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September 8, 1999
| The next day, however, was a lot longer. I had
planned to stop in Cave Junction, Oregon, but reached there early in the afternoon so I
rode on to a National Forest Service Campground (Panther Flats) about 30 miles further
(and into California). I did have a great lunch near Cave Junction – two peaches, one
pear, one tomato and five (small) plums all for $1.25 at a roadside market. |
| Click on Thumbnail to view full
photograph. 
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I was warned several times about
riding through the Smith River Canyon (Photo 117), including once by a truck driver who
slowed and yelled out his window, "Be careful in the canyon." I never quite did
get anyone else’s interpretation of "be careful," so I have made up my own
which would apply to any bicyclist on any narrow winding road with lots of traffic: 1)
Watch the road ahead of you because the shoulder occasionally disappears altogether; 2)
check your rear view mirror often – you need to know if a truck or RV is approaching
from behind; 3) don’t sightsee – stop if you want to look |
around; 4) go slow – even
downhill because you don’t know what’s around the next corner; 5) don’t let
a truck or RV pass you on an tight inside (right bearing) curve (their rear wheels tend to
"slop over" the white line); 6) pull over (and stop if necessary) if the truck
coming up behind you starts beeping his horn (because he isn’t planning to stop).
As I passed into California, I knew I was going
to have to stop at the Agricultural Inspection Station and I had been primed to expect
they would confiscate the apple that I had bought in Oregon in the morning. I was planning
to write a really great story about this, but when I got there and confessed to having an
apple, the inspector just asked if I had purchased it at a store. When I said
"yes," he let me keep my apple. No great story, but at least I didn’t lose
part of my dinner. |
  
  
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(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)