Day 45

Miles 34.74 Total for trip 1654.37
Avg spd 11.55
Max spd 28.06
Climb 1162
Alt chng --52Palm trees above are in a nice park on the way out of Santa Barbara.

It was a nice ride today. Most of the time I was on city streets with a nice bike path. The freeway along this stretch is very busy so I was happy to get off it.

A short day today and the next 2 days so I can get ready for a long ride.



I made it to Carpinteria State Park around 12.30 pm to check into the hiker/biker location and was informed that I could not register until 4.00 pm. I thought that was strange and asked if that was state wide or just a local thing. She said it was supposed to be state wide but is not enforced. I tried to talk her into letting me in, but was informed that the ranger's office is right next to the hiker/biker spot so there was no way to get in before 4 unless I wanted to pay $25 for a regular spot. I took the extra time to find the local library and upload for the last few days worth of rides. This is the nicest library I have run across. Fast wifi and enough outlets to charge all my gadgets.

Until next time.

Day 43 & 44

Miles 52.58 Total for trip 1619.63
Avg spd 11.66
Max spd 30.08
Climb 2120
Alt chng ++111 You can barely see it, but there is an oil platform in the picture above. At night they light up. I could see 3 in the distance but could not get any pictures of them at night.

It was just a short 12 miles to El Capitan State Beach. I am staying here 2 nights. The hiker/biker spot is way in the back about 1/4 mile from the nearest regular campsite. It is nice and secluded. Last night I saw a bunch of fish jumping in the ocean but could not see what kind they were. This morning I looked out and saw 2 dolphins swimming by. I don't know if they were around last night or just passing through.

I went into the nearest town and had lunch with Matt(thanks) and caught Star Trek. A very good movie, I recommend it. Other then that I took it easy for a couple days.

The plain whole wheat paste has gotten a little stale so I have added a couple items to my pantry. I got some mushroom soup and spam. They should help wake up my taste buds.

Almost to San Diego. Yippie!!!!

Day 42

Miles 34.25 Total for trip 1567.05
Avg spd 9.37
Max spd 38.47
Climb 1952
Alt chng --298
I woke up early and got out of my hideout quick. I had the last of the big hills for a week today. The hill was not so bad when riding South, but riding North it would be real tough.

Nothing much going on today. My stop for the night is Gaviota State Beach. You can fish free off the pier. I went out to check on the fishing. They set up their lines with around 5 hooks and drop them over. I saw a couple people catch 3 at a time. The wind here is by far the worst on the trip. One of my tent poles blew over during the night so I had half a tent. I was going to take a day off tomorrow but the wind is too bad so I will go to the next State Park, El Capitan State Park just 12 miles away.

Day 41

Miles 53.07 Total for trip 1532.80
Avg spd 10.45
Max spd 36.74
Climb 2071
Alt chng ++308
I left the Crazy College Crew after a great breakfast, tempted to unpack and stay for the evening. I decided to push on to today's destination of Pismo Dunes State Beach. The ride today was nice. It was going to be a short day so I wasn't pushing too hard. I found a great little cafe to upload the last few days into the blog. The wifi was twice as any I have used on the trip. I got done in a couple hours and left for Pismo. I got to the campground and saw the full sign, but was not worried there is always room in the hiker/biker area. I went to the window and asked for a hiker/biker site and was informed they no longer had any hiker/biker. I went to the other campground and they were also full. I decided to see about camping on the beach. I found the beach to be a no go. I was told they give out 1000 permits to camp to vehicles and the permits were all gone. This beach is nuts. There are cars going back and forth, like one big cruse.

I had to push on it was 5.00 pm and the next campground was about 60 miles away. I was not going to make it that far so I kept my eyes open for a place to camp along the highway. I was fortunate to be riding this stretch. It is flat and had a nice tailwind. I had to be averaging around 14 mph for the 30 miles past Pismo Beach. I saw a great place along the freeway. I got down under the trees and someone before me was nice enough to leave their tarp hanging. It looked like no one had been back for awhile so I set up camp. Looks like my long day tomorrow turned into a short day.

