Fort Bragg 5

I'm at a picnic table, the sun is sinking and a cool breeze has come up. Reminds me of the long road trip on the other blog.  

We went down to the Pygmy Forest today.  It's on the south side of Mendocino by a couple of miles.  It's part of Van Damm Park, but not that you would know it.  You don't go into the park to get to the parking lot for the forest.  You go down to Little Rivers, the next town, and we are talking a minor bump on the road.  Then you look for the airport road and follow that up the hill.  In a couple of miles you'll see the first sign for the Pygmy forest.  Once you get there it's quite interesting.  It is an area that used to be sea floor.  Over the last million years an area has risen and the seas subsided to create a small plateau.  This plateau receives very little run off from the hills around it.  The soils have been leached due to a million years of rain and the lack of run off.  The soil is very acidic, and the ground is quite hard and contains little oxygen.  Anything that grows there will be stunted for those reasons. 

The park has a raised boardwalk made of wood that wonders through this plateau.  There are six signs that describe what you are looking at.  

See the above sign for some explanation of what the area produces.  

Here is a shot of Barb with the boardwalk and the trees all around. 

We also drove through Mendocino a bit.  We didn't stop.  The town is very quiet and the stores that are open have restricted entries and exits and the usual stuff about distancing and masks.  The town is still cute, but we didn't find it compelling enough to get out of the car. 

There is a nice beach just down from town and we stopped there for a bit.  Here is a shot of some of the rocks that are outside of the beach. 

There were a bunch of kyakers going out with their guides from a commercial establishment. 

And at that point we wandered back and down to the Yolo harbor area for lunch.  We were going to have clam chowder, but "It won't be ready for an hour."  So Barb had fish and chips with a diet Coke.  "We're out of diet Coke."  OK, then some lemonade.  I broke my Keto vows and had a Macadamia Nut Porter with my burger (no bun, no fries).  The meat was good and the porter was tasty.  The dark beers are probably what I miss most on this dietary transformation. 

We then wandered back to the camper and relaxed, had a snooze and read.  We are now heating some left overs for dinner.  Of course the lunch place gave me two burgers not the one I ordered.  I may have spoken too quickly and it might have been the mask...  Hard to say. 

It will probably be a quiet evening.  I do have a pinot grigio to try, though I'm not sure it's very cold at this point. 

Mendocino 4

It's Sunday and a lot of the folks in the campground have left.  We had folks both left and right and they are gone.  There are others on our back side and they have two sites with two motor homes and three motorcycles.  They are still here. 

Today we slept in until eight, made some coffee and then wandered out to the succulent gardens.  They had a nice selection of things and Barb bought five plants and some potting soil.  Succulents require some special dirt!  Here is a picture of some of the grounds:

The owner was a friendly gal and we chatted a bit.  Interestingly a lot of the businesses up here are cash only.  Not sure why, maybe don't want to share a couple of percent with the banks.  But we have been to the ATM a couple of times.  Here are a couple more of the interesting plants they have:

Then we went down to the Point Cabrillo light house.  There was a mile walk from the parking lot.  We'd been here before.  We'd had a vacation in Mendocino and came up to see the light house.  Not sure when that was.  Our memories are getting fuzzy.  It's a cute building and they have some houses you can rent if you want to vacation there. 

There are some coves that border the light house and some of the seals or sea lions were playing in the water.  Kind of rare as they seem to just lie on the beach for the most part. 

The ocean beyond the light house has some quasi-islands, probably underwater in high tide.  Here is one view, count the sea lions! 

Then we returned back to Fort Bragg and spent some time on the lookouts by the town.  It was windy with some spray in the air, but you got a different view of what the coast looks like:

We ate our stores for lunch and dinner.  Barb threatens clam chowder for dinner tomorrow.  It was a bit cooler today and we did get some sun as we played a couple of games of backgammon on the picnic table. 

We might go into Mendocino tomorrow.  Any rush of tourist might be lessened by then. 

I think that is about it.  Barb is doing a bit of watercolor painting with some success, but perhaps more questions than answers being produced.  It's all good!

Mendocino 3

Well, it's day three here and we are settling in. We slept well and went off to find the donut shop in town.  We knew where it was, as there are about three streets and some alleys in town, stuff is not hidden. 

The donut shop had a lines running 1/2 a block long and we didn't want to wait with a bunch of possibly sick strangers.  We went down a block and found a coffee shop.  We were third in line and masked up.  Met a couple of locals on the way.  One suggested that "if we stopped voting for Isreal then all the white supremacy would go away."  He had that rough sleeper look as a number of folks in town do.  His comments, repeated a couple of times, were not directed to us or anyone else actually.  He was wondering down the street and letting folks know his bit of wisdom. 

