Sept. 10 - Giant trees to giant water with a little hill in between

Richardson Grove State Park to Westport

Friday - September 10
Our humble abode and neighbors. It was a very quiet campground. It almost felt like we got up too early even though it was 7:30. We wished Daniel good luck and good sales and headed south on Highway 101 at about 0900.

Crossing the winding Eel River once again. We actually lost track of how many times we crossed over it the last few days.  It was sunny and cool when we started out but a little bit of hills warmed us right up and we actually took off our tights for the 2nd day in a row!

Some more roadside sculpture.

Just stopped for a little snack and postcard break at Peg's House. We're not sure this is what they mean by drafting. 

This sign means that we are approaching the infamous Leggett Hill, 950 feet and 3.5 miles of up. The good news is that most of the traffic will stay on  Hwy. 101. The road was mostly shady which helped as well. We had to stop many, many times, eating and drinking our way up that hill.

It was even curvier in real life.

A little helpful encouragement

We stopped for another rest break and the log truck driver told us that we had actually made it to the top. We had thought it was just a slightly flatter spot with more uphill to go around the corner. Hallelujah! Our average speed so far was 6.7 mph.

A little chocolate celebration.

Any excuse for a break........Doug helped these ladies get their tire tightened up again.

Now the fun part is about to begin. This had to be one of the most satisfying downhill runs ever, especially considering we are on fully loaded touring bikes. We only had one car pass us all the way down and actually had to brake for several of the curves. We even stopped to take a couple of snack breaks and to add clothes during the 9 mile descent. It was a blast weaving through those curves so smoothly and effortlessly....max speed was 33mph. Woo hoo!

Only the Rockport Hill between us and the ocean.

And there it is.........and it is sunny!

By the time we reached Westport we had eaten almost all the food we had with us so the market's pizza  was really appreciated. We had a great view of the ocean, watching the fog bank inch closer.

The Westport KOA is at the bottom of this little hill that we had climbed earlier in search of food. 

We got the sunniest spot we could find, set up camp and took showers.

Then it was back up the hill to do the laundry and then back down the hill......

.........for a romantic sunset walk on the beach.

Today's miles = 45.2
Total miles = 235