Day 12 - Avenue of the Giants (Brandon)

 

We were a little slow to get loaded up this morning, but we had a relatively easy 40 mile day, so I wasn’t too worried. Our late start proved fortuitous, as we happened to roll past an In-N-Out burger just as it was opening for the day. My eyes lit up when I saw the sign, and I had to stop in for a double-double.😋 This was 3 miles into the ride, so I had not earned a burger, but I didn’t care, it had been several years since my last double-double. 

No lines!

After our breakfast burgers it was back on the road towards our lunch stop at Eel River Brewing company. It was a flat 20 miles on the highway, and we were locked in and riding fast, before we knew it we were there, before our burgers had time to settle. We decided to skip lunch and just grab a beer.

After Eel River brewing it was back on the highway steaming towards Avenue of the Giants, and our home for the night at Redcrest resort. We had originally booked a campsite in the state park, but the fires had temporarily closed it, so we had to find alternate accomodations. The fire has since been contained and we are in no danger, but the park doesn’t open again until tomorrow.😕 The good news is that we booked a cabin in another state park 30 more miles down the road, and our booking didn’t get cancelled “yet”, so we should be good.

Rest stop in the Redwoods

We pulled into the resort a little after 3pm, with a couple short breaks to hang out in one of the dozens of “groves” of redwoods. We also got free blackberry popsicles at a produce stand along the way. Apparently other customers had paid for popsicles to be given out to cyclists that pass. Thank you for the popsocles anonymous strangers!

Free popsicles!!! *Christi does not approve of this picture*

After an early evening stroll to see the “walk-through” tree, it was back to the cabin for some blogging, and nap time for Christi, who was out cold on the couch at about 7pm

-Cheers!