Saturday, February 2, 2013

West Coast travel: Fog, logs and a winding road


Foggy morning

On Day 6 of our October West Coast trip, Husband Walter and I experienced a thrill ride on Highway 20, the two-lane state roadway we drove from Willits, California, to the rugged Pacific Coast. We departed the valley terrain of Willet and snaked our way over two summits and through the Mendocino Range, all with the added challenges of heavy fog, tight curves and oncoming trucks hauling heavy loads of logs.

Below are photos I took through the windshield of our rental car . . . when I wasn’t gripping the edge of my seat or scrunching my eyes shut.

Fog plus curves


And logs



And more logs

Note the 25 mph speed sign alerting us to the hard right turn that the oncoming truck had just exited. There were a number of those on the 28-mile drive.


Willet trivia, thanks to Wikipedia: The Willits area is the final home of the racehorse Seabiscuit. Ridgewood Ranch, where Seabiscuit trained, recuperated, lived out his retirement and was buried, is located a few miles south of the city.

6 comments:

  1. Nerve wracking! (Even though I love fog...)

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  2. I would have been peeing my panties. This is what it looks like on our mountain when it gets foggy. We have state of the art fog lites embedded in the highway edges, but it barely makes it better. The log trucks are nerve racking enough without the fog!

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  3. I always hated the fog when I lived in San Francisco back in 1968. These photos conjure up bad memories.

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  4. Memories
    of fog for 55 years for me too.
    I sure don't miss it AT ALL!
    Those big logging trucks are enough to give me heart failure.
    Fog makes for beautiful photos though.
    Our lives have been on a roller coaster this past week.
    Older son lost his job and daughter in law's Dad is in ICU. We almost lost him but seems to be doing better now. God is good and we trust him implicitly.
    As son Steve says,"I have no idea what God has in store but I am VERY excited knowing that I am right where God wants me. Trusting Him 100%. My best days are ahead"
    As a Mom this just makes my heart sing...

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  5. Love the Seabiscuit trivia and the logs are scary as hell. Hope they are from a renewable plantation and not old growth. Dianne

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  6. I would have loved that drive! My late husband, on the other had, would have been white knuckled!

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