introduction

Smith River Redwoods

pre-trip blog

the trip starts...

NYC pied-a-terre

Manitou Springs, CO

Philadelphia, PA

January 30 -- Smith River Redwoods

From Trinidad, CA, I headed still north, towards the Oregon border, where I would be lodging the night at a rustic, remote spot called Patrick's Creek Lodge near Gasquet, CA. This would give me two days to explore California's most remote Redwood forest, the Smith Redwoods.

Thankfully, these ancient groves are protected now, and a part of Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. They are gorgeious! Glorious! And huge! The ever present fog this time of year just added to the serenity and mystery of these old creatures on Earth.

They rise some 350-plus feet high. It's impossible to not feel in awe of their grace and grandeur. They speak to me; I to them.

Not far from Patrick's Creek Lodge is the Middle Fork of the Smith River, the last major river in California undammed from source to end. Mist, raindrops, and fog hung close to the river's torrent, creating a sense of timelessness.

January 31 -- Gasquet, CA to Ashland, OR to Happy Camp, CA

Next stop was Happy Camp, CA. And my plan was to just dip into Oregon briefly before descending south again on a paved road through the Siskiyou Wilderness. But the route was closed due to snow. So I had to take a longer, more circuitous route, up through Grants Pass, Medford, and Ashland, Oregon.

A store owner in O'Brien, OR, owned a couple vintage Porsches. Here's his 1958 Porsche.

He also owned on old Plymouth police car. Turns out he was the O'Brien police; O'Brien, OR's lone policeman (and postmaster, and mayor...).

The longer route allowed me to sample Ashland, Oregon: home of Southern Oregon State College and the Ashland Shakespeare Festival. I enjoyed a nice vegan lunch and walkabout in Ashland, before picking up a Nalgene water bottle for hydrating during the trip. There's me with my new orange/yellow bottle, next to the store's Nalgene Christmas tree that was still up in their display window from the holidays.

Ashland was also the first place I started "Stealthwebbing" on my journey across country.

Stealthwebbing: using a laptoop with wireless network card to log onto unpassworded wireless networks that have high-speed connections to the Internet.

I had an Apple iBook as my 'road warrior' laptop computer in tow for the trip. And it was equipped with a wireless AirPort network card. A freeware program called 'MacStumbler' allowed my iBook to scan continuously & sniff out wireless networks within 100 yards of my truck.

In Ashland, I found 9 WiFi networks just driving around their central district; at least half required no password in order to connect.

WiFi network log table for Ashland, Oregon
linksys	00:04:5A:CF:C0:27	6	8	Managed	Linksys	No
linksys	00:06:25:66:F2:40	6	26	Managed	3Com	No
linksys	00:06:25:92:16:D3	6	37	Managed	3Com	No
Ashland Outdoor Store	00:02:2D:1B:7C:AC	1	7	Managed	Agere-Lucent	No
BULLS-EYE	00:02:2D:07:94:7B	1	10	Managed	Agere-Lucent	No
Starbucks AFN	00:02:2D:0F:CC:03	1	12	Managed	Agere-Lucent	No
101	00:06:25:24:F4:9A	6	15	Managed	3Com	No
MagicWave_RF	00:02:2D:0E:0F:58	1	23	Managed	Agere-Lucent	No
default	00:90:47:00:00:11	1	20	Managed	unknown	No

I'd just sniff out which open network had the strongest signal, pull off the side of the road, and would do my email & web surfing for as long as I could deal with the cold in the truck. This routine turned into an every-other-day habit throughout my trip across the country, as I found unsecured WiFi networks in virtually all the towns that I stopped in or passed through.

Next, a place called Happy Camp.

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