Day Four – Sorry We’re Closed

We were on the road by 8 today! It feels so good to ride first thing in the morning. The air is crisp with a clean scent of dew.

Bryan was right, the Prairie Creek State Park area was beautiful and a nice alternative to 101.

Our intent was to grab breakfast in Trinidad… nothing open. We proceeded to Eureka which we decided is a filthy town. There are so many homeless and prostitutes that we felt insecure about leaving the bike unattended. We decided to keep going until we reached Ferndale.

Ferndale is a cute little town with Victorian houses and a beautiful Main Street.

Most businesses were closed but there was one little coffee shop open so we had cappuccinos, coffee cake and some scone with rhubarb jam.

We were getting warm with all our layers so we stopped at Tom’s new favorite place – The Peg House. “Never Don’t Stop!”

We sat outside, had a cold drink and steeled ourselves for the winding, long ride back to Fort Bragg.

We stopped at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. By then it was around 3:00 and 86 degrees. We had to walk about a half mile to the lighthouse in our gear but it was worth it!

There are darling little cottages available to rent so we’ll consider that in the future.

By the time we finished touring Point Cabrillo, we were hot and ready to get to our accommodation for the night. We will have to see Point Arena lighthouse tomorrow.

We pulled into Point Arena at 5:00 pm. We know this because we caught good-natured hell from the lady at the gas station who just locked the pump. She decided to unlock it and allow us to get some fuel.

The town was shuttering as we pumped up. Cathy walked to the hotel to check in and learned that all the restaurants were either closed or would close soon. We were in jeopardy of not having dinner tonight because adjoining the gas station was a motorcycle repair shop and Tom had been sucked in by the classic bikes on display. Cathy had not seen him for at least twenty minutes.

Once Tom pulled himself away from the Zen House Motorcycle Repair, we changed and quickly walked up to the sandwich shop – the only place open… it was closed by the time we got there. There was a co-op market open where we were able to get some salami, cheese, chips and salsa. Better than nothing, which was our alternative.

We learned that these small coastal towns accommodate tourists during the weekends and close Mondays and Tuesdays. It’s good to know that they are just closed for two days and not for good. We’ve seen plenty of this on our trip presumably due to the pandemic.

We did some laundry and ate our makeshift dinner. We’re now watching our Giants get beat but it’s early in the game. Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow we head to Olema after we tour the Point Arena Lighthouse. It should be cooler tomorrow and we’ll take slow and enjoy the ride.

Found a barn outside of Ferndale for today’s barn pic: