Brookings to Elk Prarie SP, CA - 70.7 miles

REALLY needed a shower this morning, and the water at this park is reputed to be very hot--true! :) My tent is finally dry, but was covered with spiders. Ugh. Set off about 9am and rode to the California border. HURRAH!!!!! I was overcome with happiness as I crossed the border into California. :) If nothing else, I've made it almost 1,000 miles! :) :) :) Lots of ocean, fields, cows, hills and forests today. As I rode through Fort Dick, I saw a goat tethered to someone's front lawn. Very efficient way to mow the lawn! Didn't see any hitchikers in the area of the state penitentiary, which was good! All the lily fields made me want to sneeze! Stopped for lunch in Crescent City. People there were very chatty and friendly and it was a nice afternoon. Headed out of town on the Redwoods Highway and passed the Citizen's Dock where many people were stopped to see the historic old boat that had come in. The lighthouse was driving me crazy with the foghorn! There were lots of surfers on the beach just outside of town and then it was into the big Crescent City hills. Wow. Talk about a LONG climb! I took it slowly and stopped to rest at the pullouts. Not much of a shoulder and it was pretty tough, but I finally made it to the top and saw another tourer coming up the other way. He was a proper tourer, but we were both so exhausted from our climbs that we nodded at each other wearily and kept trudging along. An exhilarating descent followed, but the road was a real challenge and not in very good condition, which made it quite exciting! Klameth was a mystery--much smaller, but way longer of a town than I had thought, so I ended up out of town and had to turn back to pick up groceries for my rest day. Everytime I go downhill at 35-40 mph and get hit in the face by the bugs, I always think of that V-8 commercial for some reason! I need to work on keeping my mouth shut, though! I hear that bugs are good protein, though. Perhaps it's not such a bad thing! The Golden Bear bridge was fun, and it was onto another long climb onto the Newton B. Drury scenic byway to the Redwoods park. It was pretty incredible, but I was too tired to be anything other than thankful that the last seven miles were downhill. On the way down I was stopped by a guy in a truck looking for his sons on unicycles. I think I would have noticed that! It was very late and cold to boot as I finally got into camp. All the food went into the bear box! There were lots of wild elk grazing around the park which was pretty amazing. All I wanted to do was to crawl into my sleeping bag!

-from Garberville, CA