Day 17 - June 28, 2015

This is a view of the bay at Crescent City, California, from alongside

US Hwy 101.  The road winds and drops to almost sea level as Crescent

City is approached.

This photo looks back to where I made the first photo in

this posting.

Relaxing in Crescent City

Meyers Creek Beach along the Oregon coast

Riding the coast highway.  Not us.  Headed south.

Day seventeen.  June 28, 2015.Overnight in Coos Bay, Oregon.  Still headed north.

When we departed Eureka, California this morning it was 60 degrees.  We expected warmer temperatures as it got later in the day.... but that did not happen.  Today's warm temperatures to the east of us resulted in cool air from the ocean to push inland, which caused foggy conditions for much of the day.  That meant cooler temperatures (57-59 degrees most of the day) as we rode through low clouds and fog along the coast highway.  

Yesterday California Highway 1 and US Highway 101 became one, and as we entered Oregon the California state road designation went away.  We rode and are now on US 101, and we will continue to be on this highway until such point as we start back east.

We continued to see the Sequoia trees (a.k.a. Redwoods) in several locations much of the way to just south of the Oregon-California line.  We passed, but did not stop, at the Redwoods National Park. We did make several stops along the way, and we savored some local "characters" as we went. Many were quiet colorful, and harmless (at least today, and we assumed that to be - in the daytime anyway). You would be surprised (maybe) what people will tell two old guys on motorcycles . . . besides the regular tourist fare information.  

The highway conditions all day today were excellent, with some four lane roads on US 101.  Traffic was moderate, and noticeably less than yesterday. I do not know to what that (less traffic) might be attributed.  Today was/is Sunday, so that may have contributed to less traffic.

We are overnight in Coos Bay Oregon (Pop. 16,000), which is the largest city on the Oregon coast. Along the coast of Oregon the foliage is green and abundant, enjoying the temperate rain forest, with 75-100 inches of rain per year. We will not turn east in Oregon, but if we did we would move from the lush coastal areas to areas which gets very little rain (10-15 inches per year) after only 75 miles from the coast.  And of course further inland means warmer (than 57-59 today along the coast) temperatures.

Our day today started a little later than usual, but that is in keeping with the pace into which we have fallen.  If you check the map you will see we did not cover that many miles today.  We arrived in Coos Bay shortly after 8:00 p.m. PDT.  It was still daylight.  The sun set in Coos Bay at 9:01 p.m. PDT.  Sunset in Memphis today was at 8:18 p.m. CDT.   The further north we go the more daylight we will have at the end of the day, and at the start of the day...for the summer months anyway.  Today we got an additional 43 minutes of light at the end of the day.

Another good day.