| Date: October 9, 1999 | | Location Canada to Mexico - #21 - Bookings to Crescent City | | Where: Shoreline RV Campground Crescent City, California | Saturday - Jim writes
California!!
We have arrived in SUNNY CALIFONIA!! We have left behind the moisture, fog, and mildew of Oregon and are basking in California's golden sunshine.
I write tonight from our campsite, right next to the river, right next to the beach, right next to down town. Could any thing be righter?
Let me back up to where we left off at Humbug. We got up in the morning there with lots of energy, in fact before the sun. (A most useful item we brought this time are head lights, normally used by climbers---they allow us to read with ease at night in the tent, and are real handy when you get up before daylight in the morning.) After a hearty breakfast of pancakes in camp we again attacked the road. It was easy going, the miles rolled by. We stopped in Gold Beach for raspberry muffins and coffee. Too early for lunch we picked up deli sandwiches at the grocery store. Later we pulled off the highway at a deserted headland and enjoyed our lunch in solitude. Below stretched the Pacific, the afternoon sun shimmered across its calm surface, while next to the shore white breakers pounded the rocky headlands.
Climbing over the remaining capes sapped the rest of our energy and we arrived at Harris Beach State Park our usual tired selves.
I was not able to write last night as we had guests at our yurt. Two cyclists named Dave and Gary who are riding from Astoria to Crescent City paid us a visit as well as their friend of a few days, Kevin, who is also cycling from Canada to Mexico. Dave & Gary are from San Diego so we may see them again at the end of our trip.
Today's ride from Brookings to Crescent City was all any cyclist could dream of. Flat roads went past perfectly worked lily fields, leading to quiet lanes along lush green dairy pastures. The sun illuminated everything as in spring and the wind pushed gently on our backs.
So here we are in Crescent City. There is a hot rod and custom car show across the river this afternoon. I have often wondered where all the men my age are. Well, I saw a good number of them. Their crew cuts have grown out a bit, their clean chins now grow graying beards and bellies spill over the top of their blue jeans, but they are definitely the kids I went to high school with. I couldn't decide if I was sad with envy or happy with relief--they are still in the fifties, totally absorbed with the beauty and mechanics of the automobile. They drive up and down the streets tonight. Sporty chicks you ask? One or two maybe, most have a buddy riding with them, --- cars are more important you know---things are still the same.
|
|
|
