I think the last time I updated was from Monterey...Oops. I've been journaling though, and of course taking lots of pictures, so it's easy to go back and recall the past few weeks. My apologies for not keeping up with this as regularly as I had hoped, as I'm sure most every amateur blogger says all the time. I have come to realize that a couple hours of internet access is not enough to punch out quality entries, and that if I'm going to do a better job of keeping everyone up to date, I'm going to have to be typing more often, in shorter bursts, and whenever I have time, regardless of internet access. That said, this is going to be a big one, as it will cover a few weeks. My hope is that saving entries every 5 days or so on my laptop, then posting whenever I can, will both improve the consistency of the blog, and cut down on time I actually need to be online.
Anyway,
I left Monterey headed north along the amazing bike trail that goes about as far as Castroville. Made great time along the bike trail since you don't have to stop for most any of the intersections through towns. I stopped at a burrito wagon type thing near Elkhorn, a large agricultural area, and ate some awesome food. From there I continued up the 1 north to Watsonville, aka Dustville, and realized I was starving again. Reluctantly, I stopped at a burger place and got 4 double cheeseburgers to go. I ate one right away and could already tell it was a bad idea. I'm not used to fast food and I immediately felt like I had eaten playdough. Oh well, I needed the calories, and it was cheeeap! Out of Watsonville I caught the CA-152 east, over Hecker Pass, which was a bitch and a half to climb in the heat, then made it out to my next few back roads. I was stopping for water every chance I had, and to eat more burgers. Once on Uvas road I kept heading northeast in the general direction of San Jose. Once I had made it to where I had been considering stopping for the day, I realized that despite a nasty headwind, I had a lot of daylight left, so I decided to make the big push all the way to San Jose. More rolling hills, dead oak trees, and dirt. I swear, any of California's drier back roads look the exact same. I felt as though I might be right back in Paso Robles, ha. Finally found my turnoff for the last few roads into San Jose, but I managed to get confused by some of my directions and I went about an hour in the wring direction, heading back south out of the other side of town! A kind soul stopped to ask where I was headed and let me use his GPS to find my way back. Ugh, 19 miles the wrong way. I turned around and raced the sun to my destination, arriving shortly after sunset, about 101 miles total, lying down on my friend's lawn after knocking on the door. We talked about how crazy I am and about my rig, then I took a shower and we set off to go get food. IHOP was about the only place open, so we went there. I had half a pound of popcorn shrimp, bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, toast, and stuffed French toast. It was awesome, and even more so since my friend's graciously paid for mine. Thanks!
I spent 4 days in San Jose, hanging out with my friends, eating food, watching motoGP races, rock climbing at Planet Granite, and buying some gear at REI (Thanks Jen!). I needed a new sleeping bag, one that was warmer, and a Jetboil. Also got a Petzl headlamp, which I have since lost because I am an idiot. Anyway, had a good time hanging out but I needed to get to San Francisco so I could ride across the Golden Gate. I didn't want to go through the city at all, and since my next big stop was Sacramento, it would have made more sense to go around the east side of the bay, but alas, I had never been across the Golden Gate in any way, so I opted to go the long way through the city. Leaving San Jose went well for about...an hour. then I rode through rain for almost the whole day's ride into SF. Stopped in a Starbucks to dry off some in a little town I can't remember, but I met this awesome girl named Helena who was a fellow traveler, who recommended I try Couchsurfing. We chatted for an hour or so before we both headed out into a small break in the weather.
Finally made it to SF, small detour on Brannan where I bought fuel for my stove, some freeze dried food, and some SmartwoolREI who were really interested in my trip, which was rad. I think it was then that I realized that I need to have business cards made for the Project. Handwriting it is getting tedious. The rain let up when I left REI as I headed for Union Square. I know there are a lot of other places and things to do in SF, and despite wanting to explore the Mission, et al, I didn't want to be in the city any longer than I had to. I rode the rest of the way to the HI hostel in Fort Mason, locked up my bike in the awesome bicycle room, took a shower and ate some food. Made my maps for the next legs of the trip, talked to a lovely Australian girl about here first trip to the states, and then headed to In n Out for second dinner. Went to sleep that night in a comfy bunkbed (!) and was planning to leave in the morning. Woke up to pouring rain...talked to the desk and decided to stay another day and wait out the ENORMOUS storm that was sitting on CA. Did nothing for the most part but play on the internet and investigate the Couchsurfing site.
