Carrying on from yesterday, we woke up early and got ready to ride the stretch up to Weaverville. The view from the hotel this morning was absolutely stunning - the fog was slowly burning off as the sun was brightening up, and the valley was echoing with seal calls. They were less atmospheric at 3am last night, though.
Iāve entirely shaken off the jet lag at this point, and slept through to 06:30 without any major difficulties š„³ It only took two nights to get used to the new timezone, so not bad!
Despite my best efforts, my gear was still very soggy from being caught in the rain last night - and the tiny hotel hair dryer didnāt do much to help. Luckily later in the day was nice and sunny so it dried out pretty fast
We stopped for breakfast at a cute coffee shop - I had waffles š There was an awful lot of fog this morning, and at times I couldnāt see far at all. It only really abated when we turned inland and started to head away from the coast
After turning off, we spent a good while riding through forest. There was no fog, but it was dense enough and the road dirty enough that I was being super careful not to slide out.
Some of the redwoods are impressively large, the biggest I saw was at a tourist spot. Turns out, in America, they even have drive-thru trees!
Our next stop was Garberville, and it was the last one before many miles without petrol stations. We filled up with āgasā, and snacks. It was at this point that Michelleās key snapped out of the holder, so we also had to pick up some pliars
The roads from this point were even better - endless mountains and views! Cows were free roaming (and would just sit in the road), and I lost count of how many deer we saw. Theyāre very nervous around bikes, so itās best to slow right down
We turned onto Highway 36, which was fantastic fun. It was very smooth, and the right mix of twisty and fast. We also saw a very large number of Porsches, which seem to be the vehicle of choice around there if youāre not driving a giant truck.
We were aiming to have lunch at the Mad River Burger Bar, but it was closed š I was very glad I had emergency snacks from earlier! The bar next door was open, and I left a signed dollar
The final stretch to the Airbnb was all twisty roads, and highway 3 among the best of them so far. Itās starting to feel like weāre properly in the countryside now, further away from the bigger cities.
Iād seen a lot of wild fire warnings on google maps, and a lot of signs saying that the fire risk today was āmoderateā. At one point, we were riding through an area that had been burned probably a few years back. It was sad to see the blackened skeletons of thousands of trees, especially knowing that this happens every year
The Airbnb weāre staying in is a little outside of Weaverville, so itās peaceful and quiet. Itās a cabin in the forest, with a nice outside seating area
We will be staying here and exploring for a few days, so picked up some groceries. Some learnings:
- Hard cider is alcoholic, normal cider might not be but isnāt just apple juice?
- itās pronounced VITE-A-MINS
- Everything is bigger than back home - other than the bread, which was tiny
- A whole section in the supermarket for cookie dough!
- During fire season youāre not even allowed an indoor fire in the stove
- $10.99 for a tiny box of PG tips!!!! Before tax. I should start a business importing tea
As the sun was going down, we walked down the road towards the river
Iām super super tired while writing this, so I imagine Iāll be getting an early night tonight š“ We covered 205 miles today!