Twists and Turns

RIDDLE, OREGON: I left Berkeley this morning and drove north on US-101. Today the trip itself was the thing to see as I drove along some of America's most beautiful scenery. Instead of taking another interstate, I picked a road that is almost as fast and many times more interesting. Parts of 101 are local roads, but other parts are full-on highways (or as they pronounce it out here, "freeways.") The twists of the road - many more than you'd guess from looking at the map - were due to the road's location along mountain ridges, river valleys, and (in the north) the Pacific coastline.

After leaving the Bay Area, the road moves into the Redwood forests of northern California. These massive trees are hundreds of years old, and bigger than anything we have back east. Even better, there was one hollowed out to make a hole big enough for a car to drive through. I tried to snap a picture as my own car went through but it came out blurry, so I took this one of somebody else's. I got back on the road and winded through some more redwood forests. After Eureka, California, 101 turns toward the coast and the forests give way to even more spectacular views of the rocky beaches. The weather was beautiful, too, and I was pleasantly surprised to be riding around in 70-degree temperatures in June. After Crescent City, I switched to US-199, which was , if possible, more curvy than 101. The going was slow as it passed through towns, but eventually this took me to I-5 in Oregon and to this hotel. The only other thing I see around here is an Indian casino. Those places can either be fun or depressing as hell. If there's no baseball on TV, maybe I'll check it out.