 

We got our coffee and sat at the bench outside the shop.  Then we met Mike who came up on a bike.  He was born in Fort Bragg but was moved by his family to Switzerland for 20 years until he found his way back.  He looked to be about 40 or so.  He mentioned that he had spent some time in Oregon as we were discussing bike safety and the differing attitudes in re safety between USA and Switzerland.  He had the look of  a guy spending a lot of time outdoors and mentioned that he was glamping on some family land about 6 miles south of Fort Bragg.  Sounded like he would ride into town every day, a ride of about 6 miles. 

Mike didn't have anything to say about White Supremacy or the Jewish question.  It did seem that he had a bit of the socialist bent however.  

We went back to the same beaches we were at yesterday.  It being Saturday there were more tourists about.  We wanted to get down to Glass Beach as Barb wanted to pick up some of glass.  The beach is now off limits as apparently too many folks have been carting off the glass!  The access to the back looked like it has been eroded and seemed so steep as to be dangerous. 

The story on the beach is an interesting one.  The site is the old town dump.  And it seems they dumped refuse to old cars at the spot.  then they came to their senses and decided that it's not good to dump in the ocean.  But then the folks started to pick up the glass and basically clean it up.  Well, now that is not so good either.  It seems that a lot of the sea life found the junk and glass bits providing nutritional odds and ends.  So stopping the dumping actually caused problems with the sea life!  Who would have guessed and that cleaning it up was not a good thing either! 

Here is a picture of Barb on her chair, don't ask why her pockets are bulging! 

We grilled a couple of steaks last night over a smokey Joe webber grill.  The steaks came out just a touch overdone, but quite serviceable.  We ate on the picnic table and augmented with sautéed mushrooms.  

The weather has been between the mid 50s to the high 60s.  We are wearing fleece jackets and shorts, which is enough to keep us comfortable.  We are getting intermitten sun and I'm getting time in the lounge chair to keep my legs brown. 

We also got a blue tooth speaker at the local Radio Shack.  We been playing some oldies all afternoon.  It seems to be improving the mood as Barb has been painting and I've been reading for the most part. 

Some sea life we found, photographed and then replaced in the sea. 

Above is what the sand looks like in parts.  Note all the bits of glass with the odd sand and rock. 

I think that is it for the moment.  We might venture to the beach for the sunset tonight. 

Tomorrow we may look at the pygmy forest, which is an area with some stunted trees and trails to hike.  

Stay tuned! 

Mendocino Part two

We went to bed pretty early, sinuses aflame. The bed had a soft top and seems to be cupcake shaped. I felt as though I was rolling off all night.

But we slept in for the first time in awhile. The camp ground was quiet enough for that. Made some coffee and took some pills to loosen the sinus cavities. There is the on going debate of this is sinus problems or the deadly virus! If it is the virus, I can live with some sinus issues for a short time. 

We went down to glass beach about 830.  We have been here before, but we remember nothing. I don't think it's changed that much.

We played in the tide pools for a bit. It was cloudy and cool. The light was nice. 

It looks like you will get some pictures! The proof version of the software would just crash. 

Here is barb hanging out. We saw some star fish and other critters. The tide was very low, I'll try to get some huh tide shots too. 

It's a pretty area, for example

lots of sand and fun rocks. The beach is not very far from the headlands. 

We then went into town and got some lunch stuff. Barb needed a charger cable and we were going to get a Bluetooth speaker. I have a lot of music on a player, but no way to play except on earphones. A speaker would allow a little more sociability. Oh well an adventure for later. 

We've retired back to the camper and we snacked and are now napping and relaxing. 

I was interested in some of the local cheeses. I didn't know that cheese could good for 60 bucks a pound... 

OK more later. 

Mendocino Part 1

We are on the road, so don't loot the house please!  Friends have offered their RV for a week and we are up at the POMO campground which is a couple of miles south of Fort Bragg. 

I'm not sure I'll have a lot of earth moving news to report, but Barb just asked if "Was that an earthquake?"  "No, just an RV backing up."  

It is just less than four hours to get up here from Pleasanton.  The traffic was light with it being Thursday and all the virus going around.  Technically I think we have to self quarantine  when we get back.  No one will report us, yes?  Actually everyone up here is masking and we will probably interact with less people here than at home on the pickleball court. 

The towns along the coast do not extend much past the water,.  We are probably one half mile from it now.  The town of Fort Bragg extends about four blocks inland from the highway, which is usually the closest thing to the water.   

Lots of stores and shops here are shuttered.  I'm sure the flu didn't help the economics and tourists are a large source of income.   Add in the seasonality of it all and I'd guess some businesses just slipped away.

