A Wise Man Said To Me: "Pacific Coast Highway is good for the soul"

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It’s day 73 of our road trip. I feel like we’ve done and seen so much already. I’m losing track of weekdays and weekends, losing track of hours and meal times, I guess that’s a good sign.

On November 1^st we took the ferry from Victoria, British Columbia to Port Angles, Washington, and right away we got mugged. That’s right, at the very borders, the border patrol stole our lamb kebabs, an apple and our house plant which was a gift from my grandma. We tried to fight over the plant but there was nothing we could do without the plant’s certificate. I knew I needed specific papers for my dog (which they didn’t even ask to see) but a certificate for my little houseplant?

Once the border mugging was done, we started driving down the famous 101. As Mat was driving, I was looking on the map for a State Park on the coast where we could stop for a night and do a hike. I found Lewis & Clark Cape Disappointment State Park. Oh were we excited to see what all this was about, expecting to see a statue of superman at the entrance. Some of you might also be fooled but this park is in memory of Lewis and Clark the explorers, sent by president Thomas Jefferson, who left from Louisiana and sailed across rivers until they reached their final destination: the Pacific Ocean. We did a beautiful hike up to an old fort that was used during WWII and then to a lighthouse.

We then drove down to Oregon and looked for a place to stay on the coast that also had good cellular reception for me to work a few days. We stopped at South Beach and were amazed by the waves, the beach and well... the Ocean. We thought we’d stay there more than 2 days, but when I found out my former boss was only 5 hours south, we drove off to go meet him and his family.

We arrived at Harris Beach at about 7:30pm and were greeted with delicious dinner with fish they had caught in Newport, Oregon. We had a great time with Jason and his family. They showed us the beach and all the wonders of the tide pools during low tide. They showed us how raising kids in a motorhome is possible. They had such amazing energy and such a positive outlook on life; it was so inspiring to spend some time with them. They left after a couple of days and we decided to stay the week.

Good thing we stuck around, we met another amazing and inspiring couple, John and Francine. They told us stories about their years sailing around the world; the life of the Yachties. We’re going to see them again on the trip that’s for sure. I feel like I’ve known these people forever already.

We then left Harris Beach planning to go to the Glass Beach in Fort Bragg California, but when we realized we’d be driving down Avenue of the Giants after sunset, we decided to stop in Fortuna. It was not a fortunate event, while searching for a place with wifi to facetime our family, we backed out of a parking lot and scratched a parked car. We went inside the restaurant and found the owner. He was very friendly and pretty careless. We exchanged our information and we decided to stay in Fortuna for the night.

We got up bright an early the next day, ready for Avenue of the Giants, and for our second unfortunate event in Fortuna, the Winnebago didn’t start. Mat spent about 3 hours trying to find where the electrical problem was. He knew it was a bad ground, he just had to find where. He finally pinpointed and fixed the problem and we were on our way down Avenue of the Giants. All those problems were quickly forgotten when we saw these massive living trees. Here’s a little text I wrote after a walk in the Redwood forest:

“Driving down 101 from Oregon into California also means entering avenue of the giants. The first encounter with a redwood tree is like meeting an idol, a celebrity or some sort of guru. You remain speechless and you wait for it to say something. It is so great, you feel miniscule next to it. As I tried to reason with myself that this immense tree would not say hi or wave goodbye, I still felt as if it was listening…”

We drove through avenue of the giants and onto CA-1 until we reached Fort Bragg where we found a small private campground called Green Acres. We’re still here today and tomorrow we’ll go see the glass beach and then head out closer to San Francisco.

Life on the road is getting better and better. I’m so grateful for all the wonderful people I’ve met already. All the experiences I’m living on the road, even the harder ones is making me stronger. Everyday, I discover a little more who I am. I hope you all get to live your dreams and find yourselves.

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