The drive to Humboldt National Forest, California.

Fellow Jimericanos, Jimerica! has some catching up to do. When last we spoke, I was leaving Fort Bragg, CA and heading to another super secret destination. I noted in my last post that I get a lot of great suggestions on where to visit, and that sometimes I get so many suggestions that it’s impossible to hit all of them. However, this can be tricky when you’re getting really great suggestions that you just can’t miss AND you’re trying to actually get somewhere. So, you’ll hear about one of those days in this post.

But, before we start, you all probably know the movie “The Breakfast Club”. Do you remember the scene when bad-guy teacher (Paul Gleason) was in a confrontation with the dirtbag-hero character (Judd Nelson)? The evil teacher gave the hero another Saturday of detention, and the hero was like “yeah, ok.”. And then the evil guy said “how about another one?” And the hero was like “Fine!”. And then the evil guy was like “How about we make it a whole MONTH?!”. And the hero said “GREAAAAAT”.  I want you to remember the dirtbag’s voice and hear only it during any quoted text in this post. This is Jimerica!'s internal voice screaming out to all of you. If that reference doesn’t work for you, then you may use the voice Randy Marsh used during the “sarcastiball” episode of South Park. If neither of these references work for you, you have not lived and Jimerica! cannot help you. Just make something up.

So, I’d initially wanted to leave Fort Bragg early in the morning so I could get a full day chilling with the redwoods in Humboldt. But, on my last visit to Piaci, a woman there who had heard I was traveling north said that I absolutely should not miss the Pacific Star Winery. She described the place and I immediately knew I wasn’t going to miss it.

“Yeah, great. So I’ll just leave a little later than I planned. THANKS. Thanks for the wonderful suggestion. I’m so glad it entered my ear holes and is now in my brain.”

So, the next morning, instead of being on the road bright and early, I was here on this very comfortable couch drinking excellent coffee:

Mara's Coffee in Fort Bragg, California

It was here, I shit you not dear reader, where I met a woman who insisted I visit a place on the Oregon coast where she grew up, Port Orford. And now, I sit in that very town, in a motel on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and write this. And tomorrow I will eat at The Crazy Norwegian’s Fish and Chips restaurant, as she commanded. “Greaaaat!”. But I’m getting WAY ahead of myself. Back to the long day. 

So, I wasted a couple hours on the comfy couch at Mara's and then headed north out of Fort Bragg toward the Pacific Star Winery where I met this wonderful couple:

Marcus and Diana. Diana is the wine maker. She bought this property back in the 80's.

Here's a shot looking out from their property:

Pacific Star Winery. Fort Bragg, California.

This is the only winery in the world that has a tectonic fault named after it:

This is the actual name of the fault. Named after their winery.

I met Marcus first. He and his wife own the winery.  He, like so many here, had some suggestions for me. He pulled out a map and circled a couple spots on the coast that he thought I should visit.

“Yeah, OK. No Problem. These places sound awesome. I wasn’t going to shower or eat today anyway.”

Then his wife arrived on the scene and had some other suggestions.

“Oh, great, your wife is here now and she also has some awesome suggestions. And maybe I can just find a vampire to bite me so I’ll have everlasting life and can actually see all of these places.”

I had hoped to leave Fort Bragg at about 8AM. It was 2:30PM when I left Pacific Star. Please visit this place if you have a chance. Marcus and Diana are awesome, the scenery is beautiful, and their wine is excellent.

One of Diana's suggestions was Leggett, California. This was totally worth it and 100% on my way:

Chandelier Tree. Leggett, California. Jimerica!

Another one of Diana’s suggestions was Peg House. "I’m the Highlander.” Peg House is a restaurant/grocery store/ and a few other things Jimerica! couldn’t quite figure out. It's on the way toward the Avenue of Giants, on Route 101. It's well known in this part of the country. They have great burgers and beer on tap (the Jimerica! anthem), and the owner, whose name Jimerica! failed to get, had some suggestions for me!! "How about that?" Here's a couple shots:

Jimerica! is very sorry I didn't get their names. I could have sworn I noted them, but the Jimeriphone tells me otherwise. However, I can tell you that the owner is the one on the right and that her name is not Peg.

That's a parachute shading the customers.

As I stood chatting with the owner of the Peg House, she commented on all the motorcycles going by. She said that she would hear that roar all weekend long because of the 'Run'. And then asked if I was going to go there. I stupidly asked what she was talking about. She informed me that a large biker rally was going on that weekend just down the road called The Redwood Run and said that I should go check it out. It was then that I realized I would be setting up my tent in the dark. 

"GREAAAAT. Since I can't seem to find a vampire, maybe I can find some crystal meth at the bike rally so I can actually keep this up."

So, from the Peg House, I headed to The Redwood Run and spent about an hour there chatting with some folks. Here are some of the people I met. However, before we proceed, this post will get a bit R rated for language. So for those Jimericanos that aren't into that sort of thing, now would be a good time to start looking forward to my next post. Here are some shots:

The Redwood Run. From left to right. Jonny V, Wolf, and James.

 Jonny V and Wolf are from the Bay area. James is from Sacramento. Jonny V is Wolf's grandson. I asked Jonny what the V stands for, Wolf said it stands for 'Very Fine Motherfucker'. Wolf won the grandprize at the run last year, a leather biker jacket stitched by a well know artist from Canada named 'Krazy Boy'. Here's a shot: 

Wolf with last year's grand prize.

A question I got from these guys is 'are you a cop'? I would eventually be asked that question enough times to be suspicious of myself. After I talked to these guys, I wandered into the registration tent to see how much access I could get to the event. The guy at the registration said he couldn't let me in past the gate, but I was free to roam around the outside where I would find plenty of people just arriving and getting organized with other riders before going in. Then he asked 'are you a cop'? I said no. He looked at me, and then at my camera, and shook his head slowly. He was thinking about what to say next. He then said, 'Fine. Just be careful not to point that thing at anybody without permission and do not ask anybody with an 'H.A.' on their jacket for permission.' He was referring to my camera. I agreed, obviously.

Next I met this gentleman:

I have no idea what happened to my notes on this guy. I think his name was Jim. Sorry if I got that wrong.

I'm constantly typing notes into my phone when I meet new people. Sometimes, I manage to screw that up and lose them. Such is the case here. In any case, this was a good dude. 

Then I met John. John manages the stage at this event and has done so for many many years. This year's headliner was Great White. John was originally from LA. He also manages the stage at a big music festival they have near here every year called The Summer Arts Music Festival. http://mateel.org/summer-arts-and-music-festival/

Here's a shot of John:

John at The Redwood Run

John suggested that I check out the Myers Flat Saloon, since it was on my way. He said there would be other riders up there. 

"That's exactly what I'm going to do."

So, then I headed to the Myers Flat Saloon, where I found a line of Harleys and, inside, a bar unlike any bar I had ever seen in my life. I'll share a couple of shots with you here, but you'll get the full story on Myers Flat and the surrounding area next time. Myers Flat Saloon:

Myers Flat Saloon. From Dusk til Dawn, anybody?

The bartender, Laurel, liked me immediately:

She's actually very nice. More about Laurel next time.

I spent a couple hours here, and then finally rolled into my campsite just before 10PM. I bought some firewood, set my tent up, got a fire going, and then sat and thought about what an awesome day I'd just had. A to B is never a straight line. So that's it, folks. Thank you all for reading!