Day 6 Harris Beach to Crescent City 31 miles (total miles 246)

Today was an easy day of riding compared to yesterday and compared to the mountains in the redwoods of Northern California yet to come.  We had nice sunny weather as we rode through the town of Brookings Oregon, our last town in Oregon until we reached the California border.  Two college girls were there taking pictures and took ours for us but from too far back so I took another of Catalina.

After crossing into CA the bike route took us off the main highway onto back roads along mostly farm land.  We rode for about 20 miles through rolling terrain until we found the little town of Fort Dick and had lunch at the Fort Dick Market which looks exactly like any small town Texas market. 

Just past Fort Dick we passed Pelican Bay Supermax Prison which is somewhat famous as being the most maximum security prison in the country where all the prisoners are in solitary lockup.  Didn't look like much from the outside.  

After that we rode the final 9 miles into Crescent City.  We had planned to stay at the one campground in town that accommodated bikers....the rest are just gravel and cement RV parking lots.  But after considering the choice of paying $35 for a patch of grass next to a sea of RVs vs another $20 to get a "suite" at the Penny Saver Inn, the cheapest hotel in Crescent City, we went for the room after checking  it out first.  Not bad, they have wifi to make Catalina happy and let me post to the blog as it takes forever to post via 3G on this old iPad.  At least it is clean.  Lots of motorcycles out front so I guess we are with that crowd for a change instead of the RV set we see at the campgrounds.

One advantage to older style motels with outside entrances when you are biking is that you can get a first floor room and wheel the bikes right inside.   It is somewhat more conspicuous to wheel a tandem and trailer into a new style Holiday Inn Express past the front desk and down the hall to the elevator.  I haven't tried that yet!

Since we arrived pretty early....around 3 pm it has been a chance to do laundry at the laundromat a block away.  I think it has been 30 years since I have been inside a coin-op laundry.  Prices have gone up.  It now takes 12 quarters to wash.

Tomorrow we are making an early start as we have two big mountains to climb.  The biggest so far on this trip.   Will be a chance to see if I am riding myself into shape or not.   If we make it over the mountains without dying we will be camping among the big trees tomorrow night in Redwoods National Park a few miles north of the town of Orick.