Don Saito's Cycle America 2009

Epilogue: 091203, Oakland, CA

2009-12-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

My apologies for the delay in getting the final blog entries, and now this trip summary to you. Whenever I have extra time on my hands, I have a tendency to get distracted, and futz around (procrastinate). On the road, I was much more efficient, hardworking and focused toward updating the blog, because I had very limited time; funny how that works. Anywho, here’s the sum-up of the experience: It was great. Thankyouverymuch! What’s that? Oh, all right.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and an accomplishment I can be proud of, as it was something I actually did, myself. But, it was a LOT of work, discomfort, and pain – sometimes straining my physical self to the point of crying out with the effort (Yarghh!) Before beginning, I knew conceptually that, yes, it would be hard, that there would be times when I would be physically miserable, that I could be maimed for life, or even killed. But to see the wonders of this country that I have always wondered about, to have the adventure of a lifetime, and to see for myself, what I might be able to accomplish – those were the rewards which enabled me to start and to keep going – that, plus the promise of the industrial grade bragging rights. I learned a few important concepts while on my journey – nothing really new that I didn’t already know conceptually, but were made much more real and useable to me:

1. I could accomplish something huge, given enough time, persistence and patience.

2. The pain I endured to make progress was indeed nasty, but once it was over, it was over, and the gains I made in progress, experience, and knowledge made all that pain and effort, worth it.

3. It was good to know, ahead of time, the obstacles coming up, be they tall mountains, bad weather, rough roads, etc., so I could prepare for them, mentally and/or physically, or plan ways to avoid them. Oftentimes, though, when all the preparations that could be done were done, or if there was no other way to avoid the problem, I had to say, “I can’t let that stop me,” and just plow through, keeping Point #2, above, in mind. Sometimes, I *would* get stopped, and was forced to make less palatable choices, but there was always a way to move forward, even if it meant going backwards, or enduring more pain.

4. There are a lot more good people in the world, than there are bad. And some people are *really* good. Inviting me to stay with them, giving me money just because they admired my efforts so much they wanted to take part in supporting me, taking me across non-cycleable bridges or impassable construction zones in their trucks – just a lot of help and support from total strangers – it was amazing. The worst people I met on this trip (besides Mr. Pecs, who was over the top) were usually young males in trucks or muscle cars who would bark like dogs to try to scare me as they passed. I don’t startle easily, and I oftentimes had my earplugs in, anyways, so not once did I give them the satisfaction of reacting to their alpha ape-howls. It must be a combination of adolescent poor self-esteem and having too much power without a constructive outlet that almost forces them to behave in this manner. Hopefully, they’ll mature.

And, here are some observations I made while I was out there:

DRIVERS: Ninety-seven point five percent of the drivers whom I encountered treated me with respect and care – taking great pains to be sure they did not disturb me as they passed – oftentimes putting themselves at risk from head-on collisions to give me plenty of room. The great majority of drivers actually gave me more room than I wanted or needed. Being on a tricycle (three wheels), I was not nearly as subject to the dangerous cycle-sucking vacuum generated by passing vehicles, so didn’t need quite so much ‘special treatment.’ In fact, I became a bit annoyed by the ‘antics’ of some drivers who would move an entire lane away from me, even though I was on a more than sufficient shoulder. I began to call this the ‘Galahad Syndrome,’ where it seemed the drivers were more intent on trying to prove how nice they were, rather than merely passing me safely. I’m fine with granting a driver the opportunity to prove their own wonderfulness, corny though it may be, but some of them would do it even if there was oncoming traffic! And, (I’m assuming) to prove their coolness, many of them would drive ‘nonchalantly,’ and not rush back into their own lane, but would casually do so, causing near misses and high levels of consternation. People.

ROADS: The quality of roads varied greatly, especially from state to state, and even from county to county. The best, most consistent roads were in Florida, but they’re practically flat as a pancake, so it’s a lot easier and cheaper for them. The worst, I’d have to say, were Georgia (a consistent lack of shoulders), and Maine (not only no shoulders, but some of the roads themselves were literally falling apart). Most of the rest of the states averaged out as having mostly decent roads. Oregon’s coastal cycling route was second to none. New York State also had some really nice roads. Nobody was perfect, though. When roadways became too narrow, the great majority of drivers behaved very well. There were a very few minor exceptions – a shout here, a shook fist there – I think someone tried to spit on me once, but missed. Nobody ever threw anything at me, which was a miracle. Oh, I take it back: when I was in French Quarter of New Orleans, someone tossed a shiny bead necklace on me from a balcony above, which I took, but eventually left on a post by the side of the road.

CAMPS: Stealth camps can be found just about anywhere, though their acceptability depends a lot on what you’re willing to tolerate with regard to noise, cleanliness, safety, and critters. I would never pick a site I thought might be in a bad neighborhood. I tried to pick spots that had gravel, or grass, or (my favorite) that were cleanly paved. Whenever possible, I avoided dirt, unless it was clean and dry. If it wasn’t too cold, had no chance of raining, and there were trees or poles available, I would use my hammock.

TENT: A bivy sack must have a dependable wire frame to keep its mosquito netting off of you – otherwise, the mosquitoes will bite you through the netting. Also, a bivy sack is only good if the weather is some degree of cool or cold. If it’s hot and humid, they’re *very* uncomfortable. I found my quarter dome tent worked much better than my bivy sack in all conditions. It did a better job of handling wind and rain, and allowed enough space to be more comfortable, to doff and don clothing, and to eat, drink and read. So, while a bivy is lightweight and compact, a small one-man tent packs nearly as small, and is much more useable.

COOKWARE: I didn’t really need my camping cookware. On a less tightly scheduled tour, it would have been fine, and early on in my trip, I did use it. After getting further along on my route, I realized I couldn’t take the time to cook, and so ate exclusively from restaurants and mini marts.

FOOD: At first, I cooked for some meals, but I stopped doing it fairly early on as the weather became warmer. I found I didn’t want hot food when the weather got hot. Also, I didn’t have a lot of extra space, so couldn’t carry bread, jars of peanut butter, potatoes, lettuce, etc. I found I could have a more balanced diet by just going to restaurants for a burger and fries (admittedly not the healthiest of fares), but practically everywhere I went that had a population base of greater than 2000, I could almost always find a Subway sandwich shop, and would get a sandwich with ‘all the veggies,’ which was quite healthy. Mini marts supplied me with mostly empty calories (meat and cheese sticks, sodas, candy bars, hot cocoa, pastries, etc.), but some of the stuff was good, like trailmix, fruit drinks, or apples and bananas. I initially kept a lot of those expensive power bars on me in case of (food) emergencies, but that never happened. By the time I figured out that I didn’t really need them, 2/3rds of the trip was already over, so I ate up my surplus, and only kept one or two on hand from then on.

DOGS: I had nearly a dozen dog incidents. Most of them were of the ‘bark ‘n chase’ variety, with a couple more that were annoyingly friendly (couldn’t get rid of ‘em). The ‘bark ‘n chasers’ varied from single dogs, to small packs of dogs; some were quite ferocious sounding. I successfully handled all of them the same way: I’d first slow down and stop, not looking at them, but just calmly looking straight ahead. Some of them would run away once I stopped; others might stop several feet away, and then start looking around as though they’d lost sight of me. Some would bark and growl quite ferociously, but whether they did or didn’t, I would do the same thing: slow down, stop, sit calmly, and make no eye contact. After a short wait, I’d start up slowly, again. It was rare, but if they started to chase me more, I’d stop again. After one or two stops, they’d get the idea that I was not prey, and let me go on my way. Dogs were not a problem.

Here are some of the statistical summaries:

--Total distance pedaled: 12,614 miles
--Total Hours in the Saddle: 1,374.25 (approx 57.25 days)
--Total altitude gained: 438,000’+ about 15 Mt. Everests from sea level to peak! (There were a bunch of times when I forgot to reset my altimeter watch, and so lost the ‘altitude gain’ for the day; maybe I'll figure it out more precisely for the book)
--Trip Expenses: ~$7,600 This covered everything - food, equipment purchases, tolls, ferry rides, etc.
--Initial Equipment Expenses: $4,744
--Grand Total: $12,344
--Number of hosts (31) (relatives in italic):
Auntie Elsie, Los Angeles, CA
John & Janet G, Las Vegas, NV
Paul R, Lake Mead, NV
Angel Lucy, Hurricane, UT
Chris & Spencer, Alpine, AZ
Trey, Sonora, TX
Walt T, Austin, TX
Stewart D, Houston, TX
Becky & John W, Lafayette, LA
Ray & Emily, New Orleans, LA
Billy, Moss Point, LA
Cho, Pensacola, FL
Stan, Clearwater, FL
Cynthia (hotel room!), Miami, FL
Art & Luigi, Miami, FL
Lynne D, Jupiter, FL
Kim D, Cape Canaveral, FL
Clint S, Ruckersville, VA
Steve & Karen M, Silver Spring, MD
Julie & Mike G, Atlantic Highlands, NJ
Carol M, Boston, MA
Tony & Marjorie, Brunswick, ME
Scott & Katie G, Rochester, NY
Wanda & Terry, Hurdsfield, ND
Ron & Joyce G, Bismarck, ND
Scott & Rachel H, Rexburg, ID
Bob & Leslie M, Boise, ID
Leo & Linda L, Payette, ID
Joe & Joanna S, Seattle WA
Paula & Dennis B, Sequim, WA
Pat & Pete H, Arcata, CA

--Number of flat tires: 16
--Number of tire sets: 4
--Number of centuries: 6

--States/Provinces visited (in sequence)*: CA, NV, AZ, UT, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, NC, VA, MD, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME, NH, VT, NY, ONT, MI, WI, MN, MAN, MN, MAN, MN, ND, MT, WY, ID, OR, WA, OR, CA

*Totals: 32 US states, 2 Canadian provinces – states/provinces entered into more than once not counted in the total.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
(If you have a question, email it to me, and I’ll add it to this section: donsaito@comcast.net)

1. Why did you do it?
I’ve always been curious to see the different parts of the country I’d never been to before, and wanted to see the various regions intimately, yet still be on a very restricted budget. I knew I couldn’t experience the peoples and lands as closely as I would like while in any kind of motorized transport, and I’ve always enjoyed cycling as a mode of transportation my entire life. When I got laid off from my job with the University of California, I had money saved up, and now had all the time I needed to do it. So, I decided to take this golden once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (while I was still young and strong enough to at least try), and went with it. I knew a lot of people cycled across the US one-way, but I wanted to attempt something a bit tougher, so I came up with the “around the US” route. To help define the task further, I added the goals of “hitting the extreme compass points of the contiguous 48 states,” and of seeing fireflies for the first time in my life.

2. How fast/far would you go?
On flat terrain with no wind, I would average from 10-12mph; my fastest speed was 45 mph going down a very steep, long road after finishing the Blue Ridge Parkway. My average distance would vary with the terrain, but generally speaking I would average 40-60 miles in mountainous terrain, 60-80 miles in semi-hilly terrain, and 70-100 miles in flat terrain. Most of my handful of 100 milers (6 of them) were achieved on mostly flat terrain, in the middle of summer when the days were long, although my record furthest day (118.73 miles) occurred mid-October – I cheated by riding both day and night, a total of 22 hours and 28 minutes. As an attestation to a combination of my physical conditioning and the comfort of the trike, I then stayed up an hour longer with ease to chat with my old friend.

3. What would you eat?
On typical mornings, I would eat mini mart choco milk or hot cocoa with a packaged pastry or two; usually a berry or cheese Danish and/or a muffin. When I was in Dunkin Donuts territory, I would often get a bagel w/cream cheese, sometimes with an additional donut, and hot cocoa. For the main meal of the day, I would usually get a footlong Subway sandwich with drink and chips (a ‘meal deal’), eat half of it, and save the other half for the next day’s lunch. Sometimes, I would get a Burger King hamburger with fries and soda. For ‘dinner,’ I would often just get a bag of Fritos curly or chili chips and a soda, which I would eat while reading whatever book I had at the time. Sometimes, if I didn’t get ‘dinner,’ I’d just munch on trailmix and drink Gatorade. I also would get bananas and apples, which some mini marts carried. For snacks, I would get meat and cheese sticks, Pay Day candy bars, M&Ms Peanut candy, and Nature Valley breakfast bars. Sometimes, these would temporarily replace more regular meals, if a mini mart or restaurant wasn’t readily accessible. I drank almost no water, preferring instead either Gatorade, sodas, or fruit drinks. Not too often, but sometimes I would eat at regular, sit-down restaurants such as Denny’s or mom ‘n pop places. I would always look to see if the restaurant had wi-fi and/or electrical outlets near the tables. One of the justifications for going to a sit down restaurant was: I could check the weather, review my route, or charge my electronics while at the same time eating – thus saving time.

4. What was the best/worst place you’d been?’
That’s an impossible question to answer. Each of the best/worst places had their own unique characteristics that may have been affected by many different factors present, both internally and externally. So, for example, if I was physically straining to climb over a beautiful mountain pass in Arizona, or if I was on an endorphin high while traversing the vast suburbs around New York City, my perception of these places would be quite a bit different than what might otherwise be expected. There were amazingly gorgeous views along the Pacific Coast, but there was also great beauty and a sense of mystery and history in the old buildings of New Orleans; both very different places, but impossible (for me) to say whether one was ‘better’ than the other. I can give a list of highlights, though:
-- Pacific Coast – gorgeous views
-- Los Angeles – familiar stomping grounds; visited with my Auntie Elsie; saw sci-fi movie The Watchmen at the theater
-- Death Valley – unusual geological formations and grand vistas
-- Las Vegas – over-the-top casinos; unbelievable what gambling money can create; great food
-- Zion National Park – incredible views from astounding heights
-- Carlsbad Caverns – vast, underground caverns with amazing formations and ‘bottomless’ pits
-- Deserts of the southwest – starkly beautiful, with star-studded night skies
-- Survived a heavy west Texas desert thunderstorm while on Interstate 10
-- Austin, TX – a river through town that has tons of big turtles; Texas state capital
-- Southern states – fireflies!
-- New Orleans – most haunted city in the US; has a definite spooky aura to it, which makes all the parties and celebrations seem like a gay cover, a thin veneer, to hide something not nice, beneath. I liked it(!); took the Haunted History tour; also took the Cajun Encounters alligator tour; also visited the New Orleans aquarium
-- Didn’t see that much of Mississippi or Alabama; nothing much stood out; the weather was often nasty, too
-- Verbally accosted by a cartoonish bully who was apparently a law enforcement official in Cross City, Dixie County, Florida
-- Florida swamps with alligators; snorkeling in the Florida Keys; first extreme compass point (southernmost); the Kennedy Space Center
-- Georgia kind of stunk; beautiful region with lots of trees, but ultra hot and humid; shoulderless roads
-- North Carolina – start of the Blue Ridge Parkway – very beautiful but torturously hilly for 464 miles; at least the higher altitudes made it somewhat cooler; witnessed a truly mysterious phenomenon
-- Virginia – still on the BRP, still beautiful, still torturous
-- Washington DC with impressively dignified buildings
-- Philadelphia, PA – more impressive historical buildings
-- Visiting my little sister and her family in New Jersey; saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at the theater
-- Visited the Museum of Science in Boston
-- Reached the second extreme compass point at Quoddy Head, ME (eastmost)
-- Survived more very hilly (but very pretty) terrain in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York State
-- Visited with my nephew, Scott and his fiancée Katie in Rochester, NY
-- Entered Ontario Canada through Niagara Falls; first time ever seen the falls, and first time ever been to Ontario
-- Re-entered US at Sault Saint Marie and passed west though Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota – never been to any of those states before
-- Went to the third extreme compass point at the Northwest Angle in Minnesota (northmost) via Manitoba, Canada
-- Experienced the vast crop fields of North Dakota
-- Went through the beautiful desert plains of Wyoming
-- Visited Yellowstone National Park for the first time and saw Old Faithful
-- Saw the eerie, volcanic landscape of Craters of the Moon National Monument
-- Survived the sub-freezing temperatures of eastern Washington State
-- Visited with my old grade school friend Joe and his wife, Joanna in Seattle, WA
-- Made it to the last extreme compass point (westmost) at Cape Flattery on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State
-- Saw the incredible redwood forests of the Oregon Pacific coastline
-- Visited with my cousin Pat and her husband and son Pete and Parker in Arcata, CA
-- Made it all the way back to the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge in two weeks less than I thought the trip would take

5. Trice QNT by ICE (Inspired Cycle Engineering)
-- Why the trike?
>>I’m getting old, and my wrists are prone to the nerve pinch of having my upper-body weight resting on them, as what happens when I ride a bicycle. This causes my hands to go numb after about 10 miles, so doing thousands of miles was out of the question.

-- Why the Trice QNT in particular?
>>The ‘NT’ stands for ‘narrow track.’ I picked it, because I wanted to fit on the side of the road, better, and to be able to fit through narrow openings (doorways, gates, traffic barriers, etc.) and indeed, it made a difference in many situations.

-- How much weight did you carry?
>>I weighed ~135 lbs, the trike weighs ~40 lbs, and my gear + food and water weighed ~80-90 lbs, bringing the total to ~250 lbs. Oofta!

-- Trike Advantages/Disadvantages:
>>Very comfortable. I could ride it pretty much as long as I wanted (once up to 22 hours) without putting stress on my spine, but

>>I couldn’t use gravity to help push the pedals down, but I could push my back against the seat to provide extra leverage when going up hills. The stress to my knee joints could become painful, though.

>>Going up tough hills, I could go as slowly as I wanted without having to balance, and I could stop at any time to rest – then easily start up again.

>>You would think that being so low, cars would have a hard time seeing me, but not once during this entire trip was that a problem. Being a bit unusual, I actually drew a bit of extra attention from drivers, who would mostly pass me with a wide berth.

>>My ‘wind profile’ was less than a bike’s, so I was less affected by headwinds, and so could go downhill faster than a regular touring bike. Also, having such a low center of gravity helped keep me stable at high speeds.

>>Having three wheels made dodging road debris more challenging. Also, on sharp, fast, curves, I had to brake more than a regular bike might, losing precious momentum.

>>I found that I didn’t need to worry quite as much about having my trike stolen, because a) it had clipless pedals, so anyone wanting to move it would have a tough time; b) it was an unusual item, so it would get noticed wherever it went; c) it was too heavy and unwieldly for one person to lift; and d) it had weird controls for steering, changing gears, and braking.

>>Being in a reclined position, the Sun would shine into my eyes in the morning or evening, depending on which direction I was going (east or west). I had to invent a Sun blocking attachment to my helmet to protect my eyes.

>>Also, being in a reclined position, a regular zippered rain jacket would pool water on my stomach, and then drain through the zipper into my clothes, underneath (eek!) Near the end of the trip I found a lightweight kayaking pullover jacket with no zipper and sealable neck and cuffs. This kept me drier, but I didn’t get a chance to fully test it.

-- How well did the trike hold up?
>>Not one broken spoke, probably because the wheels are 20”, so the spokes are shorter and therefore harder to break.

>>Had to replace the chain and rear gear cluster/cassette after nearly 8000 miles (probably needed to do it earlier).

>>The gear changing mechanism (deraillure) went a bit funky after a near accident in New Mexico, and I had some slight trouble adjusting it, but got it to be pretty good. That lasted a long time, but eventually got worse again. By the time I got to Maine, it got really bad; hardly any of the middle gears would shift properly. I didn’t know how to fix it, so I just lived with it until I got it to a trike mechanic in New York State. Even after that, it wasn’t quite right, but it was good enough to see me all the way home.

>>Each set of Schwalbe Big Apple tires lasted an average of about 3000 miles; I went through three sets, and ended on a fourth. I eventually figured out that I could have stretched the distance-per-set to 4000 miles.

>>Speaking of the Schwalbe tires: they were a bitch to correctly mount. Without soapy water as a lubricant, the tire bead would almost always get pinched, causing a hump on the tire, which could be felt with every revolution. There seemed to be only one way to fix it: by having soapy water, and by overinflating the tire with an air compressor (as found at most gas stations) to push the pinched tire bead out, and then deflate the tire to the desired pressure.

>>For roughly the first half of the trip, I regularly got flat tires. Then I figured out a pretty bulletproof combination of products to keep flats from happening at all. First, your tires can’t be too worn down; then, install tire liners (such as Mr. Tuffy or Stop Flats – flat, flexible strips of dense plastic that go inside the tire, between the tire and innertube); and finally, self-sealing innertubes that have goop inside them which automatically plug up small punctures.

>>I accidentally bent the left-side steering tie-rod slightly, which caused the two front tires to go out of alignment (toe-in). This caused the front tires to wear faster than normal. A simple adjustment fixed that.

>>For roughly the last 3000 miles or so, the trike developed a squeak that I couldn’t locate. It would only occur when I rode over rough or bumpy surfaces, and it happened whether it was loaded with touring gear, or not.

Again, if you have any other questions, please email me, and I’ll add them to the FAQ – how nice! (donsaito@comcast.net)

Items I ended up with:

Starboard Rear Pannier:
(top to bottom, left to right)
1- pair of regular pants
1- regular long-sleeve shirt
2- long-sleeve lightweight wool shirts
1-mid-weight long-sleeve wool shirt
1- neckerchief/face mask

1- pair swim trunks
5- pairs underwear
1- handtowel
4- pairs wool short socks
1- thin mini-towel (never used)
1- spare reflector triangle
1- reflective cycling vest

1- 100' length of nylon cord (never used)
1- MSR Firefly camp stove w/instructions, cleaning kit, and aluminum shields
1- spare innertube
2- pairs of cycling pants
10- pairs of chemical heat pads
1- camp pot and pan
2- bottles of camp soap, w/cleaning pad, lighter, handle, and vegetable steamer
1- AA battery 2-hour recharger w/power supply
1- pair of binoculars
1- 3-way electrical plug
4- aluminium tent stakes

Port Rear Pannier:
(top to bottom, left to right)
4- pairs of gloves (med-warm, warm, lightweight, extra warm)
1- bottle campstove fuel
1- headlamp
1- water-resistant jacket
1- United States passport*
1- small backpack"
1- bag of toilet items: fragrance-free shampoo, Bactine ointment, Neosporin ointment, SPF 30 KINeSYS fragrance-free spray-on sunblock, Afrin nasal spray decongestant, Shoe Goo, lip balm, nasal inhaler
1- pipe whistle
3- mini-markers (red/green/blue)
1- safety razor
1- packet of Bandaids
5- spare 20" spokes
1- bottle of Avon Skin So Soft
1- camera to TV connector
1- Garmin Foretrex 101 GPS unit
1- book (for reading at night or during downtimes)
1- HP Mini notebook computer w/protective sleeve and power supply
1- mini roll of duct tape
1- helmet cam video recording unit including recorder, camera, and camera cable
1- digital still camera battery recharging unit and cord
1- bag w/spare batteries for phone and digital camera
1- connector cord for CC Witness radio
1- AC adapter recharge unit for Bluetooth cell phone headset
1- spare set of earphones"
1- USB 4GB flash card
2- 2GB SD cards for digital still camera and helmet cam recorder
1- bag to hold small electronics
(not shown) 1-AC adapter recharge unit for cell phone
1- pair waterproof pants
*I actually kept this in the food compartment of the top-rear rack pack

Port 'Banana' Pannier:
(top to bottom, left to right)
1-lightweight felt jacket
1-6' inflatable mattress pad
1-set of tent poles
1-heavy-duty plastic mat/rain guard for top rack-pack
1-roll of spare trash bags
1-REI quarter-dome one-man tent w/fly
3-hammock set-up ropes
1-Moskito Hammock
1-bag of aluminium tent stakes and parts

Starboard 'Banana' Pannier:
(top to bottom, left to right)
1- REI synthetic fill sleeping bag
1- Collapsible folding mosquito headnet
1- knit cap
1- 6'x5' ground tarp
4- spare ropes
1- garbage bag to keep sleeping bag drier

Rear Rack Pack (w/two fold-out panniers):
Topmost compartment:
(left to right, top to bottom)
1- spare large wire tie for undercarriage chain guards
1- plastic bag for spare cycle shoe cleats, spare master links, screws, etc.
1- hand operated air pump
1- 4 oz bottle of chain lube
1- 2 oz bottle of teflon lubricant
1- Topeak Mini 18 Multi-Tool
3- tire levers
1- small crescent wrench

2- cycle shoe plain-sole inserts
1- Planet Bike Superflash rear bike light
1- mini pepper spray
1- 3-color LED flashlight
1- CO2 tire inflator
6- CO2 cartridges
1- tire inflation guage
1- roll of fluorescent tape (for making flags)
1- spare earplug, metric screw, and odd bits
1- bag of spare rubber gloves, more earplugs, and innertube segments (for emergency brakes)
3- boxes of Super Patch, innertube repair patches
1- bag of spare iPod covers, napkins, and odd bits
1- spare lighter
1- 4GB USB flash drive (2nd one)
2- spare velcro straps
1- pen, lip balm, campstove lubricant, mini LED light, and 3 spare strings

Food compartment (mostly):
1- plastic rain cap for helmet
1- combination cable lock (sat on top of rack pack)
1- spare Stop Flat tire liner
1- butane gas canister (for lighter)
1- spare bungee cord
1- shoe horn
1- Andean wind flute
1- set-fork/spoon/knife
1- metal mini tripod
1- pair chemical glow sticks
1- Joby tripod
1- mini sewing kit in a tube
1- hacky sack
4- Gatorade powder packs (make 1 qt each)
2- Power Bars
4- Gatorade powder packs (make 1 pt each)
2- Meat 'n Cheese stick packs
3- Nature Valley breakfast bars
1- Pack of M&Ms Peanut
1- Pay Day candy bar
1- quart bottle of trail mix (approx 1/3 full)
1- electric toothbrush + dental floss
1- stick of Glide Anti-Chafe creme
1- electric razor
1- scrubby pad (another)
1- handtowel (aka "croth" - "crotch cloth")
4- battery holders, two of which have 4 AA rechargeable batteries in them
1- 120GB external hard drive
2- Subway sandwich bags (used as waterproof sock protectors)

The yellow jacket underneath (Kokatat) was stowed in a fold-out side-pannier of the rack pack, as were the electric shaver, anti-chafe stick, plastic shower cap, bungee cord, and trailmix bottle. The shoehorn, battery packs, and external hard drive shared space in a small, flat pocket at the rear of the rack pack.

Trip Summary is coming!

2009-11-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hi all: Thanks for hanging out with me -it's been a blast! I'm working on the summary, now, and will post it within a few more days. After that, I'll really be done (holy shmoly!) If you have any questions, please do let me know, and I will answer them in the trip FAQ.

Until we meet again, happy trails, and may the stars shine down upon you!

