August 19, 2017
Day 47 Burlington Campground to Richardson Grove State Park: Smoke on the Water
We woke early, hoping to beat the sun for a little bit anyways as we knew we had a couple big hills to get over today. Breakfast of granola and reconstituted dry milk was sufficient to get us going. I am not sure if we will ever get used to the taste of powdered milk – will it be an acquired taste? Will we get home and still want to drink it? I highly doubt that!
We said goodbye to Jamie and Angela who are on their way back home today to Lolita. They have just joined Warmshowers as hosts and told us they have lots of room in their yard for cyclists and a place to build a bonfire, so if you are looking for alternatives in this area, we highly recommend this lovely couple!
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On the road traffic was light and we enjoyed finishing the Avenue of the Giants. Along the way we stopped at the town of Miranda for second breakfast. The quaint little restaurant there had outdoor seating so we were able to sit and enjoy a most delicious breakfast while keeping an eye on our bikes. This is a continuing theme whenever we stop. If we can’t bring the bikes in with us, one of us stays with the bikes while the other does the shopping or whatever, so it's particularly enjoyable when we can sit together and enjoy a meal at a restaurant.
After second breakfast, we continued on our way, stopping for a few more pics before finally coming to the end of this wonderful stretch of road.
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Back on the 101, we noticed a lot of smoke in the air. It became quite thick as we moved along, and along with the growing heat, made for a difficult climb up the first of two big hills for today. We have decided to grade hills by the number of times we have to stop for a break on the way up. The first hill required 3 stops – it was tough!
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Partway up the second hill we were able to pull of at the town of Garberville. By this time I was really overheated and needed something cold right away before I could even think about anything else. We pulled in at the local grocery store and Jim watched the bikes while I found us some lemonade and plums. While I was in the store, Jim chatted with someone who told him there was a fire just over the hill, so that’s what all the smoke was about.
As we were sitting and cooling down, an older couple came by. The man stopped to ask where we were from and where we were headed before walking on, but his wife stayed to chat for a bit. It turns out that years before they had done some cycle touring on the coast and also across country for a bit before she got sick from a nasty spider bite and they had to call it quits. She was very sweet to talk to and as she left, she introduced herself as Charlotte and her husband as George – easy to remember, she said, Princess Charlotte and Prince George! How cute it that???
Once we had recovered a bit, we made a list of needed items. Jim went back into the store while I relaxed and checked in on the world. My phone’s access to the internet has been pretty sketchy along here, so its always nice when I can log in and at least post an update of Facebook so the kids know we’re still around!
Grocery shopping accomplished, we made it back onto 101 to finish the hill which ended up being not so bad at all. We stopped once to take a pic of the haze in the valley from the all the smoke, but that was it.
On the way down (always so nice after climbing!) we took the exit for Benbow, which led us off 101 onto Benbow Drive, a road that wound around close to 101 for quite some time. We came to a portion where there had been a rock slide slide and the road was pretty beat up gravel, but once we made it to the other side, it was a nice, quiet country road. We saw maybe 3 cars for the whole time. In addition, there were trees along the way every so often, so we were able to catch some shade as we rode. So much nicer than being up on the highway!
Eventually, our nice little road ended and dumped us back up on the 101, which was now pretty busy, winding and hot – great! Oh, and the shoulders were pretty much non-existent. We rode for a bit and came to a pull off with a business selling wood carvings from redwood, chimes and other assorted touristy things. We pulled in and holy cow! They had pop and ice cream!!! Also, they sold some pretty cool t-shirts so we were able to purchase another one for Ryder – this one is going to stay safe with the other clothes until we can mail it!
After enjoying our drink and ice cream, we looked around at some of the carvings and displays – we even found a tiny house!
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Our destination for the day was just up the road, so we once again joined the traffic jam that is 101 here and made it safely to Richardson Grove State Park. At the hiker/biker site we found not one cyclist, but it was early in the day. Still, it was nice to pull in and pick where we wanted to put the tent up.
We had a little rest and then went for a walk to see where the showers were here. As we went, we met two women and a little girl out for a walk. We still had our bike gear on and I guess they had seen our bikes so they asked “Are you the bikers from Canada?”. Yep, that’s us we replied. Sounds pretty funny to us – The Bikers From Canada. I guess we are far enough down now that it’s a big deal, but we don’t really notice any difference. Each day is what it is and tomorrow is just the ride to the next place. Added all up, it’s a lot (well, a lot for us) but it really doesn’t feel like it.
We had our showers, and tried to work on pictures and the journal while the mosquitoes tried their best to drain us completely.
Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 1,692 km (1,051 miles)
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