we hitchiked from sebastool to eureka!!

This entry is going to be long

We finally made it to Eureka!!!

On Thursday morning, Roland, a friend we made at the CRIC house in Sebastopol gave us a ride down the road to a good hitchhiking spot. People are so nice sometimes. This guy pulled over and said he wasn't going the way we were traveling but he wanted to give us money. We declined nicely and were very grateful for his offer. After maybe an hour and a half a guy in a beat up truck pulled over, his name is Leonardo. He told us he could give us a ride 6 miles down the road. We were trying to get to route 1 which we heard was amazing because of its scenery. We felt like a ride with him would probably be our best bet so we took it. We got dropped off and waited patiently for our next ride while we had a sword fight with dried bamboo that was on the side of the road. We dueled out hard and after and hour or so a nice young couple drove by us and then turned around and and was more than happy to give us a ride. They said they could bring us up the 1 a little ways. There names are Christine and Kyle. They were heading to the beach for the day. We squished in their car and drove along the coast for about an hour. Seeing the ocean was incredible. There were herds of cows grazing along the pastures that were alongside the shore. So beautiful. The roads were super windy and i started to feel not so great. Christine and Kyle dropped us off along a narrow part of the road so we walked for a wee bit to find a good place to try to catch another ride. The winds were blowing hard there at the coast and the sun was beaming down pretty hard. We held up our sign that said north and after a short while we got picked up by a school teacher named Vanessa who took us to the next town. It wasn't a long ride but at least we were able to get to a better spot. She dropped us off at a grocery store where we stocked up on bread and granola and carrots. Then we walked to a nearby gas station. We were feeling really good and lucky at this point. A man named Richy picked us up and said he could bring us 14 miles and told us it would be easy to get a ride from there. Richy was a real nice guy who did deliveries for a local CSA. He told us we could pitch a tent on his property if we wanted, but we ended up saying no because it was only 5 pm and we thought we would be able to get a ride easy enough and make it a good ways down the road. At that point we were in a town called Point Arena which was a 5 hour drive straight to Eureka. So we said bye to Richy and then got some chocolate at a co op grocery store he recommended to us. Then we walked a bit down the street to find a spot to stand and thumb for a ride. At that point it was cold and windy and we were getting a bit down after 2 hours of no luck. We decided we should start walking and try to find a place to pitch our tent, so we walked and walked and as each car went by we stuck out or thumbs and held up our sign and soon enough Sylvia pulled over. She said she wasn't going far, and we said that it just fine. We asked if she could take us to a camp ground. She said we could stay at her place but she would have to called her husband to make sure it was OK. Her husband named Monkey gave her the OK and she took us to her place a little bit off the main road and very rural. She had beautiful land with chickens and a nice looking compost and a view of the ocean. She told us we could sleep in the RV. The RV was decorated with lots of Buddha figures and pretty cloths and things. It was amazing in there. Sylvia and Monkey have gone to Burning Man every year for the past 8 years. They actually got married there! I think they are mostly raw foodist and are very aware of the food they eat. Unfortunately that night I had a really bad headache so i had to go to bed early. Michelle hung out with them for a while though and talked a lot about organic food and how Monsanto is a terribly evil corporation. they gave her some sage which Michelle had been wanting for a while now. Sylvia and Monkey have a kid named Dance who has these big shiny blue eyes.
That night i slept pretty well and Michelle didn't. I woke up real early and enjoyed the view of the ocean and watch the baby chicks wake up. Sylvia and Monkey gave us a ride to a hardware store on the 1 which she said was probably the best place to catch a ride around there, although it took us about 2 hours to get picked up.