Cheerios! (crunch, crunch)
;~Don

2009-11-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty-nine, Date Saturday, November 14, 2009
Time in Saddle: 3:38
Distance for the Day: 27.86 miles From Stinson Bch To San Francisco, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,613 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 32’/22’, Highest: 207’ Accumulated: 806’
Speeds: Avg: 7.6 mph, Max: 30.1 mph
Weather: 40°
Expenditures: $13

I woke up all through the night every now and then, but would go right back to sleep, again (as usual). Once, at 4:15am, I poked my head out to check the weather and to see the beautiful stars. Orion was now leaning down, heading toward the western horizon; Mars was in Cancer, Sirius sparkled like “a diamond in the sky.” At 6am, I woke up for real, and got up to see a thin crescent Moon while I broke down my gear as the dawn brightened. Venus just popped its head up over the hills, and Sirius was still visible, though no other constellations were. There was quite a lot of moisture on the inside and outside of my tent fly, but I ignored it, as I knew I’d have plenty of time later, to dry out all my stuff. There was a pretty heavy stream of clouds coming out of the Golden Gate, beyond the town of Stinson to the south. I hoped they wouldn’t be sitting on any of the hills I planned to ascend. I didn’t see it last night, but at the further end of the lot, there was a small sign that said ‘no camping.’ Well, I don’t consider what I do really camping per se; I call it ‘overnighting,’ as I don’t light a fire, or cook food, or lounge around enjoying the scenery (much). I just set up my tent, hop inside, and after a while, go to sleep. Then in the morning, I get up before sunrise, break down, and am out of there without bothering anyone, and usually, without anyone even knowing I was there. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. I’m sure by now, you’re quite familiar with my modus operandi, but I might not have ever explained how I justify my actions, which are admittedly not necessarily aligned to the letter of the law, but are so harmless, it’s hard to imagine anyone being even more than mildly irritated. Except, of course, for Mr. Pecs (Day Eighty-seven).

I made it into the town of Stinson Beach, proper, at 7:20am. I passed the familiar businesses along the way, noticed they had a new library I’d never seen before (I’m very familiar with this town, as I fly my hang glider from nearby Mt. Tamalpais, and land on the beach, here.) I stopped in at the mini mart, but they wouldn’t open until 8am, so I just pushed on.

After climbing up from Stinson along Hwy 1 on the ocean-facing mountains of the Marin headlands, it being Saturday morning, I called my Auntie M at 7:55am and chatted with her while looking out over spectacular ocean views. She was very excited that I would finish my excursion, and would be coming home. I could see the land across the waters of the Golden Gate, and could see the Farallon Islands away off in the ocean to the west. I continued to slowly work my way up this mountain, and quickly enough took off my jacket because as cold as it was, I was starting to sweat. I topped the mountain at 8:50am, and had a nice coasting ride all the way down into Marin City, where I stopped for breakfast at the Shorline Coffee Shop. I ordered eggs, toast, hot cocoa and hash browns ($13), and ate from about 9:15am to 10am. From there, I went into Sausalito to look for the route into the Ft. Baker Military Reservation that Street Atlas said was there, but for the last time, it tried to take me straight up a super-steep hill. On consulting with a local, I found out the route I wanted to find was a road that literally turned into a set of stairs. Hokay. I gave up on that route, and just took the road/bicycle route out of Sausalito towards the Golden Gate Bridge. It was getting pretty late in the morning – almost noon, by now. I had posted in my blog that I expected to finish some time between 1pm and 3pm, and I thought I’d better not try to get into the military reservation, or I’d be late. Along the way, though, I re-discovered the tunnel road that led into the military reservation (I’d been on it before, but coming from the other direction), and decided I could still make it without being too late. So, I rode the easy path that included a cycle lane, through the tunnel and into the military reservation. From there, I was able to find the road that would take me up and over the small mountain to the south Marin headlands, which has these amazing views of the GG Bridge and San Francisco. The grade was moderately steep, and shorter than I remembered, so I reached the top a lot quicker than I thought. I stopped to take some pictures and set up my helmet cam, and then continued down the steep road to the cyclist entry of the Golden Gate Bridge. I thought I might have to navigate some stairs getting onto the sidewalk that I would ride across, but either they changed it to make it easier, or I just forgot how easy it was, but all I had to do was ride through a large parking lot filled with cars and other cyclists (getting a lot of smiles as I whizzed past), and then zipped up and onto the bridge’s pedestrian and cycle path. I crossed the mid-span of the GG Bridge at 12:50pm, took some pictures, and headed down into Ft. Point to greet my family and friends.

After reaching the south end of the bridge, I proceeded to the road that took me down to Ft. Point, right at water level, and was heading toward my original Start Point 8 months, 14 days ago, when my old boss, Bill T, called my name. Hi Bill! We chatted as we continued the few dozen more yards to the Start Point in front of the fort, and when we got there, I looked around, and no one else that I knew was there. Hey! Where were my adoring fans? Nobody. Well that was a bit of an anti-climax. Eventually, family and friends did start to show up. Nobody thought I would be on time, so no one except Bill showed up on time. I had no idea I had such a reputation, but, as was pointed out to me later: in my earlier blogs, I described on several different occasions how I would misestimate arrival times, so that’s why everyone thought I would be late, this time. Demitol. Here’s who eventually did show up: my former boss, Bill T of the University of California; fellow amateur astronomy friends and co-volunteers, Debbie D and Rod S; former co-worker Steve O and his girlfriend Vicky; my sister Bev and her husband Hector; my hang gliding buddy Dave G; and my brother Rich and his wife, Dian (who had to come the furthest – from south San Jose!) After all the celebratory congratulations, hugs, handshakes and fielding a gazillion questions about the trip, folks started to leave, so at around 2:30pm, we loaded my trike into my brother’s truck, and then left Ft. Point at 3pm, heading over the Bay Bridge to Oakland, and home. Once there, we unloaded stored my trike in the garage, and then went over to pick up my uncle to go out for a celebration dinner at a fancy restaurant (Skates), in the Berkeley marina. After *that*, we all said ‘goodnight,’ and went back to our various homes. I got to sleep in my own bed, again: quiet, warm, dry, with all the familiar LEDs silently and gently blinking me to sleep. Well, I’m back.

Day Two Hundred Fifty-eight, 091113 - Stinson Beach, CA

2009-11-22T10:26:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty-eight, Date Friday, November 13, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:47
Distance for the Day: 63.71 miles From Jenner To Stinson Beach, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,585 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 92’/32’, Highest: 223’ Accumulated: 1387’
Speeds: Avg: 9.3 mph, Max: 41.6 mph
Weather: 43° clear and cool, warming to the mid-60s
Expenditures: $30

I woke and got up at 6:15am to a perfectly clear sky, with a bit of breeze out of the north. The light of day was enough that I couldn’t see the stars, but the crescent Moon stood out in the pale blue in sharp relief. Someone from the fort was walking outside the walls, coming up from the ocean headlands, and probably noticed me, but I was halfway done breaking down, and they were several hundred yards away, so I didn’t worry much about it. I rolled out at 6:55am with the light of day continuing to brighten; a beautiful, peaceful day on the Pacific. Last night, I heard a dozen or more coyotes across the highway and up in the hills go into an extended chorus, cows mooing in the field (also across the road), and a couple of hoot owls this morning. Sure is a noisy neighborhood, around here. Early on along the way, I saw a vulture soar cross the crescent Moon, forming a kind of mystic ‘x’ in the sky. When I got to the town of Jenner, I stopped from 8:50am to 9:04am for a mini mart breakfast of hot cocoa, muffin and Danish + food items ($10). I continued down the coast, stopping now and then to take pictures. Passing through Bodega Bay, I made certain the birds weren’t acting strangely (see Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds). I stopped at an internet café in Tomales for lunch at 12:40am, where I got a hot pastrami sandwich and soda ($11), and posted the ETA to the blogsite, as promised. I continued on at 2:04pm; the sky was still mostly clear, but now had a thin, high layer of cirrus clouds that filtered the Sun a bit. I had now entered the first, somewhat familiar terrain I’d seen since leaving Seattle, having been this far north along the coast once before, long ago, and stopped in Pt. Reyes from 3:45pm – 4:05pm to get ice cream ($3) at the grocery store. (Actually, I *did* visit the coast near Mendocino once, on an outing from my former boss’ Joe A’s home in Comptche – he would invite his staff there every now and then just for the fun of it. I didn’t recognize the area, though.) Back in Pt. Reyes, I also visited the used book store to trade in my old book (Mutation), and got another thin book: Six Arguments for Atheism ($6) – ought to be interesting.

It was still a good 17 miles to Stinson Beach, and with less than an hour before sunset, I knew I’d probably be riding in the dark to make it there, but I resolved to do it, no matter what, and I did pretty good – by the time I did get to just before Stinson, the sun had already set, but it was twilight, and still light enough for me to see the road and surrounding land fairly well. I found a semi-large lot off the side of the road at about 5:20pm, with a couple of piles of debris, one of which I could hide behind enough to go unnoticed by the drivers passing by (N37 55.856’ W122 41.340’). I parked behind the bigger pile, and waited for it to get darker. Once it did, I set up my tent, cloaked my trike, and was inside by 5:55pm with food, soda, and new book. I recorded the daily stats before munching, drinking, and reading, and went to sleep by 8:15pm. Tomorrow, I knew I’d be doing some mountain climbing, but I’ve done these hills before, and as I recalled, they weren’t too terribly bad. Of course, there were a lot of differences between the last time I did this route, and now: I was at least 15 years younger the last time I did them, but my legs weren’t nearly as developed as they are, now; but I wasn’t hauling an 80 lb. load back then, either; but my old bike didn’t have the low gears this trike has. Overall, I thought it should be pretty easy, and should go fairly quick. We’ll see. You know, for a Friday the thirteenth, this one wasn’t bad.

Day Two Hundred Fifty-seven, 091112 - Jenner, CA

2009-11-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty-seven, Date Thursday, November 12, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:34
Distance for the Day: 63.94 miles From Albion To Jenner, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,521 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 19’/92’, Highest: 136’ Accumulated: 1383’
Speeds: Avg: 9.7 mph, Max: 43.9 mph
Weather: 38° clear and cold, warming to the low-to-mid 60s
Expenditures: $35

As is often the case, I woke up at various times during the night, and got up briefly at 2am to drink the rest of my ‘reserve’ soda, then woke up for real at 6:11am, and got up at 6:15am. There were two more cars around 5am or 6am that left the area this morning (I wondered if they were the two cars that went in last night). A lovely crescent Moon hung fairly high in the southeast in the totally clear sky. The dawn was bright enough I couldn’t see any stars; I could hear a flock of redwing blackbirds in the reeds between myself, and the Navarro River. I broke camp, stowed my gear, and was ready to roll by 6:49am. A slight breeze blew, but the big surprise was that clear sky; I wasn’t expecting that. From the weather predictions I got while up at the 3Ps, I thought it would be at least partly cloudy or even a bit of rain. I guess heading south got me out of the cold front’s path, except I thought I took that into account by checking weather forecasts for points down along the coast. Anyways, I wasn’t complaining. I stopped in the town of Elk from 8:15am to 8:41am for a breakfast of eggs, toast, and hot cocoa ($10) at Queenie’s Roadside Café. I talked a while with a local, Brett, who owns a house that is almost right on the edge of an escarpment facing the ocean – lucky guy. We chatted about my trip, and I gave him a tip on how to view more green flashes (use binoculars just before the last bit of Sun disappears). Continuing on, the Sun was now shining brightly, but it was still very cool, out. I would have to start using my face mask, again, to keep the UV off me. I stopped for 10 minutes at 10am to do my civic duty, and picked up dozens of nails and U-tacks that some knucklehead dropped on the road – each one a potential flat for cars and cyclists. I threw them into the bushes, out of harms way, and noticed they were a bit rusty, so they must have been there at least a week. I was a bit disappointed that no one else bothered to take a few minutes to pick up those nails and prevent innocent people from getting flat tires. Not always, but every now and then, I pick up or shove off debris from the shoulders. Of course, being so close to the ground makes this possible.

I stopped in Manchester at 10:30am for food drink items ($10), and stopped in Anchor Bay at 12:20pm for lunch. I already had the 2nd half of my Subway sandwich from yesterday, so I just got a side of fries and soda ($9) (expensive!) I also stopped for a few minutes in Gualala at 1:12pm to get more drink and chili cheese chips ($6). I was a little concerned for my progress, because the coastline was just so beautiful, I kept stopping to take pictures. It was necessary, though, not just to capture all those aesthetic views, but to also give me poor legs some rest stops. It was getting so bad, I would limp for a minute after getting up, before I could walk normally, again; that never happened to me before. I think my body was in anticipation for the end game, and was saying, “Okay, since we’re so close to finishing, now I can fall apart.” I hate it when my body anticipates. Like when you have to relieve yourself, and you can see you’re getting close to a relief station (a bathroom), and your body prematurely begins the dump sequence countdown, making the situation much more urgent than it was, just by the power of a thought. It’s even worse if the anticipated bathroom is for some reason unavailable. There you are, ready to blast off, and the launch pad is gone. I thought up an (I think) original expression for situations like that: “When the chocolate dogs come scratching at the back door, the hounds must be released!” It’s a bit crude, I know, but it’s just so true. If you’re truly strong, you can pucker up with Herculean effort and delay the launch, but it’s tough. Do those Kegel exercises!

The whole day had been beautifully clear with mild temps, and even a light breeze out of the north (a tailwind - yes!) The terrain was still relatively tough – always some degree of up or down, and as described yesterday, there were lots of those fingers of water that poked inland, creating short but steep descents and ascents. As evening approached, I found a reasonably good stealth campsite at 4:45pm (N38 30.870’ W123 14.408’). This site seemed to be an historic cemetery, perhaps associated with the historic fort complex (Ft. Ross, as I found out later) several hundred yards to the north, across a ravine. It had odd-looking crosses to mark the graves. There weren’t any signs saying ‘keep out,’ or ‘private property,’ or anything else, and there was an opening in the low picket fence that I could *just* barely squeeze my trike through, which I did. I then waited about 15 minutes to watch the sunset on the ocean. I could hear children playing at the fort, but it was several hundred yards away, and I didn’t see any lights from buildings, or any people, so I figured I was pretty safe, there. There were clouds on the horizon, so even with binoculars, I only saw some hints of the green flash as the Sun went below the somewhat sharply defined clouds. I continued to wait about another 20-30 minutes for it to get darker before setting up my tent as far from the road as possible, without making myself too visible to the caretaker occupants of the fort. I finished setting up at 5:50pm and hopped in by 6pm to munch, drink soda, and finish my book (this one was a pretty quick read). I now had less than 90 miles to San Francisco, which meant doing two 45 mile days, if I took it slow and easy. If I went my usual pace, I could probably make it back to my Start Point by late morning or early afternoon of Saturday, November 14th. I would wait until most of tomorrow to verify my progress, before getting online to post my ETA for the hoards of my adoring fans (all ten of ‘em) who wanted to be there when I arrived.

Day Two Hundred Fifty-six, 091111 - Albion, CA

2009-11-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty-six, Date Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:50
Distance for the Day: 54.48 miles From Westport To Albion, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,457 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 1208’/19’ Highest: 372’ Accumulated: 1038’
Speeds: Avg: 9.3 mph, Max: 37.1 mph
Weather: 44°, solidly overcast, but no rain
Expenditures: $16

As ususal, I woke up at various times throughout the night and morning. I really woke up at 6am, and got up at 6:30am. I packed up my gear, and was ready to roll by 7:10am. I had a quickie breakfast of meat and cheese stick and Pay Day bar, before starting out, heading towards the Pacific coast. I had stopped and camped last night a bit past the peak of this coastal mountain range, so I started today with a fast roller coaster ride of several miles downhill (wheee!) before reaching the coast at 9:45am. I stopped a few miles down the coast at the first mini mart I found for a second breakfast of choco milk and Danish ($5) (things are pretty expensive on the coast). Now that I could see the sky, again, I noticed a medium-thick, high overcast; the Sun shone faintly through it sometimes, but not a patch of blue. The terrain along the coast was a lot flatter – there were still *some* meager hills to contend with, but nothing major. However, every time there was a spot along the coast where a finger of water poked into the land, the road would always follow the outline of that ‘finger,’ and turn inland, go steeply downhill, turn sharply around the tip of the finger, and go steeply uphill, before following along the coast, again. There must have been dozens of these, and they were a pain, as in, “ouch!” me poor legs. The real insult was not being able to use the momentum gained from doing the downhill speed-up, due to the sharp turn back out towards the ocean. I had to brake to make the corner, I’d flip the trike. A tour-loaded bicycle would perhaps do a little better in these instances, but not by much, I don’t think.

I got to Ft. Bragg at 12:45pm, and stopped to have a Subway meal deal ($8) while I charged up my notebook and answered email (there was a working wi-fi signal there – I love it when that happens). I left at 3pm, and continued down the coast, stopping once to get a bit more food and drink for the evening ($3)

I kept going until after sunset before looking for a stealth camp location, and at 5:15pm, I saw a ‘coastal access’ sign on a side road, so I took it down a few hundred yards. I figured it must be a dead end, so there should be no or little traffic, and found a flat, level spot on the grass at the side of the road next to the Navarro River to set up my tent (N39 11.798’ W123 45.053’). I was set up, cloaked, and inside with munchies, soda, and book by 5:47pm. Two cars did pass by, heading down, but that was it for the night (that I noticed). I was about 5 miles north of Elk, and figured if I could keep up my current pace, I should make it home by this coming Saturday or Sunday. That was a bit of an odd concept to grasp, mentally. Done? Finished? Over? Nahhh! Yeah!

Day Two Hundred Fifty-five, 091110 - Westport, CA

2009-11-22T10:20:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty-five, Date Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:44
Distance for the Day: 43.40 miles From Miranda To Westport, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,403 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 201’/1208’, Highest: 1910’ Accumulated: 4009’
Speeds: Avg: 7.5 mph, Max: 36.9 mph
Weather: 49° overcast but without rain
Expenditures: $25

I woke and got up at 6:54am – a little later than usual for me – the late night blogging at the 3Ps must have finally caught up, but I was now fully rested. It was solidly overcast this morning, but it didn’t feel like it would rain. As predicted, the traffic noise from the local road died out late in the evening, and the noise from Hwy 101 was too far away to be of much bother, so I got a decent night’s sleep. I packed up and was ready to roll by 7:04am, and continued on through the last third of the Avenue of the Giants, which ended in Garberville. Along the way, I stopped briefly at The Legend of Bigfoot Gift Shop to get a couple of drinks, and also picked up an interesting, scallop-shaped Andean ocarina flute (I like flutes), just for the heck of it ($10), and continued on. I stopped at Garberville at 10am to get a mini mart breakfast of hot cocoa, and a couple of pre-packaged pastries ($3), and to recharge my notebook. The next time I stopped, it was at a mini mart in Leggett where I got a late lunch (burger and food/drink items - $12) at 2:20pm, and left at 3:02pm. From here, my route split off to the southwest from Hwy 101 onto Hwy 1; it was a bit of a climb – up almost a thousand feet in elevation through dense forest on narrow, winding road, before it began to go downhill, again. Traffic was very light, though, so I didn’t have any problems.

At 4:50pm, I found a stealth camp on the downhill side of Leggett Hill; a gravel pile (I love gravel piles) in a lot off the road looked like it might have potential. But there was a trail at the back of the lot that I could ride and get still further from the road. I didn’t go very far – just far enough to be well hidden from the road (N39 48.659’ W123 47.343’). Traffic was light, and would get lighter as it became darker, so the noise level would be minimal. I set my tent up on a moist carpet of pine needles, and hopped inside by 5:15pm with munchies, soda, and book. I read until about 9pm before saying goodnight to myself. This was a nice site, as I could read without worrying about anyone seeing my light. Also, this site was almost disturbingly quiet. No sound at all. No wind, dripping water, birds – no nothing! I felt like I was in a soundproof studio – very odd, indeed. In fact, it was a bit spooky, but in a good way.

My legs today and yesterday were a fair bit more painful than usual with the somewhat heavy climbing, today; I just had to kind of grin and bear it. I would have thought they would be better after having rested a few days, but I think I’m noticing a trend that whenever I stop cycling for more than 3 or 4 days, starting back up again is a painful process. The pain was from the muscles, not the knee joints, so the usual leg stretches didn’t help. Maybe just before I finish, I’ll figure out some quick and easy solution for the relief of muscular pain. Oh, this was a little disappointing: before hitting Leggett, I saw a highway sign that said, “199 miles to SF” (progress – yay!), but later, after going past that sign at least 5 or 10 miles, once I got onto Hwy 1 heading for the coast, I saw another sign that said, “208 miles to SF.” Anti-progress – phooey! This must have been a longer route – not too surprising, as coastal routes tend to wind around a bit more than inland routes – but still.

Day Two Hundred Fifty-four, 091109 - Miranda, CA

2009-11-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty-four, Date Monday, November 9, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:37
Distance for the Day: 64.12 miles From Arcata To Miranda, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,359 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 376’/201’, Highest: 431’ Accumulated: unknown
Speeds: Avg: 9.6 mph, Max: 32.1 mph
Weather: 53° light, intermittent rain throughout most of the day
Expenditures: $2

Packed my trike back up, got and gave hugs, and said my goodbyes to the 3Ps. That was the first time I’d ever visited them in Arcata, though they’ve been there for more than a decade. It’s such a nice place, I’ll definitely have to visit more often. By 8:28am I was just about ready to leave and of course, it started to rain! However, I was almost glad, because it gave me a chance to try out the new, lightweight Kokatat kayaking jacket I’d just bought. It wasn’t too bad – the rain was light and intermittent, but when it did come down, the jacket’s rubberized and Velcroed seals around my neck and wrists worked quite well to keep the water from seeping into and soaking my shirt. Of course, since the design was a zipperless, waterproof pull-over with sealed neck and cuffs, I got a little steamy underneath it from my exertions, but nothing like the soaking wet of seeping rainwater. Whenever it wasn’t raining, I’d open up the collar seal and get a bit of flow-through ventilation, which helped keep me from getting drenched by my own sweat. (I would have liked to have tested this garment further, but wouldn’t you know it: that was the last rain I would get for the rest of the trip.) The only thing I purchased this day was a soda ($2) which I saved for the evening.

Not long after leaving Arcata and Eureka, I hit the town of Fortuna, and the beginning of the Avenue of the Giants, so called because the highway runs through a forest of giant redwood trees – the largest remaining stand of virgin redwoods in the world, in fact. It was very beautiful, even in the rotten weather, even though I was seeing it from the highway – an amazing forest of gigantic trees, some more than three hundred feet high. I had plenty of time to look at them, as the route was mostly rolling hills – this being a major highway, they weren’t steep, but could be long. On the uphills, my goggles would fog up, so I just took them off – the Sun wasn’t shining, and there wasn’t any wind, to speak of. No reason to be half blind in the middle of all this natural beauty.

The day ended in a pretty heavy overcast, so I couldn’t quite tell when sunset was, but it started to get significantly darker at 5pm, so I began to look for a turnoff from the highway so I look for a stealth camp. I took an exit just past Miranda, and went up a short, steep, dead-end road. There were some semi-trashy looking houses nearby, and the road ended at a couple of gates. Nothing really great, here; the possible places to set up were exposed, and not even very level. You definitely want mostly level when sleeping on the ground – otherwise, you have this nasty tendency to slide to the downhill side of the tent. I rode back down, crossed under the highway, and headed south a few hundred yards on a side road, which then crossed a short bridge over the Eel River. I saw that most of the riverbed was dry gravel, and thought I might be able to find someplace by the river to set up. It was a good 40’ feet below me, though, and so any nearby access to it would probably be pretty steep. Right after the bridge, there was a steep (told ya) dirt and gravel road that led down to the river. Just past the entrance to the road on the side, though, was a small, level patch of grass. Hmmm! The spot was still somewhat visible from the road, and car headlights would sort of glance off me, but I don’t think anyone would notice my presence, especially once I cloaked my trike. So, at 5:10pm, in the gathering gloom of early evening, I set up on that spot (N40 13.090’ W123 48.921’), hopped inside at 5:48pm, recorded the end-of-day stats, munched trail mix, drank soda, and read my new Robin Cook book, Mutation, until 8:30pm before getting too drowsy to continue. I was pretty tired from all the late nights of blogging the past few days, so I slept quite well. There wasn’t any rain, at the moment, but the trees overhanging my tent dripped a bit – not too bad. It rained a bit more during the night, but it was light, and by the wee hours, it stopped completely, and only the drips from the trees pattered down. I was awakened by a bit of rain during the night, but it was brief, and didn’t keep me up.

Day Two Hundred Fifty-two thru three, 091107-8 - Arcata, CA

2009-11-22T10:17:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty-two thru three, Date Saturday, November 7-8, 2009

Spent most of the time Saturday and Sunday blogging – so tough. Only came up for air at mealtimes, though we all went out to see the big storm waves out at the North Jetty. After we got back, we had leftovers for Saturday dinner – it doesn't sound like much, but you must remember: I'm used to the day-old half of a Subway sandwich, or a hangerber (sic) from Burger King or a cafe, for dinner. Leftovers of home-cooked meals were still a bit like heaven, to me. On Sunday, I finished up blogging and posted them to the web by the late afternoon (finally!) Pat and I went grocery shopping, and we also rented the DVD Coraline which included four sets of those green and red glasses so we could watch it in 3D. And speaking of 3D, I showed my young second cousin, Parker, how to take and view 3D pictures with his digital camera, and sakes alive! He *really* got into it! He started taking 3D pictures, uploading them to the computer, and viewing them using the cross-eye technique. He did this over and over, all evening. We had a wonderful home-cooked dinner of pork chops, rice, and corn on the cob, and then watched the movie, which was very entertaining. The 3D was pretty cool, but the red/green glasses made the film pretty much black and white. Afterwards, we watched a bit of the non-3D version, and could then see the colors. I did a final check on the weather (looked like a few days of light rain), and then went to my quiet, warm, dry spot on the guest room rug to sleep. Ahhh!

Estimated Time of Arrival

2009-11-13T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I should get back to the starting point (the base of the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge) sometime around 1pm - 3pm, tomorrow, Saturday, November 14. If I'm completely late, I'll phone my brother, Rich, or sister, Bev (whoever I can get first) to let them know.

In another day or so, I'll post the final daily blogs, sum up the experience, and answer any questions anyone has. Oh, I also have a bunch of videos to post, and I'll also update the trip's Google Maps, too.

Thanks for following along! It's been an incredible experience - an experience of a lifetime, and it was nice to have company along the way.

Cheerios! (crunch, crunch)
;~Don

Special Announcement (091111) - The End is Near!

