Well, I met the Treffeneers at the Oregon border, and as shown in the blog, we all made a stop at the “Ship Ashore” resort…. why is it called the “Ship Ashore” well, cause it’s a ship, and it’s…. ashore.
I took the Treffeneers down Hiway 101, and down to Pebble Beach (no, NOT the one in Monterey!) past Castle Rock where the Aleutian Geese gather by the thousands, on their way to the Aleutian Islands off the Coast of Alaska. Once one Goose decides to go, they ALL take off, with a cacaphonous roar, and there can be up to 2,000 Geese lifting off at the same time. I’d hate to be the Air Traffic Controller when THAT happens… Next, we cruised Pebble Beach past the Brother Jonathan Monument… a park dedcated to those lost on the Steamship Brother Jonathan in 1863 during one of Crescent City’s nasty winter storms. It hit an uncharted rock, and went down, and 213 souls were lost, one of the worst maritime disasters in history, up to that point… what’s interesting, though, is that when the “Bro Jon” went down, it was carrying about 30 million dollars in gold… that’s in 1863 prices, folks, when gold was under a dollar an ounce. One fellow actually found the gold, and brought some up in 1996, but as soon as he hit the shore with it, the State of California was there with their bureaucratic hands out, saying “thanks for the gold, please bring us some more”… so needless to say, the guy quit bringing up the gold, and went back to Oregon with the location charted only in his head… and he ain’t talkin’…
Next, onto the curly Redwood Lodge made, as Scott said, from ONE curly redwood tree. and it is totally 1960′s, while it has been nicely maintained, it has never been remodeled… 
dinner right on the water at the Beachcomber Restaurant seemed to be a hit, and after that, “PARTY IN SCOTT’S ROOM!!” (and that’s all I have to say about that…)
Next morning, we ate at the Chart Room, right on the docks of the Crescent City Harbor, where the Sea Lions and Harbor Seals were, for once, rather quiet and subdued.. usually they are arguing quite vociferously with each other, and makes for some interesting background music for dinner (good thing we don’t speak Sea Lion, I don’t think I could put the words on here…)
Then, after a quick gas-up, we hit the road, going through Del Norte (pronounced Del-NORT) Coast Redwoods State Park, where everybody needed their Rain-X, and on to the Trees of Mystery, a local Tourist Trap with a giant statue of legenday logger Paul Bunyan, and Babe the (as mentioned, anatomically correct) Blue Ox.
The place was jammed full of tourists, so, as previously said, we stayed about 30 seconds, and headed out South on Hiway 101 to the town of Klamath, that got taken out during the flood of 1964, and relocated to it’s present location…and on to the Drive-Through Tree (actually, to us locals, it’s a “stump” as the top 100 or so feet was taken off by a lightning storm back in the early 1900′s, and it’s only about 100-150 feet tall now, and anything less than 200 feet tall, to us, is a stump), then over the Klamath River bridge (the famous one with the Golden Bears on each end) and on into Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park… and the Elk. We managed to see a few, and fortunately, no one honked their horns at them… that ticks them off, and when the males have a full compliment of horns, they regard a honking horn as a challenge, and they have been known to ram a car, and poke holes in the bodywork…those horns are SHARP, and an annoyed, horny, 1,000 pound, bull Elk is nothing to trifle with.
Okay, then on down to the thriving metropolis of Orick, CA (population about 250), where the tallest, 3rd tallest, and 4th and 5th tallest trees in the world reside, all in one stand of old-growth redwood trees… too bad we were running late (when we were stopped to photograph the Elk, Cruise Director Scott mentioned to me that if they had been on time, they would have been leaving the Safeway in Eureka at that time… and that was a good hour away yet!) so we pressed on, and right below Orick, I peeled off the road, and honked my horn in appreciation of a kick-butt god time, and the chance to see old friends, and make new ones, and headed home, knowing they were now in Humbugs Territory (HUMboldt county BUG folks). Scott and Andre, thanks so much for organizing the Cruise. Scott and I go back quite a few years (we won’t tell them how many, will we, Scott? we can’t be that old!!) Andre, pleasure meeting you, sir, Jim “Banzai KG” Kikuchi, pleasure as always, Brian “1slo3″ Fye, it’s always a good time when you hit town, Derek “sideshow” you’re not nearly as strange as Brian Fye said you were, and to all the rest of the Treffeneers… Thank You for allowing me to be a part of what has to been some of the most fun I’ve had, since… well… 8=)
“Kaferdave” Dave Cormack
Technical Editor, VW Trends, 1997-2001
Associate Editor, Hot VWs, 2001-2005