I am not a morning person so getting an early start is not usually my thing. When on the road I am finding it easier because I am crashing early. It tends to work itself out but the nervous energy of anticipation gets me going on trip days.
Heading south is a little flatter for the first 20 miles or so but once you get to Scotia it is an uphill ride. I started slow warming up my leg muscles as the sun warmed up the day. The country is not as stark as the coast but is just as beautiful in its own way. Mixed forests and meadows, Fortuna and Loleta are dairy country with Humboldt Creamery the local brand. They do make a tasty Neapolitan ice cream.
Along the way I passed Table bluff and the Humboldt National Wildlife Refuge as well as lots of cows. Then it is into the logging towns and Palco mills. The smell of lumber being milled is like being buried in those pine-scented trees from the carwash. The smells of the road seemed exceedingly strong on the first day riding south. Cow dung, road kill and Western Red Cedar in overwhelming waves. You are riding along and wham and a few hundred feet down the road it’s gone fortunately.
Speaking of the smells the road kill report for this trip included 3 snakes, 4 birds of which one was a massive crow, 2 possums 1 deer and a house cat. It was almost two deer as a fawn came flying up to the freeway but I startled it back before it got into the traffic.
I had a spot of bad luck in that I had brought along a really killer cinnamon roll for breakfast and it fell off the trailer somewhere along the way. I had added it at the last moment and stuck it in so as not to smash it and as a result I got nada and ended up at a Denny’s for a Grand Slam. Filling but a huge let down. Two days later in Garberville I had essentially the same thing, pancakes eggs and sausage, at the Millwheel and it was a thousand times tastier; that and I hate to eat cooperate food.
The Avenue of the Giants is amazing. I rode my bike thru a 5,000year old tree and saw another that people had thought was extinct for 20million years. In between is about 25 miles of old growth forest even if it is only a few miles wide the big trees give you a sense of perspective. When you see one of these mountains with a replanted tree farm that they try to pass off as woods and compare it to a real forest like this and it drives me crazy. The human population of this region tends to be a little different as well, after all this is the land of the Bigfoot. I passed by Hobbiton USA and an ear of corn on the side of the road. Chainsaw carving is abundant in addition to kitschy tourist art and some interesting stuff from the hippies.
Heading south is a little flatter for the first 20 miles or so but once you get to Scotia it is an uphill ride. I started slow warming up my leg muscles as the sun warmed up the day. The country is not as stark as the coast but is just as beautiful in its own way. Mixed forests and meadows, Fortuna and Loleta are dairy country with Humboldt Creamery the local brand. They do make a tasty Neapolitan ice cream.
Along the way I passed Table bluff and the Humboldt National Wildlife Refuge as well as lots of cows. Then it is into the logging towns and Palco mills. The smell of lumber being milled is like being buried in those pine-scented trees from the carwash. The smells of the road seemed exceedingly strong on the first day riding south. Cow dung, road kill and Western Red Cedar in overwhelming waves. You are riding along and wham and a few hundred feet down the road it’s gone fortunately.
Speaking of the smells the road kill report for this trip included 3 snakes, 4 birds of which one was a massive crow, 2 possums 1 deer and a house cat. It was almost two deer as a fawn came flying up to the freeway but I startled it back before it got into the traffic.
I had a spot of bad luck in that I had brought along a really killer cinnamon roll for breakfast and it fell off the trailer somewhere along the way. I had added it at the last moment and stuck it in so as not to smash it and as a result I got nada and ended up at a Denny’s for a Grand Slam. Filling but a huge let down. Two days later in Garberville I had essentially the same thing, pancakes eggs and sausage, at the Millwheel and it was a thousand times tastier; that and I hate to eat cooperate food.
The Avenue of the Giants is amazing. I rode my bike thru a 5,000year old tree and saw another that people had thought was extinct for 20million years. In between is about 25 miles of old growth forest even if it is only a few miles wide the big trees give you a sense of perspective. When you see one of these mountains with a replanted tree farm that they try to pass off as woods and compare it to a real forest like this and it drives me crazy. The human population of this region tends to be a little different as well, after all this is the land of the Bigfoot. I passed by Hobbiton USA and an ear of corn on the side of the road. Chainsaw carving is abundant in addition to kitschy tourist art and some interesting stuff from the hippies.
