We woke up nice and early as planned. Gerry made us some oatmeal for breakfast, which helped a lot because it saved us a lot of time. It was a pretty chilly morning and very cloudy. We made it about 3 miles before stopping to fix a flat on Joey's rear wheel. After pulling the nail out of his tire and putting a new tube in, we headed off back into Crescent City. There was a Safeway, which we knew was there from our ride around town yesterday. We stopped to re-stock on mac and cheese and get some more muffins. From there we headed out of town, knowing we faced a pretty big hill ahead of us (Gerry forewarned us.) Just before the climb, we saw an elk standing next to the road; it just stood there and stood there, and was still in the same spot after we left- the good news is we were able to get a good picture! It ended up being about a 3-4 mile climb initially. About half way up we saw what we've been waiting for-our first redwood trees! They were so incredible. I've heard about how big they are and have seen photos, but they are just so much bigger than I ever would have imagined. From the top, we ran into quite a few construction zones with 1 way traffic. That was really helpful because it slowed the traffic down a bit. We didn't go down for too long before we were climbing again. At one point we saw a huge redwood that had been burned out in the middle, but the outside was still in tact. Its amazing because so many of the really old trees have survived forest fires. We were able to walk right into the middle of the tree- it was so big inside we would have been able to set our tent up in there. A while later we came down a pretty long descent- flying through a forest of humongous redwoods. Suddenly, we popped out of the giant trees and were flying along the cliffs along the ocean-and back to "normal" trees for the rest of the day. By around the 20 mile mark, we came to a small town called Klamath. We decided we would take our lunch break there since we were already hungry after all the climbing we had already done. We came across a nice little restaurant/convenience store and were happy to see that they had some little picnic tables outside. Joe pulled into the parking lot and before he could even get his bike parked, a man came out of the store to talk to him. The man said "Are you Joe, and is your wife Emmy?" Surprised that the guy knew our names, Joey replied with a yes. It turns out that Crazy Louie and Carolynn (who we met back near Mt. St. Helens) have been tracking us since they met us. The guy at the store said that Crazy Louie had called the restaurant several times that morning saying that we would be passing through shortly (he was hoping we would stop at the store, which we did of course). Crazy Louie and Carolynn wanted to buy us lunch!! It was the most amazing surprise ever- totally unexpected and out of the blue. The restaurant was one that they go to once in a while (they live not to far away in Reading, CA). He would have loved to come meet up with us on his motorcycle, but someone in his family is in the hospital. We had a chance to talk to Crazy Louie just before enjoying our wonderful lunch. Joey had a cheeseburger and fries and I had Fish and fries. It was just such a good treat-we were definitely in heaven a little. While we were there, we met another cyclist, Mitch from MN. We had fun talking with him for a while too. As if we weren't blown away already by the amazing lunch surprise, when I talked with Crazy Louie on the phone, he also said that they would love to pay for us to say in a motel for a night so we could have a shower and sleep inside in a bed. We didn't know what to say, we just couldn't believe it. We were just so appreciative- and excited about the thought of going to a motel! After our wonderful lunch, we continued on, with a bit more "skip in our step" or should I say "spin in our pedal". The climbing continued. Shortly after our lunch break, we had another long climb, this one was longer than the one we rode up this morning, but wasn't quite as steep. The climb this morning took us to just over 1,070 feet and the one this afternoon was at an elevation of 1,485ft. We rode through a misty rain/ fog for the remainder of the afternoon. That descent was definitely a chilly one, not the coldest, but a chill that stayed with you for a while. We had a muffin break around the 40 mile mark, even though we were still pretty full from lunch. For me, it is always nice to keep the sugar up, especially on tough riding days like this. After all the climbing we had done today, my knees were really feeling it and were pretty sore. They were definitely protesting any extra climbing, which we ended up having a lot more of before the day was done. Our hope was to make it to Eureka today, but we kept seeing the sings for how far away it was (and we knew it would be a long day) but I just didn't think I was going to make it there. For almost the entire rest of the day, we had a lot of little steep hills as the road zigzagged around. After what seemed like forever, we got to where we could somehow go pretty fast- it flattened out a little and we had a bit of a tailwind. That was a very welcome changed for my sore knees. As it was getting close to dark, we made a new goal- McKinleyville, which was about 14 miles north of Eureka. Unfortunately, we still had to ride for about 5 miles in the dark, but it wasn't too bad since the 101 was a 2 lane road at that point and the majority of people gave us the full lane for space. We got off the 101 the first place we could since it wasn't as safe to ride in the dark, and we were exhausted from such a challenging, long day of riding. The only place we saw to stay was the Holiday Inn, which wasn't the motel that we were looking for. We were really worried it would be way too expensive, but that was all there was. We gave Crazy Louie a call and he was more than happy to have us stay at the Holiday Inn. He even looked up the number for the hotel and called for us to get everything all set up while we were making our way there. We had a chance to talk to him on the hotel phone again after everything was all set up. He was very excited (and we were too!!!) about all the things that the hotel offered- from a pool to continental breakfast, wifi, 24hr hot cocoa, etc. When we were handed our room key, the girl at the desk told us that Crazy Louie didn't just get us any hotel room- he got us a Jacuzzi suite with a balcony! It was unbelieveable-we've never stayed in a hotel room like that before! When we opened the door to our room, we were just so excited! It was huge- there was a little kitchenette with a microwave, lounge chairs and a big tv, a huge comfy bed, the balcony of course, and the best thing of all- THE JACUZZI !!!! We were speechless for a little bit because we just couldn't believe it- we are so blessed to have people looking out for us while we are on this adventure. The Juccuzi felt incredible on my sore knees after all the climbing today- it really did wonders. Since we were also starving again since it was already after 7, we decided to make some dinner. The balcony came in SO handy because we were able to just put our little stove right out there to cook our mac and cheese- something that would have been much more time involved if we had to go outside of the hotel had we had been in a regular room. It was just so perfect. Joe went down to the lobby and brought back some hot cocoa. We relaxed, ate dinner, sipped on hot cocoa and enjoyed a good movie on the big tv. They even had bath robes in the room, which I took full advantage of. It was just so relaxing and comfy. Before bed, we went down to the lobby to use the internet for a few minutes. Despite an exhausting day, we ended up staying up pretty late because we were just enjoying all the hotel had to offer. Even still, I was excited to go to bed because it was such a big comfy bed with so many pillows! We had an absolutely incredible day today- the best of both worlds- a super tough day of riding mixed with pure bliss of staying in a hotel and getting to enjoy a lunch out. It wasn't the hardest day of riding we've had, but it definitely makes it on the top 5 list. Today is a day we will never forget; we got possibly the best, most unexpected surprise on the trip-Thanks again Crazy Louie and Carolynn!! After 75.00 miles, we got to live in luxury for the night!
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