Day 12 - Tuesday 9/22/2015 Arcata to Garberville

Another foggy morning to start!  No surprise guests this morning.  Guys got on the road early, I made a trip to the local grocery store, had some coffee, packed the car and headed out.  After a few texts and phone calls, finally caught up with the guys in Rio Dell - I was a bit late, Jerry had already fixed a flat tire and Tom had already had coffee and a cinnamon roll.  Guess the road and wind conditions were good for a fast ride.

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Tom’s riding notes:

As Patty said, the conditions were favorable, except for all of the “marine layer” I kept wiping off of my glasses.  We had set a bit of a stretch goal for day—making it all the way to the hotel we had booked in Garberville, but we really expected to stop short and have to rely on the Patty Shuttle Service to get us to the hotel.  Even with a flat tire and a coffee break, we made it all the way to the hotel.  We made so much progress today that we cancelled the hotel for tomorrow night because it’s only 25 miles ahead—we’ll find a place around Fort Bragg to stay tomorrow night.

So here’s the stats--80 miles, 5 hours and 5 minutes, average speed of 15.8 mph, 2700 feet of climbing and a net elevation gain of almost 600 feet.  Today we passed the half way point of the mileage.  Our total as of the end of the day was 901 miles—what a coincidence—three SC grads making nine-0-one miles. 

 In Scotia we finally found where all of the log trucks were going to unload.  We saw log trucks going in and lumber trucks coming out. 

Notes from Jerry:

This was supposed to be a long steady uphill to Garberville and we were anticipating a difficult day.  The gods were with us today as we had smooth roads and a bit of a tailwind to help us up the hills.  Better yet, the overcast broke as we headed inland and it got warmer and warmer.  Sun!  The scenery is so much better with sun. 

Garberville is really not what we expected at all.  It is in the hills and right out of the 60’s, with a hippie vibe, 5 blocks or so of unusual stores and places to eat and two giant gas stations at the center of town that are hopping due to the fact that the town is right off hwy 101.  Lots of characters hanging around, so we fit right in.  We had a “fix the innertubes” afternoon on our little porch with beer and munchies before we scouted out where to eat and have breakfast tommorrow.  All good!!

A scenic route:

Today, I had a window of time and decided to drive the Avenue of the Giants – from Redcrest to Miranda.  Of the 31 mile “avenue”, I drove about 15.  This drive parallels and intersects Hwy 101 with its 51,222 acres of redwood groves.  It is surrounded by the Humboldt Redwoods State Park which has the largest remaining stand of virgin redwoods in the world.  I stopped at Founders Grove and took a short half mile hike through some amazing trees.