Last day

Rode 70 miles from Oceanside to Imperial Beach and then to the border of Mexico- arrived at 7:30 pm

Took the ferry to Coronado. 

The total was 1740 miles from April 30 to June 13.

Longest day was 83 miles

Fastest speed 42 mph

One flat tire on each bike, 1 on the trailer

Replaced my chain in San Francisco

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Tomorrow is the final push

Rode 65 miles from Long Beach to Oceanside today.  

Went through Seal Beach, Huntington, Laguna, and Camp Pendleton.  I've seen a lot of surfers lately.

Also a big rattlesnake was sunning himself by the side of the bike trail in Pendleton.  

It was pretty warm and I kept looking for shade. I put sunscreen on four times a day.

Forty miles left to Imperial Beach and the Border! 

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WhooHoo

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Four more days

Tonight we're at Point Mugu Naval Base.  Commander Wolfe gets us into base accommodations.   It rocks.  We're right on the beach and laundry is free!  Plus, the guards at the gate salute when they read his ID.

I've gone 1525 miles through rain forests, logging country, up and down hills along the coast, past fisheries, through the redwoods, past surfers, through farmland and alongside sand dunes.

It seems weird to imagine sleeping at home again and not having to pee on the side of the road in between bursts of traffic.  I guess we can always load up the van and go camp in the parking lot at Wal-Mart in Placerville.

After a short rest and a thorough tuneup for the bike, I want to keep up a riding routine when we get home.  

We'll be going next to Venice Beach, then Long Beach, then Oceanside,  then the finish line at Imperial Beach!

Doesn't seem real yet.

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On the road to Santa Barbara

What an adventure we're having!
We've seen spectacular scenery, slept in Wal-Mart parking lots, fed squirrels by hand and met up with lots of friends.

Last night we had dinner at Applebee's in Lompoc with my friends from high school, Terri and Ken.  It was so fun catching up and talking about our trip.  Mmmmm  Applebee's.

On Peter's birthday we took a morning off to tour Hearst Castle.  It was a good break.  Nice time to visit because it wasn't too crowded.  It's cool to see Hearst castle with a renown architect.  You get to notice all the nuances in materials and structure.

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A few days ago I started seeing flattened rattlesnakes on the road.  So far I've seen five of them.  Now I get nervous about stopping on the road or hearing the wind rustling the weeds...

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I've read that you should hydrate and replace electrolytes and eat protein when riding.  Also,  your body uses up the food you ate and starts to burn your fat cells.  So far, that hasn't happened.  I think mine uses up the food and then starts burning brain cells.  I can tell that I need a little break when I get stupid.

Wildlife day

We woke up to a doe and two fawns walking through the campground in Big Sur after hearing coyotes yipping and howling during the night.

Stopped at a vista point where squirrels were begging for treats.  I fed some of them raisins and bits of cracker out of my hand!

Riding along the beach I could hear sea lions barking.  It was a couple of miles of sand covered with elephant seals.

Then I came over a hill, and grazing with the cows was a zebra!

Lucky odometer reading

Fixing a flat in Carmel yesterday.

Beautiful scenery-  too many hills in Big Sur.  No internet connection here.  That is all...over.

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Moving on down the Central Coast

Didn't get to ride the rides...

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Crossover

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Halfway!

Odometer rolled over 1000, but I missed it....

I can't believe how many cyclists we see every day.  Near the larger cities there are lots of folks just out riding on the weekend or commuting.  But we also see people with gear on trips or camping with their bikes. 

They don't want to chat.  In fact, the ones I've met on the road the last few times barely have time to wave or say hi.

Surly Cyclists.

Maybe if I took more showers..

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On our day off with our friends the Dockters we did some sightseeing at the Ft Ross Russian settlement and found out the origin of the Russian river and Sebastopol.  There were Russians here.  Mystery solved.

Susan spoiled us with fabulous cooking in their trailer!  Also there was a cake and a little pre-party for Peter's birthday!

Today I ride to the Golden Gate.

Prepped for big city traffic. 

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Day off at Sonoma State beach

The coastal ups and downs have been getting to me, so I took a day off.  Peter and I had fun camping with our friends John & Susan & Meg & Will.

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Peter sets up camp

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Camping by the beach

Last few days we've had no cell signal and no internet! 

I've had terrific scenery through the redwoods and then back to the ocean.  Made it through Leggett, which has the biggest climb of the trip.  It was a four mile hike to the top and it took me an hour with two rest stops.

We 've camped every night since getting the van.  Peter is excellent support!   He cooks and cleans up and provides wine and ice cream! 

