May 12 - Ukiah & the Redwood Highway to Kelly’s Family Campground

Man oh man was there ever a ton of sunshine today. The people in Eureka seemed accustomed to it but after riding through miles of nasty rain it was a welcome sight. Today’s journey took me down US 101 to the little town of Leggett where I turned off to CA highway 1. If you’ve never been on that route it’s one of California’s most scenic drives and very popular with bikers. Usually that is, but today for some reason I was the only one out there.

I followed highway 1 through Fort Bragg and shortly after passing Noyo I headed east on highway 20, aka Fort Bragg-Willits road. This stretch of twisties leads to Willits where I headed south on 101 to my destination of Ukiah. Riding a sidecar rig on twisty roads is not the most enjoyable way to spend your day but from an exercise point you get plenty of it. My arms were protesting loudly by the end of the day.

In Ukiah I gassed the rig up and using the Zumo checked out the campgrounds in the area. Kelly’s Family Campground was within striking distance so I called to see about space. The owner’s comments made the place seem inviting so I headed out, arriving around 5:00pm and after checking in I set up camp. There weren’t many other campers, probably due to the early season and kids still in school. After getting the tent and the rest of the gear settled I met Mike, another camper traveling solo from his home in Oklahoma. He was on his way to visit his father at one of the California Veterans homes and had been camping along the way. Mike was super nice, the kind of guy who asks if you need anything when he was heading to the store in town. I’d neglected to pick up milk so he brought a quart back for me, then shared his fresh loaf of bread and even gave me his extra ice. What a nice guy.

I didn’t stay up late, just ate my dinner of sardines in mustard sauce on whole wheat crackers followed by gourmet Top Ramen noodles, all chased down with cold milk. Lord that sounds awful but at the time it seemed appealing enough. Shortly afterwards I crashed on my short-legged cot and listened to one of the podcasts Linda had loaded on the iPod for me. Sleep came very easy.