Tuesday 22nd March
Today was a getting there day though we passed through some amazing locations with long wave swept beaches, rugged cliffs and deeply incised valleys to get from Eureka to our overnight stop at Reedsport. We started under heavy skies and light rain with clouds and mist clinging to the mountains where temperatures dropped quickly. Warning signs reported difficult conditions on the east bound high level routes to the Interstate 5. In fact, at breakfast time, some truckers who had overnighted in the hotel were commenting about their companys provision of extra chains for their journey eastwards.
Our journey took us through more forest of giant redwood trees, some locations having been used in films such as The Return of the Jedi and Jurassic Park. We passed through a sprawling little town called Crescent City and discovered that not much was there because most of the place had been destroyed by a tidal wave following the 1964 Alaskan earthquake and more recently by the 2011 Japanese tsunami. We continued through the forest passing the smallest of places trying to attract tourists by whatever means possible, such as the massive statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue ox, along what is known as The Trail of Tall Tales!
Back down to earth we passed through Coos Bay and North Bend where the lumber industry sees the waterfront lined with logs, cut timber and wood chip in huge piles waiting to be loaded onto ocean going ships. These ships dock here because of the deep water resulting from glaciation. The wood chips are sent to Asia where they are turned into paper.