The weather has been perfect and I've ridden at least 50 miles per day since then.

We just passed through Mendocino county, Irish Beach...Guatemala... into Sonoma county.  Next is Bodega Bay.

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Biking the Redwood Forest

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No cal coast

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What I noticed

There was significantly greater amount of trash on the roadside in Washington than in Oregon.   

My theory is that it has to do with the litter-acy rate.

The littering fine in Oregon is posted as $6250.  (California's is $1000).

It's not posted on 101 in Washington.   I think that's because the logging folk don't read. 

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We stayed in Arcata, near Humboldt U.  last night.  But we missed the annual memorial day human-powered kinetic art race held there every year since 1939. 

Rode 61 miles today.  Peter made tuna salad for lunch.  We are in Redwood Forest National Park on Avenue of the Giants. 

And yes, Valerie,  the mosquitos are fearsome. 

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Most people are friendly

Our encounters with natives have been interesting and pleasant.

So, our ride through Florence,  Oregon stands out as the first distasteful experience. 

Last weekend I stopped at a little market to wait for Peter and take a couple of photos.  I chatted some with a guy sitting with his dog, and then decided I might get going and wait in Florence instead.

The guy said, "You might want to wait and ride through town together.   There's a festival and there's a lot of traffic."

So I waited.

As soon as we got going, were passed by a lot of motorcycles.  We got to town and saw a big banner welcoming us to "Rhoady-Days".

The Harley crowd was gathered in a parking lot at "the blessing of the bikes".  I was afraid to take a photo. 

Cars cruising main street had fat guys hanging out of them yelling at us to get off the road.  Drivers flipped us off.

We stuck together and kept moving.  Drivers were so rude on a bridge we crossed that we walked our bikes on the pedestrian sidewalk.

We stopped at the first campground just outside of town just to get off the road.

Found out it was the annual "Rhododendron Festival".  Guess flowers bring out thugs since 1908..

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Took Friday off

Busy day off.

We drove to Redding on Thursday night, stayed at the fabulous Best Western PLUS,  and met up with Suzanne and her friend Itsel.  They drove the Boltz van for us. 

Peter and I tagged-teamed to take the rental car back to Coos Bay Enterprise- (our motto: "Can we make this any more inconvenient? ")

car rental. 

Whew.  Driving the van back to Klamath, CA where I left off riding on Thursday. 

It was cool to drive back over the road we had ridden.  

Stopped to get groceries.  Oregon has dairy products named for Indian tribes.  Peter suggested that perhaps the tribes may have been named for ice cream.  Like the Tillamook s, the Umpqua s, the Baskins, the Robbins, the benznjerrys.

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A big day

Up and down the hills next to the shore for the past two weeks.

And Peter finished 535 miles, all of Washington and most of Oregon.  Now he is driving a rental car and I'm riding without my trailer!

I had forgotten how much fun it is to go fast!

Suzanne is bringing us the van so Peter can continue to follow and cook for me.

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It's a lake not a mirror

At our campground 2 nights ago

Honeymoon State Park

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Odometer rollover

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Mobile Peter

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I was thinking...

As I was riding along, current audio book download finished playing, no signal for Pandora, I was thinking about the expectations and surprises we've had on our trip.

There was no sign saying "You are leaving Washington" or "Now entering Oregon"  so I couldn't capture the photographic moment.

We have found that not many people are impressed that we are riding this route.  There are too many cyclists all the time passing in both directions.  In fact, there are traffic signs when there is no shoulder reminding drivers that there will be bicycles in the roadway.  Every major bridge and tunnel has a light indicator for cyclists to activate when entering, to alert drivers to look for a bicycle in the passage. 

We have met many cyclists going both directions, although many more headed south than north.  They all have the same guide book we've read about cycling the Pacific Coast.
It's fun to talk to them, everyone is enthusiastic.  Most visit a little and then speed off.  Many are from foreign countries.

Camping isn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Peter makes it fun.  The rain stays out of the tent and it hasn't really been cold.  Peter heats water with our little stove and we make noodles and oatmeal and hot chocolate.  Then we ride somewhere and I get coffee!

Pulling the trailer isn't that bad.  I am going about 5 mph slower that I would without it.  When the wind blows against it, or when I'm tired, it kind of feels like riding with a flat.  The first few days I kept stopping and looking to see if something was wrong!

Also-  No other cyclists on the road are wearing cleats.  I got sold a bill of goods about the shoes!  I think they are mostly for racing.  Although they are nice to have on the hills, they are mostly unsafe.  They get slippery when it rains and they leak.  If I have to stop in a hurry, it's always stressful, even though I haven't fallen again.  Thank God.  They are uncomfortable to walk very far in them.  So I put on my flip flops a lot for walking.