Ray and Shannon and their daughter Raya turned around to give us a ride after driving past us. They said they turned around because they thought Michelle looked like someone they knew. They said they were going to Fort Bragg which was about 40 miles north from where we were. When they dropped us off they told us about a health food store not to far away, so we headed up the road to the store and got some spinach, and edamame. We sat outside and ate some food. We made a new sign that said Arcata which is next to Eureka. We then went to a stop light and started thumbing for a ride. Someone riding by on their bike told us we were better off walking a mile up the road to the bowling alley so we went and stood and stood and stood. I think we were there for over 2 hours maybe 3. A delivery truck pulled into the parking lot to make a delivery to the bowling alley and he offered us a pineapple. So Michelle and I were standing there on the side of the road trying to lure people into giving us a ride with this pineapple we had just got. I don't think it worked but eventually we got picked up by Troy who took us a few towns over. He was delivering wine to a hotel that his sister worked at. He said that maybe she would give us a discount. She said she could give us a small discount and bring the price down to $140 for the night, and we said no way babe. Ray said he could bring us down the road a few more miles so we took him up on his offer. Where he dropped us was beautiful. It was right along the ocean, right there right on it. We had no idea where we were. We walked a mile or so down the road and came to a campground. We asked the guy who worked there where the nearest anything was and he said 28 miles. We were thinking we were going to camp out there which would have been real unpleasant with the strong wind. So we walked across the street and tried to get a ride. This big truck with these huge wheels went past us but then turned around. He said he was going Up by Garberville which was way up the road. We were really happy to catch this ride. Kyle was his name. After driving down the 1 for a while he took an off road which brought us down by a majestic river flowing real fast. We all got out and enjoyed the view for a while. We were lucky to get the ride with Kyle. Route 1 eventually connected with highway 101 which was nice. Kyle dropped us off at a campground which was 7 miles from the next town.
We were now in the redwoods. Huge huge trees. That night I didn't sleep so well. The next morning(today) we woke up early and walked north on the 101 and stood at a spot we thought was the best hitching spot we would be able to find. I was feeling grumpy due to my lack of sleep and what not. Many cars went by until we got a ride. Eventually a car turned around. A lady got out and said her car was to small to fit us but she wanted to give us some food. What a nice lady. We didn't take her food. A while later another car went past with trailer attached with a chicken coop on it. In a British accent the guy said I'm going to Arcata. We were so relieved, they would be able to take us the rest of the way!!! It would be a 2 hour ride. In the car was a family of four. Graham, who was the dad, Rachel who was the mother, and their 2 kids Jamie and Kerry, they also had a big dog who liked sitting on Michelle. Graham was delivering a chicken coop that he built to a place in Arcata. We actually wanted to go to Eureka because I have a family friend who lives there. So I called Denise and Mich and they told me to go to Arcata to meet them at the farmers market. I got all confused and Michelle and i got dropped off 10 miles to short in Eureka. While we were walking we came across a shopping cart which was really convenient to put are heavy bags in. So we were pushing it along the streets of Eureka and eventually came into the center where we met some other travelers and we drank some coffee together. A bunch of people we met recommended we go to Arcata and check out the farmers market. Then Mich called me and told me he and the family where in Arcata at the farmers market. So michelle and I decided to hitch a ride over to Arcata. It was awesome, we got picked up within 5 minutes by a guy named Trey who brought us to the market. Michelle and I were walking around sticking out with our big huge bags. We were slowly walking along when I heard Denise say my name. I haven't seen Denise for a very very long time and they wouldn't have recognized me, but she knew it was us due to our bags. Mich and Denise said they where headed back to there house but that we should throw our bags in their car and walk around Arcata and they would pick up up later. So we walked for a while and went to this place called the CCAT house which is a student run, off the grid, completely sustainable house. There was music, and dancing, screen printing and face painting. We hung out their for a while and then got picked up by Mich. They showed us to our Beautiful room and then fed us an amazing meal. They are great.
I am connected to Denise through Joan who is a friend of my family. Denise is Joan's niece. Its a long story.
I guess this is my longest blog entry yet. Did you read it all??? Too much typing!!!!!!!!!!

Time for pie.