Sunday 30 July - I'm putting the date down because, all of the days are running together and I don't always have WiFi available to upload my blog on the intended day. After a very cool night of sleeping in the Redwoods, we had facing us one of our most taxing days. The hills leading to Leggett, California. The carrot at the end of the day was a shower and a night in a comfy bed, if only we could get there. The ride was really beautiful, but we knew we had those hills on this the hottest day of our ride. It was above 80 and it may have gotten to 90 degrees. We checked on one another and made sure everyone was drinking plenty of water. Our journey took us along the Eel River. The river seemed to be taunting us, as if to say, "you know you want to jump in and cool off". But it never seemed like we were close enough. But finally the opportunity hit, we found a spot after looking at the river for 2 days, to actually jump in and cool off. It was just what we needed at that moment in time. The water was wonderful and rejuvenating and gave us what we thought we needed to get to Leggett. I think that was about the time we also realized had we known it was going to be a blazing hot day we probably would have started our day much earlier than we did. The glory of the river kind of wore off after about an hour as we faced each hill that confronted us. The worst parts were when we were on highway 101 in the blazing sun, the black top was relentless. Finally the temperature began to cool and we were feeling better, but the Kelsey got not 1 but 2 flat tires in less than one hour. That was the bad news. The good news is we we're not far from our dinner spot for the evening The World famous Peg House. The burgers were AWESOME! They even had live music playing. The problem? We still had 4 miles and two more elevation climbs to go. But....we made it! We are staying the night at the Stonegate Villas, really cute little place with a really nice and accommodating owner. What a day.
