Day 97 Burlington State Park to Standish Hickey State Park. Leggett

After celebrating with a small glass of red wine last night, courtesy of John ( Man Utd and Beckham fan!) and Richard from Philadelphia, our neighbours on the campsite, the journey continued for a further 20 miles through the Valley of tbe Giants (Redwood Trees) and then back onto US101.

From that point onwards the ride deteriorated. Just a 20 mile slog up a busy dual carriageway with tbe temperature back up in the nineties. Lots of hippies, homeless people and hobo cyclists in this part of California too, although I am not getting a good vibe so far. The locals I have spoken to so far have been pretty unfriendly compared to what I have experienced in the rest of the USA. I read in another blog about a cafe owner that doesn't like cyclists in this part of the world and I think I came acoss him this morning.

Bumped into Jill this afternoon on US101 on her way to Sacramento (as you do). Looks like she wont have the time to cycle with us but she is hoping to meet up for a meal with us all when we meet Greg in San Francisco.

Tomorrow we hit the infamous US1.

Miles Today 50
Total           5082

Day 96 Eureka to Burlington State Park - Mission Accomplished

Today at 12 20 PM United States Pacific time just north of the Victorian town  of Ferndale my cyclometet showed 5000 miles precisely. I know that the photo in the blog looks very suspiciously as though it could be anywhere near Harrogate but I can assure you that this whole thing has been for real. I really have grafted my way for 5000 miles across this very big, hilly and windy country ( including writing this blog every day) It is very tempting to just chuck my bike into the Pacific Ocean now but I guess I had better do the whole thing  keep blogging and cycle the few hundred miles more to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

So far I have raised £4600 plus Gift Aid so I would like to offer  a big thank you to all of you that have sponsored me including those that intend to but have not quite got round to it yet :)

My blog has attracted nearly 15000 hits so I hope you have all found it entertaining and another big thank you for all your comments  ( despite Google's attempts to make it as difficult as possible)

I shudder to think how much Mcdonalds junk food I have consumed in order to use their free wi fi.

And this afternoon as I was cycling through the Avenue of the Giants in the Redwoods National Park the Californian Sun finally came out.

p.s  Would anybody like to pick me up at Manchester Airport. I fly in at 10 00 AM on 26th August.

Miles Today 63
Total         5032

Day 95 Redwoods State Park to Eureka

After 2 days in Caifornia I have still not had the opportunity to wear my super cool new shades replacing my third lost pair. It is quite cold, damp and misty at tbis end of California.

Following the magnificent Redwoods the ride this morning was pretty dull with nothing of any  consequence to photograph. Things can only get better.

And they did. After a nice lunch at the trendy Beachcomber cafe in Trinidad  ( also appeared to be a meeting place for Mums and toddlers) we picked up a cycle path that took us closer to the sea and the 'not quite as good as Oregon' coastal scenery.

The final 5 miles of the day were on the very busy US101 to Eureka only to find that the Eureka KOA campsite was actually 3 miles behind us in Arcata. That will teach me to read the guide book properly. Still it gave us the opportunity to feast at Mcdonalds and get the blog done. But still no sunshine!

Miles Today   48
Total           4969

Day 94 Harris View State Park to Redwoods State Park

Today we entered the sunshine state of California but with one essential ingredient missing - the sunshine. This is not the image of California that I had in my head from the music of the Beach Boys, the Grateful Dead, the Eagles and all the other west coast icons of the sixties and seventies. And of course Pamela Andetson. 

Quite a long hard today as we needed to get to the Redwoods to keep on schedule. I think Dolores feels that she is in Rob's boot camp now after I hassle her to get up at 6AM.

The redwoods were awesome of course but we had the bonus of seeing a 40' gtey whale that had found it's way into the estuary of the Klamath river in the Hoopa Valley Indian Resetvation.

Hopefully it will find it's way back out to sea and hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow. It is quite cold and damp on the campsite tonight.

Miles Today 67
Total         4912

Day 93 Humbug Mountain State Park to Harris Beach State Park

I thought I was doing a big trip until I met Judy leaving the campsite this morning. She left England 15 months ago and is on the last leg of a round the world trip with Only South America left to do.

Anyway today was absolutely amazing with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and Oregon coast all the way down. And we still have the tailwind.

For the last 3 nights we have had tbe company of Rick and bis son Scott from Portland, Steve from England, a Dutch couple  Eric and Colette who cycled the Transam a ccuple of days ahead of us, a mysterious French girl with a German name Marlene and a German couple on a Tandem. We all seem to be ending up on the same campsite every night and it is very sociable, with campfires lit and people actually going to bed AFTER 8 30PM.

Tomorrow we cross the border into California.

Miles Today    53
Total           4842

Day 92 Sunset Bay to Humbug Mtn State Park

I woke up today in the beautiful surroundings of Sunset Bay where I finally managed to perform the wheel dipping ceremony, but without any sunshine. After cycling back to Charleston to grab some breakfast junk food, we were warned by the locals of the toil ahead up the notorious seven devils road. In the words of Dolores you might be able to describe it as a 'significant' climb Pah! Compared to some of the stuff on the Transam I tbought tbe  7 hills were small potatoes.

We then breezed into Bandon where we had an early brunch/lunch at the Bandon Coffee Cafe. The blueberry sour cream coffee cake was delicious.

After lunch we had magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean as we hugged the coast. This is what I had been waiting for. Yesterday's tailwind was still in evidence and even stronger. Are we going to be blown all the way to San Francisco?

Aftet a late afternoon teastop we stocked up on a few provisions and then headed for camp, hopefully arriving a little earlier than yrsterday.

Distance Today 60
Total              4785