Today was to to be a pretty big day - ended up being 373 miles (600 kms), but I didn't realise it in the morning. I stuffed around a bit, had a late brekky, and only looked at the map when I was done. Needed to get my skates on, as within the 600 kms, there was some twisty mountain stuff to do which takes longer than I usually think.
From Gold Beach, I continued to head south along the coast into California. The coast road continued to have some good views and roads, and I was pretty happy to see I'd be going through the Redwood forests. I headed through the northern section which was pretty cool - the trees are absolutely huge. I didn't stop to take any pictures as I was intending to go through the southern section via the scenic byway. However, because I was in a bit of a hurry, and kinda travelling a bit fast, I managed to miss the exit off the main road. I didn't realise this until I was well south of the forest. To say I was ticked off is an understatement. If I didn't have so far to go, I would've tried to back track.
At one point I was doing 75(ish) in a 65 zone and noticed a police car sitting on the other side of the road. I thought for sure I was done, but nothing happened. Cool. Then about 40 minutes later, the same thing happened - yeah, I'm a slow learner. Turns out, unless you're doing 15+ over the limit, you're not likely to get done. I did slow down after the second time - for a while.
I ran into some roadworks that held me up for over 25 minutes. It seemed much longer, but it was long enough as I could see some rain clouds heading my way. After they let us through the roadworks, it did start to rain - which was a bit of a worry in places, as there was sand all over the road in different places. Thankfully everyone else was going at a fairly slow pace, so all was good.
Towards the end of the ride, I entered the Lassan National Forest which was more tight and twisty mountain riding. The road moved from < 1,000 feet of elevation up to 9,000 feet in pretty quick order. Mt. Lassen's peak is at 10,300 feet. Again, for reference, Mt. Kosciuszko is only 7,300 feet. Naturally, it started to get colder with plenty of snow about on the ground. There was also a partially frozen pond as well. Thankfully, there wasn't as much cloud cover, so there were some pretty cool views in different places.
After Mount Lassen, I had a quick trip into Chester where I stayed for the night.
Miles today - 373 miles
Total miles - 837 miles
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