Rest day and we all stayed in yurts! Yippee . . . even stayed warm during the night.
The usual breakfast routine before we headed off to Redwoods State Park. Rich and Jenny compare routes on the map over coffee.
For those of us who never ventured past downtown over the rest day, we finally see the marina in Brookings as we head out of town.
We are crossing into California today and literally right on the state line is the last change to by weed in Oregon!!!
Welcome to California . . .
. . . and across the street is the welcome to Oregon sign, much nicer than the OR landing of the ferry we took from WA across the Columbia into OR. On the OR side there was only a pile of trash and an outhouse!!!
And gas was notably more expensive in CA. Gene, a local in Fort Dix, riding a bicycle, told me it is the ‘special CA blend additives’ that make the price so high . . .
. . . and here was the nicely named ‘Pelican Lake’ correctional facility, the only one like it in the state, where the baddest of the bad go. Sounds like our ‘Super Max’ back in Boscobel, WI. For the second time we have seen a prison with no name or reference to what it is. Easy to tell though from the guard towers and multiple fences.
On a nicer note was this local artist who was VERY skilled in using horseshoes welded together to make creations . . .
. . . and he had quite a display!!!
Oregonian’s are just as anxious to get their coffee in the morning as Washingtonian’s seemed to be. Here was the result of someone not getting enough milk in their double latte. They mowed the place down with their car!!!
Per every other crossing I’ve made into California there was the ever present vegetable inspection station . . . they just waved us though!!!
Our first view of the California, not surprisingly it looked a lot like the Oregon coast!!
Several of us saw this sign and questioned if the ‘local fine’ was for turning left or taking the bike lane!!! How do they collect?????
As we passed through Crescent City there was a scenic lighthouse right along the pier. Very Nice!!
Most of the signs along the beach are old and faded, but they all had the newer ‘No Solicitation’ sign added. I’ve been amazed at the size of the homeless population we have seen along the way in WA, OR and now in CA. It’s appears to be epidemic proportions!! People sleeping everywhere!!!
Crescent City’s version of the Queen Mary . . . tours provided, too.
Great views along the way as the sun rose higher in the sky.
A big downhill from the top of this bluff down and across the bridge.
Soon we entered the joint National/State sections of the redwoods, an ecotype we would be following, on and off, for the next three days.
. . . however this was sort to of disconcerting. In many cases there ended up being NO shoulder, and uphill!!!
Oh yeah . . . those redwoods are BIG!!!
Mile after mile of tall giants that have stood for hundreds of years . . . a camera can really not capture the size and grandeur of these trees.
Hey wait a minute! At the ‘Trees of Mystery’ there was Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. I thought they were from Bemidji, MN!!!!
The trees keep getting bigger. Connie liked brushing up against something almost as old as her!!
Very little traffic along the way made for a GREAT ride . . .
Oh and sometimes the behemoths are right out into the road. One needs to pay attention whether in a car or on a bike . . .
We finally landed in Redwood State Park our home for the night . . .
Great burgers cooked up by Anne and Pam. Mike and I are the only veggies on the trip and the group has been VERY accommodating. Here Mike gets his veggie burger, served from the pan on the left.
Four kinds of salad to accompany the burgers . . . really hit the spot after a long day!
Dave and Joe discussing the next options for cabins or yurts . . . it was going to get cold tonight and four of the gang had secured a cabin.
A quick map meeting before the sun went down and everyone was in their tents IMMEDIATELY. The low tonight would be 25 degrees. Water bottles froze and there was frozen condensation on the tent fly’s!!!