Day 7, Saturday, September 15, 2007
Gold Beach, OR to Crescent City, CA
62.8 miles, 13.2 mph, 4h 43m 39s (max speed 32 mph)
Up at 6:15, 7:00 continental breakfast, 8:00 load luggage, 8:15 on the road. Again, it was foggy, overcast and cool. Again, I dressed for the cold temperature. We had a moderately difficult 500 ft climb, just 3 miles out. The fog would come and go mostly all day. There were several "must see" and "must take pictures" opportunities on and off most of the day. Every night at route rap we are told about these "places" and reminded about them on our daily route sheets. Pictures from today include a photo of today's route for reader's reference.
The 500 ft climb was followed by a half mile screaming 6% downhill. If a cyclist wanted to, he could reach a speed of 50 mph. I did some "braking" and reached 32mph, just playing it safe. The route sheet mentions 4 viewpoints, but the ones at 18.0 and 19.9 were totally fogged out. I did take reduced visibility photos at 14.9 and 16.1 miles. Arch Rock is one of the most popular photo opportunities on this section of our ride. Next was the Natural Bridge. You can just barely see the tunnel on the left. It continues to be very disappointing to see so many natural wonders and not be able to capture the photos. However, as I may have already said, it could be worse, it could be raining. The pic I took at the SAG was of Jerry taking a pic of a snake in the wild raspberry bushes while Ellen watched and Bob Ahrens picking raspberries in the background. Tom and I stopped for lunch in the town of Brookings. We had a fish and chips meal at a seafood place. There was a flea market and I think, some sort of other celebration going on. There were people everywhere and lots of RV's. At about 34 miles out we went through an area that is referred to as the Easter Lily capital of the world. Shortly after that we encountered a cow crossing, around 200 of them. The were returning to "the barn" to be milked. Locals refer to the "famous" Fort Dick Market quite fondly. This area used to be a very active missionary area and to a lesser degree, still is today.
I arrived at Comfort Inn at 3 PM, checked in, started my journal, went to route RAP and to dinner (roast pork). Then back to room to watch the Red Sox give away a 7 - 2 lead and lose to the Yankees. I went to bed at 10:30. Tomorrow is a rest day here in Crescent City and there are several things I want to do. It will be a full and interesting day. See Ya!
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