2009-11-08T04:44:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Well, it seems amazing to me, but I'm almost back to my starting point, about 8.5 months from when I started this crazy trip on March 1st, 2009. I should reach the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge this weekend (Sat/Sun November 14 or 15). I will post my best estimate for the exact time I expect to make it on this blogsite, this Friday, Nov 13 (lucky, eh what?) I will ride down to the parking lot at Ft. Point, which is below the South Tower, in San Francisco. There may be a group of people, mostly friends and relatives, to greet me. Feel free to join in the fun, if you want. Thanks for your encouragement, well wishes, and general support while I was 'out there!' It really helped to keep me going. Cheerios! (crunch, crunch) ;~Don

Day Two Hundred Fifty-one, 091106 - Arcata, CA

2009-11-08T04:40:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty-one, Date Friday, November 6, 2009

Time in Saddle: n/a

Distance for the Day: n/a

Accumulated Trip Distance: n/a

Altitudes: n/a

Speeds: n/a Weather: low 50s to low 60s, mostly overcast but no rain

Expenditures: $129

We loaded my trike into Pat’s bio-diesel fuelled Volkswagon sedan, as she wanted to show it to someone she knew at Adventure’s Edge, a sporting goods store that had a particular emphasis on kayaking and water sports, besides the usual hiking, biking, camping stuff. I’d mentioned that my rain jacket always leaked, and she knew AE had much more watertight clothes, designed for kayakers. We first went out to lunch at the Japanese restaurant, Tomo. You should have seen her face when she discovered I’d stealthily paid the bill – shock and dismay! That was pretty funny, but she got me back at dinner. Then, we went over to the sport store, and the first thing I saw after entering the door? Joby tripods! I bought one on the spot ($25). Pete showed up a few minutes later, and we looked at the different options for watertight jackets. One was a light-weight, rubberized cloth design went for about $100, which seemed pretty good, and another one I tried on was $400 – much more industrial strength, made with Gore-Tex, neoprene neck and cuffs, etc. Since I would only be traveling for a week or so more, before finishing, I opted for the cheaper, lighter design ($104). It uses Velcro fasteners to seal the rubberized wrist cuffs and neck against the seepage of water, which is just where my current rain jacket lets water in. Of course, it doesn’t breathe much, so there’s the chance that I’ll still get soaked with my own sweat, but I’ve noticed that if it’s cool enough, I don’t sweat that much, and so I’m hoping any rain I encounter will be successfully repelled without eventual seepage, and I’ll be able to remain dry and warm. The folks at Adventure’s Edge had to send someone out to the Kokatat factory, which just happened to be in Arcata(!), to get the model, size, and color I wanted. While we were waiting, Pat had contacted the local small paper, The Arcata Eye, and they sent over Terrence McNally to interview me about my trip. I told him my story, and he took some pictures of me, and I took some pictures of him and Pat for my blog, and so that was the fourth small paper I’ve been interviewed by, about my trip – cool!
That evening, we went out to a really nice steak house restaurant, and then came home where I tried to continue blogging, but was too tired, and just went to bed ‘early’ (before midnight) with the resolve to resume work early in the morning.

Day Two Hundred Fifty, 091105 - Arcata, CA

2009-11-08T04:38:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Fifty, Date Thursday, November 5, 2009
Time in Saddle: n/a
Distance for the Day: n/a
Accumulated Trip Distance: n/a
Altitudes: n/a
Speeds: n/a
Weather: low 50s to low 60s, mostly overcast but no rain
Expenditures: $0

Spent the day continuing to catch up (ie, yakking). We went out to lunch at a nice soup and salad place; I got to see their printer toner cartridge recharging business – a relatively simple and easy operation they run with speed and service as their main modus operandi, which keeps their customers coming back. We had a delicious meal of two types of ravioli: chicken and spinach, and steamed broccoli, yummm! Then we watched the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, with Greg Kinnear and Alan Arkin (funny – touching).

Day Two Hundred Forty-nine, 091104 - Arcata, CA

2009-11-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-nine, Date Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Time in Saddle: 4:20
Distance for the Day: 36.57 miles From Orick To Arcata, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,295 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 24’/376’, Highest: ?? Accumulated: ??
Speeds: Avg: 8.4 mph, Max: 36.09 mph
Weather: 43°
Expenditures: $11

I woke up at 5:50am, and got up at 6:04am. I did manage to get some sleep despite the traffic, ocean, and horse noises that filtered through my earplugs. Oh, yeah: I didn’t notice them last night, but I could hear ocean waves breaking this morning, though I couldn’t see the ocean – it must have been just over a small rise to the west. I broke down and packed away my gear, except for my tarp, which had gotten a bit of mud on it from the ground. This is actually quite rare, as I’m careful to not put it down on actual dirt – always trying for gravel, pavement, grass, or straw. I set it out to dry, some, and went into the mini mart for breakfast. I got a hot cocoa, Danish, blueberry muffin, and some food and drink items for the road ($8). After eating, I took my hand towel and wiped the bits of mud on my tarp off, then folded it up, and stowed it away. At 7:18am, I took off to continue south on coastal Hwy 101. Almost immediately, and no big surprise after hearing the pounding surf, I came to the ocean, and followed alongside it for quite a while. Then something strange happened: at 10:24am/12,276 miles: my front left tire got a flat (#14, I believe) – it’s not supposed to do that! I stopped to fix it, and found that it wasn’t due to a puncture from some sharp object off the road, but a flaw in the manufacture of the tube, itself. It was a Slime brand tube, and a short fissure on the *inside* surface of the tube wall (the side that goes against the rim, as opposed to the side that faces the road) decided to fail this morning, and leak air. The fissure was too much for the Slime sealant to deal with, so the tire went flat. Just for the record: once a self-healing innertube develops a leak, patching it won’t work – period. I’ve tried this before, but thought I’d try one more time, just to make sure, and sure enough, the liquid self-sealant worked past the patch before I could even pump the tire back up to full pressure, so the tire couldn’t be filled. I once again took the tire off, pulled out the Slime tube, and installed my one spare (regular) innertube. I then rode a few miles to the gas station in Trinidad at 11:25am to set all three of my trike’s tire pressures right, and got the two front tire beads correctly set, too. That was a bit of a job in and of itself. I put a couple of good dollops of shampoo in a water bottle to make a soapy solution. I then deflated my tires, and poured the solution over the tires, making sure it got between the tire and rim by rubbing it in with my hand. It still took three tries on the right-side tire before the bead set correctly – whew! Those Schwalbe tires are great, but *man* they’re a pain to mount. After that, I picked up some supplies in the mini mart ($12) and ate the other half of my Subway sandwich, a ruby red grapefruit drink, and some trailmix for lunch, while charging my notebook. I then took off at 12:45pm to go the 14 or so more miles to Arcata, home of the Three Peas (my cousin Pat, her husband Pete, and their son, Parker).

The weather changed from sunny and cool in about a half-hour to cloudy and cold, but by the time I made Arcata around 2:30pm, it became mostly clear, again. Following signs pointing the way, I left Hwy 101 to follow the Pacific Coast bicycle trail to a rails-to-trails route, which was very scenic. It went across a narrow bridge over a channel of water, and through farm and ranch land, where I encountered several other cyclists, including a recumbent bicycle – cool! When I got into town, I found a mini mart for a bathroom break and got an ice cream ($3). I asked the fellow there if there was a bicycle shop nearby, and he pointed out the window kitty-corner across the street, and there it was! Not too surprising, since it was on the Pacific Coast cycling route. I went over and got a new spare innertube, plus a bottle of do-it-yourself tire sealant goop ($14), which had enough to do two tires, which was perfect. I immediately put the goop into the new spare innertube I’d just bought, and I also put it in the innertube that I installed to replace my recent flat. The bike shop had an air compressor, free for use, so I used it to reinflate my two just-gooped tires, and I was all set. I called Pat at 3:22pm to let her know I was now in town and asked if she knew a good bookstore (where I could replace the one I’d just finished). She told me where two were, and they were only a few blocks from where I was, so I headed over to the used book store, and traded my old book in for store credit, and went looking for a new book. As I was perusing the store, looking at book titles on their spines, I noticed a familiar face off to the side – it was Pete! He was driving by, knew I was close, and saw my trike outside. He just stopped in to say ‘hi,’ and find out what my immediate plans were. We chatted a bit, and then he left me to continue my peruse. Then, a few minutes later, Pat and her son Parker showed up, too! She decided she didn’t want to wait for me to get to their house, so she and Parker came to the bookstore, first. Pete came back to the bookstore, too, so we all chatted a bit, and they gave me access to their account at this bookstore for when I eventually made my pick – how nice! They all took off back home, I finally made my pick (Robin Cook: Mutation, a medical thriller) and purchased it with my trade-in book credit and their account, and took off for their house in the hills above Arcata.

Wow. As I slowly ground my way up the steep streets approaching their house, it occurred to me that out of the five relatives I have stayed with during this trip, three of them lived atop these hellacious hills – and this one took the cake. It was even worse than Auntie Elsie’s home in Los Angeles, for sheer steepness and length. As I approached the last stretch of road that led to their house, a couple of dogs started barking at me, getting louder and more urgent as I continued to approach, ignoring their warnings. They belonged to the 3Ps, and were so freaked out by my slow approach in the face of their protestations, they stayed scared of me until I was let into the house, and interacted with the family for a while. Roady and Amoeba (or just “Amy”) were their names, and by evening’s end, we were finally friends. We chatted all evening, and Pat fixed a wonderful meal of ravioli, broccoli, and rice. We chatted the night away, and retired for the evening at about 10pm. It’s always so nice to be with family.

Day Two Hundred Forty-eight, 091103 - Orick, CA

2009-11-08T04:17:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-eight, Date Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:14
Distance for the Day: 66.36 miles From Brookings, OR To Orick, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,259 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 148’/24’, Highest: 1252’ Accumulated: 3235’
Speeds: Avg: 9.1 mph, Max: 35.2 mph
Weather: 45° thin high overcast to the north, but otherwise totally clear
Expenditures: $24

I woke up at 5:30am, and got up at 5:40am. It was perfectly clear, the Moon and stars were shining bright with the light of day starting to show in the east. I broke down camp as quietly as possible to keep from disturbing the dogs, and was ready to roll at 6:35am. I noticed a few daddy long leg spiders around, but didn’t see any on my trike like I sometimes do after being parked in spider territory. I got back to the highway, and started heading south out of Brookings. I didn’t need to go too far before getting to a mini mart, where I had a breakfast of hot cocoa, banana nut muffin, berry croissant + other food and drink supplies ($10). After finishing breakfast, I continued on at 7:10am, heading for the California border. I entered California at 7:42am, and passed through the agricultural check station, but didn’t see the ‘welcome to California’ sign. I went a bit further up the road, but still didn’t see any sign. Hmmm. I turned around and went back to the ag station and asked where the sign was, and they said it had been destroyed by some vehicle that ran into it, and hadn’t been replaced, yet. Great! So, I went back to the ‘Oregon thanks you – come back soon’ sign, and took a picture by that, instead. I stopped in Klamath at 1:10pm – 2:25pm to get a Subway meal deal ($7), and food supplies ($7) and continued south toward Arcata. By 4:11pm, I got up, over and through a section of the Redwood National Forest between Klamath and Orick, and it was amazing. Giant trees with trunks wider than my trike is long, towering up and blocking most of the light from the sky, making it quiet, dark and moist down at the forest floor. It was a bit of an uphill push at first, but then it became a long, gradual downhill run through the forest, which was great, but it was a bit cool. The warmth I’d generated on the uphill part kept me from getting too cold from windchill on the downhill, though, and at 4:11pm I got back out into a small, sparsely populated valley that was lit up by the late afternoon sunlight. Riding along, I saw a single moose grazing on somebody’s lawn and stopped to take a few pictures of it, and continued on into the little town of Orick. I stopped in a mini mart at the far edge of town, and noticed a big pile of gravel between a horse corral and the store, and asked the lady in the mini mart if she thought anyone would mind my overnighting by the gravel pile. She said she was the owner of the lot, and it would be okay – cool! I found a mostly dry, level spot over by a large bucket loader (N41 17.105’ W124 4.438’), and set up there. This wasn’t a very good site, as the traffic noise was pretty loud, but I figured it would quiet down after sunset, which it did, somewhat. I set up my tent and got in to munch, drink soda, and read my book, which I finished. Dan Brown’s “Digital Fortress” was a real page turner, as evidenced by the fact that it took me only 8 days to read it. I listened to my iPod for another hour or so, until 10:30pm, before going to sleep. The mini mart was open until 11pm, so there was some traffic going on all evening; crunching gravel, car headlights, voices, etc., but after they closed, things quieted down enough to get to sleep.

Day Two Hundred Forty-seven, 091102 - Brookings, OR

2009-11-08T04:13:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-seven, Date Monday, November 2, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:28
Distance for the Day: 47.84 miles From Port Orford To Brookings, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,192 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 408’/148’, Highest: 708’ Accumulated: 2940’
Speeds: Avg: 8.7 mph, Max: mph
Weather: 39° mostly clear and cool, warming to the mid 50s during the day
Expenditures: $25

To see the full Moon set on the ocean, I woke up at 5am and got up at 5:39am. The sky was clear, so I broke down and packed away my gear, and was ready to roll by 6:25am. It was still dark enough to see the beautiful stars and the Spring constellation, Leo, while the Winter constellation Orion was heading into the west, soon to be hidden in the Sun’s glare. It was cold but dry, as I made my way less than a hundred yards up the road to a spot where I could pull off to see the Pacific Ocean’s western horizon. I watched the Moon set on the Pacific, but before it reached the actual ocean edge, it disappeared a thin layer of mist above the ocean’s surface at 6:57am – the same mist that prevented last night’s green flash. I saw some workers in a couple of trucks drive up the road above the gravel pile site where I was sleeping, so I missed getting caught or disturbed this time around. I knew I wouldn’t be hitting any towns or services for a while this morning, so I had a quickie breakfast of meat stick, breakfast bar and Pay Day bar, before continuing south along Oregon coast heading for California;

I stopped in at a café in Gold Beach from 10:20am to 11:45am to get a mini mart breakfast of hot cocoa, blackberry tart, and bagel with cream cheese ($5), whilst charging my iPod, notebook, camera, and cell phone batteries. They had wi-fi, so I went online to handle email, and also bought a couple of Judy Collins’ first albums from Apple’s iPod Store (Maid of Constant Sorrow, and Golden Apples of the Sun - $9 for both), and loaded them onto my iPod. Riding down the Oregon coast today was nice – great weather, and gorgeous views of the coastline; I stopped fairly often to take lots of pictures.

I hit Brookings at 4:20pm and stopped at a mini mart to get a quickie hot dog dinner and food supplies ($7). This was the last town before getting to the California border, and my last chance for finding a Joby tripod, which I didn’t. But, I did find a small tripod with slightly bendable metal legs ($4) at a Fred Meyer store (kind of like Wal Mart – sells everything from groceries and clothing to food and electronics – I’ve been seeing them through several of the mid-to-northwestern states). It wasn’t a Joby, but would have to do, as I definitely needed to do a self-portrait at the “welcome to California” sign. The Sun set at 5:09pm, and I set out to go look for some stealth camping.

Just at the outskirts of town, I found a short, somewhat steep road that went up to a dirt road about a hundred yards behind some houses. I was able to pass under a chain across the way, and found a spot behind a length of bushes that hid me from the backs of the row of houses (N42 3.195’ W124 15.968’). It was around 5:40pm, well after sunset, and getting darker, but I hung out for a bit to check the site’s suitability. I could hear kids running around and playing over by the houses, and there were dogs, too. I’d have to be extra quiet to keep from disturbing the dogs. I started setting up my tent around 6pm, and by 6:36pm I got inside, and was ready to eat, drink soda, and read, which I did until about 9pm. It got windy during the night, and that woke up several times, but other than that, I got plenty of rest to recharge the batteries.

Day Two Hundred Forty-six, 091101 - Port Orford, OR

2009-11-08T02:26:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-six, Date Sunday, November 1, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:11
Distance for the Day: 58.27 miles From Coos Bay To Port Orford, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,144 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 56’/408’, Highest: 599’ Accumulated: 2743’
Speeds: Avg: 9.4 mph, Max: 38.7 mph
Weather: 40° clear
Expenditures: $20

I woke up at 6:41am and got up at 6:53am while it was still mostly dark, clear, cold, and a bit dewy. I saw Venus for the first time in a while – it had started to move towards the Sun, more, so was closer to the horizon. I stopped at a mini mart for breakfast of hot cocoa and muffin + restocking drink supplies ($5), and continued on at 8:21am south on Hwy 101. I stopped in Bandon at around 11am to look for a Joby tripod (no luck) and got lunch at a small restaurant –mushroom burger, fries, and soda ($11). It was now mostly cloudy and cool, with a high cumulo-stratus layer, but not much chance of rain. I had to go over some mountains – went up and down a few hundred feet here, a few more hundred feet there, and got to as high as 600’ ASL, but after getting to Bandon, things leveled out, again. There were more hills coming up, but on the coastline, this is to be expected. Daylight Squandering Time ended, the previous night, so the time was now 12:20pm, and I stopped in Langlois to get food items from a mini mart ($4) before continuing on. Oh, yes: I saw ants for the first time in a long time – I was kind of amazed, seeing them, because I didn’t notice when I stopped seeing them. Isn’t that funny.

I stopped to watch the sun set on the Pacific at 5:11pm, and saw a faint hint of the green flash with my binoculars, but there was a bit too much mist over the surface of the ocean to allow the necessary “clear to the horizon” condition for a really great green flash. The disk of the Sun did warp and warble wonderfully, though. After sunset, I continued on, looking for a stealth camp, and almost immediately found a nice one in the form of a big gravel pile in a medium-small lot, elevated a bit above and right off the highway (N42 38.587’ W124 24.368’). Some traffic noise would still get to me, but on this stretch of the highway, the traffic really dies down after dark, so I should be good. There was a bit of space around behind it, with enough room to hide, and nice level spots to pitch my tent. The weather was perfectly clear, but not too cold at 58°, so I set up and got inside by 5:40pm – boy, it was early. I would have to read and listen to music for a few hours before going to sleep. The nice thing about a site like this, being hidden behind a big pile of gravel: I could use my headlamp to read without the worry of being sighted. How nice! So I read, munched, drank soda, and listened to music until 10:30pm, before I went to sleep. I heard a small band of coyotes yipping and yowling twice during the night – the first time pretty far away – the second time, a lot closer; probably within 100-200 yards away. They don’t bother humans, so I wasn’t too worried. A couple of fine points when setting up or breaking down a tent: it’s good to be aware of any slight tilt to the spot you set up on, as it’s a bit more comfortable if one’s head is on the “uphill” side, rather than the “downhill” side. Also, when breaking down, it’s easier to pull the tent pole segments apart if you pull from the end the tube segment that is furthest from the connected joint, rather than closer to the joint. Also, wearing gloves will keep the metal tent poles from sucking the heat out of your hands, thereby preventing them from turning into blocks of ice.

It being Daylight Standard Time, again, I would have to wake up around 5:30 - 6am so I could be ready by around sunup at 7am to make maximum use of daylight during this time of the year when the days were getting shorter.

Day Two Hundred Forty-five, 091031 - Coos Bay, OR

2009-11-08T02:25:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-five, Date Saturday, October 31, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:26
Distance for the Day: 52.08 miles From Florence To Coos Bay, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,086 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 107’/56’, Highest: 382’ Accumulated: 1975’
Speeds: Avg: 9.5 mph, Max: 36.0 mph
Weather: 53° light overcast in the morning
Expenditures: $21

I woke and got up at 7:17am – a bit late for me, and not too surprising since I hadn’t slept but 15 minutes since the night-before-last. It began to rain really hard just after midnight for a while, with gusts pushing my tent around. At around 12:30am, I put my earplugs in and went back to sleep. The river rock did have good drainage, so I was able to brake down and pack away my gear without being too soggy, and was ready to enter Florence to look for breakfast by 8:41am. I stopped at a mini mart, and got a breakfast of hot cocoa, and a blueberry Danish + some food and drink items ($6). I got into Reedsport at 12:40pm, and stopped at a café to get a bowl of chili and soda ($9) to eat with the other half of my Subway sandwich. I also charged up the notebook and phone, and read my book. I took off again at 2pm to continue south along the Oregon coast. I have to say, I’m very impressed with the coastal bicycle route Oregon created. It’s not perfect; there were times when the shoulder disappeared, usually when the mountainous roads become curvy, and then there’s the sometimes rough road surfaces, or those thorny creeper vines. All in all, though, it’s been excellent. Kudos to Oregon! Not much happened today – I just plugged away, getting in the miles. There were some pretty areas along the way, and I’d stop every now and then to take some pictures.

Stopped in at a combo café/bookstore in Coos Bay, OR to get a hot cocoa and scone ($6). As the evening began to darken at about 6:45pm, I found a spot in front of an elementary school at the southern end of town which was above Hwy 101 on a small hillside (N43 21.242’ W124 12.023’). It was still pretty noisy, but I managed to sleep without earplugs – I don’t like to put them in if there’s a chance that passer-bys could notice my trike and maybe mess around with it. There was a house nearby with a couple of people, who could have seen me but apparently didn’t. I set up my tent and got in with food, drink and book which I ate, drank, and read until 9pm. There were a few dog walkers that passed by, but they didn’t bother me, and I slept mostly well except for the occasional wake up from traffic noise. For a Halloween night with a beautiful almost-full Moon, it passed pretty quietly.

Dau Two Hundred Forty-four, 091030 - Florence, OR

2009-11-08T02:24:00.001-08:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-four, Date Friday, October 30, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:05
Distance for the Day: 43.36 miles From Newport To Florence, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,034 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 58’/107’, Highest: 449’ Accumulated: 2290’
Speeds: Avg: 8.5 mph, Max: 32.8 mph
Weather: 55° overcast, becoming clear in the evening
Expenditures: $14

After blogging the entire night, I left the Newport Café at 7:15am and began heading south, out of town. I stopped at a Hilton hotel to see if I could use their wi-fi to upload my blogs/pictures, but they don’t let non-guests into their system, the meanies. I continued out of town, and plugged away, but I wasn’t getting away with no sleep, this time. I was starting to wander a bit on the shoulder, so stopped at a state beach parking lot to hit the head and take a short 15-minute power (trucker’s) nap. It helped, and I continued on to the town of Waldport, where I found a Subway at 10:40am. It was a bit early in the day for lunch, so I determined that if they had, or if I could access, wi-fi there, I’d have lunch and upload my blogs. They did, and so I did ($10). I successfully uploaded the twelve (12!) blogs and their pictures that I slaved through the wee hours last night to satisfy your lust for vicarious thrills. I hope you’re satisfied! ;-) And, I did it in a bit less than two hours – amazing how fast it goes once all the ducks are lined up, ready to go. I left the restaurant at 12:45pm to continue on south, but was for sure, now, not going to make my next big target town, Reedsport. The weather was still overcast, but it was beginning to break up some, and the Sun came out after a while. I stopped along the highway to investigate what sounded like a LOT of sea lions, and it was exactly that – several hundred of them, in fact. From where I was, I could look down on them a few hundred feet below through some trees on the steep mountainside, just beyond the highway. They were barking up a constant roar, going, “or or or or!” I took pictures, went a bit further up the road and found a view pullout where you could see them better (but further away), and took more pictures. There was also a gorgeous view of a lighthouse on the rugged headlands with a bank of fog coming in off the ocean – just beautiful! A little further up the road, I stopped in at the tourist attraction called Sea Lions Caves, not to visit the caves (which are accessed via an elevator), but to just get something to satisfy a craving for chocolate. They didn’t have any candy bars, but they did sell fudge, so I got a quarter-pound chunk of rocky road ($4), and ate it right then and there, while looking around at the nifty stuff in the gift shop.

At about 5pm, as the light of day began to noticeably dim, I checked in at a park campsite north of the town of Florence to see what the rate was for a cyclist to camp. It was $20 a night – half-off if you had a National Parks annual pass (which I do), but I still didn’t feel like shelling out $10 just to set up my tent, so I moved on into northern Florence, and immediately found a possible stealth camp site: a real estate development with a brand new street, one non-activated streetlight, and no houses built on it, yet (N44 1.565’ W124 6.101’). It was a bit lower in elevation from the main road, and there was a low ridge of dirt that hid me from the closest passage of cars. I stopped there, unclipped my feet from the pedals and stuck my legs straight out onto the pavement, and rested a bit from the extra-double-long day’s efforts. I wasn’t just doing nothing, though: I was checking this site for potential problems in the way of security patrols, pedestrian traffic, or whatever, and indeed – a police car came down the dead-end road, went to the far end, turned around, came back, and stopped to chat with me. I wasn’t too worried, because a) I knew my body English said that I was too tired to be any kind of threat; and b) I figured my trike and gear further enhanced my image as a harmless traveler, unlikely to have any reason or motive to cause any kind of trouble. The cop asked if I was just resting, to which I replied in the affirmative, and I added that I was thinking of overnighting there. I asked him if he thought anyone would mind, but he couldn’t say, as it was private property. I then told him I would set up there for just overnight, and if anyone objected, I would move. He thought that was a good idea, or at least didn’t object, and left me to my business. I love cops that have that kind of attitude. Yes, I was technically trespassing on private property, but he didn’t get all totalitarianistic about it because no one lived there, yet, and I obviously wouldn’t be bothering anyone or damaging anything. He had more important things to do than harass an obviously clean, forthright, and honest fellow such as myself, so he let me be. He was a professional with judgment, and I always appreciate that. I waited until it began to get a bit darker before setting up my tent just off the roadway, on some smooth, medium-sized decorative rounded river rock (good drainage, should it rain, even though the day had cleared up). I was inside and reading, munching, and drinking soda by 7:17pm. I changed my socks and underwear, as they were getting a little stinky (I hadn’t changed or even taken any sponge baths since Seattle – you probably didn’t want to know that – sorry). Not too surprisingly, I find I don’t feel like washing down when I’m already cold and/or cold and wet. Plus, I can get away with it, as I can go a pretty long time without personal hygiene before getting overtly stinky when I’m cold. I guess, like meat or fish, I ‘keep’ longer when refrigerated. I went to sleep at 9pm with the bright Moon shining on my tent, though I rigged all my gear for the rain that I’d heard was coming.

