Monday, June 16, 2008

Day 632 -- Longvale


I grabbed this particular picture of Longvale because (a) the photographer, Krissa, was there not that long ago, on April 15, and (b), I love the name of her blog, Ecclectic Arcania. According to Krissa,
The city of Longvale, California, was once a small, thriving little town along Highway 101, about 15 miles north of Willits.
Situated along the railroad tracks, it had its own train station, a small lumber yard, and thriving businesses and homes.
Eventually the lumber industry died out, the trains stopped running, the highway was re-routed, and the town just shriveled up and died, leaving nothing behind but a few scraps of rusty iron and the weeds growing from the foundations. The post office was de-commissioned in the 1950's, and there is almost nothing left of the main town site now.

The funny thing is that Longvale shows up clearly on MapQuest, but Willits, the other town that she mentions, doesn't. I had to actually search for it, and sure enough, I ran right through it without noticing. It's maybe halfway from Calpella to Longvale. (If you get the right zoom on MapQuest, the town name does show up, but I never did while I was running by.) So, as an added bonus, here's a picture of me in Willits, courtesy of the on-line Laughlin, Nevada, Guide.

Today, I got in the long run that I didn't get yesterday. It was great. The weather was absolutely perfect, at about 60 degrees and low humidity. My legs were a bit tired by the end, but I was far from spent. I could have run several more miles, if I had had the time and the inclination.

The weatherologists have promised at least three dry days in a row, starting today, and I intend to hold them to it. We need it. The people in Cedar Rapids and up in the Dells could use it even more. It will take a lot more than three days for them to dry out.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a picture of that exact sign entering Willits! I took it two years ago on our two-week road trip from Seattle to San Diego. Redwood National Park is just beautiful. Those trees are amazing!