SPAM vs. CCC

I talked to Aaron for a minute on 5/26. He mentioned something I had to pass along. He was going into Santa Barbara for supplies. He was excited, almost giddy, about the opportunity to purchase a supply of SPAM. He described the concoction he was creating that requires a special, scarce ingredient like SPAM along with two other ingredients noodles and cream of mushroom soup. So he goes from a feast hosted by the CCC to, well, SPAM?

I thought the only thing they had canned in Santa Barbara was caviar. I'm not sure if Aaron found a supply of the iconic meat by-product. I would be interested in seeing photos - or maybe he can post a movie of the spam preparation.

Love to all....

Day 40

Miles 25.70 Total for trip 1479.73
Avg spd 10.55
Max spd 34.42
Climb 1033
Alt ++52
Today was an easy day I had the option of combining today & tomorrow and take any extra day off or have a couple easy days. It turned out it was one of the best decisions I have made on the trip to have 2 easy days, because I ran into a great group of people at Morro Bay State Park. They are a bunch of people who met in college in the 80's and went camping and have kept the tradition going. I will call them the Crazy College Crew.

I was having trouble getting my tent stakes in so I went to the nearest camp to borrow a hammer. I talked with them for a few and was invited to the BBQ they were having that night. I went over around 3.30 to meet everyone( I remember some names but not all so will omit all names so I don't get any wrong). Everyone was real nice. Most seemed to be from LA or the surrounding area. There was an airline pilot, an Emmy Award winning camera woman from Dancing With the Stars, photographer, and more.

There were many grills going. The joke of the day was a reality tv show featuring the team of The Hippies, Neanderthals, and one I forgot. The Hippies won going away. Their grill cooked: corn, flank steak, salmon, and garlic bread(I helped with the garlic bread). The dinner and conversation were great. This night will be tough to top. I had a lot of fun and it tough to pack up and leave tomorrow.

Thanks for a great evening Crazy College Crew.

Thanks for the great breakfast to get me going the following morning

Day 39

Miles 57.95 Total for trip 1454.03

Avg spd 9.88

Max spd 35.58

Climb 3600

Alt chng --383

I stopped at the elephant beach and saw a bunch of seals. Some were trying to claim their spots.

I woke up early to beat the traffic and get out of my illegal(later in the day I saw a sign saying $200 fine for camping along the 1, I won't be camping along the 1 again) campsite. My plan today was to only ride to the next campsite, I thought I could us a day off. When I got to the site I was feeling really good so I decided to try to make it to my original site for the night, San Simeon State Park. I don't know why I was so tired yesterday, but today was a tough day with a couple really good hills and I didn't have to walk all that much. I guess yesterday was just an off day.

Today took my through some awesome scenery. I had to put a limit on how many times I could stop and take pictures. I went by the nicest beach of the trip. I could see a road down to the beach, probably 200 feet down, but nobody was down there. I went by the road and it was all fenced and locked up. It was a good thing because if I could have gone down I might have stayed a few days. There were a few palm trees, clear blue water to take a swim and it was very secluded. I stopped to take pictures of it 3 times it was so nice.

I went by the Hearst Castle and could see it way up on the hill. I wanted to take a closer look but did not feel like riding all the way up. Later from other cyclists I found out that you only ride the bike the first 1/4 mile then a bus takes you up the rest of the way. Maybe next time.

Tomorrow will be a short day. I am in the need of a laundry mat and an update on the blog.

Day 38

Miles 40.67 Total for trip 1396.08
Avg spd 7.32
Max spd 32.69
Climb 2456
Alt ++39
I went to the first USPS office and got shutdown on my package. There was one with limited hours that I was going to go to but the teller told me that one had closed down so my only other option was around 3 miles in Seaside, which I had called the day I showed up and was told it was not there. Before I rode over I decided to call again and hopefully get a different person. I got a lady this time who got back to the phone in around a minute and informed that yes they had the package and it had been there since May 5th. I got my food on my trailer and could feel the extra weight. Maybe it was just riding around in this city. It is a hard city to navigate because of the hill it is built on. Roads coming from all directions. I was on the road I needed to be on and the next sign I see is another name so the street I needed went a different way. I can say it was a frustrating morning riding around town.