We had some food from Safeway for a late lunch.  Chicken off the rotissery, some Genoa salami, fruit and a pork bun for Barb washed down with some diet coke.  

We've both had some sinus issues and headaches the last couple of days, so a siesta seems in order. The last 30 miles getting here is a twisty road - - not much snoozing at the wheel for the stretch from Willett to Fort Bragg. 

OK, we are here and settled in a bit.  I'll publish and leave you all hanging for the excitement of tomorrow's post!

Changes

There have been a couple of interesting and unexpected changes due to my new diet.  I thought I'd pass them along.

About six months before I retired I started to unconsciously shake my head a bit.  This is know as a tick and it's not considered to be harmful unless you can't stop it from happening -- that's what Dr. Google says.  Most of the time I was not aware that I was doing it and when I did notice I was able to control it.  I figured that it was part of getting old and thought no more about it.

But with the loss of weight and diet changes, the tick seems to have gone away.  A friend mentioned that I don't seem to do it anymore and while I hadn't noticed it, I had to agree.

One of the things that occurs with too much insulin in the blood stream, caused by too much carb intake is that the organs and torso area become fat.  Fatty liver disease is now common among non-drinkers and even children these days.  I suspect I also had some of this.  One of the other organs that gets fat is the tongue!  I used to bit my tongue on occasion in the recent past.  Of course as it swelled due to the trauma, I would usually manage to bite it again.  I've not had a bit tongue in months.  I do not miss it, it was unpleasant.  This fattening is one of the problems casing sleep apnea and poor breathing of heavy folks.

That's the latest word from the diet front.  Now, I'm off to make some Keto cookies!

A Run In with the Hell's Angels

Hmm, do they use the possessive apostrophe?   Not important to our snippet of a story, so do not worry dear readers.

It was this morning, a Friday.  The week had flown by, it seemed like Tuesday or something to me.  I had to check my watch to be sure of the day. 

Fridays are early pickleball games.  I was on the freeway at 6:40 and heading east.  The traffic was busy.  This is not the busy direction and with the virus and all, it should have been lighter.  As a proxy for recovery, one might want to take note of that.  I was in the second from the right lane and heading down only a couple of miles.  I heard, then saw the chopper two lanes to my left.  I was going 70 or so.  The car doesn't really go much faster.

The Angel was doing better than that.  Perhaps with a devil may care attitude towards the laws and mores of a just and fair society, priding itself on inclusion and universal comfort.  But he was moving along quickly and passed me.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a real Hell's Angel in situ before.  I had a co-worker who played in a band that played in seedy bars.  They were entertaining one motorcycle gang one evening and then the word was passed that the Angels were going to arrive.  The other social group decided to vacate as the threat of non-peaceable interaction was afloat.

I moved over to the right lane and then into the exit ramp.  It's a long sweeper and dead ends at a light that you rarely catch as the cross street is a state highway.  Today was no exception and as I approached the red light, low and behold here was the Angel in the left hand right turn lane.  My lane too and I stopped behind him.

This was the chance to do a bit of studying.  He had the jacket on with his colors.  Classic Hell's Angels logo, recognizable world wide.  Then there was a pseudo Germanic world war two helmet which also had a sticker on it with the same logo.  One might expect a "Live Free or Die" sticker there too.  It it was there I couldn't see it.

The bike was a Harley, of course.  What was the old line?  "Better my sister in a whore house than my brother on a Honda."  It didn't make it to an advertising brochure, but was in general circulation at some point in my distant past.

Saddlebags - expected but not made of leather.  Looked like a synthetic, heavy nylon with a bit of droop to them.  The bike looked in good condition.  Nothing old or classical that I could see.

Moving down were jeans.  But they might not have been Levi's.  Seemed to have some cargo pockets on them.  A bit unexpected there, clean too, no wear or dirt at all.  And then finally we move down to the boots.  Surely heavy duty leather with chains and a "stomp on the world" look to them.

But no.  I'm startled.  He's is wearing some jogging shoes, trainers for you Brits, track shoes!  Not black either.  These were a surprisingly bright red colored.  High tops?  Nope, somewhat slipper like in design.  I was shocked, shocked.  Had these young fellows who fly the open road with impunity become joggers or civilized to this this extent?

Then the light changed and the turn arrow lighted and we had official permission to be on our way, to join the main road and get on  with our day's activities.  The Angel's bike made some noise at it got up to speed.  He carved into the turn and crossed a couple of lanes to head south down the highway.

My pickleball courts still lay to the east and I motored down to the left turn lanes at the first exit.  I braked gently to a halt to wait for another light change and for a few moments could see and hear the Angel move off down the road.