Greetings all from foggy, (but dry!), Garberville, California. I broke the 500-mile mark on my trip today. I actually rode on dry tarmac today! All the other motorists traveling along Hwy. 101 today probably thought I was losing my mind while I doing my saddle ‘happy dance’ while blasting along at 65mph.
Yes, the day started out as another soggy riding day, as I left Brookings, Oregon this morning in a perpetual drizzle. But, I was determined to keep pushing south to get out from under the new storm front moving into the Pacific Northwest. Here was my view for the first 3 hours of riding today…
Yes, that’s actually what I see looking through the face shield on my helmet. Anyway, I kept heading south from Brookings, OR, and crossed the California border at about 10:30 this morning. I traveled down through the Redwoods, beautiful from what I could see of them, and pressed on to Eureka, CA to stop for lunch.
After stopping in Eureka, I noticed the rain was slowing significantly. I decided to keep going south to outrun the rain all together. About 3pm, I decided to stop in Garberville, CA to grab a hotel for the evening and start my nightly bike gear drying sessions, (although my riding suit has a gore-tex liner, I stay warm and dry, but all of the gear gets very wet and heavy after several hours in the rain).
Garberville, CA is about 200 miles north of San Francisco, nestled in the Redwood Forest. A beautiful little Alpine-like town with obviously a lot of ex-hippies residing here.
Actually, Garberville has to be one of the most picturesque little Northern California towns I’ve ever seen. A very strong alt-culture vibe in this town. I’m definitely planning on stopping here again on my trek home in a week.
Tomorrow, I head for San Francisco and take a look at Berkeley. I’ll keep my posts coming. Everyone have a very Merry Christmas. I’m enjoying the hell out of mine.
Dave
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