5K

108 miles from Fort Bragg to Bodega Bay campground

Found a wallet on the road yesterday. The owner was going to get a new
passport this afternoon until he got word that it had been found. When
I met him, he told me this and the he was immigrating Costa Rica in 6
weeks. He was thrilled to get his passport back. Felt great to make
someone's day like that.

Made fast friends with my host in Fort Bragg over dinner and saw her
again in the coffee shop in Mendocino. I split from the family trio +
Lee (physics teacher in Berkeley) as we left Mendocino only for one
final showdown in point arena. I said farewell to my friends only to
meet several new ones up the road. Riding along these organized routes
is like a party in motion. There is someone new everyday, it's a
blast. I met a guy named Ryan from Portland who is going to SF for a
coop conference. Dinner St a nice little Indian spot in Jenner
(location of the first Mansen murder-not the restaurant, the town).

Logged 5,000 today.... Woo hoo!

Next day....
Relaxed day. On my 3rd cup of coffee as Ryan and I keep stopping in
all these nice little towns. We had coffee in Bodega Bay which was a
nice little bay town. Now we're in Point Reyes; nice little spot. We
won't see all of Point Reyes because we're on bikes but I hear it's a
great spot to visit. Maybe I'll be back out here with my mom- she'll
be flying into SF tomorrow! I'm ready to see some family. What a treat
to end the trip.

Next day...
Landed in San Fran last night and hit 5,100 miles! Camping around the
bay area seemed a little sketchy plus Ryan had a friend in Oakland who
was willing to put us up; hard to pass up a warm shower.

Yesterday's ride, and all of the coast for that matter was gorgeous.
When we hit Tomales Bay, I told Ryan that I had a required Art History
class in my senior year which required me to not use beautiful,
gorgeous, and pretty to describe art. I found myself using all of
those words and feeling their inadequacy to describe their worth. It
was a natural mobile poetry festival from thence forth. "The golden
grass of the rolling meadows envelope the winding river as they meet
the cliffs edge at the edge of a whole other world: the Pacific Ocean.
The blue hues jump from the ripples atop the bay ..."

Not only is the coastline GORGEOUS, uh huh that's right, but it has
also been some of the most enjoyable riding all trip. Lots of good
climbing and sweeping descents which cut in and out of the coastline
for a roller coaster effect. The last day may have been the best of
all.

I heard my echo thru Ryan's voice. He said he was intrigued when I
claimed to be excited about my future. Well of course I am! I feel
certain snout the direction I am headed. While there is always
uncertainty about the future, this trip has shown me, if nothing else,
that everything always seems to work out so long as I am willing to
put forth the effort. Willingness and effort; simple, not easy.

We had a thrilling descent into Sausalito.
"table for 2?"
"no thanks, I'll just dine with my dog on my lap" Ryan said as we
waited at a stoplight. I glanced over to my right and began sighing
uncontrollably when I was a diva dining with her dog on her lap.

This area is hilly, no joke. We crossed the Golden Gate just after 9
at which time peds are prohibited due to the high amount of suicide
jumps from the bridge. It was so foggy that I couldn't see up, down or
around. We crossed into the city and the rest is history.

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Sunshine at last

For today anyway. We've been traveling predominately along the 101
which took us inland where the sun is. After the supposed dreaded
Leggett climb, we'll drop back down to the coast where the fog awaits.
I'm more worried about the fog than the climb. It will be a regular
circus with all the on/off of jackets, armwarmers, and gloves that
climbing and descending in fog will bring.

Thanks too my new friends, I have finally slowed down; something that
is a challenge to me especially when not on bike tour. While it's only
for the last week of my tour, it will be a pleasant way to bring
closure to my journey rather than with a screeching halt. Less than 60
miles today. AT this point, I'm no longer shooting to make at least X
amount of miles per day. Now, my goal is to make no more than 60 miles
per day.

By 11:30, I had ridden 4 miles, savored coffee at camp and at a coffee
shop, and enjoyed a few pastries. That's what I call a successful
start to my day. Ilunch was enjoyed by a cove along a river which we
swam after eating. Taking and slow and loving it.

Quote for the day: "the road up and the road down are the same road."

