Day’s distance – 271 miles

Total Trip distance so far – 761 miles

The weather was similar to the previous days with a touch more fog in the morning and more heat in the afternoon. The low was 59 along the coast and the high was 94 inland on Hwy 101 this afternoon. Winds were light.

I arrived at the California border about 9:30am. Had to stop and get the photo 🙂

I put off breakfast until I reached Crescent City. Oatmeal and fruit were my choice at the Good Harvest Cafe.

My favorite part of Hwy 101 along the Oregon coast is south of Gold Beach to Brookings. The highway is largely uninterrupted by the small towns that populate most of Oregon’s Hwy 101.

In California, Hwy 101 initially moves inland and through farm land. Then it becomes a divided highway and the traffic builds up before largely disappearing again around the Redwoods National Park. It remains mostly divided highway and isn’t bad – 65 mph with wide sweeper turns and good surfaces. But the highlight of the day is when I turned off Hwy 101 for California Hwy 1 in Leggett, California.

Here begins curvy bliss – about 22 miles of one of the best roads on the Western coast.

The road surface is generally excellent and characteristics include elevation changes, tight blind corners, no guardrails, and little traffic.

Most of the road has no shoulders, especially the really tight parts. But I stopped in a few places to try to capture some of the moments, if not the best parts of the road.

Soon enough, about 40 minutes later, your out of the redwoods and on the coast.

There were multiple sites along the coast where work crews had one lane shut for repairs. It takes a lot of work to keep Hwy 1 open through the years.

Many parts of Hwy 1 are just magical.

I arrived in Fort Bragg before 4pm and got cleaned up for dinner experience at Cucina Verona.

Dinner was yummy …

and Tommy Grotton was playing guitar. That’s Joe on the bass, co-owner with his wife Kathleen of the restaurant. Tom used to ride a BMW RS 1100 but gave up riding when he turned 70.

It was a fun day all around.

Tomorrow I arrive at my friend Craig’s in Oakland. Getting there, I’ll be taking another fun road, Hwy 128.