It takes quite a while to go all the way up the 101 from the Bay Area to Willits, but it's OK, it's the cool part of the 101 with curves, really close to the Russian River where it bashes against big rocky faces at curves. Especially cool during floods which last Thursday was not. It was lovely and mellow, and I let all the buttheads pass me if they want. 70 is fast enough!!
In Willits there are the usual chains, and there is also something called the Phoenix Bakery, where I had my [thankfully!] only meal of the day after a 10 a.m. departure. They serve a slice of fougasse baked around BBQ for 10 bucks. Please don't eat the whole thing like I did!
I managed the next 10 or 20 miles before, like a snake with a rat inside, I needed to sleep a bit. At the turnoff to Covelo there is a river near the highway and one of those well-tracked, beer-canned sandbars somehow publicly accessible though not a park. I dozed while I read British history. Locals parked their Novas, let their kids splash, drove their ATV's through the water. ATV's are basically sports-rider-mowers. How tuff is it to drive them through a creek like in the SUV commercials?
The road to Covelo is about 30 miles from the 101 in nice sweeping curves that would have had me really going balls out a few years ago. Today, I sought out the scenery. The rocky creekbed is reminiscent of the Feather River in the Gold Country. The road would be pretty much bicyclable, but only just. Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's doable, to paraphrase Bruce Sterling.