At our first stop in the coffee shop, I asked if there were and plugs
where I could charge my phone. The shop owner angrily explained that
he wasn't willing to risk ruining my electronics by charging them for
me and that he didn't have any plugs anyway (lie). When he left, the
barista offeree to plug IT in but I declined because I didn't want her
taking a guy on behalf of me. The next spot we stopped in, I asked the
same question and he said that IT wouldn't be a problem. Meanwhile,
Morris, not missing a beat and glowing with gratitude, profusely
thanks this man who just served us smoothies for being nice to us.
Unfortunately, it seems like an odd thing to do. We typically expect
nothing less than top notch service from a minimum wage worker and get
angry when we don't get it. But coming from an earlier experience of
being treated poorly for no apparent reason to me, I understood and
appreciated the general kindness this man had. Without a second
thought, I left with the crew and forgot my phone. I turned back 5
miles later when I realized it after and van had gone by us and
honked. 2 miles later, there was a cloud of dust in a turnout where
that van had just pulled off and the man who served us smoothies stood
there with my phone and charger. He said he normally would have just
left it there but since I had asked for permission to plug it in and
our crew had been so nice compared to other tourers, he didn't mind
taking a drive out of the park to deliver it for me. All I could say
was thank you and that this favor would surely come back around to
him. Be nice, it will come back to you or vis a versa.

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Touring 101 cont...

I accidentally dropped the phone into the fire pit and pressed the
send button when I was frantically brushing off the soot. Fortunately,
no damage.

So they haven a theme to their trip, "what is love?" They ask people
they run into along their travels this simple question. After the
trip, they will compile their video responses into a documentary and
mail them out to people they have met. Pretty cool little project. I
look forward to seeing it.

Touring with the trio slowed me doooown; in a good way. We enjoyed a
field of clovers beneath the redwoods and also took a detour to what I
believe is the 2nd biggest tree. It's circumference is 40feet. We even
stopped AT a blackberry patch to some sweet snacking and a produce
stand for blackberry pops!

Touring 101: slow down. I think I only did 58 miles today.... Whoa.
We're camped in the redwoods along The Avenue of the Giants road.
Thanks for reading

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Touring 101

Stop and taste the cheese.

I stop at the crossroads. Do I take the detour thru Loleta or stay on
the 101? I heard a while back that the Loleta creamery was better then
Tillamook so cheese became my motivation. While they had some
intriguing cheeses, I had no choice when I saw the cheese curds. I
scurried of with my tasty, squeaks in your mouth cheese to the post
office to mail home a print of Mother Teresa in Calcutta that a my new
friend, Peter, gifted to me in Arcata. Before I could get to the Post
office, I see 3 bikes outside of a cafe. I initially hesitated to
approach. My apprehension was that they might be like some other smug
tourers that seem inconvenienced when they have to tell you where they
going from and to. This trio was a treat to bump into: Morris from
Scottsdale, AZ and his 2 daughters Casee and Dalton.

The questions came without hesitation. What is a book that you have
read that changed your life? A movie? What has been the best part of
your life? The worst? If you could pinpoint one issue in which we
could all come together to fight for or against, what would it be?

Last year, the theme of their bicycle your was "what is passion?" this
year's theme is "what is love?"

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Eureka!

Started off yesterday off with a 4am thunderstorm. Apparently this is
a rarity on the coast on the summer. I was just glad to have been
staying with Tom and Misti and not be stuck in my tent. For breakfast,
homemade granola and homegrown strawberries. And what better way to
start the day than with a few miles of road thru redwoods and a 5 mile
climb?

I stopped in Klamath as friend in Asheville who is following my
travels whom I haven't even met yet suggested I do if I wanted to find
some smoked salmon (say that 10x fast). When I saw that this stuff was
$54.99/lb, my eyes said "wow!" I've heard the Northern Cal pushes a
lot of product by the pound but I can't imagine spending that kind of
cash on some fish. I asked for a $5 piece and he gave it to me for
half price. I got the feeling that those prices are for the
vacationers travelling in their Porsche convertibles and staying in
B&B's.

I climbed into the Prairie Creek Redwoods and ate my still overpriced
smoked salmon and Tillamook cheddar under the redwoods. Marvels of the
day: a tree 3x the length of my bike and a hollow tree big enough for
me and my bike to fit inside. This redwood forest was right along the
coast and it was freezing! Apologies to all my east coast friends and
family... I know it is sweltering hot over there. Well, it is
unseasonably cold here. I'm tempted to ride inland just to get some
sun but then I'd miss the coast. Almost every morning, I can see my
breathe and need to wear all my cold weather gear.

My warmshowers.org hosts, Kathy and Dick, were also hosting a group of
6 guys riding down the coast with a sag vehicle. So when i arrived at
the house, there was a crowd on the porch with a feast on the table...
dinner was served and I got there right on time 92 miles later. Those
guys had a wreck that day from pacelining that ended the bikes and
bodies all over Hwy 101 and one person in the ER. They were fortunate
that there weren't any cars near when they crashed. The injured is now
driving the sag car.

