Settling in, and a trip back to California

What a surprise on Saturday night when I got a call from the DISH network installer guy saying he could come out to my rig on Sunday afternoon to install a new DISH.  And that’s just what he did.  It wasn’t easy considering all the huge trees I’m surrounded by, but at least now I’ve got TV for my three months here.  It took him two hours to get the job done since we had to scrounge up a wooden pallet to screw the tripod to so it would be tall enough and stable enough to get a signal in between all the branches.  My cost for this?  $40 total, and that was for the tripod.  The rest including the satellite dish, 50 mile travel time, and labor was covered by my service agreement. 

When the sun finally made an appearance this afternoon in Brookings, I decided a little road trip was in order, so I headed south back into California.  After about 25 miles, I found myself at the headquarters for Redwood National Park.

I had read online about the Stout Grove of Redwood Trees that are located in Jedediah Smith State Park, and thought that would be a nice afternoon trip.  What I read said it wasn’t the most popular place to go, so I didn’t expect much traffic on the lumpy, skinny, windy, up and down gravel road.  I don’t know when that information was printed, but it was busy!  I seldom even made it into second gear because of the condition of the road, and had to back down a hill on a steep grade so a pickup truck could get past.  Much of the road is single lane.  Yes, it’s surrounded by Redwoods too.

After 6.8 miles, that seemed like 20, I found the trail head parking area, and it was full.    Being in my little Focus, I squeezed in along the side of the road.  After the harrowing drive to get here, I wasn’t about to leave.

Of course once I got to California, the overcast skies rolled in and hampered good pictures in the forest.  After a relatively short downhill entrance to the grove, the loop trail is very flat and even. 

When I wasn’t looking up, I enjoyed the designs in the trees’ bark.  Some I think are burls, and others appear to be from the tree sustaining an injury.  I was happy to see that most of the carving of initials that people seem compelled to do was located on dead, downed trees. 

This was my favorite tree in the Stout Grove.  The 44 acres of the Grove were donated by Mrs. Stout in honor of her husband.  He was a lumber tycoon in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  Thank you Mrs. Stout for saving this beautiful place.

It’s hard to depict the size of these giants in a photo, so I grabbed another visitor and asked him to take a shot of me to give some perspective. 

This is certainly a place where you could easily end up with a stiff neck.  I just couldn’t stop looking up.  Magnificent!

Today’s little adventure just touches the tip of the iceberg of Redwood National Park, but I’ve got the summer to make more day trips.  Giant Redwoods and the Oregon Coast.  What a way to spend the summer!

I leave you tonight with one last shot for Sherry and David:  Hugs to you!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy