Philo to Garberville, California
Garberville/Benbow KOA
Distance: 125 miles
Duration: 2 nights
Cost: $57/night
Weather: Sunny and warm
We woke up with the sun and were on the road fairly early for us. I took more pictures of the vineyard and the fog on the hills in the distance. It was such a beautiful and peaceful morning. I hated to leave.
The drive on Hwy. 253 was very pretty with a lot of the trees dressed in their fall colors. The highway is probably just as curvy as Hwy. 128, but there wasn't as much traffic, so it was more enjoyable than when we drove in to Philo from 101. Also, we noticed that when I pulled over to let the cars behind me pass, almost every single one tapped their horns in appreciation. This has happened occasionally on our road trips, but we were shocked that almost 99% of the cars and trucks expressed their thanks to us with the horn tap. Thank you, Northern California drivers!
Another first was having a couple of deer dash across the road, right in front of the RV. Thankfully, we were going slow enough that it wasn't a problem, but it sure got our attention!
We had one steep descent of 10% for 2 miles, but the RV handled it just fine. I feel so much more comfortable with steep ascents and descents in this Class C RV compared to when we were pulling a trailer.
Early morning at Handley Cellars Winery.
Beautiful morning with lots of birdsong.
Another vineyard just east of Handley Cellars Winery. Gorgeous!
We decided to play tourists and stopped at the Drive-Thru Tree Memorial Grove in Leggett. It's pretty much a tourist trap, what with the $10 fee to enter the park. Obviously, our RV is far too big to drive through the tree, but we walked around and took a few pictures.
Probably not worth it, but we decided to play tourists.
Nope. The Four Winds is not gonna fit!
2400 years old! Wow.
I don't know how many times we've stayed at the Benbow KOA, but this may have been our third visit and it was nice to be back in a familiar spot. We snagged a good end site, which meant there was nobody on our right and we could enjoy looking out on the beautiful fall colors. The contrast between the leaves and the blue sky was picture-perfect! I took a long walk, desperate to get some exercise and stretch my legs. I walked over to the Benbow Inn and couldn't believe how low the Eel River had become since our visit less than six months earlier.
We enjoyed our drinks outside, as the weather was absolutely perfect. Not too hot and not at all windy. It got pretty chilly after the sun went down, but it was so quiet, we both slept great.
Back at the Benbow KOA.
The river is so low!
Beautiful fall colors.
Last time we were here, this river bed was completely covered with water.
Love these trees!
Not too many people here, so it made for a nice quiet stay.
The Benbow campground is amazing! I would love to walk around and drink in all that nature!
ReplyDeleteIliana, we've spent a lot of time at this campground since we started our RV travels. It's pretty and fairly quiet, but this year we decided to try something new when we're in the area. I'll let you know what we think! I'll share pictures on Instagram and Facebook, but probably won't blog about it for a few weeks.
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