Ferndale to Garberville

58 miles, 2450 feet of climbing, road kill (2 snakes, 2 unidentified furry things, 1 bird smushed as Deborah looked on and she says it was absolutely awful)

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

We started with a wonderful breakfast at Poppa Joe's in Ferndale. The skies looked ominous as we ate breakfast and then as we prepared to ride the downpour started. First with a whimper, then with full on thunder, we decided that things must improve. And, improve they did, before they completely went south.

So, as we rode out of town, into a headwind, wearing full rain gear and trying to ride between the raindrops, Deborah got to enjoy the thrill of cow patties being slung into hear face from Arn's rear wheel. Little did she know, she'd have her revenge, of sorts, on Arn's rear wheel. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Our ride today was to be through beautiful country side outside of Ferndale then a few miles on 101 followed by 32 miles on "Avenue of the Giants" - a.k.a. Old 101 - and then a few more miles on 101 into Garberville. Before we hit Avenue of the Giants - named because it meanders along the Eel Rivers through Humboldt Redwoods State Park - we heard a pop. Unfortunately, the pop was not Deborah's pop tarts but Arn's rear wheel blowing another spoke. On the drive side, again, which means you need some special tools to fix it. Much to our surprise, our map indicated that our destination for the day - Garberville - had a bike shop.

So, on we rode, through the Avenue of the Giants on our way to fix Arn's bike. Arn rode with the brake rubbing the whole way. The "Giants" were spectacular and the rain had abated. In fact, the 30 or so miles through the Avenue of the Giants were some of the best biking ever.

Arriving in town, we made our way to the bike shop, only to learn that the mechanic only worked Mondays. The bike store owners were in East Bumblesf*ck to watch their son's soccer game and the person working there didn't know a bike from a hole in the wall. Furthermore, she was under strict orders to phone no one and to not allow anyone to touch anything (i.e. tools). And, they didn't sell tools either. She didn't even know the name of the mechanic so we couldn't call him. Ugghhh.

So, here we were in Garberville, with an arduous day ahead of us through the most remote part of our overall journey. 20 or so miles on a semi-remote part of 101 followed by 30 miles on 1 with lots of elevation change and no sign of civilization. What to do?? Risk riding with a wheel that is in pretty bad shape or find some alternative.

The choices:
a) Wait till Monday. Hope the mechanic shows up. If he doesn't show up, wait a week till the next time he shows up.
b) Rent a car. There are no cars in Garberville. Closest car rental is Eureka or Ukiah - about 90 miles away.
c) Get a taxi. There are no taxis in Garberville. Closest taxi is 80 miles away.
d) Take a train. There are no trains.
e) Take a bus. Turns out Amtrak runs a bus in California through Garberville. But the rules on using Amtrak as a bus is more arcane than the tax code. Turns out that if you leave from an unmanned station on Amtrak, the only place they can take you to is the next manned station. In our case, that is Martinez (just outside San Francisco), 200 miles away.
f) Have your wife go down to the lobby and beg other hotel inmates for a ride (this strategy nearly worked) to Ukiah or Fort Bragg - the nearest places with bike shops.

This is not a good set of choices. There was one other long shot option. We had a reservation for tomorrow night at a B&B just north of Westport, where civilization sort of begins again on the coast. Perhaps someone there might be willing to pick us up. Once there, it is only 20 miles through relatively friendly territory to Fort Bragg - certainly worth the risk on a dodgy wheel. As luck would have it, Deborah had established a friendly phone-a-friend relationship with Tammy - the apparent owner of Dehavens Bed and Breakfast and she graciously arranged a ride with someone to pick us up tomorrow. So, we look forward to our savior, David, in a red Dodge pickup tomorrow. After that, a short day on Sunday to Fort Bragg and overnight to get Arn's wheel fixed Monday morning when they reopen.

You might be wondering, why are there no photos from today?? The scenery, was, in fact, beautiful - some of the best for the trip. Take our word for it, please. But the fact is, we were riding like bats out of h*ll all day, because of rain or hoping to reach the bike store (hah!).

Lastly, on a day like this, what do two riders talk about:
Are you warm enough?
Yeah. Are you warm enough?
Those are big trees.
Yeah.
I like those trees over there.
How does my wheel look?
The same.
Do you hear a clicking noise in your head?
Yeah. It is the spoke rubbing.
We should only have 8 miles to go.
Sign says 9 1/2. Oh well.