got pretty hot, that I finally gave up and remove the inside liner of my riding jacket. At this point I just wanted to make it to my destination. Was this loop via Fort Bragg worth it? Hell yeah !!
Mike from Viginia Beach.
Redwood forest
Nono and NatNat in Cotati