There's songs about this stuff.

We're in Garberville, CA, on what I think is the lower edge of redwood country. I just had Chinese food, which reminded me that I don't miss it too much. However, there are no substitutes for fortunes like this.
Like rain on my wedding day. More generally, I think a good fortune in the same vein would be "Eat less greasy Chinese food." "Call your mother more often." "Don't forget that 20% is now the standard tipping rate." One can go on.

Redwoods are faaaaaaantastic. I definitely needed a pep talk after the cold day, and I got a few. The next day's ride helped. I got to see awesome things.

And some pretty transcendental things.

And all these things were enormous. THAT'S LIKE TWO TREES IN ONE ZOMG

It's strange to think of where I was a week ago. Tillamook? Wow, yeah, what a crappy night. I'm a bit saddened that I've temporarily given up on the whole interviewing people project. It's great that Seth, the one with the awesome "dash cam," actually checked in on me and wrote about me in his blog. Hurrah! And Ryan, who I never mentioned but spent an hour talking to in Astoria, is now a facebook friend (!). Oh, lemme talk about him.

He just graduated from U of Oregon and should hopefully be in Spain by now as he was supposed to leave on Tuesday to be an Auxiliar for a year in Valladolid, helping teach English and American Culture to Spanish kids. I saw him at dinner playing some very good Spanish classical guitar. Thinking about it, other than "professionals" and my own brother in his heyday, he's the best one I've seen, tackling some difficult pieces I'd never heard live, much less in a restaurant in Astoria, Oregon. Apparently he'd been playing there since he was 17, coming back to play during vacations and summers. A wonderful way he's tracked his improvement is by noticing that, over the years, his tips have improved remarkably. I could go on, but here's a good guy. We thought it was an amusing pose.
And yes, he plays piano, too. Very well, all improvised.

Anyway, this would be a good place to start talking to people again, but I'm pretty sure the only people on the street in Garberville are really rough lumberjack types and really drugged up but often friendly hippie types. Forsooth:
I'm not necessarily afraid, I'm just too tired to put in the effort. Something about love being made and taken though.

Finally, the saddest thing. Remember Hobbiton USA? After todays ride, still clad in spandex, I arrived. The place was closed. And not just for the night.

This trip is also about dealing with disappointments. I hope this is the last and biggest one. San Francisco is very close!