Highway 1 was a beautiful drive, with a wonderful view of the Pacific Coast most of the time. However, it was a very curvy road both in the mountains and along the coast. Only 10% of the road is straight enough to travel at 50 MPH or faster.  Most of the time, there were so many curves (probably a few hundred), they had to drive slower than 30-35 MPH, and in some places they had to reduce speed even further to 10-15 MPH to make sharp turns. But the scenery was really great, with a lot of big trees along the mountain roads and a wonderful ocean view along the coast.

Because they had to drive so slow, they could not get to Eureka at the time they originally wanted. Instead, they took an exit to a place called "Myers Flat."  It was already 8:30 PM and they were still 50 miles from Eureka, when they saw a sign advertising the "Drive-Thru Tree."  So they decided to stay one night there. Myers Flat is a small town with a population of only 200, and the only restaurant they found was open for breakfast and lunch only, Mon.-Thurs. They were told at the motel desk that there was another restaurant about 15 miles south that was open. They had no choice but to drive back 15 miles, where they had to wait more than an hour to get their food after they ordered.  It was after 11:00 PM when they finally returned to the motel.

It was the first time that they had seen a motel without a telephone in the room. Not only was there no telephone, but there was also no coffee maker, no hair dryer and...no tissue paper !! But they still charged $130 a night !!