Awake: 6:55am Temp 57 sleep 7+36 fog-rain overnight @ the Lucky (7) Casino, CA.
K & I each have a hot Kathy muffin for breakfast, then leave the Lucky (7) Casino @ 9:30am. It’s not a good travel day but we feel we gotta speed our southern pace to get out of this present & future fog & rain scenario that’s moving into the coastal region.
(25) miles down the road in Crescent City, we park off the main street & Kathy walks a block to the visitors center for more info on CA. “They only have info on the Redwood National Forest” Kathy tells me; so we continue thru the rain & fog.
When US-101 turns inland south of Crescent City, it follows a river thru the higher elevations; a lot of hairpin turns along with the fog & rain, keeps my attention on the road; however, seeing all of these tall & majestic redwood trees is truly a sight to behold.
Did you realize that the redwood trees grow from a seed the size of a tomato seed, yet it may weight (500) tons & stand taller than the Statue of Liberty. Kathy was so fascinated with seeing these monsters that she talked me into diverting off US-101 & driving the Newton B. Drury Scenic Pkwy thru the thicker & more abundant Redwoods. That hwy had even more hairpin turns, narrower road, & steeper hills then previously experienced. It was a beautiful & awesome tour but obviously the wrong day to do this; the greater the elevation, the heavier the fog with more rain.
Getting back on US-101 after that slowdown was like a vacation in my easy chair; now US-101 is a (4) lane hwy & smooth roads. Still casually looking for more CA tourist info, we take business (101) thru the town of Fortuna to no avail.
Somewhere south of Fortuna, we get ahead of the fog & drizzling rain; I ask Kathy to casually look ahead for a suitable campground for tonight. She looks thru our campground books, makes a few cell phone calls & comes up empty. So far, many of the campgrounds she called are either closed for the season or cannot accommodate our size rig.
North of Cloverdale, Kathy finds the River Rock Casino near Healdsburg; we agree that this should be an ok parking spot to spend the night. Now we’re traveling thru wine country. Vineyards everywhere; in the hills & in the valleys; sometimes as far as the eye can see.
Exiting off US-101 & driving thru the town of Healdsburg, more vineyards as we make our way to the casino. Something doesn’t look right; this is like the middle of farm country & they have a casino nearby? We make a left turn @ the River Rock Casino sign, start climbing up a winding steep hill, pass a booth that probably we should have stopped @ but did not want to & finally arrive @ a huge building under construction that most likely will be a casino soon. Here we see a young lady motioning us to pull in an area of temporary parking & obviously wanting to talk with us; looking around now, we see a small canvas casino tent next to a very small parking lot. The young lady asks our intentions: “we would like to spend some time here & park for the night” I tell her. She replies, “Well ah, it’ll be ok to visit our casino but we don’t allow overnight parking.”
So it’s back “on the road again” & continue south on US-101. Now we’re getting close to Santa Rosa & rush hr traffic. Going thru the Redwood scenic drive & over to the casino with no overnight parking has gotten my attention, esp looking at our fuel gauge. I had planned on fueling up @ Flying “J” in Lodi, CA but now?
Darkness is near, we have no plans for exiting for an overnight stop & that fuel gauge can’t be ignored. Kathy is cool but concerned; my eyes are concentrating on the stop & go rush hr accordion. “Should we focus on fuel or overnight parking” she asks me. “Both” I tell her.
Using Lady Garmin, our trusty GPS, she finds a Valero fuel station; we exit in the dark & carefully pull into the station with some planning to pull out without detaching our Suzuki. Kathy checks with the attendant inside the building; “no diesel” she reports, “but our sister station up the road does have diesel available.”
With the heavy traffic hr & darkness, I make a goof by crossing the hwy & going past the road that we should have taken; we end up in a shopping mall parking lot near the Target Store. Kathy suggests we spend the night here but will check with the night manager to make sure it’ll be ok. This time she reports something different: “no overnight parking allowed.” “That’s the bad news, would you like the good news” she asks with a smile. I take my time in answering that tough question but finally say: “yes, go ahead, make my day.” “There is a Wal-Mart just up the road that permits overnight parking.”
Phew, saved by Wal-Mart! The lower section of the huge parking lot had about (8) spots open just for us. I shut down the engine, lock the Suzuki & invite Kathy for dinner @ the Outback Restaurant, just across the parking lot where we each celebrate with a New Castle beer & share a filet steak dinner. What an adventurous day!
Today’s travel: 333 miles 8+21 hrs 62 gal used 5.4 mpg 39.9 mph avg speed.
Back in the bus, we both do some searching on Lady Garmin for that sister Valero diesel fueling station for tomorrow.
Travel high temp=65 Lights out: 11:14pm
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