By Courtney Fields
Hello, sunny California! Boy, was it a journey to reach you. When Ryan gave me a quick and easy route from Atlanta to Crescent City, CA, there was no way I couldn’t make it more complicated. Instead of booking the last flight, I asked dear FCBA veterans Stephany and Julio if they would like to drive me the last portion of my trip. Little did we know that this drive would be a whopping 12 hours!
After taking 3 different flights, giving up a seat, and running between gates and airlines, I finally landed in Los Angeles. With little charge left on my cell phone, I received a phone call from an unknown California number- it was Julio’s mother calling to let me know that she was picking me up. We arrived at Stephany and Julio’s, got dinner at a cute Chinese restaurant in East LA, then hit the road to Stephany’s hometown, Stockton.
We reached our “rest stop” at Stephany’s childhood home after midnight PCT. (Yes, that’s 12 hours of traveling so far) I slept for around 4 hours on a cot that they brought for me to have one last night off of the floor – they are the sweetest people ever. We hit the road again at 5 a.m. for the last leg of the trip with two amazing stops: breakfast at a small restaurant in Ukiah and then Chandler Tree (the Drive-Thru Tree). Around 4 p.m., we finally made it to the Redwood National Park campsite to greet old friends and new! I’m excited to be a part of the Parks and Peaks crew and to shadow Connor this summer. I’m hopeful little by little I’ll be able to cycle like my inner cyclist knows that I can, and I’ve already been so encouraged by the FCBA family.
Stay Tuned,
x Courtney
