Meanderin Mendicino

Today was one of the easiest days I’ve had in a long time. Essentially since I was back in Seattle and wasn’t even biking. When I surprisingly found out last night that I only had 15 miles of riding today, I was ecstatic. 15 miles? Are you kidding me? Talk about a walk in the park. Or should I say ride in the park. Because of the short distance, I delayed my starting time this morning. Which meant I was able to sleep in. Unfortunately, sleeping in met laying in bed until 7:30AM. Whoop dee do. I think sleeping in won’t be able to happen until past October once I’m done with this trip.

I ate a nice breakfast with my hosts at the Big Red House. I eventually got on the road around 11:30 AM after contacting some new hosts for my next leg of the trip. The ride took along the beach, where unfortunately I saw my first ever whale. It seemed to be a killer whale that had gotten beached, and had also been tangled up in some sort of fishing line. I’m not sure what caused the injury and ultimate death of the beautiful creature. I just wish that I could have seen the magnificent animal alive rather than beached.

 

A few miles down the road, I stopped to investigate glass beach. This is a beach, which years ago, the city of Fort Bragg and surrounding area routinely dumped their trash into the ocean. This irresponsible and environmentally harmful practice was eventually forbidden. However, nature, with its waves and water, eventually smoothed the glass into these pebbles. Thus, creating a glass beach. A pretty cool sight.

 

As I was riding the last few miles into Mendocino, my destination for the night. I was caught by a cyclist who rode with me for the last few miles. Dave, was extremely intrigued about my trip, and allowed me to coast behind him for much of the ride. It makes a huge difference to draft behind another rider. It makes the riding a whole lot easier. He jokingly brought up the Giants rough start. Losers of 8 straight. Then said, well we’ll win it all next year. History backs him up. The last three even years, the Giants have won the World Series. Quite impressive. He led me right into Mendocino, where I parted to meet up with Jim and Babbie for lunch. They packed plenty of sandwiches, which I endulged on.

 

 

I finally rode the last 1.5 miles into Mendocino where I met up with my host Jesse. He has an unbelievable place. It’s in an old water tower, built in 1866. It just goes up, and up, and up some more. Definitely a unique residence. One that I’ll definitely remember. He opens his doors to all sorts of cyclists, stating that we’ve got to watch out for each other. I can’t disagree! Thanks for the hospitality Jesse! Oh yeah, he graduated from Madison West high school, thus it’s always fun to stay with a fellow Wisconsinite!

 

As for me, it’s an easy and relaxing evening. Nothing too crazy. I’ll be pedaling another 85 miles tomorrow, before riding another 80 to carry me into San Francisco. Leg 1 is almost complete! Keep following along!