After a 35 mile ride to Fortuna (felt odd going north) I’m back at Eel River Brewing Company for a lunch stop. Counting Crows’ Long December is playing, which is one of those perfectly melancholy tunes for the last real riding day of my tour. The weather is back to normal, which means a stiff wind from the north… You know, the tailwind I was supposed to have the whole way down. Oh well.

I have some errands in Eureka, including swinging by Henderson Bikes to lay claim to a bike box to ship the Goblin back to the home of yesterday’s pine cone contest winner, Mr. Kevin Mooney.* After that it’s to the KOA to pay an absurd amount for a loud, highway side campsite. After paying five bucks a night to sleep in the redwoods, this seems balancing but at the same time utterly unfair.

Upside is I just saw the brewpub cat I first met at last year’s Climate Ride… Balancing, but good.