Another Day in the Magnificent Redwoods - Day 23

The book said moderately easy day compared to yesterday.  Sharla would term it as moderate but take the word easy out of it as there were lots of moderate hills. We started the day seeing a doe and a couple fawns right by our campsite, then saw a couple bull elk once we got on the road and we continued amongst the magnificent redwoods.  Our bike route directed us off Highway 101 which was nice going through smaller communities without having vehicles buzzing past us. On one of those roads we were along the coast with heavy fog and could barely see the Pacific Ocean but certainly heard a large gathering of sea lions below. At lunch, we stopped in Trinidad at a grocery store & bought a deli sandwich (what a local recommended) and shared a picnic table outside the store with 5 guys from Italy who are seeing our country by car.  Also talked to a young guy touring by bicycle from Germany that stopped at the grocery store. We stopped for the night at a KOA campground close to Eureka. Not as nice as the state parks but did have the advantage of a hot tub.

The Dreaded Mountains After Crescent City - Day 22

Sharla had heard several people along the way talk about the steep mountain after Crescent City. So, of course, that had her dreading it and lost a little sleep over it.  We got on it fairly early before there was much traffic. We stopped at least every half mile on the way up to rest. Ed led as he is a good pacer. The first mountain was about 1200' elevation gain. At the base of that mountain, there was a tourist attraction called Trees of Mystery that we stopped at. There was a free Indian museum that we enjoyed looking through but we didn't pay the charge to take some tram into the redwoods. In the afternoon we had another 1100' mountain to climb. So we conquered the first 2 mountains of northern California! After that, it was downhill through the redwoods.  We felt we were in the midst of giants.  There was a couple we stopped at...one called the Corkscrew and the other called Old Tree that they figure is 1500 years old, 17 ' in diameter.  These huge, old trees are pretty amazing. Soon after that, we got into our campground--Elk Prairie. About a 9 to 5 workday and 34 miles. After dinner, we sat and talked with a single gal, Laura, from Toronto who we've been at the same camps 3 to 4 times in the last 1 1/2 weeks. She's bicycling from Vancouver to San Francisco.

Goodbye Oregon... Hello California - Day 21

After 8 miles we said goodbye to our 2nd state and said hello to our 3rd and final state.  Today completed the end of our 3rd week of riding... we had 2 rest days out of 21 days and have covered 800 miles.  California welcomed us with a beautiful sunshiny day and the bike route led us away from highway 101 onto lightly traveled back roads through various small farms and dairy farmland.  It was flat with no wind and another "dream" day for riding.  We celebrated our accomplishments by staying in a motel in Crescent City and only a 32 mile ride.

Three weeks of thoughts from our ride include:

- Canada, Washington & Oregon are all very bike friendly and for the most part courteous drivers.

- Logging  is well and alive in both WA and OR.  Almost all log truck drivers respect bicyclists except for 1 obnoxious unloaded log truck driver in OR who had to get on his horn as soon as he saw our blinking tail lights until he was well passed us.  The road section had an adequate bike lane and we were well within it.  We heard him do the same thing to another bicyclist 1/2 mile in front of us.

- We don't understand why a driver, driving a small truck or bus needs a CDL but a driver of a 42 foot, 30,000 lb. motorhome pulling another vehicle doesn't.  Many of them don't even realize how big a vehicle they are driving.

- The weather for bike riding was very good with virtually no rain and only 4 or 5 foggy cool days.

- Mexico is still a long ways away.

- We continue to easily meet some interesting friendly people.

- Food shopping is a daily occurrence.

- Sharla continues to amaze Ed with her bike riding stamina and perseverance.   Sometimes she has had some severe leg cramps in her lower left leg in the morning, but praise God it has gone away by the time we get on the bike.  God has truly blessed me with a wonderful wife!

- The "dream" continues to be alive of seeing God's awesome creation of majestic sea shores, vast forests of thick trees & foliage, and magnificent farm and ranch land.

Another Long Day... Including Lots of Wind - Day 20

Had coffee with RVers so didn't get away as early as we would have liked.  Stopped at Paradise Cafe which was recommended and had the largest pancake we had ever seen - they had to be at least 16" x 10". The waitress told Ed he didn't need to order 2 and she was right. It was a sunny day with a lot of wind but fortunately, it was blowing out of the North.  The first really windy day we have had.  The only camping options were at 30 miles at Gold Beach where it was extremely windy and cold (we did eat lunch there and had some super blackberry pie) so we chose to go on to Harris Beach State Park which was 56 miles... our 2nd long day in a row.  There were several vigorous climbs involved so we had debated whether to go on or not but the wind helped us up them. The wind also made it treacherous going downhill as the bikes were quite unstable so we had to ride the brakes all the way down. The ride had a number of gorgeous views of the coastline.  

Met Richard and his daughter from London who were riding from Bellingham to LA.  We also met 2 guys from Germany who had travelled from Anchorage and were going to Las Vegas. 

Sunshine at Last - Day 19

Looked out this morning to mostly cloudy skies with some sun but by late morning, it was mostly sunny. This was a pleasant change from 5days of cool &foggy. After a 10 mile ride to Charleston, we encountered the Seven Devils Road.  The road gets its name from 7 major mountainous climbs (up to 500' each some with very steep grades). We did not see any other tourers for most of the day until late afternoon when we met 3 others all going to San Francisco area. One of them, Brian, was going to continue on across the Sierras to Big Pine. We planned on only doing a 40  - 50 mile ride but there were no campgrounds so we ended up doing 60 miles to a commercial RV campground in Port Orford. A very nice, small RV facility with very friendly owners and guests.  It has advantages over State Parks in that it has Internet service, electricity for charging batteries, as well as coffee & muffins in the morning. Saw some nice coastal views. After some challenging climbs on Seven Devils Road, we had a pleasant ride the rest of the day with manageable rolling hills. Ed is amazed that Sharla does 60 miles without complaining. She notes that she would have been complaining a whole lot more if the strenuous climbs had been at the end of the day.

Another of God's Truths Revealed - Day 18

Exodus 20:9-11 tells us God created the earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th and commands us to toil for 6 days and rest on the 7th.  We hadn't taken a day off from riding for 15 days and our bodies were telling us it was time for a break.  We stayed holed up in the motel catching up on the blog, servicing the bicycles and doing some grocery shopping.  Meals included delivered pizza and microwave dinners.  It was a much needed rest day.

Some more thoughts about our journey:

- We are 240 miles out of 400 miles into Oregon

- Reality has set in on how far it is to the Mexican border

- A day of rest is needed at least once a week

- We are tired of the cold and foggy days we've had since entering Oregon

- We don't know why motor home drivers are not required to have CDL's, as they are every bit as large as trucks.

- Canada, Washington & Oregon have been very bike friendly for the most part.

- Motels are a nice relief from the damp and wet campgrounds and pretty hard sleeping surface

- Except for damp mornings and fog, we have been blessed with good weather.

Sad News - Day 17

Today we rode 45 miles to Coos Bay where we got a motel. The day was again foggy and our route was  described as the most curvy and scenic of the Oregon coast. It would have been nice to have been a clear day but was an enjoyable ride anyway. We stopped in Reedsport for a couple of hours so Ed could participate in a work related webinar. Had a couple major hills to climb. On one of the hills we leap-frogged with a young man hitch hiking to Coos Bay where his wife was in labor with a new baby.

 We received sad news that our very good friend from Fort Collins, John Greenlaw, had a stroke.  Spent much of the day on the bike praying for him and his family.