True confession:  I chose a car ride to Wal-Mart last night over writing my blog.  When this “adventure” was over, I was exhausted and went to bed….

The mornings have been cool, early 50 degrees.  We departed Gold Beach and within a mile and a half we had a 3+ mile climb, nothing too steep, but hard on cold legs.  I quickly discovered that the extra 11 miles the day before had fatigued my legs and the entire day I was slow moving.

After so many architecturally attractive McCullough bridges, at mile 18, we crossed the highest bridge in Oregon across Thomas Creek. It was a steel truss bridge, and, if fact, was mostly covered in scaffolding and repair trucks – a sad end to Oregon.

Some stopped in Brookings, but I was behind already and just kept pedaling.  Lots of signs in Brookings thanking the firefighters.  Brookings had been a staging area for the Chetco Bar fire, recently contained.  Still many tents and evidence as the remaining firefighters work on rehab of fire roads and the like.

At mile 34, we crossed into California, one sign, no other grand entrance.  The agricultural inspections didn’t care about us.  I stopped at the sign to take a selfie, as no one else was around.  Up drove a strange looking motor home; turned out the couple was from Germany, had shipped the motor home to Halifax, was touring the U.S., and after 4 months would be in Argentina and ship the motor home back to Germany.  She took my picture.

I had a sandwich and soda in Smith River, which indicates it is the Easter Lily Capital of the World, mostly I saw cows.

For almost 10 miles, I had the advantage of a nice tailwind, passing by Pelican Bay State Penitentiary, but when we arrived in Crescent City, plenty of gusts from all directions.  We approached the hotel via the harbor, many sea stacks.  Crescent City is a fishing port and, by virtue of its shape, is vulnerable to tsunamis.  Apparently they have experienced 31 since 1933, according to Guide Sue.

Tonight we said goodbye to 4 members of our tour, and we welcome 4 replacements tonight.

61.49 miles, 10.44 mph, 3317 ft ascent.

Relive:  https://www.relive.cc/view/1211235970

Photos later, off to explore Crescent City.