California

Day 35, July 28, 2008-263miles. What trees! Basically, we did very little but go to groves of trees to see the amazing trees. I won't try to say much about them, except that they are magnificent!

We saw the Big Tree, and the Giant trees, in different parks. We saw trees so huge that you can't imagine their size. Even a tree with a bathroom in it! WOW!

We did a loop off of Hwy 101 to Ferndale to get on the Hidden Coast Road. It was a narrow, two lane road that went over several mountains and by the ocean over about 35 miles or so. The road surface was pretty poor, with lots of patches and a number of areas with gravel, but it reminded me more of the roads in the Italian Alps than any roads I've been on since our tour there 3 years ago. Up and down, curves, hairpin turns uphill and downhill. Great riding; the most fun of all the roads so far. We even got on a bridge over a river that was wooden and had the areas where the wheels travel raised above the middle, making for a stressful passage over the river. A sudden gust of wind make it even more trying, but I managed to keep it on the raised path. FUN!

We finally got on Hwy 1 to cross from Hwy 101 back to the coast, some 35 miles or so away. At Leggett, we found another tree through which you could ride, so we did that tree as well. So neat. Again, this tree seemed to be quite healthy in spite of the huge hole through it. Amazing!

Hwy 1 was also a lot of fun, with a very good road surface but hundreds of turns and elevation changes. Most turns were not especially challenging, but some were 10-15 mph turns that we did at about 25 or so. Fun! Maybe the best road of all so far?? I liked both the Hidden Coast Road and Hwy 1 to the coast.

The weather today was good, but variable. The morning was cool and misty/foggy. Shortly, it warmed up and most of the day was good with only a shirt under the bumblebee. After we got on Hwy 1, however, it got COLD as we got closer to the coast. It was misty/foggy and the temperature when we stopped for the night was 55 degrees!

We stayed in a Travelodge in Fort Bragg, California. Weird to have a Ft. Bragg on both sides of the continent, but it's true. The one in California, however, is a coastal resort town rather than a military installation. Neat!

Tomorrow—south to San Francisco or east towards Lexington, OH? Stay tuned to find out....