I got back on the bike path to get out of town and took one of many breaks for the day. As you can see by the avg speed of 7.32 I did not have one of my better days. I was dragging all day and did the Big Sur hill. I walked my bike more today then any other day except for day 2.

I was wanting to camp in Big Sur but the camp was closed because of the fires last year so my next camping option was about 25 miles past Big Sur. I thought I could make it but was having a rough day. I was looking for places to stealth camp along the 1. I saw a perfect spot, cars coming from the North could not see where I was camped and cars coming from the South could see me for only about 10 feet and had to be looking to get a glimpse.

I was glad today was done.

Day 37

Took the day off and did nothing.

If anyone is looking for more info or pictures look under the helpful links title for the cool pics, map of the trip, and track the trip links.


A review on my gear if anyone is looking to get any camping or biking gear in the future.


Do get any MSR item I have their Missing Link tent and it has been great. No leaks, holds up in high winds, and sets up in about 3 mins. It says 2 people, 2 small people.My stove is the MSR wisperlite. Lights easy and stays on. My water bag is a 6 liter MSR.

Do get Big Angus mat. You have to blow it up which is the only drawback, but it is lightweight and holds its air overnight.

Do get Arkel panniers. They are very durable and have a lifetime guarantee, nuff said.

Do get Orkel waterproof bags. I keep all my camping gear in this big bag, nothing has gotten wet and it is very durable.


Do get BOB. This is my trailer. I have put around 4000-5000 miles on it with no trouble. I even went 30lbs over the max weight of 70lbs with no trouble.


Reconsider getting the Sigma speedometer. The altitude works great. It starts out good for the day, but when I take a break, if it is too short the darn thing doesn't restart for around 10 miles. It might work better if I wore the heart monitor but I did not bring it.


Post office tomorrow.

Day 36

Miles 44.29 Total for trip 1355.41
Avg spd 10.50
Max spd 30.95
Climb 1826
Alt chng ++305


I was really looking forward to today's ride, it was almost all off the 1 on farm roads about 15 miles on a bike trail. Most of the first part of the farm roads took my past acres and acres of strawberries. The rows were built up so the ripe strawberries fell down so I could see all the big ripe ones and smell them for 10 miles or so. It is no surprise that I started craving strawberries after a few miles. I got to the end of the fields and there was Dominic's, a great farmers market. I got a tub of great strawberries for $1.50. For you olive lovers there were at least 20 various olive varieties. I was tempted but the jars were too big to carry and a little out of my price range.

It was great to get on the bike trail for a few miles today and not have to worry about any traffic. It went along a main road and the beach. The trail took me to downtown Monterey CA where I had to get to my campsite for the night. I like the suggested campsites for the night the map suggests, but after a good day of riding it would be nice to know that it is 400 feet straight up to get to the campgrounds. I set my tent up fast and called the local USPS to see if they had my food package. Both of the USPS said they did not have my package so thought I would have to go in person to get some help. It was too late today so just decided to go back into town.



They have a great farmers market on Tuesdays so I went to check it out. It had a bunch of good booths. I could have got a lot of good stuff but settled on a bunch of sweet peas. The were great and had them eaten long before I made it back to my tent.


I know I have some pics, but cannot find them. I need to organize them a little better.

Day 35

Miles 66 Total for trip 1311.12
Avg spd 9.77
Max spd 35.58
Climb 2403
Alt chng ++72


Today to start off I had to backtrack 7 miles to Montara to get Dan's wheel. I tied it to my trailer and set of for the day's ride. I have not had a broken spoke since Pt. Arena so I will keep mine on until I pop another spoke. I don't want to ruin a good thing.
Today was a nice ride I had a good shoulder the whole day and was in the slow rolling hills again.