Day Two Hundred Forty-three, 091029 - Newport, OR

2009-11-08T02:22:00.000-08:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-three, Date Thursday, October 29, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:55
Distance for the Day: 72.49 miles From Tillamook To Newport, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,991 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 60’/58’, Highest: 780’ Accumulated: 3750’
Speeds: Avg: 9.1 mph, Max: 33.6 mph
Weather: 43° textured overcast in the AM turning to light rain for most of the day, and becoming steady rain the last 1/3rd of the day, until evening, when it diminished and stopped
Expenditures: $22

I woke up at 6:15am, and got up at 6:40am. I found that if I get up too early, it’s still too dark by the time I’m ready to roll to safely travel, so I’ve adjusted my get-up time to about 6:45am. It wasn’t raining or drizzling when I broke down, so I spent a little extra time using and wringing out my hand towel to dry off my mattress and tent so they wouldn’t be wringing wet as I folded them up. I was ready to roll by 7:40am with the day just getting light enough to ride safely (good timing). For a while, I tried using the one extra Subway bag I had on one of my gloved hands to see if it would keep it drier – it did, but it made the twist grip gear-change extra-hard to operate, so I abandoned the idea. The first half of the day was a constant heavy drizzle and/or light rain. After a few hours of that, I began to get wet under my rain gear. By the time the day was two-thirds done, I had to stop a couple of times to towel off the excess moisture from my shirt, and I couldn’t stop moving for long, or I’d get hypothermic. I stopped in Beaver at 10am for a quickie brunch of hot dog and candy bar ($3). I made Neskowin by 12pm, Lincoln City by 3pm and Depoe Bay by 4:30pm. At one point north of Beaver, the official Oregon Coastline Bicycle Route diverged from Hwy 101, and went west to the coast on Sand Lake Rd. I checked it on Street Atlast, and thought it looked like a longer route (going out to the coast), and thought there might be more wind and rain out there, so opted to stay on 101. I suspect that was a mistake, because the mostly wonderful shoulders on the official route disappeared, and when there was any shoulder at all, it was at most a foot or so wide. This put me into the traffic lane of Hwy 101 with plenty of cars, monster mobile homes, log haulers, double-long tractor trailer rigs, and ‘oversized load’ transports – all on this skinny-ass two-lane highway. Fortunately, no major conjunctions occurred, everyone behaved (though I did get a non-descript yell from a young male in a truck), and I was able to get back to where the official route rejoined Hwy 101, where the good shoulders returned (whew!)

Just south of Depoe Bay, I stopped at The Lookout Observatory and Gift Shop at the aptly named Cape Foulweather (http://www.lookoutgiftshop.com/) and got some local intel from the guy there. I needed a 24-hour Denny’s to dry off while eating and working on my blog for the evening – there wasn’t one, but there was the Newport Café, which was 24-hour – I could go there. They didn’t have wi-fi, but I don’t need wi-fi when I’m writing and prepping pictures. From the gift shop, the official cycle route again diverged from Hwy 101, and this time, I took it. It worked out very well, going along a nice road that didn’t’ rise as high as the highway, and I only saw one other car on it. It all-too-soon re-joined Hwy 101, and I took that the rest of the way in to my goal for the day, the town of Newport – it was 6pm. Early on in entering the town, I found a Walmart, so went inside to see if *they* carried Joby tripods – no luck. I then spent a little time locating the 24-hour café (N44° 38.207' W124° 3.200'), and went in at 6:45pm, ordered up a mushroom burger, fries, and soda, and stayed there all night blogging until 7am. During my time there, I also got a slice of cheesecake, and pancakes (total of $26). The price I pay for all night blogging. But, I also got totally dry.

Day Two Hundred Forty-two, 091028 - Tillamook, OR

2009-10-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-two, Date Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:08
Distance for the Day: 66.22 miles From Astoria To Tillamook, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,918 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 282’/60’, Highest: 605’ Accumulated: 2864’
Speeds: Avg: 9.2 mph, Max: 36.9 mph
Weather: 42° thin, solid overcast
Expenditures: $41

Woke up at 6:41am got up at 6:45am; shaved – I try to shave every few days; a truck did roll by – it must have gotten through the locked gate, but he didn’t mind my being here; did hear some kind of far off explosion in the wee hours, but don’t know what that was; there was a sign that said “Live fire in progress when flagged,” so I wondered if the explosion had anything to do with that, but I doubted it; saw the red glow of sunrise, but that’s now gone, and it’s just a cool, moist, gray day; 7:57am and ready to roll off this mountain I climbed; 8:44am stopped at mini mart for hot cocoa and muffin; spent $25 and continuing south along the Oregon coastline; stopped in Seaside at 11am for a few additional food and drink supplies ($4) and continued on; stopped in Cannon Beach to look for Joby tripod at Radio Shack (no luck), but did buy a new Velcro strap for my water bottle holder at the hardware store next door. I keep losing the straps for that thing – hopefully, this one will stay with me until the end. Further south, I stopped in Manzanita for more food items ($4). I came coasting down a long grade, and the windchill in combination with the lack of pedaling got me a little hypothermic. I stopped to wolf down the 2nd half of my Subway sandwich, quick (I wanted to make the next big town, Tillamook, before dark), and pounded on.

Went to a pizza parlor ($8), plugged in, and found a wi-fi signal from the nearby Radio Shack; answered email, checked weather, checked my route, and blogged; stayed from 6:15pm to 9pm closing; got to talking with the pizza place owners, they suggested an abandoned former Safeway building, I found a spot behind it up the loading dock to be high and dry, somewhat, and set up my tent up there at about 9:30-10pm (N45 27.763’ W123 50.558’); inside with twisty chips, soda, and new book, which I read until 11pm and then went to sleep; it wasn’t raining, but it was lightly drizzly; it might have lightly rained during the night but not bad.

Day Two Hundred Forty-one, 091027 - Astoria, OR

2009-10-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Forty-one, Date Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time in Saddle: 4:25
Distance for the Day: 42.13 miles From South Bend, WA To Astoria, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,852 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending –52’/282’, Highest: 326’ Accumulated: 1781’
Speeds: Avg: 9.5 mph, Max: 33.9 mph
Weather: 42° partly cloudy with a few bouts of light rain, warming to the mid 50s
Expenditures: $27

I woke up several times through the night, as every now and then a rain squall would hit my tent with the noise of spattering drops and a gust front pushing my tent around. I really woke up at 6:15am, and waited until 7:15am to get up, and secure my gear. I lucked-out – there was a hole in the weather, and it was currently clear overhead, but I was pretty much surrounded by large, rainy looking clouds. The wind made the breakdown a challenge, again, but this time I was better prepared for it, and used my four water/Gatorade bottles to help keep things from running off. I was ready to roll at 8:03am, and plowed forward, with a quartering tailwind to help me along the way. I got rained on lightly a few times, but not too bad.

I crossed the Columbia River on the Astoria Bridge, and thereby passed into Oregon, at 12:57pm. (By the way: that picture ["Looking back north..."], below, is a rare shot. No pedestrians are allowed on that bridge, but since the right-hand lane was closed due to construction work going on, and no traffic was using that segment of the roadway, anyway, I stopped long enough to snap a few shots before getting admonished by a construction worker for converting from 'cyclist' to 'pedestrian.') I arrived in Astoria at the other end of the bridge at 1:15pm, and went into town to look for a Joby tripod (no luck). I then stopped in at Subway for a meal deal + 3 cookies ($14), and while eating, I charged my notebook and camera batteries, downloaded pictures off the camera’s SD card, and also downloaded the voice files from the new digital recorder. I left Subway at 3pm, asked a local where the library was, and on my way found what turned out to be a great bookstore, Lucy’s Books. I went in and asked if they bought used paperbacks – they didn’t, so I just gave them my Stephen King “The Green Mile,” since I was done with it, and couldn’t carry it with me. I then found a Dan Brown paperback thriller “Digital Fortress,” and brought it to the counter to purchase it. The gal said, ‘even Stephen,” and just traded it straight across for the King novel I gave them. Cool. They also had free wi-fi, and sold cookies, hot cocoa, and homemade chili, so instead of going to the library, I parked myself there from 4pm until they closed at 8pm to transcribe my recorder notes. I got hot cocoa, cookies, a soda, and chili ($13).

When I left at closing, I got to talking with a local guy and told him I was going to go looking for stealth camping, and he came up with a suggestion: there was a park at the top of the hill up 16th street, just past the Astoria Tower at the top. I thanked him (I should have strangled him!) and went to find this site. That may have been the longest, steepest grade I’d done for the entire trip, including the roads up to my Auntie Elsie’s in Los Angeles, which were also very steep, but not as high. I must have climbed at least 200 feet in less than a half-mile. I had to stop several times to rest, and it got me sweating despite the cold of the night. I did find the park, however, and bypassed the closed gate to enter. I didn’t find any covered picnic tables, but I did find a gravel spot off the road that overlooked a suburb of Astoria around Youngs River (N46 10.721’ W123 49.157’). In the moonlight filtered by a high, thin overcast, it was very pretty, so I set up there. I was inside, reading my new book, munching, and drinking Gatorade by 9:30pm, and went to sleep at 10:30pm. There was a street down below, but it was far enough away, I didn’t worry about anyone seeing my reading light. All in all, the guy who suggested this site did steer me in the right direction, but he should have pointed straight up!

Day Two Hundred Forty, 091026 - So. Bend, WA

2009-10-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Forty, Date Monday, October 26, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:27
Distance for the Day: 46.01 miles From Hoquiam To South Bend, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,810 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 3’/-52’ make correction, Highest: 478’ Accumulated: 2388’
Speeds: Avg: 8.4 mph, Max: 34.0 mph
Weather: 48° rainy, off and on, becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon
Expenditures: $21

The morning, I woke up at 3:30am. Since night is falling earlier these days, trying to sleep an hour after it gets dark (around 7:30pm) is too early. After 8 hours of sleep, I’d wake up in the wee hours fully rested, but would then have to try to continue sleeping until just before daylight (about 7:00am). Trying to sleep when you are no longer sleepy is uncomfortable, and not very productive. So, from now on, I’ll stay up until at least 9pm before starting a sleep cycle.

Keeping my promise to be gone before sunrise, I got up at 6:15am and began the breakdown process. A periodic, light rain did start during the night, but it was the occasional gusts of wind that made breaking down a challenge. At one point, I had to go running after my tent as it went tent tumbling across the small parking lot. I finished by 7:06am, and left shortly thereafter. I went to a mini mart still in Aberdeen for a breakfast of hot cocoa, cherry cheese Danish, and blueberry muffin, plus I stocked up on more Gatorade ($8). It was a gray, lightly rainy morning, and I just stoically plugged away as best I could, wanting to just get miles behind me. The terrain was somewhat mountainous, and I’m sure pretty enough under nicer conditions, but the rain and fog kind of ruined it for me. I’m sure I would have liked it a lot more had I been viewing it from the comfort of a car, but when you’re wet, cold, and uncomfortable, it’s a little harder to appreciate. I stopped in the town of Raymond for 2.5 hours to dry my sleeping bag ($3 for dryer + a soda). My ‘black banana’ pannier, where I store my sleeping bag, tends to collect a puddle of water whenever I go through any significant rain, and my sleeping bag soaks it right up. I was also somewhat hypothermic, so I waited for a few other customers left, before opening the dryers they’d just finished using, to stick my upper body into them, and gather as many residual BTUs as I could get (sometimes, I admit: I’m just pitiful). I also held my hands against the dryer window I was using. I was thinking of getting inside one and activating it – not *too* seriously. While eating the other half of my Subway sandwich for lunch, waiting for my stuff to dry, I met and talked with ‘Al,’ who was also there doing laundry. He was a recently retired oyster collector, and was touring around a bit in his camper. At the end of our conversation, which included a mention of my not-really-waterproof waterproof gloves (I was trying to dry them, too – not very successfully, I might add), he went outside and brought me a nice, new spare pair of Thinsulate gloves he had in his truck. Wow – that was nice, and they even fit my finger lengths, which is very rare! I thanked him profusely, and then took off to find the local Radio Shack (still looking for the SD-to-USB converter and Joby tripod). Still no luck with the tripod, but they did have the converter, so I got that ($14), and I stopped at the grocery store to get a roll of trash bags ($4), to try to keep my sleeping bag drier, and to make a (hopefully) more watertight, makeshift poncho. I continued on from Raymond at 3:40pm. A few hours later, as the daylight began to fade (around 5:30pm), I saw a short, semi-steep gravel driveway that went up off the highway with a real estate ‘for sale’ sign by it. At first I passed it by, but then swung around and rolled up it to check it out. There was a single, abandoned building sitting in a huge open gravel lot with trees all around. It was a little close to the road, but fairly well protected, so I picked a high, level spot in the gravel and set my tent up there by 6:04pm. The sky was partly cloudy, and I could see the slightly gibbous Moon in the still-blue sky. Just after I hopped in, I heard the crunch of gravel as a truck drove up, so I went to talk with them. Turns out they were hunters, looking for deer to hunt. Not seeing anything, they left. There was a big, fat cloud heading my way, so I got back inside quickly, and one minute later, short rain squall hit, with a wind strong enough to push my tent around, a bit. I was close to finishing Stephen King’s novel, “The Green Mile,” which I’d just seen at Dennis and Paula’s in Sequim (they had the DVD), and at 7:15pm, just as I was getting to the end of the book, the rain came down hard, and the wind really pushed my tent around, adding an interesting bit of real-time drama to the finish. Afterward, I listened to music on my iPod before hitting the hay at 9pm.

Something incredible happened before I went to sleep. I was listening to the dramatic and beautiful Enya song, “The River Sings,” and thought it’d be cool to pop my head out to look at the Moon. I was delighted to see it was in fairly close conjunction with Jupiter – that, alone, was cool. But then, as I was raptly viewing this celestial event, I saw the silhouette of a large owl, its wings spread wide, silent as the night, fly right across the Moon, directly toward, and then right over me, in *perfect* alignment. Enya, Moon, Jupiter, Owl. It was one of those shining moments that occur but a few times during a person’s life, and I will never forget it for as long as I live.

Day Two Hundred Thirty-nine, 091025 - Hoquiam, WA

2009-10-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-nine, Date Sunday, October 25, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:56
Distance for the Day: 62.27 miles From Queets To Hoquiam, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,764 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 10’/3’ correct this, Highest: 540’ Accumulated: 1503’
Speeds: Avg: 9.4 mph, Max: 28.5 mph
Weather: 42° overcast, light wind out of south
Expenditures: $10

I woke up at 6am and got up at 6:20am. It was still dark, but I couldn’t see any stars, so knew it must be pretty solidly overcast. I broke down and packed away my gear by 7:02am, and could begin to see that the sky; it was overcast. I took off and went to the mini mart I went to the previous evening, but they wouldn’t open for another 20 minutes, and I didn’t feel the need to wait, so I left and continued south down Hwy 101. I stopped at 8:30am for a quicky breakfast of meat stick, PayDay candy bar, and a Nature Valley breakfast bar. At 9am, it started to rain a bit, so I put on all my rain gear (jacket, pants, poncho), but then went a few hundred yards, and of course, the rain stopped. I took off my poncho, and kept going. The shoulder on Hwy 101 thus far was variable: sometimes barely wide enough at 2 or 3 feet, down to a nearly non-existant 6”. Sometimes it had this relatively new looking covering of a black, medium-grade gravel that I’m sure is great for car tire traction, but was slightly too rough for my trike; it made my teeth and trike vibrate, and these stretches of road came in miles-long stretches – it was pretty uncomfortable, but still better than a sharp stick in the eye, no shoulder at all, or a shoulder ruined by a buzz strip. Every now and then, they did get the shoulders very right, with a 6’ wide shoulder and 4’ of clean, smooth pavement, free of the black gravel texture.

Spare notes: One of these days, I’m going to have to re-set my tires so the beads aren’t pinched. It’s a minor problem, but when I go fast, the front-right and rear tires go “bump-bump-bump,” and it’s mildly annoying. Also, nowadays, my right leg seems to be more problematic than my left. It’s muscles and knee joint are prone to becoming somewhat painful when I go up long hills. I can fix it for a while by doing the leg extension stretch, and resting it a minute or two – it’s not debilitating, but noticeable.

I continued on, and made Holquin at 3:51pm. There wasn’t much there, so I continued on over the Holquin River bridge into Aberdeen – that gave a bit of trouble. There was no walkway on the bridge, so I had to take one of the two available lanes to cross. This was going fine – traffic would come up to me, and they patiently (I think) went around me. Part way up the incline, I came to what looked like it might be a walkway to get across the rest of the bridge, though in thinking back (Clue #1), it seemed odd that it should only start at that point on the bridge (not much use to pedestrians, if they had to walk up the roadway to get to it). Nevertheless, I tried taking it, and (Clue #2) had trouble getting my trike onto it as the entry to it was a little too narrow, but managed it anyway. I rode it for a short while, to where the bridge started going downhill, and discovered that it ended without making it all the way across (Demitol). So, I had to pick the front end of the trike up and swing it to face back, went back to the narrow gap, got through it, and waited for traffic to clear so I could get back into the lane, again. What a waste of time – I hate it when that happens. I finally made it across into Aberdeen at 4:15pm, and found a Radio Shack to see if I could get the SD card reader and Joby tripod, but they didn’t have either item. I got to talking with the guys there, and they checked the weather for me (it was going to be rainy for the next several days – ugh!) I backtracked through town to a Subway, and got a meal deal and cookies ($10). I talked with a couple of young people there about my trike and trip, and then went out to a church right on Hwy 101 to see if I could overnight on their back walkway. It wasn’t raining, yet, but I thought it would later, so I wanted to try to be under an eave, or something. I found some people there, and got their permission to set up my tent (N46 58.490’ W123 51.652’). It wasn’t a great site, as the main street on the front side of the building had a lot of traffic, and the noise would reflect off the surrounding buildings directly into my tent. That’s the way it goes, sometimes. I wouldn’t get a great night’s sleep, but I can get by on very little. I set up my tent on a walkway under the building’s eave, as planned. I got in with my book, trailmix, and strawberry soda at 6:23pm, and planned to get up at 6:15am like I did this morning, to get out of there and be on the road just as the light of day started to get sufficiently bright. About an hour after I got settled in, a bright set of car headlights lit up my tent, and a guy said, “Is anyone in the tent?” Turns out, it was one of the church’s board members, who didn’t know I’d gotten permission, and was just checking me out. I described the guy who gave me permission, and he called the actual church’s pastor to get more official permission, and after that, it was cool. As expected, despite the use of earplugs, the reflected traffic noise would wake me up every now and then, plus, it did start to rain, and unfortunately, the wind blew it in under the eaves, so being under them was no help. Hmph!

Day Two Hundred Thirty-eight, 091024 - Queets, WA

2009-10-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-eight, Date Saturday, October 24, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:12
Distance for the Day: 51.67 miles From Beaver To Queets, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,699 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 321’/10’, Highest: 482’ Accumulated: 1637’
Speeds: Avg: 9.9 mph, Max: 35.4 mph
Weather: 44° mostly cloudy, breaking up and clearing at the coast
Expenditures: $12

I woke up at 6:45am. It hadn’t rained all night, so I got a great night’s sleep. I realized this was Saturday morning, when I usually give my Auntie M a call, but belatedly realized I didn’t put her phone number on my new phone, yet. I signed up for one day’s worth of web access on my new phone, and got my Uncle Leo’s phone number using Zabasearch. I called him, and we chatted a bit, and then he gave me Auntie M’s phone number, and I then called her. I finished at 8:15am, got out, and saw that it was a partly cloudy day, which quickly became mostly cloudy and foggy. In this desolate place, it was kind of pretty, in an eerie sort of way, so I took a few pictures, broke down camp, packed the trike, and was ready to roll by 9:10am. I was now heading south – how exciting! I stopped at 10:20am for a mini mart breakfast of hot cocoa, carrot cake, muffin and got food drink supplies ($9) in the town of Forks, WA. Since I lost my camera, I find I now need yet *another* Joby tripod (this will be the fourth!). I’ll be checking likely stores in every town I come to, but they’re hard to find, and it’ll probably be a while before I can replace it. I also need another SD-to-USB adapter, but Radio Shack regularly carries those.
When I arrived at the coast, I left the last dregs of clouds behind, and it was totally clear. The road following the coastline was rolling, but relatively flat, and quite pleasant. At 3:20pm I got my first view of Pacific Ocean since March (when I was in Los Angeles) by standing on a picnic table to look over a bunch of bushes at Ruby Beach. I could see a huge, miles-long beach that looked good for boogie boarding, but not so much for surfing. I stopped in Queets to get food and drink at the local mini mart ($3) and thought I’d check out the local community center for a potential stealth camp. The center was somewhat isolated from the small, nearby neighborhood, and it had an external power outlet, so I plugged in to charge my laptop and phone. I read my book while waiting; the computer charged up pretty quickly, but the phone took almost 2 hours, even though it was down only one bar – sheesh! Cars would pass by, going to and from the nearby neighborhood, but nobody either saw me, or if they did, didn’t seem to mind my being there. It got dark, but I was still lit up by the security lighting around the area, so I could still read. After my phone finally finished charging, I looked around to see where the best place to set up my tent, and decided on the end of the dead end street that was right next to the community center building front door. I was visible from the road where all the traffic was passing by, but I guess I was far enough away, about 100 yards, that if I didn’t jump up and down, waving my trike’s flag, I was fairly unnoticeable. I got no visits from the local constabulary or other disturbances the entire night – how nice! I set up and hopped in by 8pm, and went right to sleep. (I didn’t want to push my luck by lighting up my tent by reading with a light.) I woke up at 11pm – that’s pretty regular for me – went back to sleep – woke up at 2:30am, and drank the rest of my soda, which I always hold in reserve for when I get thirsty, which is also a pretty regular thing. Zzzzzz!

Day Two Hundred Thirty-seven, 091023 - Beaver, WA

2009-10-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-seven, Date Friday, October 23, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:02
Distance for the Day: 44.43 miles From Cape Flattery To Beaver, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,647 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 428’/321’, Highest: 723’Accumulated: 2582’
Speeds: Avg: 8.8 mph, Max: 38.9 mph
Weather: 46° occasional showers, warming to the low 50s
Expenditures: $27

Because of the noise from the occasional bouts of rain, I kept waking up throughout the wee hours, but did get snatches of sleep, which for me is enough to be practically as good as a solid night’s sleep. At about 6am, one car came up to and around the gravel trailhead loop where I was, but it didn’t stop, and I didn’t see or hear it or any other vehicle after, so I was good. I could hear the ocean waves whomping the coastal headlands, and would have liked to go see them, but the weather was still rotten, and I didn’t want to leave my trike alone. I waited until about 7:45am for the daylight to show before getting up and out to do my breakdown; it wasn’t raining at the moment, but everything was wet, and I spent a little extra time, as usual, trying to dry stuff off while packing it away. That’s the wonderful thing about this tent, by the way: it can be totally wet, but once you set it up and get inside, it still works just fine. I was ready to roll by 8:46am, and headed back to Neah Bay for breakfast, to stock up on supplies, and hopefully recharge my laptop as it was down to about 60%. I made it back to Neah Bay at about 10am, and got hot cocoa and a muffin ($4) at a tiny espresso shop, but they only opened for a little while, so I had to move on before I could do much with my notebook. I then went to the restaurant, Warmhouse, more to warm up and dry off than for hunger, but I got a burger, fries and hot cocoa just the same ($10). While riding the several hundred yards from the espresso place to the restaurant, a young husky dog followed me for a while, and I couldn’t shake him. He waited outside the restaurant for a while, but finally went away. I didn’t want him following me out of town, though I felt kind of sorry for him, as he didn’t seem to have anyone to play with. From 10:30am – 12pm, I ate, charged my notebook, and briefly talked to a nice couple who were doing a boat trip around the world, so we traded blogs – his is http://pachucaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/ . I checked my phone messages, and found out that FedX had a question about the delivery address for my ATM card – ack! This meant that they hadn’t sent it, yet, and that also meant that I would get to where I wanted them to send it a day early. Since I didn’t want to wait a day in Aberdeen, I called FedX up, and had them send it to my relatives in Crescent City, CA, instead. Afterwards, I continued on back down the road I came in on, but diverted south at 4:04pm onto Hwy 113, heading towards Sappho and beyond.

Notes: when I stopped at Neah Bay for lunch at it was raining, and even with the poncho my upper body still got wet. My medium gloves would get soaked, and then they’d leak into my shirtsleeves, and would then pool up in my elbows and wick further up to my shoulders. Also, my poncho would gather water off my face and leak into my shirt from my chin, so the front of my shirt would get soaked – so the upshot was: I still got soaked, Demitol. The pants worked pretty good, but once my shirt got soaked, it would begin wicking into my pants and underwear; I was able to keep warm if I kept moving, and towling-off once or twice along the way also helped, but I couldn’t stay still for long, or I’d start to get cold, again. For the record: I don’t like riding or camping in the rain. When I go fast down hills, the rain feels like stinging BBs hitting my face, and I can’t wear my goggles because they get foggy, and I need to see. So, I hold one hand up to block the rain from hitting my eyes, and zoom down with one hand steering. As long as I don’t hit warp speed, I can manage this just fine. I keep thinking of the world cyclists I met back in Zion Nat’l Park, Martin and Nadine from Germany. When asked what they did when it rained, they said they didn’t ride. I wish I could sit out rain days, too, but at this point, the longer I wait, the worse the weather will become, so it’s not an option. Sigh!

The road to/from Neah Bay was narrow-shouldered, winding, and hilly, but the traffic was light enough, there weren’t any problems. I stopped in Clellam Bay at 3:05pm for a bathroom break and food and drink ($13). That’s when I found out I lost the handle grip, cap, and ‘emergency brake’ rubber band off my right steering handle – Demitol. Not a critical loss, but most annoying because I’d known it was loose for months, and should have glued it in place – I just never thought I’d actually lose it. Poop! It stopped raining, and cleared up some. I made it up and over a semi-big mountain coming south towards Sappho, and then got to Hwy 101 and headed west and south on that. I kept finding little side roads that would lead off into the forest, and found one that looked semi-promising, but the one level spot I found to set up had a 3-leafed ground cover which may or may not have been poison oak. Not being sure, I left that site and continued on. I saw a sign for a park up ahead, but then saw a nice road on the left that said it was a dead-end, so at 6:20pm I followed it, and found there were little gravel roads leading off it that went into these little cul-de-sacs, surrounded by what looked like harvested forest – perfect! (N48 3.957’ W124 17.551’) So, I set up my tent there on the gravel. My “waterproof” mittens that aren’t waterproof got mostly dry by my wearing them, so I put on my fingered medium gloves to try to dry them out, but I didn’t wear them long enough, so they stayed pretty soggy. I dried the tent and mattress off as best as I could with my hand towel before using them, and was set up and inside at 6:50pm with book, food and drink. I ate and read until 7:40pm, and did the end of day stats in the tent for a change – I usually do them in the morning, but these days, I find it’s easier to do it in the tent when I’m warm and dry with a light, rather than in the cold dark and wet in the morning.

