Well, we had decided to have a rest day, but we didn’t want to spend it listening to US 101. So, we get up late and drift on into Eureka itself, about 4 miles, and have brunch at The Chalet, a typical American diner-type place. The breakfast was marvellous, and we were ready for it. Then we found an America’s Best Value motel near the old downtown area, and managed to check in at about 12:30. After drying the tent, cleaning the bikes and catching up on the Tour de France on the telly, we went for a walk around the old town, and the boardwalk.
Pablo Casals and Artur Rubinstein, I think. Not sure about the guy in the middle, or the dancer.
Then we have a couple of pints at Sam and Dave’s bar. One of the patrons passed round some salmon he had smoked himself. It bore little resemblance to the product we are used to in the UK, being essentially whole smoked fish, and it was quite delicious.
On the way back we come across a wholefood cooperative supermarket, and go quite potty buying food. We often have to buy the usual stuff in Safeway or Ray’s, and it’s nice to see real food for a change. We buy 4 good-quality instant noodle thingies for evening meals, some sarnies for tomorrow, some Clif energy bars and some shampoo, as we’ve basically run out (we’ve been using a bottle which Diane found in a shower a couple of days ago).
We are both craving vegetables and salads, as we subsist on a diet of pasta and rice when we cook ourselves, and usually bar food when we eat out. Bar food generally boils down to: 1 Burgers, 2 Pasta, 3 Mexican stuff, 4 Pizza, 5 Salads. Once you’ve done the first 4, the salads are jolly nice, it has to be said, although again they all tend to be the same if you eat enough of them. Still, they went down well, and we ate them at the Lost Coast Brewery, which has nice beer. We did the tasting pack, and then a pint each of our favourites.
We plot the route for the next couple of days, and decide to move only a few miles tomorrow, to Fortuna, just up the Eel River. This reduces the distance to the Giant Redwoods, so we can take our time cycling through them and have a really good look.
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