I made my profile and started looking for a place to stay in Sac, since there are basically no tent campgrounds within the city itself. I searched for people to stay with and sent out a few requests. 2 People were booked, 1 maybe, and 1 person I never heard back from. The maybe was enough to set my hopes aflame. A while later I heard back from this kind soul who said they could host me for a night! I was very glad not only to have a place to stay, but also to meet/thank my hosts, Christa and Michelle. I guessed an ETA and finally got some sleep.
Finally set out the next day...
It was bone dry at Fort Mason, like 2 miles from the GG bridge, but when I got to the bridge it was raining pretty hard, so not too many pictures were taken. I managed to bumble enough French to ask a gentleman to take my picture, which he agreed to help me with. Back on the bike, swearing up a storm about the damn weather, headed into Sausalito and stopped at a Starbucks on Princess to waterproof my directions, which were getting wet. Back on the road heading towards my stop for the day in Napa, I got turned around a few times, stopped and asked directions at least 4 times, met an awesome motorcyclist gentleman who got me back on track, then the rain came back for a while. Riding through wine country was hot, windy, and pretty boring, aside from seeing weird fences and giant purple lawn chairs, ha. Took a lunch break at Infineon Raceway to get out of the rain, charge my mp3 player a little, and rest. Made the last of the push through the nothingness into Napa, paid the FIFTEEN dollars to camp at the "campground" there and set up camp on another picnic bench. Got up early, had breakfast at Denny's, and headed for Sacramento. As soon as I had the chance, I jumped on the I-80, lol. I didn't really know if I was allowed to, but found out later that day. I guess 3 people called to report me to the CHP for riding on the interstate. I was stopped outside of Dixon when the CHP motorcycle cop pulled up and talked to me about how I was reported and not supposed to be there. He took a great interest in my trip, was incredibly nice, and helped me with directions to Sac, via Davis. 10 Feet later, I got a flat. Fuck. He asked if I could walk it, I said yes, and walked the mile to the gas station off the I-80. Spent an hour fixing the flat, rode into Davis and stopped at a gas station to ask how to get to Sac. 2 Super nice girls helped me find my way to a bike path via county road 32-A...small road, lol.
Upon arriving in Sac I stopped to take some quick pictures at the Capitol building before making my way to my couchsurfing destination. I parked the bike and knocked on the door. I immediately felt dizzy and really embarrassed, haha. I realized that I didn't double check the address, call ahead to announce my (on time) arrival, or do anything to remedy my rather thrashed appearance. Nevertheless, I got the address right and one of my hosts, Christa, answered the door. Sigh of relief, not only for getting the address right, but seeing that my host was not actually a serial killer posing as an attractive girl in hopes of harvesting my organs upon my arrival. Yay!
The house was amazing, very clean but still cozy. I set my stuff down and we talked for a bit before I took a quick shower. It was so nice being in a place where I felt safe, welcome, and comfortable. I mean, camping is fun, but not the same as staying in a house with incredibly kind people, with whom I felt like I could converse forever, ha. A bit later, Michelle got home, I was introduced, and the 3 of us sat around talking before cooking dinner. The foooood! It was delicious, and incredibly humbling to be sat down and fed without being allowed to do pretty much anything, haha. After dinner, more great conversations, went to get ice cream and some other groceries, came back and stayed up late scaring eachother with stories about our fears of spiders, water, and people looking at us in our sleep. :D
Before we all went to sleep, Christa jokingly threatened to scare me in the middle of the night, but I was too tired to worry about it for very long. I slept in a bit in the morning and was then fed more awesome food for second breakfast. There was still more rain on the way so I had made arrangements to stay at the hostel in town. I changed and was about ready to head out when Michelle and Christa told me that they had enjoyed having me as a guest and that I was welcome to stay another night if I wanted to. I was at a bit of a loss for words, as I had already been wrestling with the feelings of intruding on someone else's life, as well as the inexpressible gratitude I felt for their kindness. I asked to make sure if that was ok, and made it clear that I didn't want to be cramping their plans. They countered and assured me that it was ok, so I gladly accepted another stay with some of the coolest people I've ever met!
I had a great time hanging out with them, and helping cook dinner that night. I got to meet a couple of their friends, well all went to the store to get supplies for nachos and waffles dinner and we all had a lot of fun. Stayed up kinda late again, got up, I did some dishes, had another half a box of Cheerios for breakfast. I gathered up my things, we took some pictures of the 3 of us, talked about how to stay in touch and they saw me off as I headed for the mountains!
