Well, the ride is about to begin. Susie, Kyle, Bethany, and I drove from Bothell to Olympia on Thursday and continued on yesterday to Crescent City, CA. Today we explored the Trees of Mystery in the Redwood forest, visited a lighthouse on the coast, and finally said farewell at 3:00 p.m. I attended our Orientation meeting with Mike, Barbara, and Karen--the tour leaders--along with three guys from Mexico who almost didn't make it here in time due to their flight coming through Houston and having to be re-routed because of hurricane Ike.
Our orientation was pretty thorough. They covered safety and traffic issues, explained tomorrow's route, talked about what they expect of the riders and what we can expect of them. It looks like I'll be the youngest rider in the group. The riders are all ages, but mostly 40-70 and from all over the country. And with the three guys from Mexico and my roommate--he's from Israel--it's an international group as well.
Tomorrow's route will take us through the Redwood forests along Hwy. 101 through Klamath, Orick, Trinidad, Arcata, around Humboldt Bay and into Eureka. The distance is 82 miles. Hopefully, the fog will lift and we can begin the route from the hotel. But if visibility is poor, we'll be driven the first 15-20 miles over the first mountain where the fog isn't so dense.
Since today is a rest day for the other riders, there's no planned dinner. I'll see if my roommate is awake and then probably walk around Crescent City to find some dinner and get things ready for an early breakfast (6:30 am) and a first day of riding tomorrow!
If you'd like to read the blog by our route leader, Mike Munk, visit this link and see more photos of the route and meet the other riders.
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