Another foggy day

But thankfully it was not nearly as cold. The fog only lifted for a short while on the ride, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We did our first riding through the big redwood trees in California. First it was in low fog, which gives me a very enveloped, contained feeling. Then the sun started to break through so there was the striking filtered sunlight through the big trees with the tree shadows outlined by the fog. Then for a while the skies cleared and it was a clear ride though the redwoods. Good thing we don't ride faster because is was great to see the trees in all those changing conditions.

It fogged over again before the end of the day, but it was still warm enough to be pretty comfortable, which was a welcome change from yesterday.

Tomorrow David and I split up for a couple of days. There is an optional section here called the Lost Coast Route. It's calling me and yelling at David to stay away. It involves a few thousand feet of climbing, and is supposed to be stunningly beautiful (and remote). There is only one place on the route with housing and groceries, so I called tonight to make reservations to make sure I would not have to do it all in one day. The connection was bad, but basically what the first guy said was there were vacancies tommorow, but the rooms were full tonight and he wasn't going to have time to clean tomorrow so that was a problem. He gave me the number for the other place in town. They were a little confused when I called since their reservations are usually done well in advance and involve sending a check in by mail (they don't take credit cards). But first he wanted to basically interview me to see if I knew what I was getting myself into. I guess I passed the test because I did get the reservation, but I think I'd better get an early start on the day to make sure my room is still there. And the other useful information he passed along was that the store in town closes at 5:30, and it sounds like if I'm not there to buy some food before then, I may be going hungry until morning. So I picked up a couple extra powerbars at the grocery store tonight. Seems like I might be in for quite an experience tomorrow. Wish me luck.

On a related topic, the thought of doing a couple of days of big climbing motivated me to go through the bag again and see what I can send home. Looks like the shirt I wear at night will start to look pretty familiar to David because all the extras are being shipped. The baseball hats (I've purchased 2) that are meant from preventing the world to have to see my hair in the morning are going to have a hard time doing their job now that they'll be headed home. The Lonely Planet Guide to Biking the West Coast has been surgically altered via Swiss Army Knife and the Washington and Oregon sections aren't going to be with me any longer. Even the fingernail file is being sent on it's way. I'd really like to know the difference in weight between what I started with and what I'm carrying now.
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