Day Two Hundred Thirty-six, 091022 - Cape Flattery, WA

2009-10-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-six, Date Thursday, October 22, 2009
Time in Saddle: 9:08
Distance for the Day: 79.90 miles From Port Angeles To Cape Flattery, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,602 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 451’/428’, Highest: 663’ Accumulated: 4688’
Speeds: Avg: 8.7 mph, Max: 41.5 mph
Weather: 41
Expenditures: $10

I woke up and got up at 5am. It was still dark out, with beautiful stars and the faint glow of dawn above the eastern horizon. I broke down and was just about ready to roll at 5:56am. I was a little *too* early, and wasn’t quite willing to ride in the dark along the highway. There was an “espresso shack” conveniently in front of the business where I spent the night, so I stopped there and got some hot cocoa and a toasted bagel w/cream cheese ($5), and ate that while waiting for the daylight. I took off at about 6:30am and made the Rte 112 junction to Neah Bay by 7:38am. I had actually mistakenly passed that junction the day I lost my fanny pack – on that day, a tragic car accident had occurred, which I read about while staying with Dennis and Paula. A couple of people died, and I remembered seeing police and ambulance when I passed by. A sad thing to see, to be sure. The day eventually got light enough for me to turn my lights off, and I stopped in Joyce at 8:20am to pick up food and drink ($5). The weather became a light overcast – I could see the sun through it, but it was still pretty cool at about 50°. I stopped in Sekiu from 12:45 to 1pm for a hot dog and pear ($3) – just something to hold me on the way towards Neah Bay – I knew it would be close, what with the days getting shorter, and all. I made it with pretty good time to spare, but had a lot of trouble trying to get to that last compass point. First, I tried the route Street Atlas showed, which took me up a steep, hard-packed dirt road. It went up a couple hundred feet, and then went up and down for a ways. I ran into a local in a truck, and asked him about the road. He suggested going back down to the paved road, and following that out to my westmost point. I didn’t want to do that, as I was already nearly halfway to it via this route. He said the route I was on might not be do-able with my trike, but I hate going backwards, so was determined to at least take a look. I continued on the road, and put in a huge effort to climb some pretty steep hills, before ending up in the local dump(!) Hmm. I checked my GPS and map, and found I’d passed a fork to my true route. When I found it, I saw that the local was right: it had become an impassable (to me) two-wheel jeep track. So, I tucked tail, and went back to the nice paved road to Cape Flattery. It was mostly a flat route, so I made pretty good time, but at the end, it became a somewhat long not-too-steep uphill grade that got me to my vaunted “westmost point.” The *true* westmost point could only be reached via a hiking trail, which my trike couldn’t do, so I got as far as I could go and declared it the final compass point at 6:17pm (yay/whew!) It had started to get pretty dark, so I picked a spot away from the parking lot, up by the trailhead, and set up my tent right there. I got in by 7:10pm with food, drink, book, Subway sandwich, and chili cheese Fritos, with strawberry soda – a real celebration meal! I gobbled and read, and it started to rain just before 8pm, but I was already in and dry, so was literally a happy camper, though I did have to use earplugs to quiet the noise of rain hitting the tent, which kept waking me up throughout the night.

Day Two Hundred Thirty-five, 091021 - Port Angeles, WA

2009-10-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-five, Date Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Time in Saddle: 1:19
Distance for the Day: 9.38 miles From Sequim To Port Angeles, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,523 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending ??/451’, Highest: 468’ Accumulated: 1411’
Speeds: Avg: 7.1 mph, Max: 26.8 mph
Weather: Overcast and lightyly rainy
Expenditures: $7

(Pictures at last!) I got up at about 8am, and continued to reload info into phone/computer. Paula fixed me a bowl of cereal with blueberries and banana slices, and at noon, she took me to the post office so I could mail home a box of the bits of detritus from my recent purchases, and showed me where I could pick up a nice rails-to-trails bike path from Sequim to Port Angeles, before returning home. I was going to get a late start, today!
At 2:53pm, I was ready to hit road from Dennis and Paula B’s home in Sequim, there was sun out earlier, but had become overcast, again. I hated to know it, but I had now entering a wet period – it was going to be rainy or drizzly until the unknown future – ugh! My hosts were wonderful! They put me up, fed me with great food, drove me all over the place, and we talked and talked – they were not just great hosts – I feel like they’re my newest friends. Dennis had taken off before I woke up this morning, so I missed saying ‘bye’ to him, but Paula and I left the house at the same time, and I said ‘bye’ and ‘thanks’ to her. Just as I started heading back to the paved roads of Sequim, it started to sprinkle at 3:01pm – great. I used the Discovery Trail Paula showed me, and made Port Angeles at 5pm. It was beautiful, but windy, hilly, and took about 2 hours to go its 13 mile length. I tried out my new poncho, and that worked pretty well, keeping the water that collects on my chest and stomach from then leaking into my rain jacket’s zipper. I spent about 1.5 hours exploring PA to see if I could find someplace to replace my Joby tripod (I forgot about it when we did all the shopping, before), but didn’t find anything. In the meantime, it got dark, so I stopped to get a Subway meal deal ($7) and food and drink for the road at a mini mart ($3), and then took off in the dark up Hwy 101, looking for a stealth camp. The weather cleared, and I found a place behind a car repair business at 8pm (N48 6.310’ W123 29.324’) and got in to eat and read at 8:30pm, before going to sleep at 9:34pm; the temperature was about 56°.

Day Two Hundred Thirty-four, 091020 - Sequim, WA

2009-10-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-four, Date Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Time in Saddle: n/a
Distance for the Day: n/a
Accumulated Trip Distance: n/a
Altitudes: n /a
Speeds: n/a
Weather: n/a
Expenditures: $13

(So boring without pictures! Just one more day.) I woke up at almost 10am, this morning, just as Dennis finished preparing an amazing breakfast of smoked salmon omelet with zucchini – it was wicked good, and I usually don’t even like fish! I called the Port Angeles branch of Bank of America, to verify my credit card had indeed arrived, and I also arranged to have a new ATM card forwarded to the branch in Aberdeen, WA, so I could pick it up there in a few days. Paula drove me the 13 miles to Port Angeles, and I got my card. We also stopped in at a bookstore, so I could get Dennis a copy of my favorite astro book, The Stars: A New Way To See Them, by H.A. Rey. We also stopped in at Swains, the local “general store,” which was jam packed with all kinds of merchandise, to get a $1.34 coin purse for my new fanny pack. We went back home after that, and I continued loading phone numbers into my computer and phone. Then we had a wonderful vegetable and chicken stew that Dennis cooked up, and chatted away. Pamela went to bed, and Dennis and I watched the movie, “The Green Mile,” because I was reading the book – cool movie! I’d only gotten about one-fifth of the way into the book, and it seemed like a “regular” story, without anything weird happening. True to Steven King, though, a definite paranormal twist showed up, and was deftly worked into the plot. After the movie, we both retired – he had to get up at 5am, and it was now 1am(!)

Day Two Hundred Thirty-three, 091019 - Sequim, WA

2009-10-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-three, Date Monday, October 19, 2009
Time in Saddle: n/a
Distance for the Day: n/a
Accumulated Trip Distance: n/a
Altitudes: n /a
Speeds: n/a
Weather: n/a
Expenditures: $493

(Pictures coming - I swear!) I woke up at 8:45am and got up at 9am in the home of my hosts, Paula and Dennis B. I had a bowl of Rice Chex with blueberries, and chatted with Paula for a while about a diverse range of subjects, including her ‘fairy garden,’ which was a beautiful garden surrounded by a low rock wall. It went fine for several years, until a particularly nasty weed invaded it, and eventually forced her to have it totally destroyed to try to rid the dirt that the weed had just about saturated. Around 11am, we headed out in one of their cars, and she drove me around to the local Bank of America (my bank), where I withdrew a thousand dollars from my savings account. I had a new credit card overnighted, but it wouldn’t show up until tomorrow, and I wanted to get as much done, reconstructing my lost fanny pack, as possible. I picked up a new camera, cell phone, digital voice recorder, and iPod Nano at Costco ($386). Paula also picked up some food items for dinner tonight, and the next few nights. Then, we went over to Walmart, where I got some ear buds (small earphones) and an arm band to hold the iPod ($31). Then, Paula had to pick up her grandsons Sean and Jake at the school bus stop. We went back home, and we chatted for a while, before the kids had to take off for their own home. I connected my new iPod to my computer, and re-synched it to the songs that were backed-up on the notebook. I now had all my music back (yay!) Dennis (a retired elevator technician who used to work in the SF Bay Area, and who was born and raised in Oakland!) then took me out to do a bit more shopping at the Big 5 Sporting Goods store, where I got a new, better fanny pack ($16), then to Home Depot where I got a replacement Leatherman Wave ($76), and even to Rite Aid to get a travel toothpick ($4). It only came in packs of two, so I gave him one. He then gave me a short tour of the area, and I saw new developments where farms used to be, homes that faced the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and he told me about the demographics of the people living in Sequim. Paula made a terrific dinner of salmon, rice, and greenbeans, and we three chatted up a storm. After the meal, Dennis showed me pictures of a 13-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon they’d taken a few years prior; it looked awesome. (I love looking at other people’s pictures – I just naturally enjoy the vicarious thrills every time.) Afterwards, Paula went to bed, and I showed Dennis how to set up and use his computer-driven Meade telescope. It got a little late, so he went to bed, too, and I stayed up re-loading as many telephone numbers into my new cell phone as I could get from my computer and from the web. I also sent out a mass email to everyone I could think of whose number(s) I wanted. It will be a gradual process, to build the list back up, again.

Day Two Hundred Thirty-two, 091018 - Sequim, WA

2009-10-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-two, Date Sunday, October 18, 2009
Time in Saddle: ??
Distance for the Day: ?? miles From Blyn To Sequim, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: ?? miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending ??/??, Highest: ?? Accumulated: ??
Speeds: Avg: ?? mph, Max: ?? mph
Weather: 52° overcast with fog over the hills
Expenditures: $17

(Still no pictures. Haven't replaced my camera yet, but will soon.) The sky this morning was solidly overcast, and made things darker when I emerged from my tent. It was still dry, though, and for that much, I was grateful. I packed up my gear, and took off, continuing up the highway towards Sequim, and my last extreme compass point: Westmost. I stopped in the town of Blyn, where they had a rather large, well-appointed “mini mart,” to have a hot cocoa and Danish breakfast. I also charged up my laptop, and checked the map to figure out my route for the day. I left at 9:45am, with the plan to hit the Subway in Port Angeles. I got to the Port Angeles Subway at 12:05pm, and got a meal deal ($11) lunch, ate half while reading my book, and stowed the other half for tomorrow. I continued on at 12:45pm, passed through the town of Port Angeles, proper, and stopped at a mini mart to pick up some Gatorade and a soda ($6). That’s when I made a HUGE mistake: I left my fanny pack on an outside shelf, and took off without it. I made it several miles further west, and stopped to take a picture, but my camera, along with my credit card, ATM card, driver license, cell phone, Leatherman tool, digital voice recorder, iPod, and several other nice things, was not where I usually put it; I instantly knew what I’d done. Demitol – and I’d just got through telling my friend, Joe, that I have lost plenty of wallets, but ‘I never lose that fanny pack.’ You know what it was – I forgot to knock on wood – it’s true. Anyways, I rushed back to the spot where I’d left it going full steam, but it still took 20 minutes, and of course, by the time I got there, it was gone, and no one had turned it in to the mini-mart people. I asked to use the mini-mart’s phone, but they weren’t receptive to that idea, but suggested I go back into Port Angeles to contact the police. Good idea, so I did that. It being Sunday, they were closed, but there was a phone to call Dispatch, so I called, let them know my situation, and they said they’d send someone ‘in a few minutes.’ I waited, and then I thought I’d see if there was any wi-fi in the area. There was, so I sent an email to Joe and Joanna explaining my situation. Fortunately, they were home and checking email, and we arranged to contact each other via Skype. It worked great – we even did it with video. They set up my Skype account with money, so I could make outside phone calls, and sent me $150 via Western Union at the Port Angeles Safeway (a few blocks away). I also called my bank to have them cancel my credit and ATM cards, and to overnight a new credit card to me at the local bank, here in P.A, though it would come in on Tuesday. Also, by coincidence, an astronomy friend of mine mentioned in an email I received earlier today, that she had a friend who lived in Sequim (they pronounce it ‘skwim’ – don’t ask me why), the town just before Port Angeles(!) She gave them a call, and they said they’d be willing to host me, so I could stay with them while I waited for my card to come in – what a lucky break. Thanks, Lynn – yer a lifesaver! I used Skype to call them, and Pamela and Dennis B drove their pickup the 8.5 miles from Sequim to Port Angeles to take me and my trike back to their home at about 9pm; we arrived at about 10pm. We chatted a bit, and then they went off to sleep. Meanwhile, I got online using their computer’s network cable, and began to search for replacement gear. I did that until about 2:30am, and then blogged a bit more before heading off to sleep, myself, at 3am.

Day Two Hundred Thirty-one, 091017 - Blyn, WA

2009-10-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Thirty-one, Date Saturday, October 17, 2009
Time in Saddle: ??
Distance for the Day: ?? miles From Seattle To Blyn(?), WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: ?? miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 456’/??, Highest: ?? Accumulated: ??
Speeds: Avg: ?? mph, Max: ?? mph
Weather: Cool, overcast
Expenditures: $

Sorry – no pictures (again). See note at the bottom of this post for why.

I spent most of the morning repacking my trike, getting it ready to hit the road. We said our final and fond farewells, and I took off from Joe and Joanna’s at 11:20am. I almost immediately missed a turn, but just as quickly corrected, and got on route. After just a few minutes, I stopped at a gas station with an air pump to try to re-set my two front tires to get rid of the ‘pinched bead’ problem by over-inflating them; it worked on the left tire, the right tire was still slightly pinched. I would have to try doing it again with soapy water someplace else. Schwalbe tires are apparently notorious for this problem. I also searched a couple of places for my favorite brand of trailmix (Planters Nut & Chocolate, or Sweet & Nutty), before finding it at a RiteAid (and they were on sale!) I looked for a Subway, but didn’t find one before getting to the ferry (from Edmonds across Puget Sound to Kingston - $7 for a bicycle), so I made the mistake of getting a small, overpriced lunch of hot dog, soda, fries, and ice cream sandwich for $15(!) Of course, not long after getting into Kingston, I passed a Subway. I hate it when that happens, and it has happened quite a few times on this trip. The land was somewhat hilly, and I gradually went from sea level to as high as 600’ ASL, with plenty of downs as well as ups, but it was very scenic. I saw a number of decent stealth camp possibilities along the way, so rode until just before sunset with confidence I could find one when I needed it, and indeed, did find one – a side road not far from the main road, with a barred empty lot that my trike (without flagpole) *just* squeezed under. I inserted into this spot at 6:08pm, found a level spot, and set up my tent by 6:45pm. I gave Joe a call to let him know about where I was, and that I had encountered only a little bit of sprinkle before the day became mostly sunny. The sky at sunset was getting cloudier, but there were still plenty of blue patches, though there were patches of fog on the hills all around. The temperature was cool, but not the freezing cold I experienced while still east of the Cascades. I then hopped in with Fritos Chili chips, orange soda, and my new Stephen King book, “The Green Mile,” which the homeless guy in Cambridge, MA recommended. I munched and drank and read until about 8pm, before going to sleep. The sound of traffic was faint and light, and when I woke up at 10:30pm to drink the rest of my pop, it was pretty much gone.

(Note: I lost my fanny pack, and with it, my voice recorder – so all my stats between this day and Oct 21st were lost. I will be able to reconstruct some of the info, and will do so at my earliest opportunity.) (I also lost my camera, and the few pictures I had on it of today and tomorrow. A bummer, for sure – but survive-able.)

Quickie Update - 091027

2009-10-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hi all: Sorry for the lack of updates - I'm really behind (ack!) I'll try to get back up to date ASAP, but the combination of lack of wi-fi, plus the bad weather, has kept me running with no writing. I just passed from Washington State into Oregon, and am catching up on email here in Astoria, OR. At worst, I'll do a humongous catchup when I get to The Three Peas (Pat/Pete/Parker) in Crescent City, CA. Until then, BE GOOD. I'll try to do the same. Cheerios! (crunch, crunch) ;~Don

Days Two Hundred Twenty-six thru Thirty, 091012-16 - Seattle, WA

2009-10-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Days Two Hundred Twenty-six thru Thirty, Dates Mon-Fri, October 12-16, 2009

I hung out at Joe, Joanna, and Joshua’s (their cat) for the best part of a week. We caught up, talked about my trip, our lives, old times, the future – we watched the sci-fi movie, “The Watchmen,” They took me to REI and the local bike shop so I could get some self-sealing innertubes, a cheap poncho (still trying to figure out how to stay dry in rainy conditions), and other needed accessories. I then installed the new tires that my trike dealer, Steve, sent to this address; the rubber on my rear tire was worn thin by now, and it split right up the middle, all the way around, from the cold(?), over-inflation after getting fixed(?), I don't know (see the picture); we went to dinner at a friend of theirs, and had pizza and a fantastic, home-baked-from-scratch plum tart; I took them out to dinner at a nice Indian restaurant, and when I wasn’t doing all this other stuff, I updated my Street Atlas mapping program to show the route towards the “westernmost point in the contiguous 48 states,” and then down the Pacific Coast, back to San Francisco. I also had to do a fair bit of work to update my stealth camp locations on my computer map, and blogged, too. So, now I’m up-to-date, again, and girding myself for the final leg of my ‘fantastic journey’: out to that last extreme compass point. After more research online, and on Google Earth, I found out just exactly *where* I could find that westernmost point, as I’d found out it wasn’t where I had originally thought. I thought the westernmost point I could cycle to was the town of Ozette, BUT, it was only the westernmost *town* - not the westernmost *point*. I looked again, and indeed, I could get a bit further west by riding out to Cape Flattery, about 3.5 miles southwest of Neah Bay. Two of the other three “extreme” compass points had similar qualifiers on them, as well: "The most extreme compass points that I could get to as a public person, on a cycle." To get to the absolute real westernmost point, I’d have to do some hiking and/or boating, which wasn’t happening.

Just as I had feared, the weather for the foreseeable future (a week) was going to be some degree of rainy. Ugh. But, if Lewis and Clark could survive trekking through the wilds of Idaho and Montana, if the pioneer settlers could survive taking covered wagons through thousands of roadless miles, if Frodo and Sam could pass through darkness and danger in the land of Mordor, by god, I can face a little rain. Even a lot of rain.

Expenditures for Oct 12-16: used Stephen King book, “The Green Mile,” ($4), 3-Slime self-sealing innertubes, 4-CO2 cartridges, 2-velcro ankle bands, 2-sets of two thorn proof tire liners, one new bike pump at Gregg’s Cycles ($108), other miscellaneous food and accessory items ($62)

Day Two Hundred Twenty-five, 091011 - Seattle, WA

2009-10-16T22:08:00.001-07:00

Day Two Hundred Twenty-five, Date Sunday, October 11, 2009
Time in Saddle: 22:28
Distance for the Day: 118.73 miles From Ellensburg To Seattle, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,416 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 1468’/339’, Highest: 2996’ Accumulated: 5453’
Speeds: Avg: 7.6 mph, Max: 57.7 mph (false)
Weather: 20° clear, becoming high stratus layer overcast
Expenditures: $20

It was *very* cold this morning, even penetrating my sleeping bag at about 4am. That’s rare. There wasn’t anything I felt like doing about it, so I semi-dozed and suffered a bit, until I woke up at 5am, but still couldn’t quite bring myself to get up that early. So, I waited until 5:45am before getting up – the stars were glorious, but I couldn’t stand still and admire them: it was too cold! I discovered my water and Gatorade bottles had frozen solid (first time). The only thing that didn’t freeze was my fruit drink, which was in an inside pannier, under my stealth cloak. I don’t know why it didn’t freeze, too, but that’s what happened. I hadn’t prepared for this level of cold the night before by bringing all the usual layers into the tent with me, so I had to do the extra work of putting on the layers I had, run outside and retrieve the other layers, dive back inside and remove the outer layers so I could put on the inner layers, and then put the outer layers back on. I also broke out two sets of the instant chemical heat packs – one pair for the hands, and the other pair for the toes. Then I had to break down and stow away my camping gear. The sun was not up yet by the time I finished at 7:10am, my fingers were numb, and despite the layers I had on, I was still on the verge of hypothermia, and, I still had to try fixing my flat. I moved the trike out of the field to a spot closer to the side of the road, and waited for the heat packs to thaw my fingers, some, before beginning the repair work. I could only work for a few minutes at a time before my fingers became too numb to continue. I would then pause long enough for the heat packs to thaw my fingers enough to keep going. Since the heat packs weren’t really *that* hot, this would take several minutes. The sun rose, and I would also stand in its faintly warm glow every now and then, to keep myself from getting too cold. Eventually, I did manage to take out the gooey self-sealing innertube (when they get punctured, they leak sealant until the hole seals, and it’s a little messy), I cleaned out and inspected the tire for remnant puncturants (I made that word up), put in the second, spare (regular non-self-sealing) innertube in, and inflated it with my second-to-last CO2 cartridge (my hand air-pump broke, remember). I was ready to roll again at 8:08am. The sun was well up, but nothing was thawing, yet – even the ice on my trike hadn’t melted. Cold!

At 9:40am the air temperature was still 30° F, and my feet felt like blocks of ice. The toe warmers kept my toes from going painful to numb, but the rest of my foot wasn’t helped. However, the warmers made things tolerable and even doable, and I was glad to have them. The terrain had started to climb upwards, and I was seeing interesting limestone layers where the road cut through some low hills. The skies to the north and west were somewhat clear – a good sign, and the skies to the southeast, where I’d just come from, were much cloudier – I hoped they wouldn’t catch up with me. I was thinking about what I should do once I got over the Cascade Mountains – should I continue on into Seattle, or should I find a stealth camp, and then go into Seattle the next morning. The last weather forecasts I saw said chance of rain on Sunday, but I didn’t recall whether it was supposed to be early or late, or the percentages. I would definitely be riding at night, if I decided to go for it.

I stopped off at Cle Ellum from 11:15am to 12pm for a quickie breakfast of muffin, cocoa, and a breakfast bars ($5), when I got to talking with ‘Doug’ who was a trucker who hauled fruit, locally. He was a real gabmeister, but he gave me some interesting viewpoints on how truckers see cyclists. He really pushed for getting a single LARGE reflector for the rear of my trike, but was somewhat mollified by my three small ones. I ate my breakfast, and we chatted for a while, before I had to extricate myself from what could have been a much longer conversation, and continued on my way. A west wind came up, making it a mild tailwind for me, which was good – it was strong enough to make it feel like I was standing still, and this reduced the wind chill factor, making me a little warmer. Temperatures were still very cool, and my water and Gatorade bottles were only just starting to thaw, even though it was mid-day. I stopped in Easton at 1:30pm for a quickie lunch ($5) of a hot dog and soda, and continued on. I rode several miles on a nice bit of road construction that cars couldn’t use, yet, when I hit an obstruction that at first I thought was going to really screw me up: that newly constructed concrete roadway ended, abruptly, and there was no shoulder for the single lane of traffic just to my left. After a minute of considering my options, I realized the original two-lane highway had split, and there was another, slightly higher lane, also going west, up and to the left. I walked over to it by walking forward about 20 yards to get past a guard rail, crossed that lower-right lane, crossed a bit of grass and dirt up to the higher lane, and saw that it had a somewhat better shoulder – one that I could use. So, I went back to my trike, waited for a gap in the near lane traffic, rode my trike up the road past a guard rail, then up the grass/dirt divider to the other, higher lane, and continued on. It was still a bit tight, and the cars did slow a bit when they got close to me, but in about 20 or so minutes, after a few more miles, the construction zone ended, the roadways came back together, and the highway’s older, regular shoulder returned. Whew! I hoped there weren’t too many more of those.

It wasn’t too bad, but as the afternoon wore on, the constant roar of the end-of-weekend traffic got to be a bit much, even through my earplugs (not that I could do anything about it). I got off the interstate twice to take a few short, parallel roads, one going through a ski resort (Summit Central), but for the most part, I stayed on the interstate. After passing the summit at close to 3000’ ASL, I began to hit long, downhill stretches. As always, and especially on interstates, going fast meant dodging debris, mostly in the form of bigrig tire retread shreds, with their deadly steel-belted wire strands – ugh! Sure keeps you on your toes, though. By the time evening began to settle, and just before it got completely dark, I made it to Issaquah. From there, cyclists are no longer allowed on the interstate, so I got off, spent a bit of time looking for a suitable restaurant, found a Fatburger, got a hamburger, fries, and soda ($10), and called my friends Joe and Joanna to let them know I was going to continue on until I got to their place, which I thought would be around midnight. Joe helped me pick a suitable route to get there, and I left the restaurant at about 7pm to resume the ride. In retrospect, I should have just laid up somewhere for the night, but I got a ‘bee under me bonnet,’ and had to make this major goal tonight, do or die. My biggest regret for doing it at night was: I missed a lot of photo ops. I passed over three bridges, went through several very nice looking parks and interesting neighborhoods, probably had some good overviews of the city, but couldn’t see anything (sigh!) Of course, it ended up taking longer than I thought it would – Seattle had a lot more hills than I remember, the few other times I’ve visited here, and I didn’t pull in to my friend’s home until 2:40am, Monday morning. That was a record: I’d been up for 21 hours, and rode 118+ miles all in one shot. Joanna wanted to greet me when I came in, but it got too late for her, and went to bed. Joe stayed up, though, and we chatted a bit while I ate a late dinner (the burger I’d eaten 7 hours previously was completely burned up by then), and then we called it a night, and I went to sleep on their guest bedroom floor, right around 4am.

Day Two Hundred Twenty-four, 091010 - Ellensburg, WA

2009-10-16T22:07:00.001-07:00

Day Two Hundred Twenty-four, Date Saturday, October 10, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:34
Distance for the Day: 65.35 miles From Topenish To Ellensburg, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,298 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 681’/1468’, Highest: 1499’ Accumulated: 2169’
Speeds: Avg: 9.9 mph, Max: 30.2 mph
Weather: 41° totally overcast, but not threatening
Expenditures: $22

Woke and got up at 6:00am; broke down and ready to roll by 7am, still before sunrise. But, I had a nasty little surprise this morning – the gravel lot had goatheads, and my rear tire got another flat (#21). I had to fix it, and I also had to pick a bunch of thorns out of my two front tires, too. It’s a tricky operation: I have to rotate the tires, looking for little, light-colored ‘dots’ on its surface. These are the ends of the thorns that have stuck into the tire, but haven’t yet penetrated the tire liner. I used my Leatherman knife to dig out the current crop, and each tire had at least 4-6 of them, each. I didn’t have an air pump on me (as you may recall, it broke, recently), but was able to use another CO2 cartridge to inflate my repaired tire enough to make it to a gas station with a compressor. It takes a bit more space and expense to carry them, but that CO2 inflator has turned out to be a real convenience and time-saver, I tell you. At 8:30am, I stopped at the next gas station/mini mart, got a breakfast of hot cocoa and Danish ($5), and brought my rear tire up to full inflation.

At 10:31am I stopped in Union Gap for bathroom break and get more food items ($6), and stopped at a Burger King for a burger/fries/soda lunch at 10:55am ($6). I had to figure out if I wanted to take the side route, or the interstate to get through some mountains north of Yakima on my way to Seattle. I asked a local person outside of Burger King who, it turns out, was quite knowledgeable about the difference between the two routes. While the interstate had a wide shoulder, it went over three significant climbs, whereas the side road was much less hilly, but it was winding, had relatively narrow shoulders, and had medium traffic levels, including big rigs. Tough choice! I stopped in at a Clarion Hotel at the north end of town to use their free wi-fi, charge up my notebook, check the weather, and research the two routes. Kudos, by the way, to Clarion for their letting me just come in, sit in a comfortable chair, and use their free wi-fi and electricity. I ultimately decided to take the side (Canyon) road, and was very glad to have picked it. The traffic wasn’t that bad, the majority of the route had sufficient road shoulders (though at times it had *no* shoulders), it was *very* picturesque, and the climbs were indeed quite manageable.

