Sunday October 26th, 2014
Total Miles: 136

We got up early had a power bar and where heading out as the sun was coming up.  It was still wet from the overnight rains and a little foggy.  Just north of Willits we turned off on Shorewood Drive.
This is a dirt route to Fort Bragg.  It started out great but quickly worsened. 

The wet roads made it super slick and it was washed out with lots of up hills and down hills.  Galen dropped the bike more than I had ever seen.  Many spots it was 1up and 1walking.  The bike was just too heavy.  There was a lot of water.   

 We were the first on the trail since the big storms had moved through and Galen and Chad had to use our saw to remove a tree.

It took almost 4 hours to travel 40 miles.  Chad felt so bad for Galen that he offered to have me ride on the back of his bike.  Galen was just getting so exhausted from picking up the bike.  I was so grateful to have Chad with us for extra support.  One of the times Galen was stuck a couple on a four wheeler stopped to lend an extra hand.  I was beyond relieved when we hit tarmac.  It was covered in pine needles and hard to see but I knew it was blacktop underneath us.  The little blacktop I could see made my heart sing with joy.  We got to Fort Bragg and stopped for a yummy late breakfast/lunch at the Egghead’s Restaurant.  We stopped at NAPA for some oil since we lost so much from the numerous drops.  We headed North on pavement.  There is a dirt road to Shelter Cove from Fort Bragg but the coast had gotten a ton more rain and storms so we opted not to take it.  Next time if it is a little drier that will be our route.  The road into Shelter Cove was beautiful. 

We headed down the boat ramp to the ocean.  There weren’t any fishing boats since it was off season but there were a few surfers. 

We headed up to the deli and enjoyed a beer and discussed the rest of the evening.  There are a few campgrounds a couple miles back but there was such a big temperature difference we opted to stay on the coast were it was much warmer and the views were outstanding.  Galen talked to the local motel and they were asking more than what we wanted to pay for the night.  This guy named “Bucket” told Galen we could camp down by the shoreline for free.  We set up camp as the sun was setting and it was just gorgeous. 

After camp was set up we had dinner at the little pizza place at the end of the runway called Delgada.  Pizza was fantastic and hit the spot.  I had my first run in with a meth-head/tweaker.  Sometimes I am grateful that I am sheltered and only see that type of thing on TV.  We headed back down the boat ramp to the ocean and enjoyed the stars and listening to the tide come in.  Death Valley says they are best place to watch the stars because it is so dark but I disagree this view was amazing.  Since we didn’t have a fire we stopped at the local bar located at the top of the boat ramp.  They were out of power from the storm.  They were just serving drinks and no food.  Met a couple local fisherman who walked us through the process of what they do for a living.  Some stellar people watching at the bar.  It was great to have  time with our helmets off to get to know Chad a little better.  Such a great guy with a very diverse background.  We ended up camping on the edge of the ocean in Shelter Cove.  Simply amazing.  The temperature was 60 degrees as we fell asleep listening to the sound of the ocean.  By far the best night of camping I have ever experienced.