Together Amongst the Giants

I left Barb's at about 7:50. Stopped at a laundromat to dry my still damp clothes. Only took about 12 minutes. It was enough time, however, to go to the bakery next door.
After packing my clothes, I rode down to the historic area of Eureka. I wanted to see some of the Victorian mansions. I didn't see anything special, but I may just have been onthe wrong place. I rode on the boardwalk then headed out of town.
The map had me off 101 pretty quickly onto a side road called Tompkins Hill Rd. I kept expecting a hill, but it never happened (at least on that road). I did the loop to Ferndale, stopping in Fernbridge to have Humboldt Ice Cream right across the street from the creamery. At Ferndale, I turned onto Grizzley Bluff Rd. to head back to 101. At first it was really flat. I went past a number of those happy California cows. It was kinda stinky. Then I started doing these steep rollercoaster hills. They involved a whole lotta shifting. I came into Rio Del where I stopped and pulled out some lunch at a picnic table across from the police station. After lunch I rode on to Scotia where I got back on 101 until the Avenue of the Giants. About 2 miles into the Avenue, a gal named Nancy joined me. She was just doing the Avenue down a ways then back to her car. She was from Seattle and is a PT at Harborview. As we were riding, we caught up to Jess. We rode on to Burlington Campground; our destination for the day. After the usual housekeeping details of setting up the tent, eating something and showering, I walked over to the Visitors Center next to the campground. They had alot of old photos of the Redwoods as well as alot of interesting info about the massive flood in 1964. It pretty much wiped out all the towns along the Avenue. Then I took a stroll through the grove across from the campground. The Redwood trees are so majestic! It was hard to do them justice with my camera.
Later Joan and Werner arrived. Abit later Carling rolled in. Once again the "family" is together for the night. We added a couple of new members, Jimmy and Dustin from Virginia. We all sat around te picnic table chatting until after dark.
Tomorrow we are all headed to Standish-Hickey.