Ben and Sue Day 56

Wednesday, Octoberv 31, 2007, Day 56

. . . Starting out this morning first thing we saw was a field with hundreds of sheep.  Was chilly this morning -- didn't check temperature but my guess was 40 -- 45 degrees.  A heavy fog blanketed the area -- burned of though as the sun came out and most of the day was sunny and warmer.  Travelled north on Interstate 5 to Redding, then took Highway 299 west to Eureka which is where we are this evening.

Highway 299 -- oh my goodness!  Our trip all day was only 160 miles but took us about 6 1/2 hours to drive because the mountain roads were so twisty and curvy.  One lane each direction -- only a few places to pass all the day long.  We did see the most gorgeous autumn leaves -- I think this might be the peak time for them -- very  bright golds and reds and yellows -- really beautiful.  All along route 299 were supposedly these "towns" -- or at least we kept seeing signs for towns -- wish I had written down some of the names but the populations were funny -- in one instance we passed a sign for a town which read:  population 0.  Other populations were almost always under 100.

So. . . that  was about it for today --  mountain roads with the river below and the bright clear blue sky above. 

Our daughter Kat called today to tell us it was snowing back in Sultan where we live  Oh for joy joy joy after almost eight weeks of uninterrupted sunshine.  Ben and I were both thinking the same thing -- maybe we will just drive back down south and stay there for the winter.  Kat went on and on describing  the cold, icy, snowy conditions -- and when she had us both thoroughly convinced she finally told us she was just joking!

Sue