July 4, 2010
It’s the Fourth of July weekend and campgrounds have been full since Friday night. Luckily, they never turn away hiker/bikers over here and we haven’t had any problems getting a place to camp. Last night at Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park it was like a reunion of all the cyclists I’ve come across on the road (minus the folks from Lake Sylvia State Park). The group of three guys from Potlatch State Park, Old Man New Zealand (name that we’ve given this guy), and the couple we’ve camped with a few times (Andrew and Naomi) were all there. Also, we met a new set of cyclists, Megan and Moira. I spent the entire evening just talking to everyone, sharing stories and getting background information about each other. Most everyone that was there last night (if not all of them) are ending their trip in San Francisco. I don’t know why they decided to make that their end point and not the border, I’ll have to ask them another night that I come across them. Taka was up for a good while as well, but he ended up going to sleep before we all sat around the campfire.
The group of three guys ended up being from Ireland. They were pretty chill guys that have spent a good amount of time cycling and other random trips. Two of them climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro a few years back apparently, which I found pretty cool. All of the younger people that are doing this are just finishing some sort of school. Megan and Moira just received their bachelor’s degree and Moira is applying for medical school and John (one of the Irish guys) just finished up his phd (I didn’t ask in what field).
It was really great to finally sit around and chat with all of these people that I have come across while cycling down the coast and find out their stories. Most everyone from the packed hiker/biker site last night ended up taking a rest day today at the campground. It would have been a great day to hang out; the sand dunes, dune buggies, beach, and fireworks would have been great, but we had just taken a rest day the day before so we decided to keep moving. The only people here at camp with us tonight are Megan and Moira (who are taking a rest day here tomorrow). This campsite isn’t going to have any fireworks and I don’t have phone/internet reception, but I’m only 2 days of riding away from the California border!
As for today we’re at Sunset Beach State Park. The scenery today while riding was pretty dull compared to the other days we’ve been riding, so no pictures. The terrain was pretty hilly when we started the day (so we started pretty slow), but as the terrain leveled out (comparatively speaking) we went at about 15/16 mph for over an hour which was a relief.
Side Note: We finally used our stove this morning and so I’m going to drink hot chocolate tonight (I’m happier than you would think about that).