Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 19: Elk Prarie to Eureka
Don’t miss: Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 17 & 18: Crescent City and Elk Prarie
After a cold and wet day of riding yesterday we were looking forward to the sunshine here in California. We haven’t seen too much of that so far. Imagine we rode through Washington and Oregon with nothing but sun and now we get to California and it’s cold rainy? Yeah, I can’t either.
As we turned the corner leaving Elk Prarie Campground the sun started to creep through the clouds.
We stopped off at the Palm Cafe for some food along the way and met with one of the owners who used to be an avid cyclist. He told us all about the coast of California and how many hills we would hit along the way. Make sure you stop into the Palm Cafe on your way out of Elk Prarie.
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, the ride was relatively flat and the weather was beautiful. Our first beautiful day in California to be exact.
About 15 miles North of Eureka, Will managed to get a staple stuck in his tire. As I was taking his tire off in a rest area, a young guy named Mike pulled up with a group of kids from India who were riding from Seattle to San Francisco. Both Mike and Surab, the groups leader asked us if we needed any help and although we were all set, they invited us to join their group at the KOA Campground in Eureka for the night. They had an extra site for the night that they weren’t using so we decided to take them up on their offer.
Once there we were greeted by the group and given sandwiches and other food. We learned a lot more about the group later on over a fire and found out that these children had actually flown all the way from India to take this trip. It wasn’t an adventure trip as much as it was a leadership program to teach the kids how to work together as a team and how to put their minds together in order to be successful.
We made friends with just about everyone in the group before the night was over. The best part is that this wouldn’t be the last time we met with this great group of people, it was only the beginning!
Tomorrow we’ll make our way to Burlington Campground on the Avenue of the Giants!
Today’s Mileage: 44.9
