• Start: Eureka, California
• Finish: Meyers Flat, California
• Distance: 90.7k
• Elevation: 610 meters

Beautiful day today. Not only was it a dry day, it was even SUNNY! After yesterday’s rain it was very welcome. We all said goodbye to young David as he left us and headed off to Redding. He has a couple of fairly hard days ahead of him before catching his train back home.

It was sort of a tail of two rides today. Jean and Diane were in the truck as they had to do the shopping. Jenni organized the other 5 ladies on a tour of Eureka before heading out of town. The four men headed straight out of town.

Our ride was absolutely perfect except for John’s flat early in the morning along 101. We took our time and had a very nice coffee in Fortuna. The ride to Fortuna was mostly backroads and was very pleasant. After coffee it was 101 to the lunch stop, but it was a good shoulder and mostly flat. I got to the rendezvous spot about a half hour before the truck showed up. But it was all good, they eventually did show up and we refilled water and were off.

The last leg was on the “Avenue of the Giants” – a very scenic route among the redwoods. It is just so serene riding alone among the big guys. We all had such a good time. The towns were also very picturesque and rustic. I got a very nice picture of the old general store in Redcrest.

Unfortunately although it is very picturesque, it is pretty clear that the economy is not in very good shape. The rivers are looking pretty low too. Perhaps its seasonal, but much different than what we were seeing in Oregon.

So I got into camp, had a friendly conversation with the camp manager and had a nap before the other guys arrived. They pulled in around 3:00. But of course there wasn’t much that we could do without the truck. A few text messages back and fourth and we find that the truck is still at the lunch stop because the ladies hadn’t shown up yet.

It turns out that the ladies had a rather more adventurous ride than we had had. Bonita had a flat in the parking lot just after we had left. Then they did their tour of Eureka and headed south. Then Bonita had another flat. After the second flat they decided to buy a new tire, which required locating a bike store in Fortuna. They didn’t make it to the truck until almost 4:00 where Jean was patiently waiting. But everyone came through it in good order and have another story to tell their grandchildren.