It was a gorgeous sunny day when we woke up in our secluded campsite along the Northern California coast. Fortunately, the intense wind from the day before had died down so we were able to explore the beach across the road from us. We enjoyed climbing down the rocks and walking along the sand for a bit in the fresh morning air.

After our walk, we packed up the jeep and got back on the road. We enjoyed the gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean as we drove. Our goal was Humboldt Redwoods State Park. On the way, we stopped at a small town for coffee. We noticed a lot of young people sitting in front of the store. Francis, conversed with the mailman as I went to get us some coffee. Come to find out, the young people in front of the store were “trimmigrants”. They were there waiting to find work on the marijuana farms in the area. We were surprised to know that as we had assumed they were fellow travelers. The marijuana business seems to be big in California.

We got our coffees and continued our drive to Humboldt Redwoods State Park. We decided to take a small hike when we got there. We viewed a tree named “The Giant Tree” as well as a fallen tree, so large that soldiers had once camped inside it. It was a nice hike through the giant redwoods.

Our next stop was in the small town of Miranda, California. We were looking for a coffee shop to catch up on a few things but ended up at a pizza place instead. They had wifi so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and get some work done while we had lunch. We enjoyed the beautiful day from the outdoor patio and our pizza was delicious. We also enjoyed chatting with some of the other restaurant patrons.

After lunch, we decided to grab a coffee from a little coffee shack right beside the pizza place before getting back on the road. That turned out to be a mistake. Our young barista acted so put upon when we placed our order, Francis actually checked the time thinking we had come at closing time. Nope, the shop was open for another two hours. We asked for half- caff Americanos but discovered after driving away that they were decaf and absolutely horrible. We threw them away in the nearest trashcan and joked about meeting a real life “valley girl.”

Our next stop was in Garberville, still hoping to find a coffee shop. There was a reggae concert in town that night which seemed to have attracted a large crowd along with all the seasonal marijuana farm workers, “trimmigrants.” One guy offered Francis a taste of something that looked like honey but he declined. We still have no idea what it was. The coffee shop we found had no wifi and did not look or smell particularly clean so we moved on after getting some advice from the barista about a place nearby that would have internet access.

We made it to Meadows Cafe in Redway just as they were closing. Fortunately, the delightful young woman working that day offered to let us come in and use the wifi while they cleaned up. She even made us complimentary iced chai which was delicious. I had been helping my former employer, Achievement Academy of Durham, with some social media stuff and had a post due to go out, so I was very grateful for her kindness. We finished up quickly so as not to impose unnecessarily.

After quite an interesting day, we were ready to settle for the evening. We checked out a couple different spots we found on freecampsites.net but they seemed a bit dicey. We did not want to be all set up for the night, only to find out we had to move. We finally ended up on a pullout along the side of the road. Definitely not our favorite campsite ever especially when we discovered the plants covered in thorns everywhere we stepped. It was too late to find anything else so we got set up and climbed in for the night just as it was getting dark.