Reasons 2753 - 3038

We left Orick as quick as we could, even though we knew our day would be shorter. It was quite flat for the most part, it felt so good to be on flat land. With it being so flat we just ripped through it. About halfway was the town of McKinleyville, so we decided to stop for lunch there. The turn off we took was a little premature because we ended up riding uphill for the most part of about two miles. Also this road hadn’t been paved in a real long time and by the time we actually got to smooth pavement I was kind wishing my bike had some sort of suspension on it. We reach the top of the hill and we look down and McKinleyville seemed to light up with the bright sun just above it. It almost seemed like a trick. We eventually made our way to our favorite restaurant Subway. While paying for my sub, I asked for three cookies. But, the cashier somehow sneakily gave me six without my knowledge and he didn’t even charge me for them. He said that he was a cyclist too and so I guess he knew that we could use a little extra boost even if it was free cookies. Subway is the best.

After that we made quick timing into Eureka and we see our first Target since Seattle. While shopping around Target, Nathan finds a deal for Clif Bars. They had 7 bars for 5 dollars. Best deal I have ever seen. We were early but decided to go and check and see if our hosts for the night were home. We got lucky as they were home. Heidi brought us to the backyard and showed us to what seemed like a garage at first, but was actually like a really small home. It was very nice. There was a little TV, and it just so happened that the Giants and the Tigers were playing that night. We order Pizza from Domino’s. Matt brews his own Beer and Root Beer so we fill our glasses and watch the game. I will admit that I didn’t know that this game could have decided the winner, so I probably would have enjoyed it more had I known. We were both cheering for the Giants, so it was a little nerve wracking when it went to an extra inning.

The next morning we wanted to say goodbye to Matt and Heidi in person. We found out that Matt and Heidi were pastors, and so we thought it would be cool for us to pray for them and they could pray for us. Matt wasn’t there but Heidi was, so we prayed with her. God gave Nathan stuff to pray for Matt and Heidi. Later through conversation Nathan found out from Heidi that what he prayed for was a confirmation of what they should teach at a coming conference. It was really nice to have been able to meet such a great couple.

Then we rode through the Avenue of the Giants. It was a real treat in more ways then one. One nice thing about it was that there were barely any vehicles.  It seemed like we had the road to ourselves. Also, there were redwoods everywhere and even though it was really bright outside it was kind of dark in the midst of the trees. There were times when all I wanted to do was to look up, forgetting that I was riding my bike. For this night we slept at one of the campgrounds in the Avenue of the Giants. While there we met three other touring cyclists. It’s nice knowing that there are others. We quickly got along very nicely, exchanging stories. Also how they do things while on the road and how we do things. There are lots of different ways to go. Their names are Gavin, Giome, and Caroline.

Gavin, getting dinner started.

Giome, looking relieved after a trip to the restroom.

Caroline's typical, smiley face.

In the morning we pack up all of our things and we head out before the others. We stopped at this drive thru tree. Nathan really wanted to go through it. But you had to pay for it, not a lot, but its still money. The others passed, because they didn’t want to pay for it. So we took our time riding through the tree and also visiting this house carved out of a redwood, that had two levels.

Riding through a tree. For real.

These two photos were actually taken inside of a hollow redwood tree.

Collin's classic Bigfoot pose.

We ride to Garberville for lunch and again finding our favourite restaurant, Subway. We find the other riders at a little Mexican restaurant and we chill with them for a bit, using the free Wi-fi. Satisfied, we hit the road again and made it to our destination, another campground with redwoods around us.

We wanted to get going really early because we knew that we would have a long way to go and we knew there would be some uphill. We were all ready to go, and I realized I had a flat. So I had to fix that before we could ride. So much for leaving early. Also around this time we could feel light rain, but we hoped it wasn’t going to be bad. Get to the highway and find that it is wet, so we put our rain covers on panniers. Ride a little further and the misty sprinkling rain turns into actual rain, and before we know it, it really starts to rain. By this time we have all of our rain gear on and we slowly trek uphill to the next town called Laytonville. About halfway into getting their I realized that I have another flat. I try and hide myself from the rain underneath the biggest tree I could find on the side of the road. Realize I am out of tubes, using my last one in the morning. Begging Nathan for one of his. Good thing he is a nice guy. Then being completely miserable, went about changing my flat. All I was focusing on was getting to Laytonville and not thinking about what was going to happen afterwards. Just get to Laytonville. We get there but it wasn’t much of a town, no bus, no restaurant that we would dare go to. However, one of the locals said that a town called Willits was 20 miles ahead and for the most part downhill. We decide we will go to Willits because it sounded like it was bigger and it was also closer to our destination. We eat our cold chunky in the rain and feeling sorry for ourselves as people drove past looking at us in our sorry state.

This is what Nathan's hands looked like after biking all day in heavy rain.

All I am thinking of is getting to Willits. Getting to Laytonville was hard enough, now we basically have to do the same thing all over again. But by this time we are already tired and for the most part completely soaked. To make things worse, every time we climbed uphill, there was a stream of water that would be going against us. But we were forced to ride up this stream because that’s where the shoulder was. It seemed like an eternity, like we weren’t gaining any ground. After much torment we make it to Willits. Find the cheapest motel that we could. But before we settle down we go out for supper to McDonalds which was right across the street. I am sure we were a sorry sight to everyone in the McDonald’s, we were for the most part defeated. But we still managed to have some smiles. Some of the folks were interested in what we were doing. We told them roughly what we were doing and how incredible it has been. With those conversations I feel a little better in what we are doing. We both feel really privileged to be able to do this bike trip, even if we do sound pessimistic at times. We go to the motel and crank the heat and hope for a better tomorrow.

A bonus, little video of ripping down the Redwood Highway of Del Norte Coast Redwoods Park. The video is sped up to 8X the original speed, but we topped out at 34.9mph/56.2kmh. It was zippy.