“Eric Chen, do not get off this bike…” is what I kept telling myself as I climbed the twelve miles into the Richardson Grove state park. I thought of Dorothy, mother of Pastor Dan of Fort Bragg’s Presbyterian church who had fought cancer for 17 years, and of Grandma Angie from Lathrop as I climbed those hills. Strangely, I also thought of Jesus and how he endured even greater suffering yet followed through and fought the good fight. While the day wasn’t all that long, the ride was a memorable one.

I spent a big part of the day riding by myself, with teammates in sight ahead and behind me, but no one next to me. This was nice as it gave me time to really push myself through the pain and soreness. However the ride wasn’t all climbs—we had some awesome downhill coasts as well, winding back and forth. When we pulled in to Legette, one of the neighboring towns, Tesfay, who was riding with me at that time, and I visited the “world famous drive thru tree.” Daniel, who is a tree fanatic, was especially excited to visit this stop—and it was a fun detour from the route. When we finished fooling around, we went back onto the road to meet up with the team. We ended up driving into Richardson Grove b/c the road conditions were far too dangerous for bikers (imagine I-35 with no shoulder). We finally arrived to Richardson Grove, and at that point I was knocked out in the car. As I woke up from my nap, Emily, Lance, Bryn, and Steven were climbing in van to drive around and get donations—so sleepily I woke up and joined them. We ended up in Garberville and they were SO generous in donations. We received donations from the Ray’s grocery store, a taco stand called Nacho Mama, and a local Italian restaurant. Apparently the Sierra route takes camping VERY seriously haha. Nevertheless, our team was excited and now have full bellies—and will sleep well tonight. I’m sleeping in the van tonight, as I think my sleeping pad has a hole which I’d rather not try and find now that it’s dark out. I can’t wait to get into Eureka; I hear it’s a fun town. Until then, take care and God bless!

One cool think about today’s ride is that Richardson Grove is actually where they shot the Ewok scenes from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

The scenery was beautiful as always—we got to see the sea from hundreds of feet above sea level and at least a mile off shore.

Today was our last day riding along CA highway 1, so we said goodbye to the California coast for now (at least until we hit Oregon). Tonight we’re camping out in Richardson Grove and awaking to an 80-90 mile day into Eureka, California. In other news, my longhorn duffel finally kicked the bucket—it was falling apart, but now it is officially dead… RIP.