Illini 4000

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Day 66

Happy Day 66! Today is the day we've all been waiting for dreading thinking about for many weeks. First United Methodist Church made us scrambled eggs and muffins for breakfast. There was watermelon and juice, too. We snapped a group photo, then headed out. It was already hot at 7am in Redding, California. One group stayed behind to record a portrait of Gayle who has been battling pancreatic cancer, and today's ride was dedicated to her.We spent most of our time on two steep, winding roads. There were 7,600 feet of climbing today, the single day record for I4K. As we braked around sharp curves on steep downhills, we admired the beautiful scenery, including a burned section of forest. The forest fire area was eerie, a land in grayscale, white with ash and black with tree skeletons. For several miles we rode through the burn from 2008, which looked and smelled as recent as though it had just happened. We stopped for lunch in Platina. The ranger station graciously donated ice and water to refill our coolers. During the lunch stop, one group met Fr. Martin (Russian Orthodox Priest) whose daughter, Julvina, is fighting Ewing's sarcoma, and he shared his story as a portrait with the group.It was a very hard day, but at last 70 miles was done and we found ourselves at the Forest Glen Campground in Trinity-Shasta National Forests. Forest Glen is a town of 22, and we doubled the population by camping. There is a small river here, and we bathed in it. Dinner was spaghetti and hotdogs. Tomorrow is our last day of camping! Oh, and also, today was the last day of I4K because there is a common saying that the "last 5 don't count."