Trees...

We broke a couple of batten car slides on the passage to Crescent City.  Not a big deal except that we only have one spare on board.  This is the first time in my sailing life that I’ve ever broken even one of those.  I’m not sure why Malo is doing that and I’ll keep studying the problem.  In the meantime I’ve ordered eight replacements, expressed to the harbor master’s office here in C-City who has graciously agreed to accept them for us.  So we’re stuck here until they arrive which turns out to be not a bad thing, in fact it’s turned out to be one of those unexpected things that turn out better that one could have ever planed for.   

While waiting for our parts Bev figured out that we were just a few miles from one of he greatest redwood groves on the planet.  So we unpacked our folding mountain bikes and took a ride over to see them and what a sight that was.  

How does one gauge the value or significance of a tree, any tree?  They convert our waist product, carbon dioxide, into oxygen.  The gas that grants us life without which we’ll die in just a few minutes.  They also produce food, shade, building materials, fuel and habitat for birds and other creatures.  Pretty amazing for a simple plant that starts from a single tiny seed that requires little tending.  Now imagine that plant being several hundred feet tall, twenty feet wide and having lived well over 3,000 years.  Try to imagine anything living that long.  It’s a lot human or dog-years to be sure.  On some level, a level that we may never be able to imagine or perceive, they sense, interpret and react, to the world at large.  They have an extremely strong life drive.  A live redwood that has been knocked over will attempt to continue growing via their limbs. If undisturbed, those limbs will turn into trees themselves.  And I have to report that once you seen them, walked amongst them, spent some time went them, perhaps even opened your heart to them,  you will never be the same…



We've also heard from some of the locals of other interesting things to check out…