Bike Ride Diary of Levi and Jordan-August 9, 2009

Greetings to all of you from Levi and Jordan Gamble!
 
 
So, the guys took off from Redding, CA, after an awesome conference, and their friend drove them out highway 299, over the highest peak in the Shasta area to a town called, 'Weaverville'.  There he left the guys to fend for themselves and they started off on their trek.  
 
Here is a google map of their route: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=redding,+ca&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=FN9-Sq3JA4_KsQOlz6HuCg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1
 
This road was very scary, they report, as there was no shoulder and giant semis seemed to think that there was no reason to move over.  Many times they thought they should be sucked in by the wind of the semis and crushed but they arrived in Willow Creek, still alive, amazed.  At Willow Creek they decided to try hitchhiking, which Jordan had had some experience with on his bike trip in Arizona, and Levi had had some experience with on his trip in Europe with Peter Kler.  
 
They were delighted to have a guy in a truck, headed to the coast, pull over just a couple minutes after they put their thumbs out and drive them ALL THE WAY to the beach.  They called me from the beach, announcing, 'now that is the way to take a bike trip!' This was their second day and Levi's bottom was sore and his legs hurting.  Jordan had been training for a couple of months and to his joy, has
discovered that he is not sore at all.  However, he has a lot of empathy for levi because he had been there before his training rides.

The wind was powerful at the coast and they soon found themselves crawling at a pace similar to an uphill climb, even though they were level, but they pushed on.  Then came the hills as they neared Trinidad.  Up and up they went, struggling against wind and hill.  They stopped for awhile and stuck their thumb out but no one stopped so on they went.  Up and up, wind in their faces until finally, they pulled over in a turnout and said, 'Enough!'.  Jordan began doing something with his bike that alerted drivers to their need for a ride (I didn't get clarity on what they were doing) and Levi sat forlornly by the side of the road with his thumb out. They said that it took a long time for someone to finally stop, but when they looked at their watches they realized it had only been 15 minutes.  How slow time goes when one is waiting for a ride.
 
This time a Subaru pulled over and a Humboldt University student headed to the Redwood National Park picked them up and helped them dismantle their bikes and squeeze everything into the little car.  Off they headed, the student excited
to share with them this awesome camping spot off the 101, and the guys thankful to be driving!  Again, Levi reports, 'It was nice to have the wind blowing in my hair while I was doing nothing but watching the scenery race by!'.  This pickup was done somewhere near Trinidad and this student drove them all the way to Orik, in the Redwood National Park.  Then he led them to an off-the-road spot where one could camp along this river without a permit and could build a fire.  The guys were really happy.  They called me from their camping spot thrilled with their blessings and the
beauty of their spot. 
 
So that is all I have to report thus far.  Their plan is to get to Crescent City tonight and stay with the biology teacher from Ramona's Mountain Valley Academy.  She was a favorite teacher of my sons and she has moved to Crescent City since the 2007 Witchcreek Fire, in which her husband was off saving other homes as a fireman while his own home burned to the ground. :(  Anyway, Janet is excited to see the boys and they are feeling likewise.