East on a bunch of side roads towards Placerville was my goal. It started raining on me pretty good just outside of the El Dorado hills area when I met up with Kevin and Thomas, a father and son duo who are doing a coast to coast tour. They had just started that day. We were able to talk a little during the riding enough to figure out that we were headed to the same place in Nevada, more or less. We stopped at a Starbucks somewhere and talked more about routing and such, and our respective tour plans. They're both really nice guys, and incredibly fit to boot. Without them I'm sure it would have taken me an extra day to cross the Sierras! We got to Placerville, CA, that first day, which was where I had considered stopping, and where I would have split onto the CA-50, but after looking at their route, I decided it was more fun to ride with friends rather than go my own way. We agreed that after getting some quick food we would press on, despite having already endured many, many miles of climbing. I forget where we actually camped out, but it was behind the backboards of a baseball diamond in a park, and it was awesome. There was a concrete pad big enough to cook on and be out of the mud, and even a water fountain back there! Kevin and Thomas set up a single tent, where I opted to just sleep in my bag on the concrete. It was a little dewy when I woke up, but not bad.
The next morning when we got up, I detailed my bike, topped off my tires, and we all set things out to dry from the copious amounts of overnight dew. As soon as we hit the road it became quite clear that most of the day would be spent climbing...fuck, again. I hate days like that. But, like I said, having someone else to ride with made it moderately more tolerable, ha. Our major stop was at 5000 feet at Cook's Station. Great food, service, prices, and views. We were stopping quite a lot towards the end of the day, all of us more than a little worn out, thirsty, hungry, fed up with climbing. We considered investigating a closed ski resort or something, but after consulting the maps, and all our computers reading different mileages, haha, we kept going for a bit until we finally found our way to the top of the huge hill that leads down to the relative bottom of the Carson pass climb. We found a day use site next to the frozen Silver Lake, CA, and decided to camp there. We got set up and I pictched my tent for the first time since the start of the tour. We hung our food across the CA-88 and hunkered down for a cold one. It must have gotten into the 20s, since everything was frosted over when we got up. Tent performed very well. Another morning of laying things out to dry, and hiking over 3 feet deep snow to get to the restroom. Getting everything packed back up was a pain, but I figured it out.
We left heading for Nevada, but had Carson Spur and Carson Pass in our way. After climbing Carson Spur to 7900 feet, and heading back down to Kirkwood, my front fender vibrated itself inot two halves, my chain got jammed in my crank between rings, and I dropped my sunglasses, which I had to go back for, losing kevin and Thomas for half an hour. Got my shit together after some yelling and chased them down, meeting at Carson Pass, 8574 feet above sea level!! From there we began an incredibly fast descent towards Nevada. I touched 45.4 mph and was having a blast after all that damned climbing. We reached Wolfwords, had some food, tried fruitlessly for cell service, and relaxed for a bit before heading into NV. got on our next road, a hot, rolling, desolate strip of black through the dirt toward Genoa. Stopped at the state line to take pics and make calls. I got a hold of my stepmom who said I should stop by after all, telling me that my dad had come around and did want to see me after all. I was a couple hours out at this point. Shortly down the road, I got a flat. Kevin and Thomas kindly waited for me to fix it, and we got to Genoa, FINALLY. We stopped at the general store, drank lots of water, exchanged contact info and said our goodbyes. They were heading to Carson City for the night, where I was headed west across the 395 to my Dad's place north of Minden.
At the intersection with 395, 2 girls kindly gave me directions to the street I needed, and I got to my dad's place. I parked my bike, and no sooner than I had taken my helmet off, my dad walked into the open garage from the house and was stunned into silence, haha. I had hoped not to scare him, but he was clearly a bit beside himself at the sight of me. He calmed down in a few minutes and we talked and got my stuff put away in the garage. My stepmom was still at work so I took a shower and changed. I spent 4 days there just hanging out, and amusing them with the amount of food I needed to eat to stay conscious.
I hadn't seen them for a little over a year so it was nice to catch up and tell them more about my ride to put them at ease. It was a subtly different, one of a kind visit to their place. My 5th time there, I finally felt like I was treated my age, allowed to cook my own food even, which is a huge allowance from my dad, haha! We talked briefly about my reasons for doing this trip, and he said, very soberly "I've never been in your shoes, and I don't have any advice for you this time." It's hard to explain why, but it meant a lot to me to have someone finally say that, let alone to hear it from my dad.
