Avenue of the Giants - Day 32 – 55 miles

I was first out of my tent this morning. As I walked to the bathroom I noticed a pile of rubbish under a tarpaulin that somebody had dumped next to Kate's tent. This campsite really was a dump. On returning Kate told me she hadn't slept well. I asked why and she pointed to the tarpaulin. Apparently it wasn't rubbish but a homeless man. He'd spent the night rustling about noisily in his tarpaulin, no doubt trying to keep warm in the near-freezing temperature. As we ate breakfast, he got up and walked off without saying a word.

It was absolutely freezing so we spent some time in the games room warming up. Kate was talking about something to do with touring when a man on the other side of the room butted in. 'Are you talking about the Orr family?', he interrupted. 'No I was talking about bicycle touring.', replied Kate. 'Well they just died.', he said. 'That's not what I was talking about', said Kate. 'Well you should be more careful what you say. Your words can end up hurting people.', said the man and then stormed out. It was time to leave this campsite.

I rode from the campsite to the nearby town of Eureka. Most of the towns I've ridden through have been pretty uninspiring but Eureka was different. Many of the buildings were colourful, Victorian and beautifully maintained. It was the sort of town you can imagine horse's leading carts, people panning for gold and gunfights. I passed a cafe, saw the others had stopped for a coffee and so decided to join them. It was a nice lazy start to the day. I ate an incredible apple and blackberry muffin with my coffee. After Eureka the first 30 miles of riding were on the freeway. Boring, noisy and stressful. I caught up with Kate after about the first 10 miles. We rode together and chatted which made the ride much more enjoyable. To pass the time we tried to identify road-kill. Some of the more interesting creatures included skunks and opossums.

The weather took a turn for the worse at around lunchtime. The first rain I've experience while riding in more than 3 weeks. We took shelter in a supermarket. The shop was warm and dry so we took a very leisurely stroll around the aisles. Beth and Brian arrived. If you stop at a supermarket you will inevitably meet other cyclists. The supermarket had some tables and chairs for customers of the deli counter. We decided to eat our lunch on them. I found the whole experience a little amusing. I can't imagine shopping at Tesco back home and then sitting inside the supermarket making sandwiches while all the other shoppers go by. We took our time and the rain cleared.

Back on the bikes we soon left the freeway and headed off onto a smaller scenic road known as The Avenue of the Giants. I'd been looking forward to this since way back when I started planning the trip months ago. The quiet road winds through a forest of giant redwood trees. It was a real change of pace. After the hectic morning ride along the freeway we now coasted slowly along taking in the incredible surroundings. Brian and Beth caught us up and joined us to take pictures of each other mucking about amongst the trees. We stopped off at a tree known as the Immortal Tree. In its thousand year life it has survived lumberjacks, fires and floods and still remains pretty much intact, albeit about 50 feet shorter thanks to a lightening strike. We all had a go at trying to knock it down but failed.

The journey ended at Burlington Campground. A great site set in an isolated section of redwood forest. A welcome opposite to last night's camping experience.