Sept. 11 - The virtual becomes real

Westport to Van Damme State Park

Saturday - September 11
We woke to clear skies even though the air was quite moist. It made for some really nice light for taking pictures during our early morning walk.

We even saw several whales spouting off shore.

We took advantage of the sun to get the tent dry before packing up. We walked our bikes up the hill and stopped for a breakfast burrito at the market. While sitting on the front porch, another bike tourist rode up. Doug recognized the bike from the bike forum that he frequents and greeted the guy by his handle "Kayak Diver". Boy was he surprised! His real name is Gordon and he is from Whidbey Island where he started this trip. He is headed to San Diego and we had lots to talk about, especially Leggett Hill.

We finally got on the road at 10:30 wishing Gordon a safe journey. 

No fog today and not much traffic either!

The road dipped into every little creek through this section with almost a hairpin turn at the bottom as you start uphill. In some ways this was more challenging than the continuous climb up Leggett Hill yesterday.

Finally a gentle bridge!

We followed the bike route signs off Highway 1 into McKerricher State Park and right into a fog bank at this little lake. We misplaced the bike route at this point.

A very nice local angel of the road recognized our plight and assured us that a paved bike path was just at the top of this section of gravel.

And indeed it was!

A very FLAT path that should lead us straight into Fort Bragg.

It was a very pleasant 3 mile respite from the highway.

Back in the sunshine and Fort Bragg for lunch. We ate at North Coast Brewing Co.  They make mustards there too and we can highly recommend the "Seeds and Suds" flavor. The Skunk Train tooted its way through town as we were preparing to saddle up. We dropped off some postcards on the way out of town and stopped at Safeway for some Starbucks for Doug. A square dance group was just finishing their bake sale outside and Donna got some frosted persimmon cookies for tonight's dessert....half price even. Yummy!

We reached Mendocino at about 4:00. We wandered around a bit looking at the town and at hotels but they either looked VERY expensive or were fully booked. It is Saturday in a popular tourist spot after all. It is a quite beautiful little town.

So instead we stopped at the market and picked up dinner and breakfast then headed out of town to Van Damme State Park. We arrived to find Gordon at the hiker/biker site. He invited us to share the spot and table.  After showers, we shared dinner and bike touring stories. Gordon has crossed the country on the Northern Tier and done several other long distance tours too. After dinner we walked to the beach where we watched dozens of bats swooping over the creek that runs past our campsite. The bubbling of the creek is our sound of the day......and night. 

Today's miles = 33.4
Total miles = 268.3