KOA, biggest climb along the Pacific Coast and a Great Reunion

I forgot to get a picture of Carly and Tratam, so to all you blog readers out there, sorry! They were really nice to hang with. After my last entry, I rode to the Eureka KOA, and liked it much more than I expected. It had a homely campy family-friendly atmosphere, not the redneck one I expected. Not that all KOAs are the same, but I liked this one. Plus, they had a hot tub! Maybe this is standard for KOAs, but it was a very welcome surprise to me. Neither Carly nor Tratam felt the pull of the tub. Carly's more into sauna's, and we discovered we both really enjoyed the feeling of sweating for the first few minutes of getting into a burning hot car that's been sitting in the sun. But neither of them were so into hot tubs. Thankfully, Carly was into the idea of a shoulder rub exchange, and she was good! First and only one of the trip, and I've needed it every night. Thanks Carly! The hot tub closed at 10, and I made it in at 9:30, with water overflowing out onto the adjacent cement pool patio because of the 9 boyscouts and eagle scouts I shared the tub with. That was amusing, but they were called away after 10 minutes, so I had the tub to myself for 20 minutes...ahhhh.
That night I also met Alex, who was also headed to San Francisco on a bit of a time crunch, and was planning on making it all the way to Richardson Grove State Park the next day, 82 miles away. As Carly had pointed out that my trip plan actually meant I'd arrive in SF on the 15th instead of the 14th, I decided to consolidate three book days ("Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Spring and Kirkendall) into two days. That meant two tough days in a row, one 82 mile one and the next a 55 miler including a 2,000-ft mountain followed by a descent back to sea level and an immediate ascent back up to 700 feet. I decided to go for it.
I said goodbye to Carly and Tratam the next morning, and headed out onto 101, then getting off onto the Avenue of the Giants, which parallels 101 and crosses it a couple times before rejoining it. The forest was beautiful, though it didn't have the same mystery as the forest at Elk Prairie, since it had more traffic, you could sometimes hear trucks on 101, and the skies were clear so some sun penetrated the forest. Additionally, I had a ways to go so I was less relaxed than I had been arriving into Elk Prairie. Still, it was wonderful going through the Redwood forests- there's nothing quite like them. Several small towns dotted the woods, lots of wood carvings, a couple of drive-through trees both claiming to be THE world-famous drive-through tree. I biked through one. There was no one around to gather the $3 charge. Some of the wood-carving places had some incredible work I saw from the street, and it seemed that half of them were closed, either for good or for the week, I don't know which.
Got to Richardson Grove finally at 8:30 pm, once it was getting dark. I couldn't find the hiker-biker spots that were mentioned in the book, so I had to pay $17, which compared with the $3 or $4 I've been paying for hiker-biker spots was a lot. Took a shower, ate a bag of Kettle chips and some juice, and went to sleep, too beat to make dinner.
In the morning I was reading through the day's trip, sitting on a bench by the road when a tourer road by who I recognized as Alex, so I called him over. He had his bike shorts on his head, making him look like Jarjar Bink, which was apparently recommended to him as a way to dry wet bike shorts. We talked for a few minutes- he had been a competitive figure skater, competing around the world, but I think he was no longer doing that. Could have talked longer but time to go. I did find out he'd been at the hiker-biker spots, which were about 1/4 mile up the road. I'd breezed right by them.
Finally on the road around my usual time, 11 am. I felt pretty good despite the 82 miles. I've gotten more flexible from my regular stretching, which I've done usually at least once mid-day and again in the evenings upon arriving in camp. After 15 miles I arrived at Standish-Hickey State Park, and dined in their picnic area, finishing off my burrito ingredients and loading up for the ride ahead. Finishing my meal, I biked across the street to the little general store, purchased a brownie and as I ate it a tourer pulled up. Since Alex had mentioned there was another tourer at Richard Grove State Park named Chris, I asked this guy if that was him, and indeed it was. He also got a brownie, and we talked for a bit, then took off together, though it was pretty clear he'd be going faster up the hills. Within 30 minutes or so we passed Leggett, and started up the mountain. He took off, and I languished up the hill. Not having a granny gear, and only two gears up front, hills have been tough, though I manage. This one went on and on, and it was hot out, the kind of heat I'm used to in from Utah but rarely experience in the northwest. It actually felt like summer, instead of the intermittent spring/summerish weather of Seattle. 2/3 of the way up the hill I passed Chris taking a break in the shade. This windy road just went on and on, up and up, and was fairly steep too. It felt like it took all the training I've gotten from this entire trip to prepare me for this hill. Finally, the summit, and the exhilarating descent down to sea level, followed by another hill up to 700 feet, then another great descent and back to the ocean. What a great way to make the ocean totally fresh again! A couple days inland in the forests and hills and heat, and then descending back into the cool air and open sun of the coast. I took a break when I arrived, and talked for a few minutes with a couple Brits enjoying the summer vacation in the US and beyond. They'd flown to the LA area, bought a beater car, and drove it inland through Zion, Yellowstone and more all the way up to the Arctic Circle in Alaska. Amazing this car held up. NOw they were headed down the coast.
After all those climbs up the giant mountains, it was great to be at some flat land, but the coast here was hilly, up and down many times. I made it to Mekkericher State Park at 7:00, went for a short walk, checked out the small lake and determined that it was swimmable, quickly changed into my running shorts and went for the first swim of the trip, which felt fantastic.
I cooked up some dinner for Chris, myself, and this mid-40's dude named Paul who was just biking around the area with no destination. Made way too much food that we enjoyed by the warm fire Paul had created, and then as I was wondering what to do with it, in roll three more tourers in the dark, at about 10 pm, and it was Jaris, Jefferson and Dave! I don't remember if I mentioned them here, I think Kirk did, at least Jaris and Jefferson, but I hadn't seen these guys in over a week and was sure they were ahead of me, but there they were, tired and hungry, and enormously appreciative for the yummy food that was still hot. It was great to see them. Jefferson cooked us all some incredible banana pancakes in the morning.
Yesterday I finally left camp at 2:30 with Chris. I had to tweak my brakes which took a lot of time, and I was in no hurry to leave with the 42-mile day ahead. I managed to bike an average of 13 miles an hour for that, and Chris pulled into Manchester Beach State Park just 30 minutes after me. We hung out under a clear starry sky with Chance, who started his tour in San Louis Obispo and was riding north to see where along the Oregon Coast he might want to move to.
Took off this morning at 11, and am now writing from the library in Point Arena. Computer time's up in 5 minutes, so time to post some photos! Ah damn only time to post the seal photo. More to come!