January 28 2020 Richardson Grove to Olema, California

When we planned our trip south this year, we decided that not only did we want to skip I-5, we wanted to travel the famous Highway 1, right along the coast. Looking back over our journals, I discovered that we have traveled this route in a motorhome 3 times prior to this one. I remember the first time we did it in the baby MoHo back in 2005 and I spent much of the time being carsick.

We woke to fog instead of rain, and were thrilled to see something that might actually be sunshine waiting above us. I decided to drive first, when I am most alert and energetic. I also remembered those curves that start right after turning west at Leggett and winding over the coast range toward the ocean. This section of Highway 1 may be the most narrow of its entire length. The good part is that while the road is winding and very narrow, there are few drop-offs on the shoulder, and the only issue to manage is making sure your mirror doesn’t hit the overhanging rocks on the passenger side of the road. Mo jumped more than once when she thought I was too close.

The sun came and went during that part of the trip, and by the time we reached the open ocean, the skies were opening enough to see the magnificent views. Mo took the wheel so I could take photos, and then I was the one jumping a bit when the cliffs looked entirely too close. There aren’t many pullouts along this section of highway and we were especially lucky that on this wintry day there was very little traffic.

We passed through Fort Bragg, a favorite hangout for many of my old California friends, and continued south past Mendocino toward Manchester Beach. Our friend Moira, from our days at the Klamath Falls apartments has relocated to work and live at the KOA campground there. Seemed like a good time to stop in for a visit, and we had called her before we left to make arrangements to meet.

Moira met us with a delicious lunch and after letting Mattie and Moira’s dog Muddy play a bit in the dog park at the campground, we cozied up in the MoHo to eat and visit. I completely lost track of my duties as photographer, and somehow the only photo I took of the entire visit was a bright red mushroom in the thick grass.

The road south of Manchester was another narrow winding stretch. There were many slides and sections of roadway that were being repaired with the road reduced to one lane in several places. With all the rains, we were lucky that the road was open all the way to our destination for the evening.

Even though the distance we traveled was seemingly short, we didn’t make it to our campground in Olema until just after dark. Setting up in the dark is something we try very hard to avoid. After all the rain, there were huge puddles to navigate, but once at our site it was relatively dry with bark strewn around to help with the mud.

We set up in record time, choosing to only plug in the electric. We had plenty of water and sewage space on board after only two days on the road. Dinner was a simple reheat of our great fish and chips supper from the previous day. We didn’t need much after our lovely lunch with Moira.

The next morning we woke to a thin fog that dissipated almost immediately, paving the way for gorgeous skies for our day sight seeing at the Point Reyes National Seashore.  I have to thank Nickie from Out and About for the story about their visit to Point Reyes.  Reading Nickie’s blog, I decided that Olema Campground was the perfect jump off place for our explorations.

There were only a few rigs parked, and none very close to us.  The campground is laid out in what seems a very random manner, but the small keyhole areas work well for creating nice space between campers.  We were looking forward to our two days to relax and to explore.