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| The Wooded Road - Avenue of the Giants |
Today, I woke around seven o'clock and started my morning routine of eating breakfast and packing up the bicycle. I like grabbing some bananas and yoghurt the evening before and holding the items over until the following morning. The fairgrounds in Ferndale were very quiet during the morning hours.
Snelling and I started bicycling at around eight o'clock. We took Grizzly Bluff road out of town. This route took us over country roads with views of countless family owned farms. Many cows showed interest in our cycles as we quietly moved by. I made an effort to make eye contact with those that looked my way. I never once sensed hostility. These animals seemed well cared for.
We moved eastward to Rio Dell and stopped at a small cafe for a
second breakfast. I had the huevos rancheros. They were outstanding. A local man struck up a conversation with us. He shared a recent newspaper article about the "Atomic Man" who had, while working at Hanford, been exposed to five hundred times the recommended amount of radiation. After the exposure, he was not able to fully enjoy his retirement - hiking, fishing, etc. I am grateful to have my health. After three cups of coffee, I was excited about getting back on the road to pedal. The Avenue of the Giants awaited just a short number of miles up the road.
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| Looking Up - Avenue of the Giants |
The Avenue of the Giants is a thirty mile stretch of roadway that allows the traveler access into the heart of protected old growth redwood groves. By luck, we had positioned ourselves to complete the stretch in a single day. If you are a person who seeks out physical places to occupy in the hope of bettering yourself as a human being, I recommend pedaling this stretch on a bicycle. I'd like to hear the outcome.
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| Lunch Break on the Eel - Avenue of the Giants |
For our roadside lunch, we stopped by a redwood grove and inched down to the Eel River. Snelling tested the water and went for a dip while I walked upstream. The wind was blowing hard through the canyon. I noticed several drunken butterflies tumbling down the rocky shoreline trying to maintain control of their new wings. I stood still on the stones, hoping one would land on me.
Leaving the Avenue of the Giants, we pedaled into highway 101 and down to the Benbow KOA. At first, the young woman at the desk told us that there wasn't room. The manager then stepped in and told us there was a space. Every square space was occupied with an RV. It surprising how many different names there are for these vehicles. We set up next to a pair of younger bicycle tourists, Dan and Sean. They had bicycled up from San Francisco and were working their way toward the San Juan Islands. They were both recent graduates of Colorado College with majors in religion. They shared some freshly popped corn and granola bars. We spoke about Malcolm X, Dr. King and Karl Marx. After enjoying a shower, I noticed that the KOA common room had a "Fun House" pinball machine. I left with $1.50 less in change.
Today, we biked over fifty miles.
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| KOA at Night - Benbow, California |
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