Was that the “dueling banjos” I heard from “Deliverance?” No, it was just my partner, Skip, humming, echoing my concern for this desolate road. We expected a toothless resident to come onto the road any minute—but no, in northwest California, we’d more likely see a pot farmer protecting his crop.
What were we doing in the back of beyond? This was not the coastal road we expected on our trip from Ft. Bragg, CA, to Bodega Bay. At Navarro River, Hwy 1 veers inland to cross the river. We misread the sign and ended up on Hwy 128 going through the Redwoods. Beautiful scenery, but still not the ocean views we were looking for. So about 20 minutes later we realized the road was not turning west toward the ocean. What should we do? We missed the coast drive on the way from Sacramento to Ft. Bragg because of traffic. Maybe we weren’t meant to take the coast road. Should we turn around or continue to Cloverdale and beyond? Just then we saw a turn-off for Elk. Hooray! I saw Elk on the map before we lost all GPS reception in the deep redwoods. It was only 18 miles. So off we went.
Now 18 miles on Hwy 128 or Hwy 1 would have taken us about 30 minutes at the most. After we got home I could not even find this little road on the map. After a grueling 40 minutes on this bumpy road, we realized we were barely in California any more—forget about Kansas. Even with the banjo music echoing in our heads we realized we were close to civilization because of the construction crew and a few vineyards we passed. We could have really used a glass of wine right about then.
Finally, after our hour-long journey where we encountered exactly five cars and two bicycles—and no bears or deer, thankfully—we climbed the last rise to the Pacific Ocean at Elk, CA. Hooray!! We were back on track.
Now we were four hours into our drive and desperately looking for a restaurant and other comforts. It seems these little coastal towns hide their main streets behind a sand dune or something. Eventually we arrived at Point Arena. This looked promising. No, that burger place was closed. No, the pizza place didn’t have a restroom. Ahhh, here was Lisa’s Luscious Kitchen. Beautiful name! This will be a great stop!
Lisa and her dog, Ellie, were very hospitable and had, by that time, a VERY necessary room, but alas, no lunch. Lisa preserved jams, chutneys, and flavored vinegars. She so kindly stopped her work to tell us where we could find food and we got to pet her puppy. Lisa had remodeled her store and home recently and intentionally made a bathroom for the tourists who might stop by.
Now most small businesses try to keep strangers out of their facilities, but not so with Lisa, much to our relief. We left with a cookbook and a jar of white peach jam along with a renewed faith in our fellow humans. Lisa’s kindness was so completely unexpected and appreciated. Maybe that was the reason we took that “wrong turn at Albuquerque”—or Albion.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, if you count the breathtaking views of the Pacific as uneventful. We will always remember this “dash moment” and our encounter with the road to nowhere, and the lovely Lisa, who did make the most luscious preserves.
