Avenue of the Giants--Bicycle Heaven

Humboldt Redwood Forest
May 29, ’80


After a good breakfast of pancakes, I packed up and was on my way. The
sun was just beginning to break through the morning haze, and the
hills were not too steep. Soon, I was down to my shorts and tee shirt.
Twenty miles or so up the highway, I came to a sign that read Avenue
of the Giants. It was a scenic turnoff paralleling Highway 1. It went
straight through Humboldt Redwood Forest. Needless to say, I took it
and was delighted. In fact, the whole day was like that-- being reborn
in bicycle heaven. There was little traffic, and the scenery was
excellent. At one point, I stopped and picked out a good size Redwood,
and stretched my arms around its trunk. By the time I made it
completely around I had counted six arm spans--pretty amazing, not to
mention beautiful. (Maybe abbreviated arm span is a better descriptive
measure since I was careful not to disturb the humongous spider
population that inhabited the tree bark.)

I traveled the Avenue of the Giants all the way to the end where I
was supposed to find Pepperwood. I did find the end of the highway,
but somewhere along the way I missed Pepperwood. As far as I could
tell, Pepperwood must have been the assortment of vegetable stands
(three or four) that were closed. Consequently, I’m sitting in this
field, eating leftover cheetos and drinking the left over beer that I
carried with me from last night’s six-pack. The closest town is nine
miles away. At least here, in this field, I’m far enough off the
highway to comfortably camp. I had to stop biking for fear of
re-injuring my knee.

I didn’t push it today. After looking at the map, I think I rode
around 55 miles. The last hour, though, was painful. I don’t know what
to expect for tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I nursed this
knee all the way to Canada. I’m almost done with my second beer and
the cheetos were gone after my first. It looks like I might be into
breakfast tomorrow morning.