At the New Brighton State Beach camp there was around 6 other cyclists tonight.

I went down to the beach to see how it was. It was more of a fisherman's beach, no real break. There were a few fishing and one had caught a nice halibut, the other two had not had any luck.

I must have been really focusing on the ride today. I cannot find any pictures for the day.

Gravity

I was looking at the profile of the first 14 miles this morning for Aaron. Just eyeballing it, it looks like he had 1800 ft of climbing in the first 14 miles (granted he had 1600 ft of downhill but I doubt if he is counting that). I'm guessing he was pretty grumpy given he started at 6:55 AM. Hopefully he has enough beef jerky to sustain him. Love to all...

Day 34

A little update on my shoes, gone. They didn't even make it until the 12th.



Debbie you caught me. I had a 1/100 model made of my bike and gear. I will have to figure something else out.



Good job on getting the "A" Amy.



This photo is me enjoying my day off in front of the library using the free wifi. No there will not be a picture of me in every 6th photo, more like every 600th photo.



Have a nice Sunday. Thanks for tagging along I am enjoying myself I hope everyone likes the photos.



Love you all. Aaron



P.S. It has been a few weeks since I shaved.

Day 33

Miles 57.21 Total for trip 1245.12
Avg spd 9.72
Max spd 37.61
Climb 2840
Alt chng --134

I made it to my 3rd sunset. My campground was at Half Moon Bay State Beach. The sign said it was full, but there is always room for 1 more biker in the hiker/biker area. When I got there a car was parked in the area. They had their tent all set up. About 30 minutes after I got there the ranger showed up and made the car pack up and leave. It only costs $3 in the hiker/biker sites compared to $10-$25 for a regular campsite. Most of the bikers I have camped near are morning people. This morning I was up by 7.45 and both bikers from last night were already gone, diehards.

San Francisco, my second map is completed. Only 9 more to go. I know all the good detours to take not because of months of preparation, but because I ordered maps from a company called Adventurecycling.org.

The ride today was great. I was looking forward to getting to a big city. If you were to see San Fran now you would not think there is any kind of recession. Wall to wall people. I was glad to be riding south today, because when I got into the suburbs of San Fran I passed around 1000 (no exaggeration)bikers going north. I was talking with a lady at a coffee shop who said there are a lot of bike clubs in and around San Fran.

I rode over the Golden Gate Bridge and sat for an hour afterwards trying to figure out the rest of my day since I was not going to make it to Montara and pick up Dan's wheel before the post office closed. I decided to try to get my bike tuned up tomorrow and found a bike shop in Pacifica that was open on Sundays. I tried to get a hotel room for the night and found they were full and there are no campsites in Pacifica. I decided to try to get to my campsite for the night even with the warning from Valerie about the Devil's watchamacallit.

The hill outside Pacifica was treacherous. The shoulder disappeared and the hwy went from 4 lanes down to 2(more like 1 1/2). The hill was steep with not many pullouts. I made it to a pullout dripping sweat, thinking I didn't know how much farther up I could get tonight. I pushed on, got to the top of the hill and the next 9 miles were a breeze to my camp. I don't know when I passed the Devil's watchamacallit, but it couldn't have been that bad.

Day off tomorrow.

Day 32

Miles 42.7 Total for trip 1187.91 Speedometer was not working today so this is an estimate.
Nice to be back in the rolling hills of the countryside after yesterdays tough hills.

A laundry mat, finally. My clothes are stinky and salty(sorry for the gross visual). I had an awesome chicken burrito while doing laundry, it filled me up for the ride ahead. Today was a great ride, the 1 took my off the coast for the whole ride today. I was back on the rolling country hills for the first 22 miles, a real treat after yesterday's steep hills. I went through Point Reyes National Seashore today where there are oyster farms. I past around 5 oyster restaurants riding through the huge city of Marshall CA, population 50. I did not stop in any oyster restaurant if anyone is wondering.

