"Eureka!  You've found it!!" is what I expected to find posted on the welcoming sign as you enter that northern California town.  There was no welcoming sign at all, just a lot of motel signs lining the main drag as far as the eye could see.  I snagged a Motel 6 for $49.99 (my goal!), and it was nice enough, but the wifi didn't work.  So I'm in McD's for another free session.  But this will be painfully (for me, not for you) short, since it's almost noon already.  But I have to briefly cover two jam-packed days:

Main event on Monday was leaving the coastal highway and taking rte 128 into the wine and pot growing country (both legal!) to visit my old and dear friend who lives in one of the 4 little (and very special, I've learned) towns in the Anderson Valley.  Hers is Boonville! The road was the most incessantly and exhaustingly winding switchbacky road I've ever had to negotiate.  But it was a really special visit.  Life in that small, very rural and very communally oriented town, is soooo different from life on the fast lane in Claremont/LA, that's for sure.  It's a lot like a northern New England hill country life style, very rustic and backwoods looking, but the homes (she tells me) can cost in the millions, and the residents are fugitives from professional lives, many in their 80s and going strong.  She's found a very meaningful life of diverse community activities, and I was so impressed and happy for her. And a little envious.

The road from Boonville back to the coastal highway passed many little family vineyards and wineries, all with "Wine Tasting" signs.  Then it went through the first dense redwood forest I'd gotten to.  Wonderful.  Then, on the coast, I stopped at a lighthouse site, got a little exercise walking to it and back, and watched and video'd the sunset over the Pacific. (I'd estimate it splashes down around Hawaii, but that's just a guess.  Far enough away so you can hardly hear the sizzle, though.)  It was a sweetly uneventful sunset, almost no color at all!  But the cold wind was ferocious.  Felt like a good workout when I was done.  Motel 6 in Ft. Bragg.

Yesterday was all about Redwoods.  Rte 101 is called Redwood Highway (yes, I drove through the first drive-through tree, for $5), and there's a 32 mile diversion called Avenue of the Giants, where you see all the redwoods Gov. Reagan dismissed in his memorable comment. He only saw one.  I saw them all!   Driving through them, lining the road for miles at a time, was, indeed, an awesome experience, but stopping and walking the trail through Founders  Forest was really special.  The path was softly cushioned with the tree droppings, the smells were invigorating, and exploring the details of the trees, like the huge cavities in some of the bases, and the many fallen trees in various stages of decay, covered with the new life of vegetation they support, and the unbelievably massive roots.  It's quite a hike just walking from one end of a fallen redwood to the other.  They get to be well over 300 feet tall.

So it was a relatively relaxing day, but no less awe-inspiring.  One of the things this trip has already taught me is that it's truly amazing how many different kinds of Amazing there are.  And that's just in California!

Thanks for reading this.  I gather some people are actually doing that!!  I'll try to make it worth while. Do write back and let me know what you're up to as well.

As every total stranger in California says: "Have a good one, buddy!"