Sunday, September 9, 2007

The Great Bike Ride – Day 13




Saturday, September 08, 2007

Our journey today was from Coos Bay, Oregon to Eureka, California.

The day started off with a nice breakfast in a little place in Coos Bay, followed by a visit to the Harley dealer to buy some T-shirts. It was pretty foggy when we got up at 7am, but by the time we left the dealer, the fog had burned off. Nonetheless, it was pretty chilly and we all wore layers of clothing to stay warm.

Much of the run this morning was along the spectacular Oregon coast, but we turned up CA state route 199 towards Grant’s Pass as this was recommended to our by our friend and Harley dealer, Carl Becese. He was right. The first hunk of the climb put us in a redwood forest, a new experience for all of us.

After a short run up 199, we returned to US 101 south, and entered the Redwood National Park. The highway runs right through groves of redwoods that tower above you. There is also a more scenic byway through the park, so we of course took it. After losing Jeff, who ran ahead of us, we jumped off the bikes at a trail head and walked a little piece into the redwoods just to get a feeling what it was like to be around them on foot.

It’s pretty humbling. As you can tell from the pictures above, some of the trees had trunk diameters approaching 15 feet, making the circumference close to 50 feet, and stood over 100 feet tall – many much more.

On the south end of the park, we stopped at a nice Mexican place at about 4pm for a late lunch or early dinner.

Once last stretch on to Eureka and we arrived at our hotel, a Motel 6 that I had reserved while in Coos Bay. Jeff had gotten here well ahead of us and checked into a Super 8. John took an immediately dislike to the place and went down the road to stay at the Super 8 with Jeff. At least that’s where he was going when we last saw him. Pat, Buss and I stayed at the Motel 6. Hope we reconnect in the morning.

The next planned stop is the Bay Area. Probably in Marin County.

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