I turned off the 1 onto Pt. Reyes Petaluma Rd. It turned out to be a turn for the worse. About a mile down the road my rear tire was flattened by a 2 inch screw. I took the tube out and the screw went through both sides. I have had a few flats the last few days and had no extra tubes so I tried patch it up, but the holes were too big and the tube could not hold up. My only option was to walk back to Pt Reyes Station about 1 1/2 miles away. My info showed the city had no bike shops but did have a couple stores. I was pointed to the building supply store. They had a tube and I made it to the store just 6 minutes before they closed, lucky. I fixed it up and made it to my campsite Samuel P Taylor State Park before dark. The final 5 miles of today's ride were on a nice greenbelt bike trail with no traffic. I got the last hiker/biker campsite. Tomorrow I will be in San Francisco.

Day 31

Miles 30.28 Total for trip 1145.21
Avg spd 8.96
Max spd 30.95
Climb 2070
Alt chng --219
I finally got a picture of the birds not flying. That was one of my goals on the trip. I saw a bunch of seals in the picture below.

I left Salt Point State Park thinking that I could use a day off, but today's mileage was not to bad so I decided to trek on. Around 2 miles out of camp I thought I might have made the wrong decision. I stopped about every 6 miles to get through the day. A guy I talked to in Oregon told me that Oregon builds big bridges and California builds little bridges. Today's ride made me understand that statement. Around every mile I would get a nice downhill until I hit the bottom of the hill and the 10-15mph turn over the small bridge. The uphill was very steep, not the long rolling hills of the country. This was the whole day was straight down, almost stop, straight up. It was a tough day.

I could see fog rolling in on the bay. My campsite for the night was Bodega Dunes State Park and the closer I got to the fog the more It looked like that was my campsite. The fog was fairly thick, but the temperature was not that bad. I went from 70ish before the fog to around 50ish about usual once the sun goes down on the coast. Looks like a day off in a couple days, after I get Dan's wheel in Montara.

I was about to fall asleep when I heard a rustling around one of my bags. I leaned up flashed my light and shushed whatever was out there, a skunk came out from behind the bag and I quietly laid back down in my tent. I figured the skunk could have anything it wanted as long as it didn't spray. As you can guess, it took a while for me to get to sleep, because it kept sniffing around my tent for awhile. It looks like the skunk has been in the camp for a long time. Last night(5-16) a biker said he saw it a few years ago.

Yep that fog is where my campsite is for the night.

Day 30

Miles 42.5 Total for trip 1114.93
Avg spd 11.21
Max spd 34.42
Climb 1921
Alt Chng ++334


I got out of camp today around 9.00 and decided it was time to do laundry and stop by a library to update the blog. I couldn't find anywhere to do laundry. I saw that Point Arena had a library so I would stop there. I saw the library and slowed to 3-4 mph and turned into a driveway and pop another spoke gone. I went to the library first to update. It turns out their wifi was the PCs along the wall, so I went to fix my spoke. I fixed my spoke as fast as possible and got out of Point Arena before anything else could happen. It was a nice town, very artsy.


I was passed by 6 riders today. They looked like they were on a supported tour. They had the nice road bikes with a water pack and that was it. I tried to keep up but didn't make it that far.


My campsite tonight was off the beach. It was nice, no wind.

No pictures for this blog. I have to leave and find a place to stay for the night. There is a big run in San Fransisco tomorrow so all the hotels are full in the surrounding area and my campsite is still 14 miles down the road and Valerie said the 1 is tough from here to there. Something about the Devil's fall or something like that. I will catch up next time. See ya all.

Day 29

Miles 57.96 Total for Trip 1072.43
Avg spd 10.94
Max 35.58
Climb 3491
Alt Chng ++13
The photo above is from Manchester Beach SP. It seems to have the cleanest waves I have seen, and was the windiest so far. I had to take a makeshift latter to get down and I almost took a header.

The picture below is from a small bay and the kite surfer had it all to themselves, just going back and forth. It seems like a good work out.