I stopped along the way at 2:50pm for bathroom and snack break at the Rozer Recreation Area. It had a nice parking lot, *free* camping(!), bathrooms, picnic tables, and was very placid. The river widened enough to slow its flow down enough to make it seem more like a lake, and every now and then, the overcast sky would permit the sun to break through enough to send down a shaft of light that made the river sparkle with slow-flashing silver splinters of light. It was still somewhat cold, but there was no wind, and I watched as ducks swam and dove on the slow, brown waters. Thus refreshed, I made it out of the Yakima Canyon at 5pm, into Glen Ellen at 5:30pm, and stopped in at Subway for cookies and milk ($3). Then, I stopped at a mini mart for soda and chips ($2).

It was now 6:05pm; the sun was getting ready to set, and I continued on, determined to get as far as I could go toward the town of Cle Ellum to try to reduce the distance to Seattle as much as possible. I found a field off Rte 10 on the way to Cle Ellum at 6:45pm and stopped there for the night (N47 2.189’ W120 36.769’); it was some kind of crop that had been harvested already. There were no house lights nearby, it was pretty close to the roadway, but there wasn’t much traffic, and I knew as it got later, there would be even less, so noise wouldn’t be a problem. At 7:07pm, with the last light of day in the west, the stars began to come out. I could see bright Jupiter in the east, and the Summer Triangle (the three bright stars, Vega, Deneb, and Altair) was still almost directly overhead, even though Summer was over. Like me, it seemed to be trying to hold out against the approach of cold, wet Winter.

Ho-boy – my right-front tire went flat (#22) at 11,298 miles; it appears the magic combination of Mr. Tuffy tire liners and self-sealing innertubes was starting to wear off, as I have apparently started getting flats, again, after more than 4000 miles of flat-free riding. The states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Eastern Washington all have these wicked little ‘goathead,’ seedpods from a ground-hugging weed, which, in certain circumstances, have the ability to *sometimes* penetrate even Mr. Tuffy, and defeat the self-sealing innertubes. I’ve been picking their thorns out for a while, now, but because the tread on my tires is wearing thin, I think they’re now able to penetrate far enough to get through to the innertube and cause problems. I have three new tires waiting for me at my friend’s home in Seattle, and I estimated that I *should* be able to make it there before any more flats happen – I hope. It was very cold this evening – already down to freezing. The sky cleared up, and that lets the heat of the day escape to space. I decided to fix the flat tomorrow morning, knowing that this might be a mistake (it would be *really* cold, then), but the evening light was failing, and I didn’t want to get caught trying to do it in the dark.

The field *looked* grassy, but it was actually just close-cropped plant stalks, thick enough to poke up stiffly. I worried a bit that this might penetrate my ground cloth, penetrate my tent bottom, and poke up and puncture my air mattress, but it wasn’t quite sharp enough to do that, so I was okay. I set up my tent in the near dark, and cloaked my trike. I hopped in and munched chips, sipped soda, and read my book until about 9pm, when I went to sleep.

Day Two Hundred-three, 091009 - Topenish, WA

2009-10-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Twenty-three, Date Friday, October 9, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:39
Distance for the Day: 77.18 miles From Hermiston To Topenish, WA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,233 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 537’/681’, Highest: 1509’ Accumulated: 1906’
Speeds: Avg: 10.0 mph, Max: 39.9 mph
Weather: 20° and clear, becoming overcast and cool to cold
Expenditures: $16

I woke up at 6am, and got up at 6:15am. It was very cold, again, and my tent fly was stiff with frozen condensation on it – I tried to ‘dust’ it off, but wasn’t very successful. There was a waxing gibbous moon high up in the southwest getting close to full, and bright Venus, but while I was breaking camp, a cloud cover came in. I left before sunrise at 7am, and quickly found a mini mart just a bit up the road to have a breakfast of banana nut muffin, blueberry Danish, hot cocoa, and I also picked up a soda for the road ($7). After eating at the table they had, there, I left at 8:11am to continue up Hwy 395 towards the Columbia River and Washington State, which I made at 9:08am. I made it to the town of Prosser at 1:50pm, and almost immediately stumbled upon their library, so I went in to handle email, check weather, charge the notebook, and afterwards had the 2nd half of my Subway sandwich for lunch. I left at 3:45pm to continue up towards Mabton and Yakima. I stopped at a mini mart for food and drink supplies at 4:45pm ($9), and rode until sunset, making the town of Topenish. I found a church just off the highway, and pulled in to ask if they’d mind my setting up my tent overnight. They called the church minister, and he gave his okay, so I parked in a gravel lot as far from the roadway as I could, behind a small utility shed (N46 22.386’ W120 19.448’). The traffic noise was fairly loud, but handleable with earplugs. I munched, drank, and read my book for about an hour, and then went to sleep around 8:30pm. When going to sleep so early in the evening, I seem to have a tendency to wake up around 11pm or 12am and get thirsty. I usually save some of my soda for such instances, but this time I didn’t, so had to crawl outside and grab a Gatorade bottle for a couple of swallows. Back to sleep – zzzzzzzz!

Day Two Hundred Twenty-two, 091008 - Hermiston, OR

2009-10-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred Twenty-two, Date Thursday, October 8, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:11
Distance for the Day: 75.22 miles From Hilgard To Hermiston, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,156 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 3234’/537’, Highest: 4205’ Accumulated: 2785’
Speeds: Avg: 10.4 mph, Max: 39.9 mph
Weather: 46° partially clear, becoming overcast but remaining cool throughout the day
Expenditures: $9

I woke up at 6:05am, got up at 6:10am, and was ready to roll by 7:07am. The air was cold, but not freezing, for which I was grateful. The sun had risen, but because the site was surrounded by hills and trees, I couldn’t see it. I met the woman who spoke with me the night before, and she offered to host me should I pass their place on the Oregon coast on or after Nov 1st, which was very nice. I hit the road at about 7:45am, and continued heading north and west on Hwy 84/30. I passed up two possible places to get breakfast – they were too far off the main road, so instead had two meat and cheese sticks, a PayDay Bar, some M&Ms, a breakfast bar, and some Dole fruit drink. This would have to hold me until Pendelton, where I’d be able to get a lunch. This was one of those days where I’d have to doff and don my rain gear; on the uphills, I’d overheat, and have to take off the raingear. On the downhills, I’d freeze, and have to put ‘em back on, again. The Blue Mtns – up and down, over and over. At 11:30am, just as I was pulling into a rest stop, I got my first flat (#20) since before New Jersey on the rear tire. It was a handy place to get a flat – I had a nice, calm, semi-warm place to take off all my baggage, remove the rear tire, and replace the inner tube with a new/used one. (Self-sealing tires can’t be patched, as their liquid sealant causes patches to fail.) I carried the three spare inner tubes I had before getting the self-sealing inner tubes, and used a CO2 inflator cartridge to quickly get the tire to a fairly high pressure – it wasn’t as high as it should go, but would work until I got to a gas station with an air pump. I was good to go in about 45 minutes; talked with several people about my trike and trip while and after I fixed the flat, and then continued on my way. I stopped in Pendelton at 1:50pm to restock up on supplies ($14) including air for the tire, and got a Subway sandwich ($8) before continuing on at 3:40pm along I-84 towards Yakima. I made the town of Umatilla from Pendelton in a very short time (5:44pm) as it was mostly downhill, and sometimes very steeply downhill. The sun was pretty low before, and I thought I wouldn’t make Umatilla before sunset, but I made it with time to spare – how nice!

Note: ever since around just before Yellowstone, my left brake lever began to stick when it got cold. It became very hard to squeeze the lever, and once it did, it wouldn’t release. It didn’t freeze to the point of keeping the brake on, but the handle wouldn’t spring back like it should, either. Later, when the air temperature warmed up, it went back to being totally normal, again. I didn’t know what to do about it, but it wasn’t a big enough problem to go through a concerted effort to try to fix it. Weird.

I rode until sunset at about 6:30pm, when I just entered the town of Hermiston. I discovered it was an actual city, so I did as I’ve done before: ride through it to its far edge before finding a suitable stealth campsite. It’s more difficult (though not impossible) to find a good, private, quiet stealth camp inside a city, and I wasn’t in the requisite exploratory mood to search one out. After getting closer to the far edge, at around 7pm, I found an empty ‘business for sale’ building, which had a nice level, clean asphalt lot behind it, no lights, no nearby neighbors, and was above and away from the road far enough to attenuate the noise suitably for sleep (N45 51.581’ W119 17.341’). I set up my tent by 7:45pm and read, munched, and drank until hitting the hay at 9pm. The sky was clear, but the city lights washed-out all but the brightest stars. I hate light pollution.

Day Two Hundred Twenty-one, 091007 - Hilgard, OR

2009-10-16T18:21:00.002-07:00

Day Two Hundred Twenty-one, Date Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:06
Distance for the Day: 66.10 miles From Baker City To Hilgard, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,080 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 4045’/3234’, Highest: 4307’ Accumulated: 1562’
Speeds: Avg: 9.3 mph, Max: 34.7 mph
Weather: 27° totally clear, no wind
Expenditures: $28

I awoke at about 5:30am this morning to the roar of bigrigs. The dirt road circumnavigating the round lot I was camped in must have led to some kind of quarry, and the road construction crews must use every ounce of daylight they can to work. My earplugs handled most of the traffic during the night, but three times trains rolled by, and they penetrated enough to wake me up a little. I got up at 6:15am to break camp; it was as cold as I thought it would be, with a perfectly clear sky and bright gibbous moon. The morning light was already fairly bright, and sunrise was at about 7am. There was ice over everything, but by 7:13am I was ready to roll. I had a quicky breakfast of meat/cheese stick, breakfast bar, and Dole Pineapple Peach Mango juice. The bigrig traffic had become so heavy, I had to time my exit between sets. Though it was very cold, my new mitts helped keep my hands from freezing, but my toes were still a problem. I arrived in Baker City at 8:50am and spent an hour at the mini mart eating a Second Breakfast of muffin, Danish, and hot cocoa, plus got a soda for the road ($5). There was a wi-fi signal at this location, so I checked email, charged the notebook, and sent my friend Joe a message letting him know I should be in Seattle about the same time that he gets back from Vienna (this Saturday). I tried to send his wife, Joanna, an email too, but the connection went funky, and I couldn’t. I left the mini mart at 10:10am to continue on.

I stopped for lunch (a sandwich and some candy bars for the road - $10) at 12:30pm to 1:17pm in Powder where Hwy 30 rejoins I-84. It had been pretty cool all morning, and became almost temperate in the afternoon. I continued on towards the next big town, Pendelton, and made La Grande at 4:30pm. I stopped at a mini mart for more food and drink supplies ($13), and to take short break. There was a 10-15mph headwind, now, out of the north, which was a bit of a bother. I rode until sunset, still sort of in the mountains looking for stealth camping, but wasn’t seeing much. I found a pay-for state park campground, and went in to check things out. There was only one other couple there, and I checked to see if they’d be willing to share their site, but the woman said ‘no,’ it’s only $5, it’s our state park, and it’s worth it – to which I agreed. (I *was* being just a bit too cheap.) Just to verify, however, I checked with the campground host, to see if cyclists had to pay. He didn’t know, and the signage didn’t mention cyclists, either. I paid, anyway. In situations like this, which have come up before, I could have easily stealth camped the place and snuck out in the early morning, but I won’t do that. Even *I* have standards about such things. (N45 20.489’ W118 13.838’) I set up my tent by 7:30pm and munched, drank and read until 8:50pm, when I went to sleep. This site wasn’t a very good one as it was right next to the roadway, though below it by a good 50’. The traffic noise was still fairly loud, though, plus there were train tracks not very far away, and their horns woke me up a bit during the night. I’ve had better stealth camps, but as I found out the next day, there weren’t any other options for a good long while, so in hindsight, it was still the best choice – I lucked-out on that one.

Day Two Hundred-twenty, 091006 - Baker City, OR

2009-10-16T18:21:00.001-07:00

Day Two Hundred-twenty, Date Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:47
Distance for the Day: 62.63 miles From Payette To Baker City, OR
Accumulated Trip Distance: 11,014 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 2151’/4045’, Highest: 4058’ Accumulated: 2967’
Speeds: Avg: 9.3 mph, Max: 24.7 mph
Weather: 43° clear with cumies over the hill, very light breezes
Expenditures: $0

Woke up at 8:15am and got up at 8:20am in the spare bedroom of the Leslie M’s parents Leo and Linda in Payette. I handled a bit more email, checked the weather one more time, and then went downstairs to eat a wonderful pastry Linda bought for me in anticipation of my possible arrival. They had squirrel and bird feeders outside, visible from their large dining room window, that were a hoot to watch. Leo had access to somebody’s corn field (there are a lot of them around these parts) and had a huge stockpile of dried corn to feed the squirrels not only at his house, but also at the local retirement home for the amusement of the old folks, there, too. I thanked them and said my farewells at 9:50am, and continued up Hwy 52 towards Baker City.

I got food and drink at a mini mart ($4) and continued on in good riding conditions (clear, cool, low wind), crossing into Oregon at 10:53am. Right about then, I realized I blew the daily stats for the day because I forgot to reset my altimeter and cyclometer – I hate it when I do that. Now I’d have to figure out mileage from the mapping program, and would have to ‘guestimate’ altitude gains. Another road construction segment along the way required me to load me and my stuff into another road construction crew’s truck to get past it all. I have to say: road construction people are really nice and helpful people. Every single time I’ve come up against difficult or dangerous road construction situations, the crews have gone out of their way to help me through. As I was being carried through this construction zone, I took pictures of the Snake River from the truck, and in a matter of minutes, we arrived at the other end of the construction zone. The two ladies and I de-trucked my trike (I severely risked back injury by lowering my trike while standing in the truck bed – it’s a good thing I’ve taken to doing stomach exercises every day). I had to take an immediate trip down a side road to handle an emergency nature call, and forged on. Several more miles up the road, I stopped at 1pm to eat lunch and read my book at a picturesque picnic spot by the river. It was very peaceful, with huge cloud shadows lumbering over a high hill across the river. Of course, there was a port-a-potty there. It never fails to amaze me how often the things we need show up *after* we need them. I continued on at 1:28pm, and at 1:34pm, it became 2:34pm (I passed into the Pacific Time Zone, just a bit past/west of Huntington), still heading towards Baker City. I love passing through time zones – it really gives me a sense of accomplishment – even more so than state borders. I even had a light tailwind to help push me along – Life just don’t get no better than this.

As the afternoon passed into evening, I began to look for a suitable stealth camp, and spied a good possibility; a dirt road in good condition that led away from the highway. At first, I looked at a tree immediately off the roadside that had level ground around it, but on closer inspection, found a lot of dried horse poop – no goodnick. A bit further on, I entered a large, roughly circular storage yard that didn’t seem to be getting much use, and found a spot out of the wind behind a big pile of dirt and some concrete road barriers (N44 40.320’ W117 37.334’). I was visible from the highway, but about 200 yards from it, so I doubted anyone would notice me, especially in the gathering dark. It was windy and cold – into the low 40s or upper 30s – and the sky was completely clear. It was going to be very cold tomorrow morning. I set up my tent, cloaked my trike, and hopped in with munchies, drink, and book. To keep from lighting up my tent, thus making it visible to the general public, I ate first, and then read under the cover of my sleeping bag. With sunset now happening an hour earlier, around 6:30pm, instead of 7:30pm (due to the change in the time zone I passed through earlier today), I hit the hay earlier, too – around about 8pm. I’d seen rabbits run for cover under the concrete barriers when I first arrived, and heard them squeaking and hissing fairly nearby once. After I put in my earplugs, the only thing I could sort of hear was the traffic from the highway, which didn’t stop me from falling quickly to sleep.

Day Two Hundred-nineteen, 091005 - Payette, ID

2009-10-16T18:18:00.001-07:00

Day Two Hundred-nineteen, Date Monday, October 5, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:32
Distance for the Day: 62.4 miles From Boise To Payette, ID
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,957 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 2803’/2151’, Highest: 2803’ Accumulated: 447’
Speeds: Avg: 9.4 mph, Max: 22.6 mph
Weather: 47° light rain, stopping by mid-afternoon but remaining overcast
Expenditures: $8

I got up at 6:00am this morning to say ‘bye’ to Leslie before she left for work. She was preparing for a wet ride to work, and laughed because it took her about 15 minutes to prepare for a 20 minute ride. I then went back to sleep, until 7am, when I got up again to say ‘bye’ to Bob, who was also going to work. I thanked both of them for hosting me, and was pleased in the knowledge that they had a wonderful life, and would have many good times ahead of them. I spent a bit more time online, then geared-up for the light rain and somewhat cold temps (the new mittens would get their first road test, today), said goodbye to Angus and Glenna, went out to Bob’s studio in the backyard, rolled out my trike, and promptly stepped on a dog poo, which got all into my shoe’s toe clip. After washing it off at the hose, I carefully navigated the rest of the backyard lawn, and made it safely out the gate by 9:42am to the street (whew!, or is that phew?) I guess even Paradise has *some* problems ;-)

I began wending my way north and west, stopped in at the local Walmart to pick up some trailmix by 10:51am, and rolled through the outskirts of Boise, watching the now familiar transfer from urban to rural neighborhoods. I stopped in Emmett at 2:20pm for a Subway Footlong sandwich meal deal ($8), and did the usual ‘eat half, save the other half for tomorrow’ routine. The sky was still mostly cloudy, but the light rain had stopped, and didn’t return. I didn’t get as far as I thought I might, and arrived in Payette at approx 6:30pm. It was late afternoon/early evening, and I decided to take up Leslie’s offer to stay with her parents, Leo and Linda L, overnight, there. I found their house at 7:08pm (Approx N44° 4 W116° 55), rang the doorbell, and I didn’t even have to introduce myself – they were expecting me! (Thanks, Leslie!) I tried to take a line out of Charles Dickens’ classic tale, A Christmas Carol, by saying imperiously, “I am the cyclist whose coming was foretold to you!” but I blew it. Moments lost (sigh).

They stuffed me with a wonderful roast beef dinner, including a potato/carrot/onion dish, and buttered garlic bread – yummm! Leo showed me tons of pictures of his family’s events and outings, and I showed him bunches of my trip photos. They don’t have wi-fi, but there’s an unsecured signal from a neighbor, so I was able to use that to research the weather, handle more email, and post a review of my hosts (Leslie and Bob) on the Warmshowers website. Of course, it was highly complimentary. I didn’t need a shower, so I put my sleeping bag on the floor of their upstairs guest room, and had a lovely warm, dry, quiet sleep. Ahhhh!

Day Two Hundred-eighteen, 091004 - Boise, ID

2009-10-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-eighteen, Date Sunday, October 4, 2009
Time in Saddle: n/a
Distance for the Day: n/a
Accumulated Trip Distance: n/a
Altitudes: n/a
Speeds: n/a
Weather: 40°
Expenditures: $94

(I got a picture for today, and posted it.) I woke up again at 8am along with everyone else, and had a toasted bagel with whipped cream cheese (makes spreading it easier – what an idea!) I continued blogging, when brother-in-law Dave showed up with tales and pictures from his fishing trip to Alaska, from which he’d just returned. He caught 175 lbs of BIG fish, saw grizzly bears, and was kept up by a drunk mountain man who was their guide; in other words, a great time was had by all. He took off after a while, and we later went out to go shopping at REI and have lunch at a Mexican restaurant (I treated my hosts, this time) ($25). At REI, I got a nice pair of waterproof mittens, a can of bicycle degreaser, and a whistle/compass/match holder (which I use to hold my earplugs) (to replace the one I lost the other day) ($69). We then returned home, where I degreased and cleaned my trike’s chain and drive components, and re-lubed them. Bob found a nut and bolt to replace the screw I had jury-rigged to (sort of) hold my rear wheel fender, so that was now much more secure. I then went back into the main house to continue blogging. Bob showed me his electronic chanter, which I expressed an interest in, earlier. The chanter is the flute-like part of a bagpipe rig, and an electronic one works just like a real one, but doesn’t need air – just finger contact. It’s heard through earphones, so you can use it anywhere, without disturbing anyone else. Very cool. Leslie cooked up a terrific dinner of (ack! I forget – pork stew?) and corn bread. Anyways, it was wonderful. We talked about their experiences in Ireland and Scotland, about our ancestors, and about the Japanese internment during WWII. Afterwards, I went back to blogging, and because she would have to get up early the next morning, Leslie and I said our farewells before she went to bed. Bob also went to bed, but he would probably be around to see me off. I stayed up until 1am finishing my blogs, uploading them, adding the pictures, and making them available.

Day Two Hundred-seventeen, 091003 - Boise, ID

2009-10-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-seventeen, Date Saturday, October 3, 2009
Time in Saddle: n/a
Distance for the Day: n/a
Accumulated Trip Distance: n/a
Altitudes: n/a
Speeds: n/a
Weather: 41°
Expenditures: $0

I woke up at 7:30am to the tender kisses of Angus, and shooed him away, and dozed for another half hour before getting up at 8am, when Leslie and Bob also arose. Leslie fixed us ‘egg mcmuffins,’ of bacon, cheese and fried egg on English muffins – tasty! It was overcast and cool, but not raining, yet, so they went for a mountain bike ride, while I continued blogging. They came back, and after a while, we all piled in Bob’s car and went to a small event where Bob and his pipe band (as in, bag pipe band) were to play at. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and windy, so there weren’t many people there, but they played anyways, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. I love bagpipe music, and they sounded great. After their gig – about 40 or so minutes, they finished and went playing and marching right into the restaurant that was doing the event, and we all got a private room where they served nachos and beer. We all yakked up a storm, while warming up. After a few hours, everyone drifted away to go home, and so did we. Bob and Leslie’s friends Robert and Sharon came a bit later that afternoon (also avid cyclists), so we all went out to dinner at a local pizza restaurant. We chatted the whole evening while munching on two large pizzas and beer (root beer, for me). Afterwards, we went back to Bob and Leslie’s, and I blogged more, while everyone else went to bed. Today, I only stayed up until 12:30am before hitting the hay.

Day Two Hundred-sixteen, 091002 - Boise, ID

2009-10-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-sixteen, Date Friday, October 2, 2009
Time in Saddle: 3:14
Distance for the Day: 31.24 miles From Regina To Boise, ID
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,895 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 3264’/2876’, Highest: 3406’ Accumulated: ??
Speeds: Avg: 9.6 mph, Max: 50.8 mph (doubtful)
Weather: 33° partly cloudy, bands of high cirrus, becoming overcast, but no rain, highs in the low 50s
Expenditures: $8

I woke and got up at 7:05, broke down camp just before sunrise at 7:50am, and had a quickie breakfast of breakfast bar, ruby red grapefruit juice, and the rest of my twisty corn chips. I then got back out onto the frontage road, and started heading for the on-ramp to the interstate, as the non-interstate roads from here to Boise may or may not have been gravel, and I didn’t want to spend any time finding out. I’m fine with interstates, anyways, and don’t mind riding them. As I rolled along the frontage road, a couple of young dogs started chasing me and barking. I did my usual thing: I stopped, and didn’t make eye contact. As usual, they stopped chasing me, but then when I started back up, again, they followed me more. I could tell they were friendly, so I stopped again, but this time invited them to make my acquaintance, petted them a bit, and then continued on. But they were still following me. I went more than a mile, all the way to the on-ramp of the interstate, and they were still following! Well, I knew I couldn’t lead them onto the freeway, but they wouldn’t leave, so, I rode all the way back to their house. I knocked on all the doors to the house, and the two mobile homes on the property, but no one was there. I then saw a small, fenced-in kennel, and thought I’d get them into there and close the door. I tried to entice the dogs into the kennel, but they already knew all about that trick, and weren’t having any of it. They ran off into the open fields of sage that surrounded the house, so I took off, and this time they did not follow me – mission accomplished.

I rode back to the on-ramp, didn’t see any sign prohibiting cyclists, and rode onto the interstate, onto a nice, mostly clean, wide shoulder that kept me five feet from the traffic, with a vibration strip as additional protection – excellent! It was only 14 more miles to Boise, which I made by 10:35am, and I stopped to check the exact route to my next host, and to see if there was a Burger King along the way, which there was – excellent, again! As I entered the southern outskirts of town, I found myself on a very nice bicycle path which led about 4/5ths of the way towards my hosts’ home. A part of the town is sort of split-level, and I was on the higher part, wondering how to get down to the lower part. I eventually found the way, and almost immediately also found the Burger King. By now, it was about 11:30am, so went in and had a burger, fries, and soda ($8), and ate lunch while reading my book. I then continued on at 12:48pm and arrived at my hosts’ home at 1:15pm. Their house was partway up the eastern hills of Boise, and I remember seeing a big house at the top of a big hill, and thinking: “Glad I’m not going up there, heh-heh.” Well, in looking for my host’s house, I got to the bottom of that big hill, so I came close (puff, puff!) Turns out it’s the State of Idaho Governor’s mansion, though the current Governor doesn’t live there. It was built by French fry magnate J.R. Simplot, and when he died, he left it to the state of Idaho for the use of the Governor, on the condition that the huge American flag be left to fly, and indeed: it does still fly. Anyways, I realized I’d missed a street, so went back down some, and then found the house. They left the back door open for me, so I took my trike around back, and was immediately accosted by their two Brittany dogs (Angus [the Young], and Glenna [the Mellow]). They were just rambunctiously noisy-but-friendly, and after we got acquainted for a short bit, we were licking each others paws and faces, and instantly became the best of friends. The house and grounds were beautiful, clean and neat as a pin, with lots of artistic objects, pictures, comfortable furniture, modern appliances, and musical instruments (guitar, flute, piano and *bagpipes*) – but most important: wi-fi! I settled in to wait for Bob and Leslie to come home from work, and immediately began to handle email, recharge equipment (including the new camera battery I bought online and had sent to their house), and study the next segment of my trip into Oregon and then Washington. It was going to be tricky, as there were mountains to deal with, and I wanted to try to pick the best route to avoid as much climbing as possible. Bob arrived home, first; we introduced ourselves, and immediately began chatting about my trip, he and his wife’s biking experiences, and on to other subjects. Leslie arrived a bit later and joined in. Then, we all went out walking a short way to dinner at a very nice, local restaurant, and continued chatting away. They’re both avid cyclists, both mountain and road, and between them, have about 8 different bikes(!) and bicycle commute and trail ride regularly. We went back to their house afterwards, and I began blogging while they eventually went off to bed, and I quit at about 2:30am, and slept as I had insisted: on the sunroom floor in my sleeping bag and on my air mattress.

