Day 21: Begining of the redwood forests
Despite the very comfy sofa, under a real roof and despite the couple of beers that would normally make sleep come easy, last night was the worst sleep of the trip by far. I got maybe 2 hours despite going to bed around 10pm. This was due to some crazed drug addict that decided to set up base for the night outside the church and who shouted loudly to himself all night long. So this was maybe 10 feet from where I was attempting to sleep. Quite literally from midnight to 7am he was having a very loud solo Convo. So none of the 4 of us at the warm showers got any sleep.
Someone got up around 7am and brewed a pot of coffee which is great to wake up to, if you can call it waking up if you didn’t sleep. In my ongoing efforts to keep getting rid of shit I don’t use, I donated some big bottle of butt cream that everyone recommended but I have never used to the communal cyclist shelf. Was packed and out by 8.30am.
Just got out of town when I was met by a big fuck off hill. I mean who decided to put a hill just outside the town? Sillness. So I spent the next hour climbing this 1,300 foot hill with a mix of cycling and walking.
There was then a free museum full of old stuff… It was native American old stuff. I stopped because it was free and because the warm showers host recommended it. It is the largest collection of native American artifacts on the Pacific coast (I think). But not really my thing so I took a photo and left.
There is a drive thru for everything here. There’s fast food, drive thru coffee, drive thru ATMs. But today’s drive thru takes the cake. It is a drive thru tree! To be fair it is pretty cool. You can drive a car thru a real living tree. So took the compulsorily photo here.
Today I entered the redwood forests. Have been hearing great things about these for weeks. They are spectacular and the trees are massive. At a guess some of them must be 18+ feet in diameter. I think there will be patches of these for the next few hundred miles.
Just before the last climb of the day, I pulled over in a road pull out section (what do you call these?) and saw an info board so I read it. It warned that we are in mountain lions, bears and elk territory and all the dangerous these pose. Even suggested fighting back if attacked.. It then struck me how quiet it was. All I could hear was Autumn colored leaves hitting the ground around me. This should have been beautiful but the warning and quietness had me spooked so I quickly looked around to make sure there were no lions about to pounce. Coast clear, I jumped back on the bike and cycled up the hill. No lions could possibly catch me at that walking pace.
The last climb and descent was on old highway 101 meaning very low traffic. Cruising this long shallow downhill through these redwoods was class. Kept having to stop and take pictures.
Camp tonight is at Elk Prairie Campground. Is my first camp in California. After saying goodbyes to Tomie I paid that $5 for the night. Not so bad but no electricity to charge anything and have to pay extra for the showers. I think Oregon has spoiled me. The showers were a quarter per 2 minutes. Only had 1 quarter.. Those 2 minutes were actually 1 minute. And half of that 1 minute was waiting for the water to warm up. 2/10 shower experience.
Cris, the German couple (Phill and Julia) all from prior camps and Fiona, a newcomer for me are all camping here. Fiona is also cycling to Argentina. Cool to meet someone else crazy/stupid enough to take on the pan AM.
Destination for tomorrow seems uncertain. The book recommendation is a campground but with warning that the area is dangerous. This was echoed by other RV campers who said the whole town should be avoided at all cost. The German couple have a warm shower host for tomorrow so they will ask their host if I can also camp in their backyard. Otherwise I will get a motel somewhere I think.
Internet is non existing here so this will be a day late. Good night!
