Turning North

We woke early this morning and departed Yosemite shortly after 6 am. The weather was cool as it has been every morning in Yosemite. Looking up from our cabin (most of our looking in Yosemite was “up”) I was struck by how much our “morning view” has changed over the past week. The photo below is what towered over us in Curry Village.



Leaving Yosemite Valley on CA 120 we once again faced winding climbs and steep descents as we first made out way over 6,000’ and then headed down towards sea level. As we approached San Leandro, just south of Oakland, I decided to make a quick stop for old-times sake and visit the church where I was an intern in 1985-1986. I was fortunate in that the two men I hoped to see, Ron Chin and Roger Raybuck, were both in the office. We had a good, though brief, time catching up, and then Roger prayed for us and sent us on our way.

Shortly afterward we crossed the Bay Bridge and entered San Francisco. We spent a short time at Pier 39, eating lunch and buying gifts and souvenirs, and then we headed for the Golden Gate Bridge and the trip north. There has always been something magical to me about this bridge, which I first crossed on a bicycle in 1981, and crossing it today meant that we had reached the end of the western part of our journey. This was the place where I had decided to turn over the route planning to the boys, and they decided to forgo the rugged coastal route 1 and travel north on Hwy 101 instead. Both boys are really looking forward to being in Vancouver, and they want to get there as soon as possible. I am looking forward to being there, too, but for a different reason; we will a couple that were close friends from my days in CA, and I’m looking forward to catching up on the past 21 years!

Driving north on Hwy 101 we passed through rolling fields of fruit orchards and vineyards, which were gradually overtaken by hills draped with evergreen trees. About 100 miles north of San Francisco we entered some dense forests of Redwood trees. At times we almost needed to turn our headlights on as the giant trees completely blocked the road from the sunlight. We all felt that these trees were more impressive than the Sequoias, because they were found much closer together.

The last 90 miles of today’s journey, ending in Eureka, CA, covered ground that was part of my bicycle tour. As is our custom, I relaxed in the hotel room and sorted through pictures and wrote while the boys went out to dinner and to explore this small city. Tomorrow we travel north along the coast and through more redwood country and make our way into Oregon.