Eureka!!

[Bully5]

Every summer, my pal (REU) and I try to do a ride. He lives in Bend, Ore, and i live in Live Oak, Ca, so our rides (generally) are located in southern Oregon or northern California. This year's ride took us to the Humboldt Redwoods, and beyond! 3 bikes, four people, 3 days of amazing adventures: REU riding a Kawi Vulcan 900, Top Shelf riding a Harley Night Train, and me on Suzi Bully VL800 with BOB (Brit on back). REU came down to Live Oak, from Bend, on Thursday.
REU with a clean bike, in Bend, Oregon:

[Bully5]

We left Live Oak on Friday morning. Top Shelf had issues with her oil cap (typical Harley oil issues ), so we got an hour late start.
1) REU, Bully and Bob leaving Live Oak
2) Top Shelf at the scene of the crime (oil explosion)

[Bully5]

We rode out through the rice fields, toward Colusa. A few crop dusters raced alongside us. I had a few Top Gun moments. We sliced Colusa, Williams and much of Clear Lake before stopping at Lucern to stretch and to remove the morning's fluids from our kidneys. We stopped for fuel at Nice, pronounced neece, and then again just before hitting Hwy 101.
REU posing for shots at our third rest stop. Sorry about the small pic.

[Bully5]

We stopped again just before we hit Legget, California. At this point, we were ready to see some Redwoods. A half hour later, we mounted up and headed up Hwy 101. We saw the sign for the "drive through tree". Tourist trap #1...here we come!
1) The last bike photo of the trip, just before we got to Legget.
2) Top Shelf holding up the tree so that everyone could drive through.
3) Nice ol' T Bird coming through

[Bully5]

A few miles past the drive through tree, we came pulled over to see the Tree House. This tourist trap has seen its day, for sure. Gave us a few more photo ops, though. USA! USA!! USA!!!

[Bully5]

We passed a few other tourist traps before arriving at bucket list # such-n-such: a motorcycle ride on the Avenue of the Giants! Stand among these huge trees and tell me that you don't feel insignificant on this planet. AMAZING!
1) BOB (Brit on Back) trying to look taller than she really is!
2) BOB playing hide-n-seek in a tree. Found you!
3) Top Shelf having the time of her life. Fake smile? I think not!
4) REU inside a fallen redwood. Yes...they are that big!

[Bully5]

The evenings shadows were upon the redwoods, so we finished up the Avenue ofthe Giants and headed to Eureka. We arrived to empty streets. Starving and ready to rest our saddles, we stopped at Denny's. As we came out of Denny's, i said, "Anyone have internet? We need to find the Scottfield Hotel." REU points just up the street, "You mean that one?!" Note to all riders: the Scottfield is a clean, well-kept, biker-friendly hotel located in central Eureka. It's close enough to all the saloons, good eateries and the boardwalk that one should not pass up a stay there. The sauna is temporarily out of order and the jacuzzi ad is for certain rooms only. RECOMMENDED.
1) The Scottfield Hotel
2) Empty street at 5:30pm, Friday.

[Bully5]

We walked around for a bit. There are so many murals to see! I am only posting a few. I have over 20 pictures of murals in Eureka. I'm sure there are many more that I have yet to find. We ended up at an Irish pub, near the boardwalk. Standing room only, the sweat and beer smell, along with (ahem) a 'different' crowd held us for two beers and sent us back to the hotel to lick the day's wounds.
1) Clown Mural (I hate clowns!!!)
2) Don't know where these people were....but they sure weren't wandering around Eureka! The horse and carriage horse was holding a sign that read "Will pull for apples!"
3) Strange mural that reminds me how hungry we were when we pulled into Eureka. Nothing like meat and guitars to feed your hunger!

[Bully5]

After a good night's rest, i awoke early and went for a walk. Took some more shots of Eureka.

[Bully5]

Met the crew back at the room. They were ready to go. We jumped back onto Hwy 101, north. We stopped in Arcata, to top off our tanks. We saw some Roosevelt Elk, near Patrick's Point, but couldn't stop in time. Just above Patrick's, got another chance. We pulled over and got a few pics.