George had left at 4am for work so I managed to get on the road relatively early. Rangers were walking around, I guess making sure everyone had paid. This was the first I had seen of this. I backtracked the path past the pulp mill to get to the Eureka bridge. I saw this amazing house which was in the bible, and decided to check it out when I got to the other side.
When I got there, I offered to take a picture of an Asian couple with their iPad. I started taking pictures of myself and they u-turned to come and ask if I wanted my picture taken. I said I was fine, and they smiled and left after thanking me again.
Across the street from this private gentleman's club, was another beautiful building, and it seemed the entire area had many such examples.
As I was leaving the area, this guy crossing the street towards me said he liked my "contraption" and we started chatting. His name was Lane and when I told him I had come down from Wasington, he said that was where he was from. Then he said he lived close to a Highway Patrol Training Facility up there, and how his girlfriend's mom cooked for them. This gave him an "in" for a great community program. Basically, the training facility arranged for him and some others to get drunk. They could have all the mixed drinks they wanted. Not beer. Just mixed drinks. And they would get trashed. Then they would be fed a big meal his girlfriend's mom would prepare. Then the trainees would ask them if they were drunk and they'd have to talk and tell stories and deny they were drink and do all the tests. He said they *always* said he was drunk. "And I was! I was shitface drunk!" And he laughed. They he got serious and said he needed to go get something to drink. He was a real character.
When I got to the Bank of American, it seemed as though they vacated. So I opted for Chase bank across the street and their $3 charge.
The building before the bank was gorgeous, and looked like they had some great arts stuff, but interestingly they were closed until school started up again.
The back of the building was also gorgeous with a massive mural on the flat wall.
As I left Eureka, I found a Bank of America ATM, and saw my first palm trees. I already had my cash so I motored on.
I decided to detour to Ferndale as the bible said there were some gorgeous victorian style houses, and I'm a sucker for all things Victoria.
It was a long 5 miles to Ferndale, so I had plenty of opportunities for cows to state at me.
The houses were beautiful, but it was the city center that was the nicest examples of architecture.
The library was also really nice, but it was closed.
At the end of Main St was the nicest building off all, the Ferndale Inn. It was nice to just spend time looking at it.
I took some video going up and down the street and all the buildings had charm and beauty.
But I had to go to the washroom do looked for a place to eat. The one place I tired was closed. No matter, as the other place I planned to eat were burgers, and I was craving red meat! But it was a bit out of town, but only half a mile or so. But my bladder could handle it. But I had trouble finding the place. I found 1400 Main Street but the building didn't seem to house a burger place. I continued to explore and went down the side if the building. I could smell burgers, but no burger place. A woman helped me saying it was on the side of the building I hadn't explored. It was a shack built up beside the building.
But the sign said no public washrooms. My bladder was about to burst at the news, so I left to find a place to empty up, and managed to find a country spot. They I used a huggie wipe and headed back to No Brand Burger Shack.
When I went to order, Lonan, the owner, remarked that I had beautiful eyes, then said, "I bet you get that all the time!" I just smiled. Then she said, "Wow... they are just beautiful! Oh my God, we have a movie star here!" She was sweet. I didn't know how to respond when her kids working in the back came to take a look.
I ordered a Cajun burger, blue cheese burger, onion rings and a coke float, which I switched to a black raspberry milk shake.
The onion rings were the best I've had in
my life! And the burgers were incredible. Fluffy buns and juicy hand made patties. The kids and Lonan kept going to the Cadillac trunk for more buns and meat, as I guess there wasn't a lot if storage. Lonan's mom chatted me up while I waited for my food, and it seems her grandson was on his way to becoming a world famous steer wrestler. Lonan had started the business years ago but only got back to it 8 months ago after raising her kids in the meantime.
The last bit if milkshake was awesome, with a big chunk of unshaken vanilla ice cream in the middle.
On the way out of the city I spotted some horses, mingling with some chickens and cats.
There was a cool barn as well. I was going to wait until it fell over, which it was clearly about to do at any moment, but I figured it might be as long as an hour, which I didn't have to spare.
Some ducks spotted me from far away, and hid behind a fence. I readied my camera until I came into view and snapped as I did, and they all flapped away. I think The chickens, Which were lagging didn't know why the ducks were so scared.
The views were amazing, and I was on the right track, but from what I could tell, the extra journey would bring me back to the highway with 40 miles to go. And I had to go to the washroom again, but a country bush wouldn't do.
It was uncomfortable riding and it was taking forever. I must have taken a wrong turn, even though I was just following the road. I tried to wave down a car to ask but they just waved back at me as they sped by. I flagged down another car 10 minutes later, as very few cars drove by, but I managed to motion for him to stop. He overshot me but did stop. When I got to him, I asked if the 101 was ahead, and he said it was accessed by the next town.
By my calculation, I had gone much farther than the 7.5 miles the book indicated, and only put me 3 miles along the 101 from the Ferndale detour. But I really just wanted a bathroom.
I finally did get to a town, and went along a side road that promised civilization, rather than the highway. I found a gas station. I bought some Lemonheads and asked for the bathroom key. The guy looked and the key for the washroom had been taken. I looked towards the back and if course, a man, with crutches, moved towards the back, key clutched under his arm, moving at a snails pace to the washroom. I walked to the back with half a mind to push him out of the way after he unlocked it, or try to sneak the ladies washroom key from the front. In the end, I just waited, patiently, dying outside the door. Time stood still. Cobwebs formed at my feet. The tiles turned colour from aging. And then a few hours after I heard the man flush, he came out. I offered to relieve him of the key, and he was jovial on letting me have it, and asked about my solar panel. "IuseittochargemyiPhone." and heard him chuckle as the door closed.
Relief.
I could do 40 miles now. But I guess my missed turn pit me way ahead, gaining 10 miles, so I was happy! It wasn't long before I got to the Avenue of The Giants.
Some bikers passed me and then we spoke at a steep hill where they rested. I then caught up with them at this tree, a c rooms picture of them with their phone. They did the same for me.
I then took Thomas's recommendation to hike a little into the woods, which was a whole different world from looking from the road. He was right. When you were surrounded, it was unreal. I felt like I was deep in the woods after 30 seconds.
I thought I had missed Founder's grove which was a not-to-miss detour mentioned by the ranger earlier in the day and the bible.
I took my time, and luckily there were no tourists since it was around 6pm by then. I used my tripod for these pics.
The root structures of fallen trees are cool, and magnificent since they are even wider than the massive width of the trees!
I wasn't far from camp but still got there a bit on the late side. I found Courtney and Ian, the couple I had met earlier at the site. I set up camp, shared Sind salmon jerky and ate some cheese sandwiches. It was a fulfillingly full day.
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