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Camping last night was cool.  It was cold as fuck, but I had a fire when I was outside and it was cozy in my mummy bag.  I actually slept in till 7.  Breakfast was good but breaking camp took a little while.  Getting things into little compression and stuff sacks is tough when you can’t feel your fingers, especially my Thermarest.  Getting started at 9 wasn’t such a bad thing.  As Bill, the guy who runs the camp told me, the sun doesn’t really hit that side of the mountains until around then and riding in the cold sucks.

So I start cruising down 199 with my new cloth gloves over my bike gloves and it feels pretty good.  Then I see this sign:

I was then pretty sure that my second breakfast today wouldn’t have any tofu or tempeh in it.  Actually, as yesterday’s commenter (Chrissy?) indicated, Southern Oregon was full of signs like this.  And this:

The “Nobama” sign I saw yesterday was in a yard with a Confederate flag.  I didn’t stop to take a picture because it was cold, the end of a long day, and I didn’t want to be target practice.

Then I saw this one:

This one is a proxy for all the misspelled signs I saw on Day 1.  I didn’t have my camera in my handlebar bag and there were too many to snap.  Beck nation is strong.

This is Rough and Ready Creek.  Really it is just rough– I didn’t see any creek, just rocks forever:

Still, southwest Oregon was beautiful and even though I was cold, I was sorry to see it go.  As I got to the end, I entered redwood country.

As soon as it enters California, the nice generous shoulder on 199 disappears.  And then there is this:

Ummm… yeah – there were no instructions.  I still had to go through the tunnel.  I stopped and put my tail blinky on and pushed the button and entered the tunnel.  It sucked.  I didn’t like it.  I went as fast as I could and the cars were fairly courteous but it was still sketchy as fuck.  There was no shoulder or barrier.  I hope that I don’t have to do that again.  A couple that I spoke to at the rest stop right after the tunnel said that the flashing light did start when I pushed the button, so thanks Arnold, for not shutting off the power.

Most of the day looked like this:

Thick redwood forests.  I also got splattered with some drops of rain.  And I kind of panicked.  It was getting late and I didn’t want to be hung up at the State Park campground without firewood in the cold and rain because of my late start this morning.  So I laid up in a cheap hotel a mile or so short of the park.  With wifi.  And a couple snacks.  And a hot shower.  And tv, which would have been more fun if Cal had decided to show up tonight.  But whatever, I’m warm and charging my unnecessary electronics so it is all good.  I think camping would have been fine.  At 6, I looked out my window and it was sunny and warm.  It’s still all good.

A quick word about the miles– on a normal day, 58 miles is nothing.  But on a loaded touring bike it is a whole different animal.  It is like walking with a few pounds of concrete on each shoe.  Add to that some fucked up tiny shoulders and some big ass hills and the mental and physical drain starts to take a toll.  Enough complaining.  Tomorrow, the infamous Crescent City hills.  Google it if you don’t know.  Here’s the track:

Shit.  I almost forgot Sheila, the camp dog from yesterday.  Coolest pomeranian I ever met.