The scenery is gorgeous!  Everyday I wish I could take more pictures than I do, but one has to be reasonable.  The people we've met are all very nice and mostly chatty.  It's been much more sociable this time.

Peter is a very determined and strong person.  Even when he is totally worn out, he keeps going. 

The main thing is that we haven't crashed into each other yet.  Knock on wood.

How happy Peter is with his reloaded bike

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Regrouped

We had a lovely day off in Newport,  OR, staying at the beautiful Hamilton-Salvestrin Condo.  Thank you so much Holly and Heather and Family!

We decided to unload a bunch of stuff and leave Peter's trailer.  We'll bum a relay ride for it or go back ourselves later this summer...heh heh...

We have paniers on Peter's bike and he is so much happier!

Newport and Nye Beach are great for photography, running on the sand and tide-pool exploring.  It was a gorgeous 86  degrees when we arrived wed night.  People were playing in the surf.  I saw a whale spouting at the Cape Foulweather lighthouse lookout.

A cyclist named Jonathan, who was driving by stopped us on the road to ask about our gear and chatted awhile.  He invited us to his restaurant The Deep End Cafe.  We went on Thursday night and had a wonderful dinner and he bought us wine!  We felt like celebrities!

So far the finances are holding out, our bodies old but serviceable, and the bikes are good.  Gravity is constant and we are planning for more rain.

Onward!

Fun day

Beautiful sunny day-

Stopped for coffee in Pacific City after camping.  Very picturesque!  Stopped at a view pt and saw a whale spouting!  It was small and kind of playing in the surf.  So that was cool.  I was glad I had my little field glasses.

Ate lunch on the grass in front of a fancy rv resort and got looks from the aging Stepfords.   They must have thought we were vagrants.

Got a flat on the trailer from a wire left by a ripped up steel radial tire.

Climbed a big 3-mile hill and then had a terrific winding rollercoaster ride down the other side for almost 20 minutes!   

Stayed in Lincoln City at Captain Cooks Inn with our host, Mrs Cook.

We are about 1/3rd of the way down the Oregon Coast. Lots of hills to climb. The down side of the hills never equals the up side!

Lots of stretches w no internet...

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To all of you who know Karen as a joyful, smart, creative, and sensitive person you should see her tackling these coastal hills... she is an ANIMAL! She never slows down, never stops cranking the pedals, and NOTHING WILL STOP HER! She is really good at this cross-country bicycle thing.  Me on the other hand...... I still always look as if I am either about to crash or just did.  We are having fun but this trip is more work than the last one as we have to pull our trailers full of dirty clothes and camping stuff. Thanks for all the good wishes and condolences from everyone.  We miss you all. Finally we are in sunny weather. 9 out of the first 11 days we were soaked by the rain. Washington state was just one big aquarium and we were the fish in the tank. Talk to you later.
   Peter

Visitors welcome

Evidently it's Disneyland-North.  We didn't go in but the ice cream cones looked good

Terrain map

Here is part of our current road. ...

Sunny day on Oregon coast

So Long, Washington, Hello Oregon!

We had a rest day in Naselle, WA and stayed at the Hunters' Inn and Grill while it rained and poured.
The Hunters' Inn is not a place you might usually stop for a vacation.  Unless you were in Naselle, WA anyway and it was pouring rain and getting dark.
The motel office is in the bar.

But it was recently renovated and quite nice.  We went to the logging museum.  It's a lot like the museum in Placerville.  Just replace "gold mining" with "logging."

We had dinner at the grill.  Turns out Wheel of Fortune is on before Jeopardy here.  So that was weird.

We rode in the rain today and crossed one of the longest bridges in the country:  the Astoria-Megler bridge that connects Astoria, Oregon to the Washington coast.  The bridge is 4.5 miles long and has a nasty cross wind.

We also met a couple who was finishing their trip.  They had ridden from St. Augustine, FL to San Diego and from there were ending up at the top of Washington.  They were fit.

As we were ending the day in the pouring rain, a wonderful lady stopped her car and gave us directions to her house.  She said she couldn't leave us out in the cold!  She put our gear in her garage, made a wonderful dinner, let us do laundry and take showers and gave us a cozy bedroom to sleep in.  She's in he Warm Showers network.  To us, it felt like a miracle!

So.
We are in Seaside, OR and move on tomorrow.  Got a lot of great photos and met so many great folks.
We read the comments - so be sure to leave them!
K & P