Day 38: Thursday, July 3, 2015

Stop to Stop: Weott, CA to Standish Hickey State Park

Underway: 6:30 am    Off Bike: 12:45 pm    Ride Time: 4:16 hrs    Stayed At: Campsite
Miles Traveled: 45.9    Total Miles: 2,724.7    Weather: Sunny, hot, calm

First Things First: First time it rained in CA – about 4 drops.

Mile to Mile: Another day, another change in plans. I had originally planned to do an 80 mile day to get done with my last big hill but heavy traffic, hot sun and lack of need to do big miles had me stopping at only 48 miles at a beautiful state park with a large well designed hiker/biker area.

It was an amazing ride early in the morning through another grove of Redwoods. The traffic was so light I traveled 12 miles before the first car passed me on the Avenue of the Giants. Crazy for the day before the fourth when it seems like half the population of CA is going camping. Except for lots of up and down (which requires almost continual shifting changes), the ride was comfortable and productive. I even found more money on the side of the road – two dollars this time. The last 15 miles were a challenge, though with holiday traffic on the 101, a disappearing shoulder and hot sun making an early stop more and more appealing.

After getting to the park it was obviously a good decision to stop. Nice hiker/biker area, met a new biker going southbound to San Diego, had a great burger at a little café across from the park and met up with Mook (the woman from Thailand) again who was at the park last night and passed me a few day’s ago. Only five days to go to San Fran and I can hardly wait. One day at a time…one day at a time….