Fort Bragg to Crescent City, California – 9th July 2021
Had a good night, the bed was very comfortable, however this type of motel would have cost half the price a couple of years ago; I guess it will be blamed on Covid, like everything else. I really can’t sustain this level of expenditure for the whole tour so I am going to have to depend on my biker sisters and brothers who are generous enough to put themselves forwards on Bunka Biker to take in complete strangers.
Anyway, onwards and most definitely upwards. Today I am leaving Fort Bragg and continuing up the coast towards Oregon, although I doubt I will make it all the way there today.
The coast road soon becomes Highway 101 and takes me up into the redwood forests. Great twisty roads dipping in and out of the huge forests, wonderful.
The sun is shining as I enter the infamous Humboldt County, home of ‘Murder Mountain’ the subject of a documentary of the same name that we watched before I left. There have been and continue to be unexplained ‘disappearances’ and killings all related to the Marijuana growing industry. As I ride along I can smell the marijuana in the air although I don’t think I see any growing, it is all up in the hills I believe.
Around lunchtime I enter Garberville, the central town in the documentary and only a few short miles from ‘Murder Mountain’. I pull in for petrol and decide it’s time to eat. I park the bike and the sun is beating down, it’s almost 40 degrees now. I find a small diner and go in for lunch. There is hardly anyone in and I am served quickly… a huge portion again of course. I am gazing out of the diner window and see this…
Yep, its a bloke with a rabbit on his shoulder.. a live one, the rabbit moves and makes itself comfortable on his right shoulder as he walks away. I also notice quite a few other ‘hippy’ types around town, these are probably ‘trimmers’ that have come up to work stripping the marijuana plants; these are the kind of people that were highlighted in the documentary who have now disappeared, some without a trace. I guess that is the way these, previously outlawed, growers deal with their ‘business’, there’s a lot of unpopulated back country out here to hide bodies in!!
While I am here I check out Bunka Biker and find a couple in Crescent City, which is the last big town before the state line with Oregon. I send them a message asking if I can stay and yes indeed I can. It is still a very long way there so I really must get going as I don’t want to arrive very late.
Back out to the bike and as I couldn’t find any shade the seat and tank are absolutely blistering, I then think I really need to get a back pack, it is such a pain to have to unpack everything to try and get my laptop out. I see a sports shop just up the road and decide to have a look in. I pass this advertisement which I thought was rather amusing
Just one of the many marijuana shops I have seen all the way through California as of course it is legal here now.
In the shop I do find a cheap back pack and a knife, of course I have to have it, a bargain at only $35.
So back to the twisty roads and the hairpins just roll along one after the other with death drops on my right hand side with zero crash bars, so just one false move and it’ll all be over
Just amazing and a really enjoyable ride. I am then taken back down to the coast and the temperature drops by a full 10 degrees, the mist is starting to roll in from the Pacific and it’s getting colder.
I am really cold so cannot wait to get to Crescent City. Just then I see a group of people standing at the side of the road, as I pass I notice what they are looking at, a herd of deer.. oh wow… I turn around
Just magnificent.
At last I arrive in Crescent City, I am staying with Tree and Jeff just outside the town. Well once again I have found two fantastic people who are just so friendly and warm. I have a lovely room and a bathroom all to myself. They have dogs.. now as you know I just love a dog and they have three… there is Moon Dog a black rescue, Tipper a Chihuahua and a tiny ‘teacup’ Chihuahua called Tucker, just adorable all of the them
Tree and Jeff insist on taking me out to dinner, but everything here seems to shut by 9pm and as I have arrived late, 8pm, it is now too late to go out so Tree orders a pizza for us to share. We spend a couple of very enjoyable hours eating pizza and chatting; just lovely. I mention to Jeff about the front wobble and he has a few ideas to check out the front wheel and headstock bearings for tightness and wear, so, as they are both off work tomorrow, Jeff says he will take a look at the bike for me and then they have promised to take me to see the Jedediah Smith redwoods that are nearby. I was supposed to be riding to Portland tomorrow and meeting some of the grrrrls from Dykes on Bikes on Sunday, but they are already going out on a charity ride and although I am able to join them I think it is still a very long ride there and would need an early start in the morning. I think I prefer to have Jeff give the bike a look over and then decide what to do. Either I miss Portland or I could break my journey and ride the last stretch on Sunday morning, one to think about.
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