This trip started yesterday at 2:30 p.m. and had us leaving Arizona via Kingman on our way to Tulare, California, north of Bakersfield, for an overnight at Budget Inn for the cheapo price of only $39.95. Yesterday got us 587 miles closer to our ultimate destination, and because we weren’t flying, we didn’t need to contend with Thanksgiving-style jammed airports.

We were up and going well before sunrise at 5:45 a.m. this morning. The above photo of the rising sun was taken at a gas stop around 7:00 after we’d merged onto Interstate 5 and visually and olfactorily encountered our first feedlot of cows.

Four hours later and we have moved from cows to pigs here in Red Bluff, California, which is about 200 miles north of San Francisco already. We are making great time.

We are somewhere in Northern California. That’s Mount Shasta in the distance.

Suckers for wildlife, farm life, and life in general, we’ll stop to look at anything that grabs our attention. Nearly every time I spot an animal next to the road staring at us, I can’t help but think of the comic strip The Far Side where a bunch of cows are standing up talking until a car approaches.

You don’t see many ferns or moss growing on cactus in the desert. This is serious eye candy for desert dwellers.

Nothing better than stopping at a roadside funky joint to replenish our energy. Sadly, here in Humboldt County, famous for its weed, there is none of that to be found. Honestly, though, we wouldn’t even consider getting stoned out here on these trips as, first of all, we are driving long distances, and secondly, nature gets us high enough.

How lucky people are to be able to just drive along beautiful winding roads that snake their way through groves of redwoods.

These murals and many more are some of the endearing qualities should you find yourself in Eureka, California. The junkies, on the other hand, suck.

First stop at the ocean on this road trip. We are at Clam Beach in McKinleyville, California. Have I shared with you that we love oceans, rivers, lakes, and waterways of all sorts?

Psychedelic surf bubbles at Clam Beach.

Foggy and mysterious Stone Lagoon, California. Just prior to this, we saw the grazing herd of Roosevelt Elk, but the photo was kind of meh.

Driving through Redwoods National Park at dusk does not make for conducive conditions for the photography of already dark forests.

I found a bit of a clearing that was still receiving just enough light that I was able to capture at least one reasonable photo of some young coastal redwoods. It’s strange to consider that this was the scene some 225 million years ago over in Arizona near Holbrook and the Petrified Forest National Park.

I can’t recall exactly where this was, nor do we have a note that hints at it, but from the time the photo was shot, I’d guess we were still in California just south of the Oregon border, which would imply that this is Crescent City.

Our first yurt visit ever and our first time on the Oregon coast. Our yurt is at Harris Beach State Park in North Brookings, Oregon. Our impression is that we LOVE YURTS!!! Tomorrow, we’ll get our first impressions of the coast as we travel north.