Day Two Hundred-fifteen, 091001 - Regina, ID

2009-10-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-fifteen, Date Thursday, October 1, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:10
Distance for the Day: 63.5 miles From Hill City To Regina, ID
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,863 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 4924’/3264’, Highest: 5535’ Accumulated: 2126’
Speeds: Avg: 8.8 mph, Max: 36.6 mph
Weather: 5°
Expenditures: $27

I woke up several times, during the night, but at got up early, at 6:15am, as I wanted to make some good mileage, today. It was still dark out, with just the barest hint of sunrise on the eastern horizon; the stars and Milky Way were still very much ablaze. I knew it was going to be cold this morning, so I should have prepped better by bringing out the extra layers I would need into the tent with me the prior evening, but I forgot. So, I put on my jacket and shoes, got out of the tent, got an extra shirt and pants, went back into the tent, took off my shoes off, took off my jacket, put on the extra shirt and pants, put back on my jacket and then put on my rain jacket and pants over everything, and then put my shoes back on. Now I was layered-up enough to face the morning, which by now was about 6:30am. I checked my thermometer, and I couldn’t quite believe it: 5° F? If true, that was a personal record for me – I’ve never been in temperatures lower than 25° F, before. The condensation on my tent fly was frozen, and my water bottles had begun to freeze – that was a first for this trip, too. Strangely, my Gatorade wasn’t frozen at all – maybe because it’s got some salt in the solution. By the time I broke down my tent, and secured my gear, it had started getting lighter out, but I could still see the brighter constellations. I had a little trouble pushing my trike up out of the steep walls of the ditch, but I managed it in fairly short order. There was no wind this morning, but it was so cold that I finally broke out and used my instant chemical heat packs, because my fingers were numb. They take a few minutes to star working, but once they do, they work pretty good. I also used for the first time, a variation of Dan the Walking Man’s trick (see Day Forty Two), who used two pairs of socks as mittens. I used one pair of socks inside my fingered gloves and that, in combination with the use of the heat packs, worked quickly to thaw my hands, to a comfortable state. A little later, I transferred the heat packs into my shoes, to help keep my toes from hurting with the cold. It was a little uncomfortable, as my shoes were already fairly tight, but still better than the cold ache of cold toes. I would have to get more of those chemical heat packs ASAP, if this degree of cold was going to become a trend.

By 11:30am, I realized this was a ‘lose-it’ day: I’d left behind my very handy neck hanging thermometer, whistle, compass, and earplug holder, I’d lost another of these rubber emergency brake rubber bands, and then I found I’d lost yet another of the Velcro strips I use to keep my drinking bottle in its cage. Must be the cold that’s making me make mistakes – have to be more careful. Through the morning, I shed some layers while climbing some of the hills, though temps were still down below 50° (hill work really warms you up). I hadn’t seen any services, yet, today, so gnoshed on meat-n-cheese sticks, trailmix, breakfast bars, and Gatorade, instead. I hit a really long downhill stretch – about 10 miles – and dropped almost 2000’ before reaching the small city of Mountain Home at 1:15pm. That was fun! I stopped at a Pilot (a truckers’ stop with extra facilities such as showers, Laundromat, lounge, etc.) for food and drink supplies ($8), and also stopped at a Walmart to get 4 sets of toe warmer thingies ($8). I looked for a Burger King for lunch, but couldn’t find one, even though there was a Jack In The Box, a Wendy’s, a Subway, McDonalds, etc. Very disappointing! So, I just got a pre-packaged deli sandwich, some chips and a soda at the grocery store, and that was lunch ($11). I then left Mtn Home north along some frontage roads that paralleled the Interstate 84, and a few miles out, lo and behold: a Burger King! Too late, though, and I rode past, eyes rolling.
The frontage roads took me on this big elbow out from, and back to, the freeway, which was sort of inefficient. I was definitely not going to make it to Boise that day, so at around 7pm, as the Sun began to get low in the West, I found a dirt road into a very large, unfenced area of sage with telephone poles running through it, and no nearby residences or buildings. I went in a few hundred yards to get away from the noise of the highway, and found a seldom used dirt track off to the side of the larger road (N43 21.131’ W115 56.412’). It had a nice, flat, and relatively clean surface, and there was no insect activity at all; there might be snakes, but it was too cold for them to be active. I activated my cell phone and called my Warmshowers hosts in Boise to let them know I would be in sometime tomorrow morning. I then set up my tent just before sunset, and this time, I brought in all the layers of clothes I’d need to stay warm. I didn’t munch or drink, but I did read my book until 9pm, using my new, smaller, headlamp; then I went to sleep.

Day Two Hundred-fourteen, 090930 - Hill City, ND

2009-10-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-fourteen, Date Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:43
Distance for the Day: 55.77 miles From Carey To Hill City, ID
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,800 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 4954’/4924’, Highest: 5174’ Accumulated: 1188’
Speeds: Avg: 7.2 mph, Max: 26.1 mph
Weather: 33° started out overcast, but began to clear, but cloudy around most of the horizon
Expenditures: $19

I woke up at 6:56am, got up at 7am, and was ready to roll at 7:31am. The rain of the previous night was very light and sporadic, and the wind dried most everything pretty well, which made me very happy (I don’t like packing away wet stuff), but it was still quite overcast. I stopped off the nearest mini mart from 8:15am – 8:40am for a donut and hot cocoa breakfast, and got some food and drink supplies ($8), too. I rode out of town, and continued along my route, when I hit a road construction project that was about 4 miles long, and wasn’t quite practical for me to ride. So, once again, from 9:50am to 10:05am, I got a vehicle assist of about 5 miles to get past it all. It was 40° with a 10-15mph headwind. My fingers and toes were close to numb, so the lady giving me a ride turned up the heat, and I was able to thaw out for the few minutes it took to drive through the construction zone, and the entire ‘town’ of Picabo. There was almost nothing to Picabo; just one gas station and some utility buildings. Still, this was a beautiful area in a desolate sort of way, with large fields and mountains of broken, jagged volcanic rock. Like nothing I’d ever seen before, I found it pretty amazing. As I continued along, I noticed that the clouds I had been under not long ago were now kind of breaking up above me, but were still solid behind. Then I saw that the clouds above me were becoming more sporadic, while those behind had solidified, and seemed to be raining. I also noticed, after yet more time, that the storm front was eating up the terrain I’d passed about an hour before. This storm was following me, and I seemed to be keeping pace with it, if not outrunning it! This kept me pumping a bit harder than usual, and for longer periods of time – I did not want it to catch me up. Along the way, I got buzzed by a large, white van, that missed me by about a foot while going about 60mph – not sure why that happened – if it was intentional or not, but it was a rare, close encounter that woke me up. Meanwhile, the storm that was trying to catch me seemed to have given up, and I was now definitely far ahead of it. I stopped to get an early dinner in Fairfield burger, soda and fries ($11) from 3:45-4:45pm, and by 7:11pm sky above was completely blue except a few puffies. I could still see a ways off to the east, behind me, and it looked pretty horrible/stormy. I rode until it was nearly sunset, when I found a stealth camp location in a water runoff ditch next to a dirt side road off the main road (N43 17.995’ W115 5.839’). It had a relatively clean, flat bottom, and was less than 3’ deep. I brought my trike down into it to hide, and set my tent up. After getting inside, I read my book, munched and drank soda for a while, before hitting the hay. As I lay there, it occurred to me that if this was an irrigation ditch, I might get flooded-out if someone opened a valve to water a field. But, then I figured out that it couldn’t be an irrigation ditch, but just an oversized rain gutter; I could tell it hadn’t had water in it for a fair long time, it had no pools or moist spots, the weeds were upright, and didn’t look like they’d ever been under water, etc. The wind was blowing down the length of the ditch, but got lighter, and by sunset at 7:30pm, it stopped altogether.

Day Two Hundred-thirteen, 090929 - Carey, ID

2009-10-04T23:04:00.001-07:00

Day Two Hundred-thirteen, Date Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:55
Distance for the Day: 55.30 miles From Howe To Carey, ID
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,744 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 5427’/4954’, Highest: 6073’ Accumulated: 1588’
Speeds: Avg: 7.9 mph, Max: 31.0 mph
Weather: 59°
Expenditures: $9

I woke up at 7:03am, and got up by 7:06am. It was calm at first, but a few minutes later, a strong wind of 20-25mph came up at 7:15am, making my campsite breakdown challenging. Sunrise came at 7:30am, and the sky was partly cloudy. I was ready to roll by 7:55am into the west with a strong headwind, but by the time I got to Arco at 9:32am, the wind had died down, again. The clouds looked like they could rain, but there are also wide swaths of blue sky, too. When I arrived in Arco, I saw the unlikely sight of a display featuring a torpedo, and a 20’ high conning tower from an actual nuclear submarine(!) off to the side of the main road. An older gentleman came over to admire my trike while I was taking pictures of the torpedo, and as it turned out, he was the man who not only established the display, but he was a retired nuclear engineer and physicist who helped build the power plants for America’s first nuclear-powered submarines. He and his two daughters also happened to be avid cyclists, which was why he was so interested in my trike (he had been thinking of getting a recumbent, too). There was a tiny, one-room museum a few yards past the torpedo exhibit, and he opened it up and gave me a tour of the place, and talked about nuclear submarines, and nuclear power around the US. The room was crammed full of fascinating artifacts and displays, and my ‘tour guide,’ Clay Condit, spoke enthusiastically and knowledgeably about the history and current state of the world’s use of nuclear power in war and in peace. A lot of the research and construction of the nuclear power plants for submarines back in the 50s were done in Arco, hence the museum and exhibit’s location. Meanwhile, Mary, another person involved with the museum, called to have someone from the local newspaper interview me. I told Clay I was going to go find a place to have breakfast, and he recommended The Pickle, a restaurant just across the street, and said he would pay for my meal - wow! So, I first went up the street a bit to give my interview to Don Cammack of The Arco Advertiser, and then came back to the restaurant, and had a nice breakfast of eggs, sausage, hash browns, and toast. Thanks, Clay! I stopped at the local grocery store to stock up on drink and food items ($6), and was ready to continue on at 11:28am. The sky had gotten kind of threatening looking, and the wind was medium-annoying, at about 10-15mph, but I still stopped at the Craters of the Moon interpretive center from 3-3:30pm to take just a peek at their exhibits and gift shop. I also got two cans of soda ($2) and left a buck for donation, before moving on. The temperature dropped about 10 degs from 75 to 65 and the windchill made things chilly, indeed. By 6:30pm, it still looked like it could rain, when I entered the town of Carey and looked for a stealth camp location. I found a Dept of Transport yard which looked deserted, but shared a driveway with a couple of mobile homes to the right. I went to one of the nearby mobile homes to ask if they thought anyone would mind my camping next to the DOT building (to be out of the wind). I saw a silhouette of someone inside, who moved a little when I waved, but didn’t get up to find out what I wanted (shades of Cross City, Dixie County Florida), so I went back to the DOT building, hung out a bit, and then said, “what the heck,” and set up my tent. I was in it for about a half hour munching and reading my book before headlights hit it, and I could hear a truck drive up and park on the side of the building, around the corner to the side where I was camped. I poked my head out after a little while, and saw the DOT guy, who said this would not be a good place to camp. He said his shift boss would probably call the cops, but that there was a town park and fairground just up the street a quarter mile where I could camp. I thanked him, packed up everything quickly, and went off down the road at 7:30pm to find the park. This was a bigger town than I had first thought, and it did indeed have a small park, and a larger fairgrounds area that was out of view of any houses, and away from the main street by several hundred yards. Excellent! It had gotten dark by now, but I found a small building (N43 18.794’ W113 56.857’) that would block the wind, and set my tent up next to it; I was set up and inside by 8pm. Unfortunately, the building had a door that would bang a few times if the wind got particularly strong, but that didn’t happen very often, so I was able to get a fair night’s sleep despite the wind and faint traffic noise from the main street. I lucked-out, as it started to lightly rain about 15 minutes after I got inside my tent, and I got to sleep, nice and dry, around 8:50pm. This day was always overcast, cool, windy, with a headwind came and went, but I still made fairly good progress, and was now low enough to at least escape the snow.

Day Two Hundred-twelve, 090928 - Howe, ID

2009-10-04T23:03:00.001-07:00

Day Two Hundred-twelve, Date Monday, September 28, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:27
Distance for the Day: 77.79 miles From Rexburg To Howe, ID
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,689 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 5032’/5427’, Highest: 5430’ Accumulated: 1188’
Speeds: Avg: 10.4 mph, Max: 25.0 mph
Weather: 44° clear and cold warming to the low 80s during the day
Expenditures: $19

Woke and got up at 7:30am, and had a breakfast of 10-grain cereal. I thanked Scott and Rachel, said goodbye to the children, and took off at 8:15am to continue due west on Hwy 33; it was 35 miles to the next town, but I had already stocked up fairly well, already, so just went on down the road, hoping to make good progress this day. Theoretically, there was some bad weather coming in for the next several days – I hoped I could avoid it, somehow (hope springs eternal). About 7 miles out of Rexburg, at 9:51am, I found something I’d never seen before: a county park with free camping, that had bathroom facilities, tot lots, and picnic tables – free! Amazing. The campsite had the unlikely name of Beaver Dick, named after a fur trader that lived in the region in the late 1800s. He would have even been able to beat a boy named Sue. I made the tiny town of Tarreton by 12:50pm, and the similarly sized town of Mud Lake right after that, but at least Mud Lake had a restaurant and a gas station. I got a lunch of burger, fries, salad and soda ($14), and I also took a bit of time to figure out that I’ve gone nearly 4100 miles without a flat (including passing over roughly about 40 miles of dirt and gravel roads), since I installed a new set of tires at my sister’s in New Jersey. Along with the new tires, I also utilized tire liners (Mr. Tuffy), and self-healing innertubes with goop in them. This has worked remarkably well! After lunch, I took off, but remembered I had to get more Gatorade, so turned back, got it ($2), and *then* continued on towards the next big town, Arco. The terrain went from farmland around Rexburg to open plains of sage similar to Nevada, and became farmland, again. The high, wispy cirrus clouds kept the Sun somewhat cooler as temperatures rose higher to the mid-80s. For a while, the road out of Rexburg was excellent with new pavement and sufficient shoulder, and it went a good long way. Then, it became older pavement with narrower shoulder, but it was only had a medium amount of traffic, and there were no major problems.

I made Howe at 5:15pm, and stopped for 20 minutes at a mini mart for an ice cream sandwich and soda ($3). I still had a bit more daylight; I wouldn’t make it to Arco, but I still wanted to use that daylight to get further along, so I kept riding. When the Sun did start to get low to the horizon, at 7:18pm I found a pretty good stealth campsite just off the highway – a kind of small gravel quarry (N43 38.159’ W113 7.004’). I was near enough to the road to still hear vehicles going by, but there weren’t many, and I was completely hidden from view. Also, if it decided to rain during the night, the gravel I set my tent up on would provide excellent drainage. I knew it might rain, but the night was so clear and temperate, I didn’t put the rain fly on – just made it readily available, should I need it. I hopped inside with book, munchies, and soda, and read for a while before going to sleep at 9pm. I woke up a few times during the night, and could see that some of the stars were being obscured by some clouds, but it never did rain.

Day Two Hundred-eleven, 090927 - Rexburg, ID

2009-10-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-eleven, Date Sunday, September 27, 2009 Time in Saddle: 7:00
Distance for the Day: 80.78 miles From West Yellowstone To Rexburg, ID
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,611 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 6650’/5032’, Highest: 7106’ Accumulated: 1713’
Speeds: Avg: 11.5 mph, Max: 40.3 mph
Weather: 25° clear, cold, but not as cold as yesterday
Expenditures: $20

Woke up at 7:30am and got up at 7:35am. I got 5.5 good hours of good, solid, comfortable sleep, which was nice. Nothing woke me up during the night, and I didn’t even have to use earplugs, it was that quiet. By 8:10am I was broke down and ready to roll. I headed back into town, where at 9:04am I had a breakfast from a mini mart of hot cocoa and Danish and muffin, plus I picked up some liquids ($11). I left town at about 9:30am, and began heading west and south on Hwy 20 towards Rexburg. The terrain was still mountainous, but the road was going mostly down, so I didn’t mind. Plus, it was still quite beautiful, with pine forest, aspens starting to change color, and the Henrys Fork River. At 10:30am, I crossed from Montana into Idaho, and across the Continental Divide, yet again, at 7072’ ASL. I stopped in at another mini mart around 12:15pm for a chili dog and peach lunch, and to get more Gatorade ($5), then continued on.

After coming down from the mountains, the terrain turned agrarian, again – flat, with crops of hay growing all over the place. At 3:45 – 4pm I stopped in Ashton for small choco malted ($4) at local ice cream drive in, and then continued on now due west toward Rexburg. I contacted Scott, who I’d met in West Yellowstone, and got the okay to stay overnight at his home, there – great! However, I still had some 25 miles to go, and it was getting past mid-afternoon. I began pumping harder to make good time, when I ran into – vibration strips. These were the most nonsensical I’d ever seen: they spanned the width of an otherwise beautiful 8’ wide shoulder, and were spaced apart about every 20’. The only way I could avoid them, was to ride out in the right-hand lane of the two-lane/one-way roadway. I kept a careful watch in my mirror, and whenever a single car approached, I let it change lanes to pass me – no big deal. If I saw a gaggle of cars coming, I moved back onto the shoulder and suffered the vibration strips while the gaggle passed, and then went back out into the lane. This was working fine, but some no-good rotten panty-waist prima donna with a cell phone called into 911 to complain that they had to wake up from their nap long enough to turn down their radio, set down their mocha latte, turn their steering wheel 3 degrees to the left and then right to miss me by a quarter mile, to report that I was a hazard to traffic. A *maroon* cop car showed up and flashed his lights at me, so I pulled over, knowing already exactly what happened. I was pissed, but I vented my anger on the roadway design engineers. The cop was slightly amused but firm – stay on the shoulder. In reality, the stupid vibration strips weren’t really all that bad, but I hated being forced to ride on them because one or two fraidy cat road wimps couldn’t stand to share a lightly traveled road with a real cycling he-man (that'd be ME). But, I’d already gone 10 miles like this, and only had 5 more to go, so I at least had the satisfaction of knowing I got away with it for the majority of the time. Once I reached Rexburg, my route would take me onto a different road, which did not have those accursed vibration strips. I got to Scott and Rachel’s by around 6:30pm; pretty good time – 25 miles in about 2 hours! They did a “full” hosting, which I wasn’t quite expecting, with shower, laundry, and a tasty waffle dinner. Their three cute little kids (two girls, one boy) played, and we chatted a long time about my trip and their lives. We got onto the internet, and I showed them my hang gliding video and the “wherethehellismatt” video; he showed me pictures from his ice climbing escapades in Mexico and locally (cool - literally and figuratively!) I plugged in all my electronics to recharge, and went to sleep, dry, warm, and in silence, at 9:30pm on the floor of their spare ‘rumpus room.’ So nice!

Day Two Hundred-ten, 090926 - West Yellowstone

2009-10-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-ten, Date Saturday, September 26, 2009
Time in Saddle: n/a
Distance for the Day: Still in West Yellowstone
Accumulated Trip Distance: n/a
Altitudes: Starting/Ending n/a
Speeds: Avg: n/a
Weather: 25° totally clear, calm, becoming warm and windy in the afternoon
Expenditures: $38

I woke up at 6:20am, with the light of dawn becoming somewhat bright. It was cold out – colder than I’ve experienced on this trip, so far – down to about 20 degrees. Strangely, none of my water or Gatorade was even slushy. I broke down my tent and at 7:10am, started into town to find a mini mart with a bathroom. It was below freezing, but I saw this guy in shorts and sweatshirt running along and *sweating*. I asked him why he wasn’t freezing, and it was because he’d been on a long run. I noticed he had on an Oakland Raiders shirt, but he wasn’t from Oakland – he was just a Raiders fan. We chatted a bit, but I kept it short, as I didn’t want him to freeze up. I then found that mini mart, hit the head, and got some food items ($6). Then, I went to the The Old Town Café to blog and get a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, hash browns, and hot cocoa at ($14) while waiting for the library to open at 9am. However, the library didn’t open until 10am, but the hour was taken by four local kids from about 8 to 10 years old who I let ride my trike and fielded their questions about my trip and stuff. Two of them donated some change out of their pockets towards my trip – that was cute. They took turns riding my trike, getting a little rambunctious about it, at times, but all in good, earnest, kid-fun. I eventually had to shoo them away when the library opened; a couple of them went inside, too, to play on the computers, and I began to do some serious blog catch-up. The kids came over after a while and we chatted for a while longer, until I gently shooed them away, again and blogged the day away. It being Saturday, the library was only open until 3pm, so I had to hurry. I hurried, but still wasn’t done by 3pm, so rode back over to the Chamber of Commerce, ate the other half of my Subway sandwich, and got to talking with a couple of the dozens of cyclists that had congregated there. A ‘Ride to Old Faithful’ event was going on, and cyclists from all over the nation were there to participate. One of the guys, Scott H, offered to host me when I got down to his town, Rexburg, about 60 miles south of West Yellowstone along my projected route – cool! He and his friend also checked my planned route (on Street Atlas) to and through Boise, ID on my way to Washington, and they thought it was a good route, being the least hilly, with good roads. I love first hand intel! I went inside, finished up my writing, and uploaded the text to the blog site. Then I began working on the pictures, but had only just started before they closed up at about 6:30pm. I knew selecting, processing, and labeling the pictures would take several hours, and I wouldn’t need wi-fi to do that, so I asked some locals if there was any place in town that stayed open, late. There was such a place – the Western Pizza and Bar restaurant, just up the street. I haven’t had pizza in a long time, so I thought that would be great. I found the restaurant, found a small counter on a pillar in the bar with an outlet, ordered up a chicken sandwich and soda, set up my notebook, and began to work. The runner I’d met in the morning was there, and he introduced himself and his wife to me, and we chatted a bit – a lot of his family was there, that night, because it was (somebody’s) anniversary – I forget whose. The guy providing entertainment that night was his great uncle. Man, that guy was amazing! He was over 70 years old, but didn’t look a day over 50, and he sang and played guitar, keyboards, and violin – a real one-man band who could sound like Johnny Cash whenever he wanted. Plus, he only had one-quarter of a lung! I had a great time, eating my food, listening to the music, and selecting, processing, and writing captions for the blog’s pictures. I did that from about 7:30pm to 10pm, and then chatted more with Galen – a very pleasant fellow, who offered to put me up if I needed a place to stay in Seattle, or to at least have lunch with. At about 10:45pm, I excused myself, as I now needed to go back to the free wi-fi at the chamber of commerce to upload the pictures and post the blogs. I got all the way there, before remembering I hadn’t paid for the meal or my sodas – Demitol! I went back, paid up ($18), and then went back to the CoC to finalize my blogs, which I did and finished by 1:30am. It was a lot less cold, this evening, so I did it in relative comfort, this time (whew!) Afterwards, I went back to the same spot I used the previous night, and set up my stealth camp to get a higher-quality night’s sleep. I was even able to use my hammock, and was in bed by 2am.

Day Two Hundred-nine, 090925 - W. Yellowstone, MT

2009-09-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

Note: Fourteen All New Updates! From Days 196 - 209 - How Nice!

Day Two Hundred-nine, Date Friday, September 25, 2009
Time in Saddle: 2:37
Distance for the Day: 14.38 miles From Madison To West Yellowstone, MT
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,528 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 6821’/6650’, Highest: 6843’ Accumulated: 247’
Speeds: Avg: 9.4 mph, Max: 22.7 mph
Weather: 22° clear, calm, warming to low-80s during the day
Expenditures: $29

I woke up at 6:58am, and got up at 7am, right near sunrise. Ooo, it was cold. I retrieved all my food items from the bear locker, repacked my trike, and was ready to roll at 8:15am. After doing a few final preps, I hit the road at 8:27am, heading west out of Yellowstone Nat’l Park, and to the town of West Yellowstone, MT. It was a pleasant, rolling road, though there was a fair amount of traffic, but nothing to be bothered much, by. Along the way, I met another avid recumbent cyclist by the name of Nancy. We chatted for a while, and I took pictures of her and her husband, and he took pictures of me and his wife standing by my trike. I also stopped several other times to take pictures of trumpeter swan on the Madison River; a helicopter carrying a water bucket, presumably to “control,” not necessarily “fight,” the fire still raging in the eastern part of the park; and the moment when I crossed back into the State of Montana, at 10:59am. There *were* three bald eagles visible from the road, that a bunch of people pulled over to take pictures of, but the helicopter scared them away just before I got there (Demitol). I reached the west gate of Yellowstone Nat’l Park at 11:34am, and immediately entered the town of West Yellowstone, MT. A medium-small town that gets buried in snow during the winter, during the summer, it’s tourist season, and they’ve even got their own IMAX theater, here – wow! Oakland, CA is only about a hundred times bigger, and they don’t have their own IMAX theater. It’s the tourists that make West Yellowstone rate.

I went into town and found the local Subway, and got a meal deal ($10). The lady at the counter and her son were also into cycling, and we chatted quite a bit about my trip, and their own experiences. I showed them my trike, gave her my blog, and took their picture. I then got a choco malted at the Dairy Queen, and then went to find the local library. They had free wi-fi, so I spent the rest of the afternoon blogging, until 5pm. After that, I went to the chamber of commerce, which also had free wi-fi, and blogged there, until they kicked me out at about 9:30pm. They normally close at 6pm, but there was a cycling event, and that kept them open until later. After that, I put on my cold weather gear, and accessed the wi-fi outside, while plugged into an outside outlet. At 10:46pm, still blogging in the dark and increasing cold of night, I ordered a replacement battery from http://www.batteryengine.com/ for my Casio Exlim EX-Z850 camera ($16.28, including shipment via UPS), to be delivered to my next Warmshowers host in Boise, ID. I will also asked my trike dealer, Steve, to send my tires there, as well. Oops, I noticed a police car cruising the parking lot, here. I wondered if they were going to kick me out. Seems as though they missed seeing me. I *am* in a kind of dark corner, surrounded by somewhat bright lights. I blogged until 12:52am before my feet turned into blocks of ice, and I couldn’t stands it no more. I went tooling around the south end of town, looking for stealth camp possibilities, and found a dead end street next to a big hotel only a few blocks from the IMAX theater. It had a little more dirt than I like, but I was starting to get a wee bit hypothermic (shivering), and took it. I set up my tent, blew up my mattress, threw in my sleeping bag, took off my shoes, and hopped in fully clothed, even with my raingear on. Unfortunately, I set up on a hump in the ground, so I kept sliding off my mat to the edges of the tent, but I survived, and got a good 4 whole hours of sleep, getting *almost* completely warm.

Extra note: You know, I believe the shape of my skull is actually being changed to conform to the air holes in my helmet.