After I left, I headed for a 4 hour trip to the south Reno area where my older sister and her boyfriend live. I told her when I would be there and said that if she came home to find someone asleep on her lawn, that it was me. She told me how to let myself in, and shortly thereafter Nick got home and we talked for a bit. I took a much needed shower and as soon as Leanne got home we all headed to a late lunch. They insisted on buying my lunch which I thanked them for many times. I spent a couple days there hanging out and catching up, made another trip to REI to buy some bike shorts, CO2, and some more NUUN. Had a great time, great food, and really enjoyed being there. We said our farewells and I headed for Susanville, back in CA. That was a miserable ride. Hot, more wind the entire time, dead tired, legs blown, but too close to stop short. This is also where I lost my Petzl headlamp! After an 11 hour day, and 102 miles, I stopped at Starbucks, got some groceries, and camped under a Rubbermaid picnic bench at the RV park in town. Awoke at 3am to find the sprinklers going off next to me, soaking my bike. Fixed that, went back to sleep. Packed in a rush in the morning and I guess left my headlamp under the bench. Sadface.
Climbing started right away, most of the day all the way to and through Lassen National Park. I met a woman named Kathy, who was doing maintenance at a Caltrans rest stop on the 44 west. She was super nice, helpful, and gave me a lot of advice about the roads and where to stop along my route. She was also really interested in my trip and wanted to know all about it. She gave me hope that I might be able to make it to Redding that same day, since most of the way from Lassen to Redding was downhill...Kinda, haha. I kept trucking the rest of the way toward Redding, stopping all the time for water and rest breaks on the large, flat portions between downhills. Got to Shingletown on the 44 and started down the 10% grade to Redding. Only, it didn't lead to Redding. It was downhill til about 10 miles from Redding, then it was big rolling hills, hot, flat stretches, and 2 big grades into town. I finally arrived at my friend Morgan's house, and felt like death. I had pushed 117 miles in a 12 hour day. He welcomed me in, showed me where to put my bike, and where the shower was, which I promptly took advantage of. Feeling better after that, I then met a couple of Morgan's friends who had come over for dinner. It was great to hang out and talk about motorcycles with fellow riders, as well as to sit on a comfy chair again, despite being told that my chair of choice was a heap, haha.
Had one hell of a good time in Redding, and if the oppressive heat was not getting worse, I would have liked to stay longer. Did a shortish hike to see a bitchin waterfall, stood on my first large dam, took pics of everything, ate lots and lots of amazing food, saw a PT about some hand-strength issues I've encountered, met more cool people, and learned how to kick ass at horseshoes, and how to play Liar's Dice! Very eventful day and a half for sure. I have to say a HUGE thanks to everyone I met, not just Morgan and his wife, for being so friendly and awesome, and to Jed for hooking me up with a visit to that PT; those stretches help a lot and I'm going to see a massage therapist as soon as I can.
From there it was pretty, but mostly boring riding up I-5 out of Redding. My dear new friend Kathy actually saw me when I was on the 5 and saved me from taking a route that would have taken all day to climb! From there I pushed to the Grass Lake rest area where I camped behind the main building. It was super windy at night, but I was able to tarp over my bike and use it as a makeshift shelter from the wind. Made breakfast the next morning and set off to get as close to Crater Lake as I could before it starts climbing into the mountains. I made it across the CA/OR border around midday, stopped at the welcome center and got an OR cycling map from a nice lady named Linda who was super helpful. Stopped in Klamath Falls to do some grocery shopping. The manager let me keep my rig inside the store, which was rad. got some food, called my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day, ate lunch and headed out. The ride from K Falls to where I ended up camping in Kimball park was fuckin miserable. Next to a bunch of lakes the whole time so there was a very strong headwind the whole ride, and tons of gnarly, heartily bred mosquitoes. 100 Some odd miles later, I finally stopped to camp. I have to admit, I could have stopped sooner and camped somewhere else, but I wanted my 4th century. I also wanted the next day to be nothing but the 20 mile climbing ride into the park itself. Mission accomplished.
