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I got up and out pretty quickly this morning.  I am getting better at staging everything the night before.  The first stop was Arcata, home of the highly selective Cal State Humboldt, who rejected me after high school.  Take that Cornell.  It was for the best.  I wouldn’t have lasted a semester at that time.  Arcata is a cool little town on a big beautiful bay.  More importantly, it has a bike shop.  I finally grabbed some full-fingered gloves.  Wearing cotton gloves over my regular bike gloves was a good stopgap for a few days, but it was flawed.  If I sweated in them, they quickly froze.  I replaced them with some killer, thermaloft filled beauties that are a delight of pillowy warmth.  I can switch between gloves as conditions warrant.

Also, the hippies came through– at the Golden Harvest Cafe, I grabbed a Cajun tofu scramble with potatoes.  Big improvement over the previous couple days.

Following a guidebook, I got off the 101 to look at this mansion.  Some nice ladies took my pic.

Okay, a word about the attire.  So a lot of people say, “oh I’d never wear that spandex stuff.”  To that I answer, “yeah you would.”  That ironically minimalist cotton t-shirt would last you about 5 minutes after the first time you sweated on a cold day.  Others reopen their Pearl Izumi, Rapha, Patagonia, or Rivendell catalogs and say, “wool this, wool that, wool whatever.”  Baaaa.  Consider the source–  does it really need to be castrated without anaesthesia just so you can wear the current trucker hat of fabrics?  Patagonia was doing perfectly fine with fabrics made from recycled soda bottles before this trend jumped off.

In the morning, I start out in a technical long sleeve t, a short sleeve jersey over that, a fleece pullover, and a bright jacket for visibility and to cut the wind.  I remove layers as the day allows.  Down below, I sport a pair of spandex bike shorts or a padded liner, tights, and a pair of gym shorts over the top.

I haven’t talked much about roadkill.  I see a lot, mostly raccoons and skunks.  I saw a fox in Oregon– I think it was gray but I’ll have to check when I have web access (I’m writing this offline at my camp site.)  I saw this bird today.  I think it is (was) a Flicker.

Today was pretty flat for the North Coast.  Mostly on 101, with a few detours.  Eureka was interesting and packed with retail stores of every type.  This is the Decal Guy.  I was tempted, but didn’t have anything to say.  Seriously.

I didn’t take many pictures.  There was some beautiful scenery but it wasn’t so different than what I’ve already posted.  Right now, I’m on the Avenue of the Giants.  Big fucking trees.   At the beginning of the avenue, in Pepperwood, there are some really cool little fruit and veggie stands.  The people who live there grow organic stuff and sell it.  What a concept.  At this one, I got an awesome blackberry popsicle, a bunch of insanely good golden apples, and a couple tomatoes.  Best dinner I’ve had so far.

I realize there haven’t been any signs yet.  Here is the only one I shot.  It was at the place that I was expecting to stop after 75 (I missed the first 3 or so miles on my track) miles.

Translation, “get back on your bike and ride some more, you slacker.”  They moved the state park hiker/biker site.  Only a mile or so, though.  At $5 they are a spectacular deal.  What sucks, when you are on a bike, is if you get in at a time when the firewood kiosk is closed and there is no store anywhere nearby.  Like tonight.  The car and RV campers can drive somewhere and get wood.  Heh.  Both the camp site and the local store in the guidebook are now gone.  It’s not bad, though.  I found a couple chunks of wood that others had left and it really isn’t that cold tonight.  Hopefully, that’s a trend.  Not the wool clothing or trucker hat kind of trend, but the other kind.

I’m going to go in my mummy and read now.  Happy books.  Oh, I wonder if anyone else gets “mummy elbow?”  My arm gets sore from being wrapped next to my body and the ground in my mummy.  I’m not describing that well but if you’ve had it you probably understand.

Here’s the track: