Day Fifteen - Leave Some for Another Day

Start - Big Lake, WA

Stop - Crescent City, CA

Today's miles - 854

Total - 9,213

With some regularity I need to remind myself of my capacity for being profoundly stupid.  Today I got a double dose of humility.

It started when I got to Kent, WA, on I-5.  That is south of the Seattle airport, on the way to Tacoma.  The morning had gone very well to that point.  The night...not so much.  We went to bed around 11:00 PM and the power went off at 2:00 AM.  Since both my sister and I sleep with machines we were pretty much done sleeping for the night.  We were all up by 4:30 AM.  

I was excited about getting an early start.  The traffic around Seattle can be a nightmare.  So I headed out before 6:00 AM.  I wanted to get a picture of Fir Conway Lutheran Church, the first ELCA congregation that I joined before going to the seminary.  I'm still grateful for Pastor Gary Peterson for taking the time to meet with me and welcome me.

Then it was a quick stop at the Conway Store for coffee and water and I was off.  Everything went very well.  I got to use the express lanes all the way past Seattle's airport.  I got precisely 73 miles past having filled up at the Conway Store when I suddenly realized that I didn't get a gas receipt nor did I write down my odometer reading when we were in Blaine on Saturday.  I got the picture but I needed the rest to fulfill all righteousness for the Four Corners tour.

I thought about my options - calling and begging for grace, asking my sister to go get some gas at Blaine and mail me the receipt, asking John for a letter assuring the powers that be that I really was in Blaine - but there was really only one option.  I turned around and rode back to Blaine.  I added about 285 miles to my day.

So there you go.

As I headed back south on I-5 the traffic was fierce.  I started thinking about the holiday this week and all the people who would be on vacation.  My plan had been to ride to Albany, OR, and then go west to the Oregon coast on Hiway 20.  Then I was going to ride all the way down to San Francisco on the famous US 101. 

That route would be slow on a good day, horrendous on a holiday week.  So I changed my plan.  I'll leave the Oregon coast for another trip.  I got to Grant's Pass, OR, and angled down to Crescent City, CA on Hiway 199.  THAT was a great ride until it got dark.  Really dark.  25 mph hairpin curves when you can't see where you are going suck the fun out of the adventure.  

I got to town and got a $55 motel room.  Are you ready for my second dose of humility?

I had always heard of the huge trees at a national park in California.  Since I first began planning this trip I wanted to make sure and see those trees.  So I planned on going to the Redwoods National Park, which is just down the road from where I am now.  I'll go there tomorrow for the 31 mile ride down the Avenue of the Giants.

But then tonight I went to the hot tub and started talking to a man there with his little girl.  I told him that I wanted to see the big trees tomorrow.  And he - an immigrant from the Philippines mind you - said, "If you really want to see big trees, you should go to Sequoia National Park east of Fresno.  That's where they have the REALLY big trees."

Do I, or do I not, feel like a complete idiot?  52 years old and a graduate of two fine Lutheran institutions of higher education (though they might not appreciate that plug at this moment) and I can't tell my redwoods from my sequoia's.  So I'm going to spend some time with a map and maybe I'll figure out where I'm going tomorrow.  

I told my Uncle Jerry that I would stop by and see him on Wednesday.  In Mesquite, NV, on the other side of the state.

Sometimes, when you are having a hard time ending a great day of fishing, it helps to say, "Let's leave a few behind for another day."  That's how I'm feeling about some of the roads and some of the sights I hoped to see in California.  We might have to leave some for another trip.