Where can you find someone to tension your spokes by the tone from
plucking them? Eureka! I told Dick I needed to find a bike shop to
work on my wheel since I broke another spoke today. I was wondering
why it felt like I was dragging a cinderblock all day. I didn't notice
the broken spoke till I sat down for a snack. Anyway, when Dick
started plucking my spokes, I thought, "oh no, here we go. This isn't
going to end pretty." But i didn't want to be rude and tell him to
stop because he had already been so kind to extend his hospitality to
me. I figured if worse came to worse, I could pay a shop to fix it if
he made it worse. "DING! DONG! plunk...." went the sound of my spokes
from Dick's fingernail. As I watched, I started to ease up. Dick
seemed to know what he was doing and played my spokes like a harp. In
a short 10 or 15 minutes, my spokes were all tight and the wheel was
true. Only in Eureka.

I'm less than 300 miles from San Francisco, my destination, and I have
6 days to get there after my rest day here in Eureka/Arcata area. Do
the math... less 50 miles per day. So we'll see how that goes. Maybe
I'll go inland to stretch it out a bit. I think I heard that the
cycling hall of fame is in Davis, CA. Eureka has been great so far,
people are great here, very hospitable. Sitting here in a coffee shop
on a Thursday morning while a middle aged women is strumming and
singing the blues trying to come up with a succinct description of the
town. Maybe 12 more hours will give me a better idea. I know what
you've heard about Eureka. So far, I haven't seen any hippies on the
corner burning funny cigarettes. It brings to question the matter of
social deviance. Are people more inclined to behave outside of
socially acceptable behavior if it is harshly punished or not?

Double or nothin'

82 miles, today. oops

I took a long break in Brookings to make sure I wouldn't have time to go all the way to Klamath. $1.99 bean and rice burrito held me over like magic. I crossed the state line and didn't even see the welcome sign, bummer. However, I was welcomed by a man at what I later learned the locals call "the bug stop." California is so dependent on agriculture that they wanted to make sure I wasn't bringing in any bugs to ruin their crop. Actually, he just gave me some maps and said I should check out Jedediah Smith Redwood SP. He threw in that the Endor scenes for the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi (Episode VI) were filmed here. Sounded nice, thought I might check it out. Then, a duo on a tandem soared by me and caught their draft. I asked if they minded me riding along with them and they said that I should come along with them to Jedediah Smith Redwood SP. So all of a sudden, I am having a flashback to riding with Lee. We are cruising at near race pace and suddenly buzzing by these gargantuan redwoods. I have never seen trees like this in my life. They say their meeting a friend to ride up with South Fork River and that I could drop my bags at the store where we would meet him. While I only planned on riding about 50 miles today, I ended up riding almost double that. Still managed to get me normal mileage in and didn't get further than I planned. In fact, I'm about 9 miles North of Crescent City which leaves for a long day to Eureka tomorrow.

It was a nice change of scenery. Once we got just a few miles inland, I could see blue skies, thunderheads, and rolled my arm warmers down to my wrists. Jerry and Tanya, the tandem duo, had to turn back early but I kept riding with Tom further up creek till the road turned to gravel. He invited me to stay with he and his wife, Misti for the night. Turns out they had biked down to SF not long ago and were able to give me some tips. Turns out that Tom went to grade school in Fletcher, 15 miles from where I live, ad that he is going back for a reunion in the Fall. So I got to give them some tips and they got to give me some tips. If I am available when they visit, I'll take them on a ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mount Pisgah. We had a delicious mexican feast with salad from their garden and huckleberry crisp to end the night.

So many others!

84 miles Monday 7/26 to Gold Beach, OR

There are so many of us on the road sometimes I hesitate to make small
talk. I saw some bikes in front of the pizza place when I climbed into
town and thought I might make some friends. I should've known better
when I saw the designer "Black Star" punk grunge panniers. I have
never seen panniers like them but they looked like they were trying
hard not to look like the practical panniers that made sense. They
looked like they were trying so hard. IT must have cost a lot of $ to
make panniers that don't look like they cost a lot of $.
If I were going to spend big bucks on panniers, I would get ortlieb's.
There is a reason that everyone has them; they are good. But if
fashion is more important than practicality, maybe you want to follow
the hipsters. By the way, did I mention the top tube foam cushion?
Hello, are we just learning to ride a bike? If so, maybe you shouldn't
be bike touring. In the roughly 4,500 miles I have covered in the last
few months, my crotch and my top tube have not once made contact to
where one of those silly foam protectors would save my day. However,
if you are using the foam protector as a form of personal
expression... go on, express yourself. We're all watching. I picked up
a sewing kit today to stitch up my gloves. Maybe I should go to group
campsites and charge them all $10 per person to stitch their initials
in their foam pad covers.

Well that was a rant. I'm just bitter because I was hoping to go in on
a campsite with them and they seemed to have no interest. No worries,
I found a hidden grass section tucked away in a church yard a block
off the main road and a block from the coffee and book store. I know
where I will be in the morning! I just couldn't bring myself to fork
out $17 for an 8x5 piece of ground and 5 minutes of hot water. In this
cool coastal weather, it's easier to justify skipping a shower than IT
was in muggy Illinois.
California tomorrow!

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