a cycling adventure: day twentytwo

July 1st

Patrick's Point State Park to Stafford RV Park, Stafford

67 miles

Up at 6 again. Took my time getting ready this morning for some reason, don't really know why. Not really caring much at this point. In a weird state of mind.

Talked with Mark and Chip about where they might go today. Decided we should go to Stafford, where there's an RV park. Chip called in the morning and it was $18/night. They offered to split it 3 ways, which helped us both out. Very cool of them to offer, and it would be nice to have some company.

We all headed out around 9:00AM. Rode together for awhile but I went ahead for a bit. Not used to riding with other people, and we are on a slightly different pace, so its hard for me to get used to.

Rode on an old, winding, sometimes gravel road out of Trinidad. Awesome views of the ocean, weather foggy but starting to clear. Ton's of boats moored out of Trinidad. Waited for guys and rode with them again. 101 turned to freeway again - kinda sketchy, especially at on/off ramps. Felt much safer riding in a group. Noise from traffic is deafening.

Arrived in Eureka around noon. We were all starving, so we decided to find a place in town to eat. Instead of blindingly riding around looking for restaurants, like I've doing, Chip uses his I-phone to look up the best/cheapest places to eat. Incredibly convenient! Found a sandwich place, Hole in the Wall, which had good reviews. Mark and I got the BBQ port sandwich, which was HUGE.

Hit the road again, tons of traffic in town. Eureka looks like a cool town, wish I could hand out longer. Rode quiet farm roads for awhile, nice to get off 101. Sun coming out, more perfect weather.

Stopped at a fruit stand and ran into Alex, who I rode with just north of Gold Beach. Fun to see him again, he's having quite the adventure. He's planning to ride the Lost Coast, which I was going to do as well, until I saw the elevation map. Not to mention the fact that you're only on the coast for about 5 miles out of 60. Hoping he makes it out, he literally just looked at the elevation chart when we were talking to him, but he still took the turn off. Ate my 2 plums and 3 nectarines - excellent.

Kept riding on towards Stafford, more lonely farm roads. Watched some guys herding cattle.

Stopped at Hoby's Market in Scotia for groceries. We teamed up on dinner, splitting it 3 ways. This helped save money and allow us to buy massive quantities of food.

Arrived at Stafford RV park around 5:30. Met 2 girls from Portland who were heading to San Francisco. They were waiting for their friends to get out of the Lost Coast. Set up camp, not a bad little spot. Showered, Mark made dinner. Smoked sausage, with onions and peppers. Damn good, stuffed. Skittles for dessert.

Excited for The Avenue of the Giants tomorrow, more big Redwoods. This stretch of road has a reputation as being extremely dangerous to ride on, with no shoulder and lots of traffic. Not sure what to expect, but feeling better about riding in a group as opposed to being by myself.

Not sure where we will end up tomorrow, but definitely not past Leggett.