The campsite was primitive, and a great blessing since I was almost alone there. There was fresh water there, and a locking bathroom building where I kept my trailer instead of having to hang my food from the bears. Used half a can of bug spray to stay alive, but slept pretty well, all things considered. The next morning I made a fire and toasted 3 blueberry bagels which I slathered in cream cheese, 2 packs of oatmeal, and some NUUN. All was routine until I started ascending into the park itself. 3 Hours of shirtless climbing up the sunny road to the park HQ was actually really hard. I put my pack on top of the trailer, drained over 80 ounces of NUUN water, and ate like 3 protein bars just to get to Annie Creek, which is still another 7 miles from the Lodge/Lake itself. Opted to splurge on the lunch buffet there, and am glad I did. I ate an absurd quantity of food over 2 hours of eating, met a few cool people, like Lodge bellman Anthony, and headed for the ranger station at Steel, up the road about 4 miles. Paid my $5 to get into the park and climbed some more to Steel. After a bit of runaround, made it over to the dispatch station to get my backcountry camping permit. After discussing my options and the rules, a newer rangerette helped me fill out the forms, much to her chagrin. The other lovely rangerette Abra was very helpful in helping me figure out where to look for camping, as well as keeping me in mind when inquiring about the road conditions of the northern entrance/exit road which I wanted to take, and she even warned me about the giant mutant squirrels they have at the park called Pine Martens (Technically they are American Martens).
After departing from dispatch, I headed for the lodge where Anthony worked. More twisty climbing road, but the view was 100% worth the pain. I won't spend too much time trying to describe it, since it would take me forever, but I'll put it this way: If there are 10 things you must see in the US, make one of them Crater Lake in early summer while there is still some snow. Even for someone like me who has issues with large, deep bodies of water, it was hard to look away. Anyway, hung out for a while, took some pics, talked to Anthony about my ride, and then headed out West Rim drive to look for camping. Now that I'm out of the park I can say that it was not technically in accordance with the rules, since I wasn't a full mile off the road, but I could not be seen from the road, which is that point of the mile rule, so I think it was OK. There are pics of the site on the FB page, and it was awesome. It's supposed to be a lookout at Watchman Point, but it was all under snow, with a small part of the fencing exposed, which I used to block the wind while sleeping. There were gaps in the fencing, so I used a huge piece of sheet ice to cover them, haha. Apart from having one of those pesky martens jump on my legs in my sleep, and make off with a pack of sliced salami I had buried in the snow, it was a great night. With near zero man made light pollution, I could see the Milky Way clearly, as well as watched the sunset, moonrise, and sunrise on the summer solstice. Needless to say, I felt very privledged.
The next 2 days I spent writing most of this, drinking free decaf, sitting by a huge stone fireplace, and meeting new people at the Lodge. I am now convinced that it will be worth the weight to have some business cards made for Project Runaway. I met a lot of people offering places to stay around the US, people who gave me free Clif Bars because they work for Clif, people who wanted to hear all about the trip, and a few more of the employees who work at the Lodge. It was a great, relaxing stay, and I even got to take hot showers both days I was there!
The last night I was in the park the weather got windy and with windchill, below freezing at my campsite (@ ~8000 feet). I had to use the nearby restroom building as shelter from the elements so as to hide from the wind and clouds. Yes, clouds, not fog, haha. I wanted to leave at 6:30 and make it all the way to Eugene, but the temps made it hard to start off even at 8:30am. After a short climb out Rim Drive, I decended about 1000 feet to entrance station at the North Entrance. Cell reception was good so I texted my sister and called hottie rangerette to confirm that I had safely left the park and that there was no need to come searching for me. This was not me being cute, FYI, but actually a required step in backcountry camping there, so that if you do not check in by an established time and date, they can search for your body, haha. Short climb onto the 138 East, big descent to the 97 North. Stopped for more coffee and started the big haul toward the 58 West that would take me to Eugene. The 97 North is long, rolling, and shittily paved, with very heavy traffic. The headwinds were horrid, but I made it to the 58 West....Which was all the same and worse. From the time I left Crater, I rode for most of the 11 hours it took me to finally reach Dexter, just outside of Eugene by about 20 miles or so. I was getting a bad joint pain in my right hip, and the sun was setting fast, which means time to stop for certain cyclists without a headlamp or rear blinkers. The nice ranger lady at the park in dexter told me that I could camp there that night, even though it was day use, so long as I was out of sight. Bitchin. Camp I did, away from the poison oak, and slept like the dead.
This morning I rode the 20 ish miles into Eugene and found a bike shop to stop at, right next to Sbux. Got suckered into conversation with some crazy scary girl who wanted to sell me a cycling computer (Read: kill me and steal my stuff) so I ducked into the bike shop and talked to the guy there who, as it turns out, knows Eric Clausen, AKA Drawing Amerca By Bike! Small world, I guess. Now here I sit, cracked out on coffee, getting ready to ride to a friend's place here in town so I can clean up and sleep some more before stuffing my face again, lol.
Sorry if this is way too detailed. I'm far too lazy to go back and edit it all, so here it is.
