Camping Out West...Day 64...Thursday, August 19, 2010...On to Redwoods..."The Gestalt of Cheese"

I'm excited about today's drive...according to the map, every mile is a "scenic drive".
Around 8:30AM, I head out of Lassen...down out of the mountains to the town of Redding.
From Redding, I'm heading due west on Route 299 towards the coast.
Much of the drive west goes through the Shasta/Trinity National Forest...around Lake Shasta, in the shadow of Mt. Shasta, and then sixty miles or so along the Trinity River through Trinity Canyon. It is a spectacular drive...even if a bit scary for awhile when the road climbs up and over the Coastal Mountain Range.
That road ends at Rt 101, and soon I'm heading north to the town of Orick. Much of the Park called Redwoods is actually several California State Parks. The National Park was not created until 1968, so the result is a "hodge-podge" of State and Federal land.
The only camping is in the State Parks, and the price is steep...$35/night with no electricity, showers, etc. So...I opt for two nights at an RV Park. Less picturesque, perhaps, but I've got electricity and clean showers.
Late in the afternoon, I'm sitting around camp watching the fog roll in from the ocean. I'm right on Humbolt Bay...and I'm reminded of one of my favorite artisnal cheeses from California...called "Humbolt Fog". Then, in an instant, the "link" between everything...the bay, the fog, the cheese, the trees...is suddenly clear in my mind. The fog here is an essential element of the microclimate that allows redwwoods to grow. They grow here because the cool fog from the ocean provides them most of their water (some 5000 gallons per tree, I'm told).
Such a revelation calls for a cocktail, so I'm opening a bottle of Chateau Souverain Cabernet before dinner. Later, I grill up another prime steak from Costco...along with some corn on the cob. Later, it's cold and damp outside...so I hook up my XM radio receiver to my little "boombox" and retreat to the inside of the camper. It's comfortable...lights to read by, warm (it's insulated), nice music from XM, cold beers at my reach.
It's 11:00PM before I finally clos my book and roll over to sleep.