Portland Trip - Day 12

2014 Portland Trip Day 12 Monday August 1

Down US-101 Through the Redwoods
Arcata to Willits

Arcata to Willits -- 143 miles

We hit the road at about a quarter to 9:00 from the
Best Western Arcata Inn in Arcata

We passed through Eureka without stopping but did get a few photos
Left: The old Rialto Theater has been refurbished and is now a performing arts center
Right: Mike's Drive-Up does not open to 10:00 so we will have to catch it another trip

Left: Weekend evenings we boys used to gather at the Harbor Lanes and shoot pool
Right: The building used to be a truck terminal owned by my father and two cousins
Since they sold it in the late 50's there has never been a successful business in it

This building was a bar where Eureka hosted the first real, live stripper
I got past the ID check, but one of my buddies dropped his wallet
and the security guard then re-IDed the whole group and we got ousted

Later, after we were done with pool and were having a late snack in Denny's and the stripper walked in.
We were thrilled and giggly to see her in person even though fully clothed.

First stop is in Loleta at the Loleta Cheese Factory

It was still just a little after 9:15 and the new milk from the morning milkings was being processed

They have many samples of their various cheeses and tasting is fun
I guess Guy Fieri must have visited sometime in the past

The highway no longer goes through Rio Dell so we took a side trip

Scotia was a company owned town with a huge saw mill.
You could not live there unless you were an employee in good standing.
The company did not approve of liquor or prostitutes.
So Rio Dell was founded just across the river. Workers used to cross in a row boat for entertainment.

The mill is now just half the size, but there is still a lumber storage yard about half mile long

We left the highway to ride through Weott and then the redwood groves

The little camera had a hard time focusing with the trees so close and moving past so quickly.
This used to be the only highway and big-rigs would fly past each other weaving through the trees.
Many large trees still have scars from too-close encounters.

At about Leggett, it started to get more and more smokey. There must be a huge forest fire to the west

At times the smoke got so thick that it was causing our eyes to water.
I don't know how the fire fighters are able to work for so long in it.

The smoke continued all the way to Laytonville

Just north of Richardson's Grove has always been a tourist trap tchotchke shop

Just below Richardson's Grove is a private tourism Mecca that used to be referred to as French's
Today there was a Regae Festival of some sort going on. Huge crowds, lotsa traffic control

Last year in Willits we had a good lunch in Ardella's Kitchen 77 S Main St
At that time, a woman and daughter had bought the restaurant and were trying to make it work
This year, it was packed and the food was even. Good to see them do well.

After lunch we walked the town and ran into a fabulous used book shop
The owner attends estate sales in the bay area and brings stuff back too sell
One of his specialties is chairs. Particularly old upholstered chairs.

Tired and hot, we checked into the Best Western Inn Willits at 1777 S Main St