Fort Bragg, California

July 31st - August 6th

Eureka to Redcrest to Garberville to Fort Bragg to Mendocino...158.3 miles

From Eureka, California we rode 54 miles to Redcrest, located in Humbolt County, settled right into the Avenue of the Giants. Does "Avenue of the Giants" sound awesome...because it IS! We took this tiny road that swerved and curved in between massive Redwood trees. It was a thick, moist, green, and almost chilly forest. I remember my lungs feeling fuller then they have ever felt, the air there was crisp and clean, just as it should be. You feel so small in the middle of these ancient, gigantic trees towering stories above you. We ran into a hippie touring group in Arcata while riding through the Giants. I remember being conflicted inside about my way of travel, watching these hippie girls in skirts and no shoes riding their bikes down the coast. They were only going to San Francisco, but I remember being torn and almost embarassed about my ride. Looking back today, it doesn't even matter. I had reasons to do what I did and am 100% sure that we would not have made it as far as we did if I had rode a bike, and also that it would have taken double the amount of time... I'm secure enough to admit I am not a biking champion. (Maybe the next adventure.) But that is where we decided we could switch off riding the bike and moped, Blake could have a rest and I could get a feel for riding far with heavy bags.

The campsite we stayed at in Redcrest only had one attraction to stop tourists, the treehouse in the Eternal Living Tree. As most tourist traps seem cooler then they actually are, this one was the same, though still interesting. We ducked our heads under the doorway and were standing in the hollow of a huge tree. After signing the book we walked out and into the only cafe for miles. At breakfast the next day we met a girl named Alix. She was also touring to San Francisco, but she was from Canada. We ate pancakes together and agreed to meet in San Fran.

Redcrest to Garberville was 28 miles. We stopped at a large RV park. It was clean and quiet. We did laundry and swam in the pool. I fixed my flat tire and we ate lunch at a great organic jFrom Garberville we rode 76 miles to Mendocino, in Mendocino County. This town was the perfect cloudy, quiet, vintage community. There were a few shops and great little places to eat and it sits on a cliff that looks out at a bay, so beautiful. Once we were there Blake's friend from Colorado (who had moved to Fort Bragg) wanted to grab some dinner with her friends, who were also camping in the area. We couldn't find any sort of camping or RV Park or hostel even close to Mendocino and we didn't want to ride any further that day so we lived a night of luxury at the Mendocino Hotel (recommended for anyone visiting the area.) When we met up with Beth she had a bag of survival goodies for us to take on our trip, it was so sweet {thank you for having open arms towards us, Beth!} After we showered and got ready for a night out (finally with other people!) we walked to the cute, coastal restaurant and enjoyed the company of being able to talk about what we were doing for the first time in detail since we started in Seattle.

Because we didn't find any camping spots in Mendocino we headed back up north about seven miles into Fort Bragg. We opened our minds up to finding some possible work and looking for a more permanant place to stay. Fort Bragg is about half way down the coast from Seattle. Getting to hang out with Beth and her friends gave us a little "in" on the town and surrounding areas. I loved Fort Bragg. We found a cool co-op to go grocery shopping, a friendly bike shop, fresh fruit at the farmer's market, welcoming friends, and a much needed yoga studio that was quiet and perfect for centering our bodies and minds during our two week stay {thanks again, Justine, for being so friendly!} We got a couple of tickets from the hotel to go on an art tour around the area. Of course I was so in! It was fun meeting these artists in Mendocino County who are making their living out of their workshops at their homes. We met a jeweler, a glass blower wife and carpenter husband, sculpturs, and a painter (who showed us his skills by water color painting Blake.) 

While we had no schedule and no plans yet on where we wanted to go from Fort Bragg, we offered to help Beth get to the Sacramento airport and pick her up after her visit back home for a week. Our week in San Fransisco was awesome. (I wrote about it in my post San Francisco, California.)  