I woke up to a busted spoke this morning, bummer. Luckily I had not packed all the stuff on my bike before I noticed it. I tried to fix it but could not get the spoke to get screwed in(I busted 2 spokes trying to do this). So I had to stop by the bike store in Fort Bragg to have a pro fix it. I finally caved in and Danny is shipping me his wheel to try out. I walked around Fort Bragg for half hour to see the sites. It is a nice city with an old downtown feel.

I ran into a couple bikers that I passed a couple days ago. They are going from Portland to San Fransisco then to a faith based camp for the summer one to be a life guard and the other to be a teacher's aid. They had just done their first century of the trip, 108 miles and they had the tough hill I did yesterday. I am thinking about doing a century through LA since there is around 110 miles between campsites. I haven't decided yet, it depends how I am feeling around that time.

Day 28

Miles 48.11 Total for Trip 1014.47
Avg spd 8.58
Max spd 34.87
Climb 3738
Alt chng --521 The picture above and below are from right after the big Leggert hill. The first cloudy sky for a couple days.

I passed the 1000 mile mark today, sweet.

I left from Garberville around 11.00 am and had the toughest hill on the Pacific Coast to look forward to. It was another sunny day and I was wanting to get back onto the coast. The first hill wasn't as bad as I thought I almost made it without walking my bike. The second hill was the killer. My information did not do it justice. I thought it would be around a 500 foot climb, turned out to be around 1100 feet. I walked a lot of the 2nd hill.

My campsite for the night was right on a cliff, straight down to the beach. I actually made it to the sunset, thanks to Dillon. He invited me to join his fire. We talked for a couple hours. He has been following construction jobs for the last few years. Oregon, North Carolina, Colorado, now he is in California. I actually made it up until 11.30, a record for the trip so far.

Pictures of you...

So why don't we get any pictures of you with the big log, you in the redwoods, you hovering over the mountains, you at the covered bridge, you with your bike on the golden gate bridge?

Many of your faithful viewers (OK your father) have suggested a rule, or guideline, that one out of six pictures posted has to include you in the photo. You got to admit that is not the craziest rule your father has thought up.

Love to all...look forward to hearing from you and seeing you.

Golden Gate

Are you going to ride across the Golden Gate bridge? Take some pictures for us....

Love, Dan and Shelly

Day 27

Miles 23.87 Total for trip 966.36
Avg spd 10.81
Max spd 34.42
Climb 1168
Alt ++419 I got up today to discover I had my first flat tire of the trip. I must have punctured the tube while I was fixing the spokes last night. I had another spare tube so fixed the tire with no problem and patched the tube just in case.

I have seen the flowers below several times on the trip and have wanted to take a picture of them. I finally had a pullout near a patch of the flowers so I got a picture of them.

The top picture is of the Eel River. The river seems like a slow moving river. I don't think it would be a good rafting river, unless you wanted to do a lot of paddling. The bottom picture is what you see along much of the Avenue of the Giants.

Tomorrow I will be getting to the 1, which has a lot of small cities so it could be a few days before the next update.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers.

Day 26

Miles 41.63 Total for trip 942.49
Avg spd 11.54
Max 27.48
Climb 1423
Alt Chng ++190

I got out of the tent around 6.30 to pack up and take a couple pictures of the start of the 100 mile ride. I was very surprised at the amount of people that were in the ride. I would say at least 200-300 were in the 100 miler and there were still a lot to got in the 100 k, 50 mile, 20 mile, and 10 mile. I left between the 100 miler and 100 k.

The above picture is always a bad sign. I got a couple more broken spokes today luckily they came at around 8 miles before the end of the day so I rode to the campsite and fixed everything up.

The ride today was great. I rode the 101 for around half the day, then I got on a road called Avenue of the Giants. The road follows the Eel River and is in the heart of redwood country. On both sides of the road you are surrounded by huge redwoods. I stayed in the Burlington Campground. It is a great state campground and only $3 for bikers and hikers. The picture below is the tree that was right over my tent. I heard many large branches falling off in the campground and was hoping one didn't take my tent out. I made it through the night with no incidents.

