Date: 11/08
City: Eureka, California
Miles ridden: 208
Cumulative miles: 9932

Started early today – we were on our way by 8:45AM. At the beginning of the CA 36 we found a sign: “Windy road for 146 miles”. Then it started to get hot. First the landscape looked a bit like Australia in summer, brown mountain hills, just a couple of minutes later, we rode through a pine forest reminding me of Austria, only much hotter. After 80 miles, we stopped a road house/bar, had some coffee and an ice cream, filled up the bikes and then once more left the air-conditioned road house. Reluctantly. 🙂

The road was winding nicely, and after while we entered an area with big red trees. It was amazing to ride through them, it felt was nice and cool as long we were riding under the big reds. As soon we came out of the red trees, though, it was hot again. When we got close to highway 101 it got noticeable colder. Eventually we arrived in Eureka, settled in our room, had a swim in the heated indoor pool, and took a picture in front of our bikes:

Inside our room we actually switched on the heater – the first time in more than 2 months! Next we got ready for a bit of sightseeing. When we walked towards the beach we stumbled across a snake, sunbathing on the footpath. It was a little annoyed with us for disturbing its peaceful afternoon. Not sure what type of snake it was, but we kept our distance just in case.

After that we passed the beautiful Carson mansion, which was built 1886 as a home of a lumber baron.

While looking for a nice restaurant we found some nice wall paintings on the way.

After a nice meal at a Thai restaurant we walked back to the motel and came across a nice church.

After that we got home and packed the bikes so we can start early again tomorrow.

 

Date: 12/08
City: Bandon, Oregon
Miles ridden: 191
Cumulative miles: 10123

We managed to start early so we had plenty of time to get to Bandon, 190 miles from here. This time it is mostly highway along the 101. It was foggy, so we put our heated inner jackets on, and took a short detour around the Arcata bay. It was too foggy to see anything from the coast,

but we saw a group of vaulters and a red tail hawk on the side of the road. We continued on highway 101 and at times the highway was covered completely in fog.

Sigrid bike pants got wet from the fog, so we stopped at a rest stop for her to get rain trousers out. This stop was nested in huge red wood trees, amazing.

When a big red tree is cut burned down, young trees grow from the established root system around the cut tree.

We continued in the fog and after a while the road turned inland. All of the sudden the fog was gone and the sun was out. The temperature started to rise and we were thinking of getting rid of our heated liner. Then we turned to the cost again, and the sun was gone and the fog back bringing the colder temperatures with it once more. This time I switched the heated vest on. Have a look at the ocean view from the highway 101 (on the left hand side of the car is the ocean).

After a while the fog started to lift and we could see the ocean from the road. The fog had its own beauty but I prefer sunshine.

We arrived in Bandon, moved into the motel and had a look at the old township. We found a couple of nice sculptures, a beach chair and a nice fish shop.

Date: 13/08
City: McMinnville, Oregon
Miles ridden: 197
Cumulative miles: 10320

Started early again, after filling up the bikes we started to ride on the cold foggy road again. We found the same pattern as yesterday. The fog got thicker when we were close to the coast and the sun comes through as soon we went away from the cost. We had a couple of stops at some vista points, when the fog was gone, the view was great.

We had a stop in Waldport, a small coastal town to get a coffee. After asking in a couple of restaurants/shops we got coffee and a nice burger in a pub (Flounder Inn). When we were drinking our coffee we saw a toy shop opposite, that looked interesting. So we went and had a look. It turned out to be a wood carving shop that had great figurines, wooden toys and a bear chair. We couldn’t resist sitting in it.

After we took some pictures, we continued our trip and as soon we turned inland, the temperature started to rise again. We didn’t stop, but with our heated liner under the motorcycle jacket it became very warm. When we arrived at the American Best Value Inn in McMinnville, Ivo the manager started to talk to us about the bikes and where we are from. It turned out he had some friends in Sydney and visited them a couple of times and he collects old English motorcycles. We talked about his bikes, about Royal Enfield’s and about our Indian trip. In the evening we did a bit of bike maintenance. Tomorrow we have a look at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum and maybe have a swim in the pool there. 😀

Date: 14/08
City: McMinnville, Oregon
Miles ridden: 7
Cumulative miles: 10327

The next morning we went to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum that was just 3 miles from our hotel. Wombat and Val were talking about it and they were particular amazed by the Boing 474 on the top of a pool slide. When we came close to the destination I could see what they were talking about.

The whole setup was just nice.

The biggest – and most physical – attraction was the Spruce Goose, a water plane that has a larger wing span then the airbus A380. There was only one prototype built and it flew only once in 1947. It is hard to get a whole plane on one picture.

The museum had different section of planes, from the early pioneers to the modern fighter jets.

After that we went on to the Space Museum, which was just opposite of the Aviation building. This time we took a guided tour and they guided us through the exhibits of the early rocket design up to the space race. We also saw the original rocket launch command centre which didn’t look as big as I imagined. The countdown to launch a rocket took 26 hours.

They had shortened that to 5 min and I was standing in the way of the tour guide, so he got me to start the sequence.

That was quite amazing. They even got the effect right that the building shook after the launch. Before we realised it, the day was gone and the Museum closed, so there was no time for a slide from the 747…