DAY 74-77 ~ CALIFORNIA AND HOME!

We continue driving down the coast into California.  We make a short 2-night stop in Arcata to break-up the long distance to Cotati.

After 250 miles and 6 hours we arrive at Mad River Rapids RV Park.  Mad River (the river) does run from the Pacific Ocean several miles north of Arcata and continues down 299.  But that highway is now closed due to the tragic fires going on along that highway and in Redding.  This RV park is okay, but it is full of permanent residents and a lot of them are loud teenagers.  So, it is not as relaxing as we hoped it would be.

ARCATA
Arcata is the first city ever to have a city-zoned "Marijuana Innovation" area.

Arcata is a small town that is stuck in the 60’s and 70’s.  Lots of hippie stores selling tie die, long flowing skirts, flower shirts, incense, etc.  There is even a record shop with lots of record albums.  There are lots of veggie restaurants too.  We had lunch at the Big Blue Café off the center square.  We found this place several years ago and always eat there when we visit.  

After lunch we walked the square and checked out the shops.  Found a few nice art galleries.  

The park square in the middle of town was full of homeless and lots of loud teenagers walking around.  Humboldt State University is in town, but school is not in session now.  So these young people are locals.  We did not stay long.  Did not feel safe.  As we were leaving there was a commotion going on at the edge of the park.  There were police and a young man sitting on the sidewalk with a bloody face and was yelling or crying.  Time to go.

However, a ‘must see’ in Arcata is the Holly Yashi store and factory. Their head quarters is in Arcata and at this store you can see the latest designs and watch their jewelry being made.  Of course, I couldn’t leave the store without purchasing a few things.

  

Also, a fun event happening in town is “finding Waldo”.  If a store has a Waldo sticker on the window, then there is a hidden Waldo inside the store.  Lots of fun for the kids. We found two Waldo’s and it was not easy.

Did you find Waldo?

Tomorrow is HOME SWEET HOME!

COTATI

It was smooth sailing to reach home.  As we drove through Mendocino County we saw two areas of smoke in the hills.  Later we found out that those two fires (Ranch Fire and River Fire) had just started.  It was smokey for the rest of our trip home.
  
After 237 miles and five hours we safely arrived home.  Hello Cotati!

  

Our second trip to Alaska was wonderful.  We visited a lot of the same places and explored new ones.  What surprised us the most is that we had no flat tires this time.  Nine years ago we ended up replacing all four tires on the trailer. 

  

However the paved roads through Alaska and The Yukon were horrible.  Lots of pot holes but mostly the road was buckled with waves and dips.  It was slow going traveling the roads in Alaska.  We had to slow way down as we approached each dip and we were double hit, first with the car and then the trailer.  With each wave and dip we were thrown about the car.  Dave did all the driving, but I was not even able to read, or play games on my tablet or relax as I spent my time "bracing for impact".  Road maintenance would tag the really bad parts of these roads with little red flags.  So with each sighting of these red flags, we slowed down and "braced for impact". 

  

The buckling of the roads is caused by the freeze in winter time.  Ice gets under the road and pushes it up and about.  It is too costly to keep repaving the roads so it is left alone until it gets really bad.  Driving the dirt and gravel roads was much smoother as they are graded all the time and kept smooth. In fact I wish all the roads in Alaska were unpaved.

  

For 77 days we traveled a total of 11,432 miles.    

Below is a summery of our journey:

1.    Traveled for 77 days

2.    We traveled a total of 11,432 miles; 7,502 miles towing the trailer,  3,930 miles in the Ford sightseeing 

3.  Visited 7 US states: California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

4.    Visited 3 Canadian province’s:  Alberta, British Columbia and The Yukon

5.    Visited  25  cities, towns, villages in the US

6.    Visited  19  cities, towns, villages in Canada

7.    Visited  7  National Parks, Monuments, etc

8.    Visited  3  Botanical gardens

9.     Visited  2  Zoos,

10.   Visited  1 Aquariums

11.   Visited  6 Museums

12.   Visited  28 Other Attractions

13.  Attended  9 Events

14.   Experienced 2 crisis: (1) Near collision with stopped car on highway.   (2) Helene (cat) had to have remaining eye removed.  She had a spat with Crystal and had her eye punctured.  Could not be saved.

15.   Experienced  1  happy moment: The joy of finding painted rocks.  

16.    Best attraction:  Anchorage Museum at Rasmunson Center, Chihly Glass and Garden (Seattle, WA), Denali NP, Alaska

17.   Worst attraction:  Alaska Wild Berry Park, Anchorage

18.   Favorite place:  Anchorage, Alaska

19.   Least favorite place:  Arcata, CA

20.   Best RV Park: Toad River Lodge, Toad River, British Columbia; West Glacier KOA, Montana;

21.  Worst RV Park: Sikanni River Campground, Fort Nelson, BC – Rated 1 (total yuck!)

   

During all of our travels I search for heart shaped rocks.  Below is a pic of my find during this trip:

Also, since I found my first painted rock in Dawson City, British Columbia; I fell in love with the idea of painting rocks and hiding them during our travels.  During this trip I bought supplies and gathered river rocks (lots of them all over Alaska), painted 20 rocks and hid them (in plain sight) during the rest of our trip (but kept two of them).  I also hid the 6 painted rocks that I found on this trip.  One of these found rocks was from 'Rohnert Park Rocks"!

Check out my 'group' Traveling Turtles Peace Rocks on Facebook. #joturtle
  

We really enjoyed our journey and adventure this year, but there is no place like home sweet home!

  

Stay tuned for our next Trailer Tripping planned for 2020. 

This is just a rough plan.  This trip is 4 months and covers all the National Parks in the US. We will make some changes and skip National Parks that we have recently visited. See you in two years!