Day Two Hundred Forty-eight, Date Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:14
Distance for the Day: 66.36 miles From Brookings, OR To Orick, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,259 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 148’/24’, Highest: 1252’ Accumulated: 3235’
Speeds: Avg: 9.1 mph, Max: 35.2 mph
Weather: 45° thin high overcast to the north, but otherwise totally clear
Expenditures: $24
I woke up at 5:30am, and got up at 5:40am. It was perfectly clear, the Moon and stars were shining bright with the light of day starting to show in the east. I broke down camp as quietly as possible to keep from disturbing the dogs, and was ready to roll at 6:35am. I noticed a few daddy long leg spiders around, but didn’t see any on my trike like I sometimes do after being parked in spider territory. I got back to the highway, and started heading south out of Brookings. I didn’t need to go too far before getting to a mini mart, where I had a breakfast of hot cocoa, banana nut muffin, berry croissant +
other food and drink supplies ($10). After finishing breakfast, I continued on at 7:10am, heading for the California border. I entered California at 7:42am, and passed through the agricultural check station, but didn’t see the ‘welcome to California’ sign. I went a bit further up the road, but still didn’t see any sign. Hmmm. I turned around and went back to the ag station and asked where the sign was, and they said it had been destroyed by some vehicle that ran into it, and hadn’t been replaced, yet. Great! So, I went back to the ‘Oregon thanks you – come back soon’ sign, and took a picture by that, instead. I stopped in Klamath at 1:10pm – 2:25pm to get a Subway meal deal ($7), and food supplies ($7) and continued south toward Arcata. By 4:11pm, I got up, over and through a section of the Redwood National Forest between Klamath and Orick, and it was amazing. Giant trees with trunks wider than my trike is long, towering up and blocking most of the light from the sky, making it quiet, dark and moist down at the forest floor. It was a bit of an uphill push at first, but then it became a long, gradual
downhill run through the forest, which was great, but it was a bit cool. The warmth I’d generated on the uphill part kept me from getting too cold from windchill on the downhill, though, and at 4:11pm I got back out into a small, sparsely populated valley that was lit up by the late afternoon sunlight. Riding along, I saw a single moose grazing on somebody’s lawn and stopped to take a few pictures of it, and continued on into the little town of Orick. I stopped in a mini mart at the far edge of town, and noticed a big pile of gravel between a horse corral and the store, and asked the lady in the mini mart if she thought anyone would mind my overnighting by the gravel pile. She said she was the owner of the lot, and it would be okay – cool! I found a mostly dry, level spot over by a large bucket loader (N41 17.105’ W124 4.438’), and set up there. This wasn’t a very good site, as the traffic noise was pretty loud, but I figured it would quiet down after sunset, which it did, somewhat. I set up my tent and got in to munch, drink soda, and read my book, which I finished. Dan Brown’s “Digital Fortress” was a real page
turner, as evidenced by the fact that it took me only 8 days to read it. I listened to my iPod for another hour or so, until 10:30pm, before going to sleep. The mini mart was open until 11pm, so there was some traffic going on all evening; crunching gravel, car headlights, voices, etc., but after they closed, things quieted down enough to get to sleep.
Time in Saddle: 7:14
Distance for the Day: 66.36 miles From Brookings, OR To Orick, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,259 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 148’/24’, Highest: 1252’ Accumulated: 3235’
Speeds: Avg: 9.1 mph, Max: 35.2 mph
Weather: 45° thin high overcast to the north, but otherwise totally clear
Expenditures: $24
I woke up at 5:30am, and got up at 5:40am. It was perfectly clear, the Moon and stars were shining bright with the light of day starting to show in the east. I broke down camp as quietly as possible to keep from disturbing the dogs, and was ready to roll at 6:35am. I noticed a few daddy long leg spiders around, but didn’t see any on my trike like I sometimes do after being parked in spider territory. I got back to the highway, and started heading south out of Brookings. I didn’t need to go too far before getting to a mini mart, where I had a breakfast of hot cocoa, banana nut muffin, berry croissant +
other food and drink supplies ($10). After finishing breakfast, I continued on at 7:10am, heading for the California border. I entered California at 7:42am, and passed through the agricultural check station, but didn’t see the ‘welcome to California’ sign. I went a bit further up the road, but still didn’t see any sign. Hmmm. I turned around and went back to the ag station and asked where the sign was, and they said it had been destroyed by some vehicle that ran into it, and hadn’t been replaced, yet. Great! So, I went back to the ‘Oregon thanks you – come back soon’ sign, and took a picture by that, instead. I stopped in Klamath at 1:10pm – 2:25pm to get a Subway meal deal ($7), and food supplies ($7) and continued south toward Arcata. By 4:11pm, I got up, over and through a section of the Redwood National Forest between Klamath and Orick, and it was amazing. Giant trees with trunks wider than my trike is long, towering up and blocking most of the light from the sky, making it quiet, dark and moist down at the forest floor. It was a bit of an uphill push at first, but then it became a long, gradual
downhill run through the forest, which was great, but it was a bit cool. The warmth I’d generated on the uphill part kept me from getting too cold from windchill on the downhill, though, and at 4:11pm I got back out into a small, sparsely populated valley that was lit up by the late afternoon sunlight. Riding along, I saw a single moose grazing on somebody’s lawn and stopped to take a few pictures of it, and continued on into the little town of Orick. I stopped in a mini mart at the far edge of town, and noticed a big pile of gravel between a horse corral and the store, and asked the lady in the mini mart if she thought anyone would mind my overnighting by the gravel pile. She said she was the owner of the lot, and it would be okay – cool! I found a mostly dry, level spot over by a large bucket loader (N41 17.105’ W124 4.438’), and set up there. This wasn’t a very good site, as the traffic noise was pretty loud, but I figured it would quiet down after sunset, which it did, somewhat. I set up my tent and got in to munch, drink soda, and read my book, which I finished. Dan Brown’s “Digital Fortress” was a real page
turner, as evidenced by the fact that it took me only 8 days to read it. I listened to my iPod for another hour or so, until 10:30pm, before going to sleep. The mini mart was open until 11pm, so there was some traffic going on all evening; crunching gravel, car headlights, voices, etc., but after they closed, things quieted down enough to get to sleep.
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