The frusterating part of our stay in FB was not knowing what we were doing on a day to day basis, so we packed and unpacked a lot at different camp sites, RV parks, and motels. We both also got sick. Being sick in a wet tent and in a wet, sunless climate is pretty miserable actually. As we were looking for an apartment and finding no luck we both started to think about the accumulating costs while not putting any miles behind us, and which decission was best for us. Blake thinks inside his own head; battles the options quietly. I am the opposite; I want to talk about it, this way and that way and write everything out on paper. We did this one day at one of coffee shops were were frequenting. I was making a list of the pros and cons to stopping our travels and staying in this tiny, coastal town for who knows how long. 

Dream Big, Ride Far!!!

Fog and Beaches

July 15th - 17th

We left Astoria and followed the coast. There were many more beaches to check out during this stretch. But the beaches weren't what I've been used to visiting Florida, California, or Hawaii. There were no palm trees, tiki stands, skateboarders, boardshorts or bikinis. The mood was different. I loved it. Even though we were sitting on the beach and the sun was out, we were bundled and cuddling together. The waves would creep so far up the beach that it created this mirror-like flooring for what seamed like miles before the ocean even started. The fog would roll in sometimes, depending on where we were and the time of day. The fog was comforting. It's like it held you.

From Astoria to Kelly's Marina was a 46.5 mile ride. We made it a short day because we stopped off at Cannon Beach, OR. Have you been? You should so go! It's an incredible little town and beach. The sand felt like corduroy with every step we took. You could even hear it. We layed in the sun and soaked up the rays. Haystack Rock is an experience of it's own. Yes, there are many boulders off the northern coast to admire, but for some reason, this rock is... gorgeous. It's a photogenic piece of nature.

From there we took off and stopped at a marina for the night. Kelly's was an experience. I have not hung out around marina's so it was almost a fishy smelling Disneyland {is there a difference, truly?} to me. There were tubs of crabs and fish and oysters...right where you can grab them! There was a little store, an area to charge our phones, an awesome fire pit {we made oatmeal and drank hot tea by the fire as the sun was going down} We slept in our tent this night. I remember all the squashed slugs in the grass...they were unavoidable.

From the Marina we rode 41.5 miles into Pacific City. One of the {many} cool things about traveling the way we did, and having an open schedule, was the allowance to stop at these beaches and bakeries any time we wanted. Our schedule was made pretty much hour to hour. We hardly set up where we would even be staying for the night, but just hoped we'd end up somewhere. It worked out the majority of the time!

Anyways, riding to Pacific City we got DUMPED on by heavy, ocean rain! We tried stopping several times under trees or bushes, but it kept raining and we needed to get somewhere before the night came. With the rain and the fog it was hard to see ahead even 20 feet! The next bends were mysterious. The next town was unknown. Just when we were soaked through and through we rode into Pacific City and grabbed a room at a motel. We layed out our clothes and dried them with the room heater as best we could and went hunting for food. Everything was closed so we grabbed things at a grocery store and Blake made a motel room feast!

Ok...somewhere in there I have a night missing. At one point, I don't even remember where, we had stopped by a hostel for the night. They were packed full so we set up the tent in their backyard. Two things I remember about this is the little Asian lady who ran the hostel was so funny and cute and little and bossy. The other was that this was the point in time we were trying to plan going into Portland. It would have been a full day in, a full day there, and a full day back to the coast. On top of that all the hostels and motels were booked up for I think a bike race that weekend. We had to scratch the idea of going to see Portland. The owner of the hostel told us "once you've seen one large city, you've seen them all"... This helped us not worry too much about missing the chance to check it out. Welp...let's move on.

I have to mention Tillamook, OR. There is nothing, and I mean nothing in this town. Except for the dairy factory. So, from now on, we buy Tillamook butter. Nothing like supporting the places you've been. {I'm also pretty sure we stopped at a bakery.}

Thanks for reading about our adventure! Sorry it gets a little jumbled...imagine our brains DURING these days. Let me know what you guys think by commenting on this blog, or on my FB post of this feed.

No matter where you're at in life or in the world...Dream Big and Ride Far! {And document those amazing journey's}