Day 33 Redwoods July 14, 2001

Battered AA battery count 19


After breakfast ! hit the road out of Ft. Bragg, CA. It was cold. ! put
on the goretex jacket. ! had expected it to get warmer and sunnier once !
turned inland. It didn't wait that long. Just a few miles w/ the Goretex and
it was up into the 70s @ least. ! ran into a group of high school kids from
all over the country who were riding from Seattle to San Francisco. 14 of
them. All w/ red pennants on their bikes. That was just before leaving the
coast. ! had wanted to do almost 70 miles today. Once ! started East !
started to climb. It just went up and up. It was warm and sunny too. Just
what ! wanted. ! was a little surprised. The news said it was supposed to
cool off for a few days. After 10 miles it leveled off and ! thought for sure
it was over. Not so. ! climbed 12 miles from sea level. ! was working the
whole time for 4-6 mph. then ! realized ! was hungry. It was 4pm after all by
the time ! hit the summit. It looked like ! could get food in Leggett, CA.
They had a restaurant that was closed and a store. ! had a couple frozen
burritos and a Haagen Daz bar. A patron told ME the campground just a couple
miles away was really good so ! decided to take off early. They had a
swimming hole in the Eel River so ! got to do a few laps. It felt like it was
going to be really cold, but once ! was in it was fine. There are 2 groups of
riders heading south in MY camp area. 7 all together. ! talked w/ all of
them. Over @ the store ! got an Arrogant Bastard Ale. ! had seen their
jerseys, but never the actual beer. It's very stout. Beer is fun. !'ve got
quite a buzz going. !'m thinking of staying up late to enjoy it. 48 miles.