The travels of the Rambling Roses: Phillipsville to Leggett, California November 2-3

36.13 in 4:06......My knees stopped hurting as soon as I stopped pedaling last evening, so I was hoping they would be ready to go this morning. Not so. It has to be the extra weight I'm pulling, especially on the up hills. I had a total elevation climb of 2700 ft in 80 miles yesterday, which wasn't terrible, but today would be climbing a lot more, according to my ACA map elevation chart. My quads were tired and my knees were there constantly, climbing or not. I stuck to the maps, which took me through a few towns like Redlands, where I stopped for breakfast, but was hesitant to leave my bike when I went into the grocery store. Shady looking people everywhere. Why are they all here? I bought some nutrition bars without incident and headed two miles down the road to Garberville, and I'll be damned if there wasn't a group of about a half dozen people in the park at the entrance to town, that looked like they just woke up. I thought of the biker I met yesterday, and his warning, but I passed though the town without even drawing a look. I hope I'm not being paranoid, but I'm not comfortable with half the people I see around here. I'm not usually like that, and maybe they are just here for the lifestyle, if you know what I mean. I haven't traveled with a weapon since I lost my car antenna somewhere in Texas, but California comes with a reputation of crazies, and I'm seeing nothing to change my mind. There are nice people here also though, like the motel owners, and I'm not seeing the expensive side of Cali that everyone talks about. The standard of living in Northern Cali that I have seen, could just as well be in West Virginia, with more homeless.

I was averaging under 9 miles an hour, and not making the kind of progress I usually do, so I decided early in the ride that it was going to be shorter than I had planned. I spent quite a bit of time taking pictures of my bike with wood carvings, knowing that it was going to be a short day. My only decision was whether I was going to look for a motel or call Pam. A local told me I was only 35 miles from Willits, so I decided to call Pam, before I turned off of 101, onto the famous California Rt. 1, over to the coast. She was busy working her fingers to the bone when I called, but she came, and I saved a three mile ride uphill to see if the motel was still open this late in the season in the little town of Leggett. Then we went to the Lumberjack restaurant in Willits and I ate prime rib. 16 oz for $20 with salad bar and baked potato. I'm really roughing it out here on the road, eh?

Nov. 3....a rest day in Willits for me, a busy work day for Pam. Watched the Steelers lose, ate a lot. Enough said.