Fortuna, and north on 101 (130)

We left the Bay Area in July and headed up the coast on Highway 101 for a 3-week RV trip. We had originally planned to travel up I-5, but made a last minute detour to the coast due to the heat and smoke the inland areas were experiencing.

Normally heat isn’t much of a problem, but our rear AC had gone out back in May and a national shortage due to Covid meant we were still waiting for the replacement 3 months later with no ETA in sight.

We also decided on 2 night stays at each location on our way up the coast so we could see a few local sites. It’s good to be retired and not in a hurry!

Our first day of travel took us through the redwoods on the way to the coast.

We stayed at a little RV park in Fortuna called Riverwalk RV Park. It was a good place to stay for our first 2 nights. It is walking distance to this view of the Eel River. There is a walking path along the river that we enjoyed. We also stopped by the Eel River Brewing Co. for a dinner on their patio.

The next day we visited nearby Ferndale to walk the downtown and enjoy the Victorian architecture of the area.

There are several quaint stores along the Main Street and we found the Main Street Coffee Company made a pretty good latte.

At the end of Main Street on the left is an old cemetery on the side of a hill, a final resting place for many early Ferndale residents. It was very peaceful there and from the top you can see all the way to the ocean.

We enjoyed our visit to Fortuna, though we had to skip a few nearby places this time, including the nature preserve and Eureka old town, but we’ll be back.

We ran into a road construction issue the next day on our way to Oregon. Highway 101 was open to traffic only 3 hours during daylight, from noon to 3pm! Luckily I checked the maps app the day before. It had us detouring through winding mountain roads for an additional 6 hours! After some research we found it was still open for 3 hours, so we made sure we were in line an hour early. Waiting in line in a motorhome, of course, is easy peasy. We have our fridge, water, bathroom, etc. Still, CalTrans had honey buckets setup for those in cars, and they even came by to offer water and granola bars.

Shortly after noon we were on our way towards the Oregon Coast!

Al & Deb