Daily: 177 Miles / 34.3 MPG
Total: 427 Miles / 35.1 MPG

We were up at seven-thirty and caffienated by eight. Lynn survived her first night of camping! Getting camp struck and repacking the car took longer than we planned, so it was ten-thirty before we were on the road.

We drove along the coast for a while, following the same twisty-turny highway as yesterday, then turned east into the coastal mountain range. Talk about twisty-turny roads! Though the speed limit was 55 MPH, by slowing down for road conditions, it took us over 2 hours to travel 50 miles; not bad if you're on a boat! But in a car and on a "highway"!

Finally we turned north again, following the Eel River Valley, through farmland alternating with forests of towering pines climbing up the numerous side ravines.

Eureka is the only town of any size along the route, but after 45-minutes searching for a grocery store, not a one was to be found. Even Google failed us. Don't these people eat? We gave up our search.

We had been so busy getting the Redwood City house ready for sale that we hadn't properly provisioned before leaving. Now with five days of wilderness travel before us, not to mention a holiday weekend coming up, we were looking at a week of peanut butter on artisanal bread with wine chasers for three meals a day!

Luckily, seeing a billboard and playing a hunch that where there's a Radio Shack there's sure to be a grocery store nearby, we found a decent grocer. Ok, it was in a little strip mall at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere, but it was a heck of a lot better than provisioning at the 7-11 store. Who shops there when we're not passing through? Life's eternal mysteries!

Thus fortified, we drove another half our to our campsite. It was a beautiful, private site, surrounded by pines at least a hundred feet tall. After pitching our camp we headed off on a hike on a trail following the coastal bluffs. Several side trails lead to prominent rocks defying the ponding surf, spectacular views. Off Rocky Point (how do they think up these names?), we saw five seals, lounging on the rocks and frolicking in the tidal waters.

The bright sun and clear skies of the day succumbed once again to evening fog. Time to whip up a little dinner from our full larder and settle in for the night.