Moving Day, Camped Among the Tall Trees and Future Travel Route

Location: Redwoods River Resort (el. 850 ft); Leggett, California

(click pictures to enlarge)
(pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 Cell Phone)

I moved 150 miles north along U.S. 101. I'm camped among a stand of Coastal Giant Redwoods in a little family owned campground. There are maybe 20 other RV's here and of those maybe only 1 or 2 that are travelers. There others are either permanent or semi-permanent. All of the sites are well maintained and you really have to know what you're looking for to tell that they aren't travelers. There are a lot of family friendly things to do in the campground, but they are not open yet since it is too early in the season. I bet this is a happening place in the summer and packed when the kiddos are out of school. 

This peacock was standing on the side of the road as I pulled out of the KOA this morning

I bought something a couple of years ago in preparation of full-timing. I knew I would be traveling in the west so I ordered the Mountain Directory West from Amazon. The directory lists all of the high passes and steep roadway grades for the western states. Basically, it is every roadway grade greater than 5% or curves sharp enough for an 18 wheeler to side track into the opposing lane. I have confidence that Freedom can pull any grades in the Rockies, even with Liberty attached and with her tanks full. Fully loaded, Liberty tops out at 9,000 pounds. I verified her weight at the FROG rally in Goshen, IN last year. Freedom is rated to safely tow 12,000 pounds so that gives us a 3,000 pound cushion. I figure Ford has also underestimated the towing capacity due to some lawyer telling them to do it for liability protection. I don't officially count that extra, but it is lagniappe. The book lets me know what to expect down the road. 

Good book for anyone towing in the west

Typical landscape about an hour north of San Francisco on US 101

We had the rest area mainly all to ourselves.

This is the road inside the campground going to the campsite. Some of those trees are Redwoods, the tallest living things on the planet.

The road goes right between those two Redwoods. There was about 2 feet on each side of Liberty.

Backside of Liberty with a Redwood in the background

Side view to show the size of the Redwoods

That's Freedom and Liberty in the darkness with sunlight filtering through the tall trees

Looking up at the tall guys. It will make you dizzy looking up so high

Looking across the valley from the campground.

I had to back away to get this one

After I got Liberty all set up, I went to get gas for tomorrow's exploration. The nearest gas station is 10 miles north and the nearest restaurant is 6 miles south. I found a few pictures along the way.

A side view of one of the many bridges over the South Fork of the Ell River

The road follows the river through this valley

More river/mountain views

I usually don't take pictures of my food but in this case I wanted to show what these Californians call Cole Slaw. It had broccoli in it with a hint of horse radish. It looked more like something to put on the sandwich than as a side dish. By the way,,,the Rueben Sandwich was great. 

I'll be here for two days. My plan is to drive to Fort Bragg by way of the coast tomorrow. That trip will show me more Redwoods plus I can compare the coast up here to the one down south. 

I'll move again on Friday to Crescent City, CA. It is the last moderate sized city on the coast of California before Oregon. I'll stay there for at least a week. It seems a nice place to let time catch up to me and possible my mail too.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.