Day 25

Miles 38.37 Total for trip 900.86
Avg spd 11.29
Max spd 36.74
Climb 1288
Alt Chng ++39



Today I was going through Eureka CA. It had a restaurant that was on my list to try. There are only 3 of these on my list so I stopped there for the free wireless Internet and great fries. All was going well, my pictures had just been uploaded to flikr when their wifi went out. The waitress told me their wireless is not that reliable. I didn't feel safe leaving my bike out at the library where I couldn't see it so I couldn't get everything done.


My destination for today is Ferndale CA. There is a big bike ride happening and I found out that were I am camping for the day all bikers in the ride get free camping so I am going to try to blend in. The long ride is a 100 mile loop along some of the route I am taking, but I am chickening out on the lost coast trail which has a climb of 2500 feet in around 7 miles. I have a big climb in a couple days so decided that would be enough.


I got a little lost again today, went past the road I was supposed to turn on. I figured it out after a mile or so. I need to start reading the maps better. Not that much happening today rode along a lot of country roads again and was off the 101 almost all day. Ferndale is a tourist town there is not a convenient store or chain of any kind, it is kinda nice.


At the fairground where all the bikers were staying I ran into James, the biker I talked with a couple days ago. He is a serious biker and is looking to improve on his 18th place last year. He and his teammates are getting a strategy together to get the 100 miles in under 5 hours. He is on his college team which has around 70 riders on it. College riding teams are big in California.

Day 24

Those are seals in the picture above.

Miles 46.74 Total for trip 862.49

Avg spd 11.08

Max spd 38.47

Climb 1964

Alt chng --52

I rolled out of the tent today to find, sunny skies. Nice. It rained all last night, hopefully this morning will be the last time I have to fold up a soaked tent for a few days. I was eating my breakfast (cold wheat pasta from the night before, yum) when a couple came by to check out my gear. It turns out they had left their tent on top of a food locker ( the first camp that has had food lockers) went for a hike and when they came back their tent had been stolen. Bummer. Luckily the host had an old tent and let them borrow it. We talked for awhile about where I am going and assured me they had never had any other thefts at a California camp ground. I think they could tell I was a little paranoid about getting stuff stolen when I went on hikes.

The bird in the photo were enjoying the strong winds coming off the Big Lagoon. When I first saw them, there were 3 just floating along, back and forth not even a single flap of the wings. I stopped under them, 2 of the birds didn't like the company but the 3rd one kept flying about 15 feet above me.

It was definitely the best day since being on the coast. I was tempted to ride in my sandals but decided to wear my boots. My course today took me off the 101 a couple of places. The first was Patricks Point Dr. It went along the coast. It was a nice change today. The logging trucks were out in full force and there were a lot of places with little or no shoulder on the 101. Patricks Point Dr was a nice secluded road with not much traffic. The road had suffered some slides recently so there were a few places that had only a single dirt lane and signs said a large dip was up ahead so RVs and trailers should not use the road. I never saw the large dip, I think it was a scare tactic. Which was fine by me, it kept the traffic out. The second was called Hammond Trail, this trail is like the greenbelt. It was about 12 miles long some went along the ocean and some went alone country farms and finally over an old railroad bridge. I ran into a rider who was out training for his college team, Humbolt College. We talked a little about his training, my trip, an upcoming ride in Ferndale, (where I will be staying in a couple days) and Lance Armstrong.

Hammond Trail turned into the city streets of Arcata. Some of you who saw the tracking trail you might have thought I was lost, but you would be almost wrong. Somehow I got on Golf Club rd, which was a very hilly rough road. I thought it was the wrong road but didn't see any street signs so kept on going. A few ups and downs and I saw the road I needed, Old Arcata Rd. I had no idea which way to turn so went right. A mile down the road a woman who was walking her dog told me the KOA camp I was looking for was the other way. First time I got lost I picked the wrong way to go, odds are next time I will be right.

Just got done with laundry and will make it to past 9.00 pm before I hit the hay.

Battery is dead and the park I am at has their electric off so until next time.