Eureka, California

Saturday 24 July

1235 km

Wicked was worth it, plot cleverly constructed to prequel seemlessly into Wizard of Oz

the players brought it out nicely, climaxing with one of my favourite pieces of music, "For Good"

although experiencing the rest of the score had more life live on stage than that on my CD.

With the rarity of a lotto win, Neil got seated behind the hugest and only afro coif in the theatre

but we managed a shift enough rows back when the lights went out.

He also commented he couldnt make out the lyrics at times, missing the odd gist of plot and innuendo

common fault when female singers trill and warble

the girl who did the wheelchair bound one was great though, and the male leads were clear

Golden Gate

the Wizards part contains some very clever lyric, great stage set

pleased we went...

Out of SanFran this morning, first stop for the customary group shot at Golden Gate

then out to the coast on CA1, over the hill to Muir Beach and on up the coast

little winding road like the Parapara used to be.

Brunch stop at Point Reyes Station, an old coaching stop, where we caught the saturday market

looked to be totally organic produce, and enticing it all was too, everything from native potatoes to homebred meats.

There's a split showing in the taking to market of farm produce in North America

either you're a contracted supplier to a food company giant

or you supply the farmer's market, where you authenticate food origins yourself.

The Wanganui team at Muir Pt

I spoke with one lady farmer who said they have an open day every sunday on the farm

so you can see where your next meal's coming from.

This place is 30 miles from north SanFran and they were having a pretty busy time with weekend drivers

and road cyclists by the dozen.

Its one thing to comment on American obesity, but I still reckon Ive seen more fitness activists than couch slouchers here.

Unfortunately we had another day of fog and low temps, so the spectacular coastal views didnt eventuate

Nice view when the mist cleared

even in the few sunny breaks, 57F was order of the day.

Had a couple of roadside chats with locals

but theyve so hi-jacked the questioning, their curiosity being greater than ours

havent learned a great deal........... yet.

Most think we're pretty wealthy to be able to ship bikes over, so firm is the grip of depression

Again we've had a day of very reasonable menu prices, and no pressure with the tips

typically, big breakfast and coffee, well under NZD20

and tonight, a decent soup, steak, mushrooms, green veg, baked spud, garlic bread, and 2 coronas, NZD34 all in.

We ducked inland after Mendocino and Ft Bragg

and the temp shot up to 84F,

with some clothes shed when we called at that ridiculous drive through giant redwood

only $3 this time, i'm sure it was $5 last year

another farm diversification project.

Another 20 odd miles of twisties through the forest, then down the Avenue of Giants, (redwoods).

Southern CA's more like Australia, up here we're into proper forest.

A quick call at Fortuna where we were told there was a classic car show, but too late

Avenue of Giants

all we caught was the vintage farm machinery which wasnt going anywhere overnight

this was back down near the sea, and temps plummeted back to that of the fog-shrouded morning

And so ended our day...

having escaped the civilisation of LA and SF, our credit cards have started to work at the gas pumps too.

Story of the day was a convo had by another of our group with a big Abe Cleminger sort of coot in bib overalls

who said he was a "tarler", (tiler)

but when questioned about the state of the building industry, he replied it was rooted

or words to that effect

and when further questioned about what he did for a crust now

he said he grows marijuana, $2600 per lb.

I recall seeing a bit in the paper recently about production for medicinal purposes being discussed in northern CA and OR

and on googling Eureka, I find its on the local council ordinance discussion papers list

but you only get a blank screen when you click the link.

Neil won todays fuel economy test, by 1/3 of a gallon on the only refuel of the day

we arrived at the motel, fortunately a day late to catch a Yamaha FJR convention

a holiday-maker who stayed last night told us there were 300 of them parked here