Sometimes I Take a Great Notion

Quoth the Raven, Nevermore...

-E.A. Poe

Actually, the raven doth quoth every morning right outside my tent at about 5:30am. The raven also doth eat my tortillas when I am not looking. Thankfully now that we are down in bear and mountain lion country, campgrounds all have bear lockers to keep out the thumbless hordes.

Internet and phone signals have been hard to come by of late. The missive is being written from Arcata, CA, hippie capital of CA where the squad is getting in touch with its inner earth mother goddess. Two days ago we steamed out of Oregon and crossed into California. We have camped every night for the past week at state parks along the coast. They all have sites for hiker/bikers available for $4. We are no longer the freaks that we were back east as the road is littered with touring cyclists and their unsteady loads. At this library alone there are three other cyclists using the computers right now. Conversations among the cyclists usually contain such stimulating morsels are "what did you think of that hill, it was pretty bad, huh?"

The weather is cold and foggy. I am happy to report that with the usage of my knee warmers these past days, I have now used each item that I brought, always a victory for any camping trip. I never knew my knees were so cold until I deployed my knee warmers. Each night we camp in the fog and the mist and wake to find everything soaked. Last night was a low ebb for the squad, prompting the first ever 10 mile (1 hour round trip) beer run into Trinidad to lift our soggy spirits.

The terrain has turned hilly again but we now have an elevation map to chart the misery. Coming south out of Coos Bay, OR we turned on Seven Devils Rd. Unfortunately the Seven Devils referred to were seven dastardly hills, steep grades all. To keep my mind of the pain, I began to say aloud, in my best Castillian lisp, my thoughts on the keys to Spanish victory in the Euro final (this being a few days ago before the game). (For the record: 1) get Torres on track 2) contain Lahm on the attack and exploit him on the other end of the pitch 3) defend free kicks and corners).

Between Coos Bay and Brookings the squad suffered its first broken spoke at Humbug Mountain. After a nervous night not knowing what to do, dawn saw the expedition blacksmith smelting the broken spoke in the camping stove to give it enough of a hook to attach to the wheel. 50 wobbly miles later (for Cody) we reached a bike shop in Brookings. We spent a day off in Brookings watching the game at the Pine Cone Tavern where the Spanish achieved all three of my keys to victory. After the game we discovered to our dismay that Taco Bell wont serve a bike on the drive through. The expedition's legal counsel is looking into a discrimination suit.

From Brookings we headed south to Crescent City and then through the Redwoods. Last two days have been spent gawking at tall trees, moss and fog. We have both gotten good at unzipping jackets and shirts on the way up the hill, and then furiously re-zipping for the descent (which we call nipple hardeners). After Eureka we head inland a bit . Tomorrow brings the dread Leggett Mountain (over 2000 feet climb in elevation) before we turn onto Highway 1 and head back to the coast.

Current Elk Sightings: 0