From the Saddle. Pashnit Tours heads to NorCal.

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Some of Larry's pics

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One of many small coastal towns. I think this is Jenner.





Time for some lunch in Gualala. Hey, we're along the ocean. Gotta work some fish in there somewhere.



You meet the nicest people on a Honda. Fella we were chatting with.

Great thing is no matter where we go, odds are they've heard of the Pashnit website. You're the guy?!

I think this is an old Honda VF1000R. . It was beat up and rickety, but still a classic.

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Point Arena Lighthouse



The road out along the pennisula to the lighthouse




Pretty, eh?

Picture perfect in a word.




Built 1870, then destroyed by the 1906 SF earthquake, and rebuilt.

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While we were blessed with sunny skies, it was cold- and windy!

We couldn't stop laughing about the wind. Took your breath away. Our docent Richard said winds were about 40mph.



Ready for some stair-master action?

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Our docent Richard was kind enough to give us the scoop on the history of the lighthouse.



As we were leaning up against the cement walls, you could feel the entire lighthouse shaking. Actually, it wasn't shaking, it was more like vibrating. Seems odd a concrete structure like this could sway, but it sure felt like it. Richard said winds at the top here were running about 65mph.



Billie leans out and shoots this pic:

See the white? Richard relayed that's a massive rock just below the surface of the water that spans 11 acres. He mentioned quite a few ships met their demise right out there.




The lens is absolutely beautiful! Just think, each even every piece of glass you see here is hand made and an individual piece. Lens' for lighthouses were typically shipped around the horn of South America in a giant vat of molasses to survive the journey.



Weighs 4000 lbs. ...And rests in a huge vat of mercury.



The super-duper panoramic. Handy technique with close ups too.

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Interesting to note this massive lighthouse has been replaced with this lil light here.

The beam can be seen 26 miles out to sea.




Lookin' down




Lookin north

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Now the bad news. The lens is comin' out.

The lighthouse has gotten a $500,000 grant to renovate and upgrade the facility. As part of that, the 4000lb lens will be removed from the top of the lighhouse and placed in the adjacent museum which is also going to be re-built.



So want to see it in it's true state, come quick, come now. Lot of lighthouse fans out there.






The museum - the lens will be placed on display here.



Whale skull




And what did I also find inside? Richard and his dogs. Cute.




Georgeous, isn't it.

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More from the saddle as we ride north to Fortuna








The famous 22 mile stretch of Hwy 1 inland to Leggett



We had so light traffic all day, we marveled at that. On this ride through, I don't think we came up on a single car for 22 miles.

It was as if God himself came down and held traffic for us. On our return trip on Sunday - not one car for 22 miles. Just us and these curves!

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Reaching Fortuna They were waiting for us.

So was the Eel River Brewing Co next door.



A fantastic Day 1 !