Day Two Hundred-eight, 090924 - Madison, Yellowstone

2009-09-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-eight, Date Thursday, September 24, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:52
Distance for the Day: 57.52 miles From Fishing Bridge To Madison, Yellowstone
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,502 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 7662’/6821’, Highest: 8510’ Accumulated: 2923’
Speeds: Avg: 9.8 mph, Max: 40.8 mph
Weather: 25° clear, cold, warming to low 80s
Expenditures: $52

I woke up and got up at 6:29am, and was broke down and ready by 7:08am. I went down to the admin building, and picked up and re-packed my food items. Then I stopped at the Fishing Bridge mini mart for a breakfast of hot cocoa, Danish and muffin, plus some M&Ms peanuts and a couple sodas for the road ($11) – pretty pricey, but not unexpected. I went across the bridge over Yellowstone River at 8am and stopped to take some pictures and look for fish. I saw one cutthroat salmon in the water, but that was all. I then left at 8:26am to continue up over the 8262’ ASL Craig Pass to get to Old Faithful and the Visitor Complex, there. I crossed the Continental Divide and Craig Pass at 1pm and had a quick lunch of meat stick, soda, M&Ms – then, a few minutes later, I crossed the Continental Divide again (it twists around a bit). A fire, which I’d noticed earlier in the morning, had grown quite a bit – so much, in fact, that it had created its own cumulous cloud. Never seen that, before. After crossing the divide, I made much better time (going downhill will usually do that) and made it to Old Faithful at 3:15pm. I arrived with plenty of time to set up my camera and helmet cam to record the next eruption, which occurred about 25 minutes after I got there. Afterwards, I got a sandwich and soda ($10) at the lodge, more food and drinks at the store ($13), and a nylon (food) bag and more rope ($11). At 4:39pm I pushed on towards Madison to camp, 18 miles to the north, which I would need to get to before sunset at 7pm.

After leaving Old Faithful, I was still coming down off the Continental Divide, so heading north to Madison was actually a very nice, mostly downhill ride. The Sun was getting low, so I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t make it in time. However, I made it with plenty of time to spare, and was even able to take pictures of the big fire that had started earlier today. I had to pass by several other neat features of the region, though, to make Madison, which I did at 6:25pm. I registered and paid the $6.60 cyclist’ fee, and was invited to join the staff for a nice spaghetti dinner they were having around back, where the cyclist campsites were. Ohboyohboyohboy! Only my favorite food in the whole *world*, with salad, garlic bread, and lemon squares for dessert. I had two full plates of food (mostly spaghetti), and chatted a lot with the staff from around 6:30-7:30pm – what a fun, interesting, and diverse group. It was starting to get dark, so I walked a few yards over to a pair of trees that were the right distance apart, and set up my hammock (N44 38.733’ W110 51.718’). I then put all my food smelling items into the bear locker, and signed-in my camera and laptop to the registration desk to recharge them. Then I walked through the dark to the amphitheater to listen to a ranger giving a talk about bears. I found out that most of the bears were heading for the high country, to look for and eat thousands of moths a day, to get ready for hibernation during the coming winter. So, maybe I didn’t have to worry so much about bears, after all. After the PowerPoint presentation, I asked the speaker about whether urine would be effective as a repellent or deterrent to bears, coyotes, or wolves. His answer: it’s unknown as to how effective it might or might not be, but if a bear opened up your tent, no matter what type of bear it is, he’s looking to eat, and you should fight. Hokay – I’ll sign up for bear-fu lessons ASAP. (Hitting the bear on the nose, whacking him in the face with a rock or big stick, etc., is what he meant; no use hitting him anywhere else – he wouldn’t even feel it.)

This campsite was huge, and I got lost coming back to my site, but eventually did at 9:30pm. It was quite temperate that evening, but it got plenty cold during the night – down into the 20s. Brrrr! Being a little uncomfortable from the cold, I was kept in dream state more than usual, and had a couple of weird ones (well, which ones aren’t weird). There was a gigantic, black glass pyramid like the Luxor in Vegas, but a mile high. I climbed up it pretty high, and then prepared to slide down. I was a bit scared, but started off, and finally let myself go full speed. As I approached the bottom, I could see a beach with the ocean off to the left. A big wave crashed onto the beach and sprayed a bunch of sand to the right, coating a 40-ish blond woman in a bikini with sand, but she shook it off. Meanwhile, I hit the beach just fine, and we started to talk – seems like I’d seen that face before, like a minor character on a TV show or in a medical clinic, somewhere. Am I getting to specific? Zzzzzzz!

Day Two Hundred-seven, 090923 - Fishing Br, Yellowstone

2009-09-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-seven, Date Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:23
Distance for the Day: 58.36 miles From Wapiti To Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,444 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 5497’/7662’, Highest: 8443’ Accumulated: 4400’
Speeds: Avg: 7.9 mph, Max: 41.5 mph
Weather: 40° clear and warming to mid-80s
Expenditures: $11

I woke up at 6:30am, got up at 6:37am, broke down camp, and packed the trike. The Sun rose at 7am, temp 40 degs, not as cold as yesterday, sky totally clear except a few thin clouds right by the Sun. It would be good if I could find a bear-proof container that I could carry around – this animal food situation was becoming a problem – more the mice than the bears, at this point. I was ready to roll at 7:26am and continued the long, steady climb towards the east entrance to Yellowstone. Stopped at a mini mart from 8:30 – 8:50am west of Wapiti to get a breakfast of hot cocoa and couple of Danish; also got a couple more drinks ($7). I was bucking a pretty strong headwind of 10-20mph, but the guy in the store said the wind would die down a few more miles up the road, which it did, thankfully. The road grade was very light, but it still warmed me up, making me shed my layers as I climbed higher. At an interpretive display along the way up, I met and chatted with Herman M and Marnice W about my trip and theirs. We took pictures all around, and they took some video of me riding, too.

I made it to the east Yellowstone Nat’l Park entrance at 2:04pm, and showed them my Nat’l Parks yearly pass plus picture ID. I then stopped in some shade and ate lunch (2nd half of Subway sandwich, orange soda, and Fritos twisty BBQ chips). I talked with a fisherman guy about bears, and he said black bears will eat you if you play dead as it eats carrion, whereas a grizzly bear won’t eat you as it hunts live prey; a black bear may charge you but will usually stop or veer off if you hold your ground; a grizzly bear if you look them in the eye, they will attack and eat you. He’d been around bears a long time, and this was what he learned to be *generally* true. It’s always good to make noise when traveling; use bear-proof food containers whenever possible; it *can* be effective to put a tree between you and the bear; climbing trees or running won’t help; peeing around a campsite doesn’t really deter bears if they smell food and are hungry. There’s an old joke: What’s the difference between a black bear’s scat, and a grizzly’s scat? The black bear has berries and seeds in it, while the grizzly’s has little bells in it (making reference to the use of small bells on walking sticks, which may or may not be heard by bears). After eating lunch and reading info from the brochures I got at the entrance, I headed into the park, proper, at 2:52pm.

It was a surprisingly tough climb up and over from the east entrance to Fishing Bridge, taking several hours to traverse, but I made it. On the flat road following the northeast edge of Yellowstone Lake, I saw my first herd of bison just off the road, peacefully grazing in the grass between the road and the lake. They had been in the road, earlier – lucky for me, they weren’t there now, as it would have made the road impassable for me. I went into the RV park admin building to find out where I could go to camp, and got a big candy bar at the small store there, too ($4). Then I found out that: a) there’s no tent camping facilities here, and b) most of the other campsites in the entire park were closed for the season! The next closest open campsite was at Madison, only about 56 miles further west, on the other side of the park. And the Sun had just set. The people at the RV park called-in a Park Ranger, and when she arrived (Ranger Christine Donovan), said there was an open campground about 21 miles away. Okay, I would go for that one, but it would be night before I could make it there. I tried stopping at the store, and then the mini mart at Fishing Bridge, but they were both closed. Catching up to me, Ranger Donovan pulled up in her truck, and said that she’d made a mistake, and the campground she suggested was also closed, so we would have to figure out something else. We went back to the RV park, and she arranged with the staff there to let me stay (for free, even) (N44 33.832’ W110 22.115’), and I could put my foodstuff into the administration building overnight – how nice! So, that’s what I did. I kind of got the message, at this point, that bears are a very real concern around Yellowstone, and that stealth camping is *really* not a very good idea. I decided I would do what I had to, to avoid stealth camping while in Yellowstone. I gave Ranger Donovan my blog site, and she said she would check with her bear-knowledgeable people about the idea of using urine to mark your territory, and deter wildlife, including bears, from intruding on your space. I put all my food items in the building, set my tent up in amongst all the humongous mobile homes and RVs, and at about 8:30pm, was lulled to sleep by the yipping and high-pitched cries of coyotes off in the distance.

Day Two Hundred-six, 090922 - Wapiti, WY

2009-09-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-six, Date Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:03
Distance for the Day: 52.31 miles From Emblem To Wapiti, WY
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,386 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 4635’/ 5497’, Highest: 5506’ Accumulated: 2257’
Speeds: Avg: 8.6 mph, Max: 34.1 mph
Weather: 38° clear and sunny, warming to the lower 80s
Expenditures: $19

I woke and got up at 6:05am to a totally clear sky in the growing light of the morning; bright beautiful Venus shining its usual morning cheer. I broke everything down and was ready to roll at 7:03am. It was pretty cold this morning – I had to put on four layers on top (shirt, shirt, jacket, and rain coat), and three layers below (tights, other tights, and rain pants), and two pairs of socks. I discovered that fingered gloves don’t do much to keep my hands warm – should maybe think about getting mittens, instead. After starting off several hundred yards down the road from my camp, I saw four, rather rangy looking horses in the same field that I’d camped in to the west of my site. I didn’t know it at the time, but they were wild mustangs! I thought they were just some ranch horses, and didn’t think much about them. I saw another group of three about 45 minutes later (by then, I’d found out what they were), and took their picture, though they were much further away. You’re supposed to stay at least 500’ away from them, according to the signs that mark some of the entrances to their range. As the morning progressed, I slowly shed my clothing, layer by layer, until by about 11pm, I was back to just my basic riding clothes. I made it into Cody by about 11:30am, and stopped in at the first service available (a KOA) to make an emergency nature call, bought a couple of drinkables ($3), and continued into town, where I knew there was a Subway. I had a meal deal lunch ($7), and then went next door to the grocery store and got more food and Gatorade ($9). I then went down this rather steep hill to continue through Cody and find their library, only to find that they’d moved their library, and I had to go back up the bloody hill, again – I hate it when they do that. I got to the library, charged up my notebook and camera, posted a quickie blog, and took care of email. I finished at 2:45pm, and continued on to Yellowstone.

The road started going pretty steadily and almost steeply, up, and I had to pass through two short tunnels, and one really long, straight one – all without problems from the somewhat light traffic. At the end of the long tunnel, I stopped for a while at the Buffalo Bill Dam Visitor Center to take pictures of the facility and dam. I asked about stealth camping there, but they locked the gates at night, and the police came by to check the place out at night – so it was not a great option.

Continuing up the road, I found stealth camp at a trail head that was up and off the main road (N44 28.562’ W109 24.894’), at around sunset, about 7:30pm (a bit early due to mountains). It was getting medium dark, and one car was parked with some young people hanging out. I waited a while, and took pictures of the crescent moon, until they left. I then pushed my trike up a short, steep hill in toward a line of trees above the level of the lot, to make it even stealthier. I hung my hammock up in the trees, but was concerned a bit about bears, so with my weenie hanging out, I pissed a little bit all around my immediate site. As I may have mentioned before, I’d heard from two different sources that this was an effective way to let wildlife know this was my territory, and they would respect it. I was in bed by about 8pm, and read, munched, and drank until going to sleep about 9pm. A little after midnight, a truck quickly passed through to check things out, but they missed me. Then, at about 1am, I started hearing little rustlings, again; Demitol! More mice! I got up – it wasn’t too cold yet – put on my shoes, checked my food bags, and sure enough, they had been chewed a bit. So, I took a long piece of thin rope and hung my food in the bag from a tree. After hanging my food up, I went back into my hammock, and then one mouse climbed onto my hammock, and was scuttling over the mosquito netting above and to the left of me – I could see his outline. I whacked him with a quick backhand, and sent him flying. I didn’t see any more mice on my hammock after that, but I’m not sure if they were still able to get to my food or not. When I pulled down the bag in the morning, pretty much all my trail mix was gone. I can’t remember if the bag had been emptied before or after hanging it, but as of now, almost all of it was gone. Little bastards. I still had a couple of other small bags of trailmix – those bags must have been thicker or more airtight, as they mice didn’t touch them.

Day Two Hundred-five, 090921 - Emblem, WY

2009-09-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-five, Date Monday, September 21, 2009
Time in Saddle: 8:29
Distance for the Day: 72.29 miles From Ten Sleep To Emblem, WY
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,334 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 4605’/4635’, Highest: 4674’ Accumulated: 2657’
Speeds: Avg: 8.5 mph, Max: 24.9 mph
Weather: 38° mostly cloudy, clearing through the day
Expenditures: $9

Well, despite all the lightning and howling wind, buffeting my little tent, making me feel like there was either a gale that was going to send my tent tumbling over the field with me inside, or that a tornado that was going to pick me and my tent up, and send me to Oz, or at least Kansas, I survived, and even managed to get some sleep. At 5am, I thought I’d wait at least until dawn, to see if the wind would die down, then, which I notice oftentimes happens, and indeed, by 6am, it did. What I thought was the pattering of rain, was actually just windblown leaves hitting my tent. Miraculously, there was not one drop of rain the whole night, and everything was completely dry – pretty lucky! My trike’s cloak had completely fallen off, but was kept from blowing away by my weighing it down with water bottles. I don’t know if any passing motorists noticed me, but if they did, none of them did anything about it. That morning sky was amazingly nasty looking – overcast, yes, but it was dark and lumpy looking – it still looked like it could rain. The field was an already-harvested cornfield, and with most of the wind gone, I was able to quickly break down, secure my gear, and got the heck out of the dirt at 6:57am before rain might muddy me up after all (though I still took a bit of time to take some pictures – it was actually very beautiful).

I continued on my way, and as the day progressed, the sky became clearer and clearer, until it became a beautiful, mostly sunny day (yes!) with lovely, puffy cumulus spread out from horizon to horizon. The terrain changed from mostly flat farmland to mesas and desert which reminded me of Nevada, with mild grades going up and down. The wind came back, and gave me a nice, cold 10-20mph headwind, thankyouverymuch. I was thinking, as I often do, about how wonderful the roads of Wyoming have been – smooth, nice shoulders, light traffic – and then out of the blue, practically the moment I finished thinking the nice thoughts about Wyoming roads, the shoulder became un-rideable due to the start of a wide vibration strip in the middle of the shoulder! You know what it was: I’d forgotten to knock on wood when I was thinking how nice the roads were – foolish human! Now, I had to ride in the roadway, and dodge through the buzz strip onto the gravel shoulder whenever traffic came. Fortunately, this did not last very long, but why it was there at all was a real mystery. Visibility was excellent, and I could see 50 to 100 miles away, now, and saw the mountains to the west covered with snow – sure hoped I wasn’t going through those. I made it to the town of Manderson at around noon, but pretty much just passed it by. I then made the town of Basin by 1:30pm, and stopped at the mini mart for food and drink ($5). I just kept on truckin’, not stopping long at any place, today, as I did want to get as far toward Yellowstone as possible.

I made Greybull by 3:15pm, and stopped to get info on the terrain in and around Yellowstone, and the weather, via a moderately weak wi-fi signal I managed to pick up in front of the local grocery store (which also had an outside outlet I could plug into). The highest altitude I was likely to encounter in that whole region was about 8500’ ASL, and the weather looked very good for the next several days – excellent! More luck, just for me. I got some food and drink items at the store ($4), and took off west on Hwy 14 towards Cody, the gateway town to the east entrance of Yellowstone.

I found an ‘okay’ stealth camp site at 6:40pm along the highway on BLM property (Bureau of Land Management – aka, government) (N44 28.685’ W108 29.097’). It was all open, high desert – quite flat, with low, calf-high scrub, and I was fairly easily visible from the road. If nobody else minded seeing me a hundred yards from the road (if they even noticed), then I didn’t mind, either. I would have loved to see the stars from this clear, wide open plain, but I wasn’t quite willing to face the near freezing temperatures to do so. Perhaps I’ll be braver/tougher in Yellowstone. The sun set around 7pm, just as I was finishing setting up my tent. I cloaked my trike, and hopped inside with my bag of Fritos Honey BBQ Twists, a bottle of Squirt soda, trail mix, my book, and munched, swigged, and read until it got too dark to read, around 8pm. I was far enough away from the highway that the occasional traffic passing by was an insignificant whisper, and had no trouble falling asleep, especially since the night before had been a bit less restful. Zzzzzzz!

Day Two Hundred-four, 090920 - Ten Sleep, WY

2009-09-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-four, Date Sunday, September 20, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:49
Distance for the Day: 59.60 miles From Big Horn Nat’l Forest To Ten Sleep, WY
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,261 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 6917’/4605’, Highest: 9666’ Accumulated: 4652’
Speeds: Avg: 8.7 mph, Max: 41.6 mph
Weather: 52° mostly cloudy, rain, then clearing and cool by evening
Expenditures: $33

I woke up several times throughout the night, hearing, or *thought* I was hearing, more rustlings. I really woke up at about 5:30am, but dozed until 6:20am, when I got up and secured my gear. I had a bit of breakfast at 6:40am of two bananas, some of that “tainted” trailmix (fingers crossed), and a Spicy Hot V8 to wash it all down. Gone was the clear skies of last night; now there were clouds all over the place, some rather ominous, with a few blue patches showing – about what I expected. During the night, I got real thirsty after eating a bag of salty ChexMix, which was a mistake. I was already a bit low on drinkables, and during the night, I had to drink almost a quart of Gatorade to slake my thirst, so I was now even lower on drinkables (not including the water). But, when it’s cold and wet or moist, I don’t need nearly as much to re-hydrate, so I wasn’t too worried. It was a gorgeous sunrise, so I took some pictures of that. The temperature dropped enough to need the rain gear to help keep me warm. At 7:10am I was ready to continue my ascent over the Big Horn Nat’l Forest mountain range, about a good 50 miles and 2700’ altitude gain from where I was to the town on the other side (Ten Sleep), come what may (weather-wise). It was, of course, tough, with several 7% grades, making me go to my lowest gear. I would go for as long as I could “comfortably” (hyperventilating with heart rates as high as 150 BPM), and then stop to rest, just to long enough to get back to normal breathing. I’d then continue on, until I needed to rest, again. I kept this up all the way to the summit, though the higher I got, the less I needed to do it, because the grades became progressively easier.

Before the first rain hit, I found a very nice restaurant called the South Fork at about 8am, where I had pancakes, eggs, hot cocoa, and picked up a couple of sodas for the road ($16 including the late tip). I talked with several of the people there, including the chef, the waitress, and some of the other customers, about my trip. It rained a bit while I was eating, but it let up again after 20 minutes, or so. Meanwhile, a pickup truck pulled in, and there was a big, dead moose in the back. It was bow hunting season, and this fellow really lucked-out. Not only did he manage to get one of the few permits available to hunt moose (I think it was something like 80 available to the thousands of applications), he got a big one; kind of like hitting the ‘hunters’ lottery.’ Everyone was jazzed about it – even the waitress, who had herself killed a moose once with bow and arrow. It didn’t do much for me, but I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area. I paid up and left at 9:40am, started chugging my way up the mountain again, and after a few hundred yards, I went “doh!” turned around, and went back to give the waitress her tip, which I’d forgotten.

Getting back on the road once again, I did get drizzled and rained on a few times – no downpours, but a few good, steady rain periods. On the long haul up, I fell into a kind of semi-conscious, half-lidded stupor to sort of ‘forget’ about the discomfort of the situation, which included cold, numb fingers and toes. I was conscious enough to stay on a straight course along the shoulder, but that was about it. I was only vaguely aware of the scenery or even the traffic, and I could rouse myself out of it any time I felt I needed to, but for fairly long periods 10, 20, 30 minutes at a time I was not all there – an interesting survival mechanism. The rain was light enough that I managed to keep somewhat non-drenched. I saw a small group of deer grazing by the roadside. (Have I mentioned this before?) They didn’t seem to take notice of passing vehicles, but when they saw me, they got very concerned, and went bounding away with their peculiar little hops. After I passed by them a few hundred yards, I looked back, and some of them were crossing the road in front of oncoming traffic. The cars had to slow down to avoid hitting them. I’ve seen plenty of deer carcasses on the road, and could see why.

I made the Powder River Pass summit, elevation 9,666’ ASL, at 2pm. The weather, here, was dry though still overcast and very cold. Back from where I came, it was still black and stormy-looking, and to the north and west, where I was headed, I could see patches of blue. Thankfully, it would be mostly downhill, now, but ‘wow’ – I sure wasn’t expecting such a scenic ride down. The weather on this side of the range cleared completely, with plenty of warm sunshine and dry air. During the fast, steep descents, I took helmet cam video, and stopped now and then to take pictures, too. It was so amazing – reminiscent of the Grand Canyon, though not quite as big. Also amazingly, by the time I got down to the bottom, I and all my gear was completely dry, again, and the weather was now quite temperate – bonus! Unfortunately, a very temporary bonus, by the time I made it to the bottom, the sky had begun to cloud up, again.

From 4:45pm to 5pm, I visited the Ten Sleep Fish Hatchery – I’ve always wanted to visit one of these facilities, and finally did – it was very cool. This particular one cultivates and stocks Yellowstone with cutthroat trout, among several other species. They even had a 25-cent candy dispenser thing for a handful of fish food pellets, which I got, and threw into the pond with big fish in it. Looked kind of like piranha in action! I stopped in the small town of Ten Sleep at about 5:30pm, and got drinks and food items ($7) and also stopped in the local café to get a burger and salad ($10), and to charge up my notebook and camera batteries. Unfortunately, my camera battery is starting to fade (won’t hold a charge for long), which means I’ll either have to buy a replacement camera or, if I can find one, the proprietary battery. I’ll check online first chance I get.

By the time I left the café at 7:30pm, the sun had already set, and it was getting downright dark out. I wasn’t seeing any good possible sites near town, so I kept moving along my chosen route, which turned north. I kept going, and going, and not seeing any good possibilities. At one point, I noticed the shapes of four animals of unknown type, running along and keeping pace with me. I couldn’t quite tell if they were horses, or dogs, or what, it was that dark, but they must have gotten stopped by a fence at the end of the field they were in – that was a little weird. It got to very dark, mostly because of all the cloud cover – otherwise, there would have still been *some* light in the evening sky. I was still not finding anything good looking, and then I began to see a few lightning flashes in front of me, and to the rear, too (no, or very-delayed thunder). This put an extra sense of urgency to the matter, for me, as I really did not want to have to set up camp in some muddy dirt field in the rain. So, I found a dry dirt field right next to the road (N44 3.758’ W107 29.394’) that had a short, steep gravel and dirt drive down to it. I walked down to scope it out a bit, and thought, ‘good enough.’ I brought my trike down, set up my tent, cloaked my trike, and hopped in by 8:30pm. No rain, yet, and very occasional car headlights or lightning flashes, still without thunder, lit up my tent. Sure hope it don’t rain, because if it does, I’m going to have some muddy gear to pack away, and may even have trouble getting my trike back up to the road – ugh! At about 9:30pm, the wind picked up, strong. It would cause my tent to warp and sway, and it’s such a narrow tent, it would nudge me, making sleep kind of difficult. I hoped it would die down, but it didn’t – it kept up, and kept waking me up, the whole night.

Day Two Hundred-three, 090919 - Big Horn Nat'l Forest

2009-09-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-three, Date Saturday, September 19, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:55
Distance for the Day: 56.07 miles From Gillette To Big Horn Nat’l Forest
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,202 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 3965’/6917’, Highest: 6923’ Accumulated: 4449’
Speeds: Avg: 8.1 mph, Max: 33.2 mph
Weather: 46°
Expenditures: $17

Woke up at 5:50am and got up at 6am, broke down and ready to roll by 6:36am; totally clear all around, beautiful Venus, munched a little for breakfast, and took off at 6:42am; stopped at a rest stop and met Cha Cha, a retired Korean man, who is traveling the world on his Harley Davidson motorcycle! We admired each others’ rigs, and he kept telling me, “You’re the *real* Man!” and grabbed, squeezed and shook my thigh – hah! He was a real fun and funny guy, and had a lot of high spirit in him. I reached the town of Buffalo at 12:30pm, which was just before the Big Horn Nat’l Forest mountain range, on my route. I went to the tiny Visitor Center, where I got good advice from the lady there on how to shorten my route to Yellowstone a bit. I noticed a basket of used novels, and brought in my Stephen King book to add to the collection. She told me I could pick up a novel from the local library for free, because they’re not significant or long-lasting enough to actually keep track of. For a change, I got a Fuze drink at the local mini-mart ($2) – but didn’t like it that much. I then made my way, with difficulty, to the town library. (They’d moved it, but forgot to tell Street Atlas. I went down a big hill to the old location, where a sign there said it was at a new location, back up that big hill – I hate that.) Once there, I perused the choices and picked up “The Harbinger,” just some page-turner by an author I’d never heard of. But, hey – free book!

At 1:41pm I was getting ready, stocking up on supplies before leaving for the (ulp!) highest mountain pass I’ve hit since Hwy 666 in Arizona – the Powder Horn Pass in the Big Horn Nat’l Forest at 9,666’ ASL (there’s that ‘666’ reference, again – I swear I didn’t make it up – it’s in the picture).
Went over to the library to check the weather, the forecast called for 40% chance of rain tomorrow – light during the morning, heavier during the day – thought about staying in Buffalo to wait out the weather, but wasn’t sure I’d be able to get wi-fi on Sunday, ditzed around town, spent $15 more for more food/drinks; wanted to get it over with, so left; headed up at 3:40pm stopped several times up the road now 5:17pm, I corrected my elevation using Google Earth so was at about 4700’ ASL in Buffalo, and made it to 6234’ so far, today; would like to get to at least 7000’ or more, today, which would leave only 2666’ left to go, which wouldn’t be too horrible for tomorrow; N44 19.394’ W106 53.439’ Found an open-air, drive-up interpretive display in its own parking area for the Big Horn Nat’l Forest – a paved circle with a sidewalk for the information boards;this was a nice clean spot, and I wasn’t sure there would be anything up ahead, so I set up my tent, there. A father and son arrived in a small truck and parked. They were in camouflage outfits, and the father had a wicked-looking compound bow. They were going bow hunting, and left me alone. One other car swung around the circle after dark, but they didn’t even slow down, and left. That was it. It was a perfectly clear night, and I was set up and inside by 7pm. I read, munched, and drank my soda until it got dark, around 7:30pm, and then went to sleep, or at least started to. I heard this rustling noise coming from my trike, and at first couldn’t figure out what it was. Wind? I’d left my tent fly off, and the stars were blazing away, but this rustling noise kept happening. I wondered if it could be mice getting at my trailmix. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and at around midnight, I got up and out, checked my bag of trailmix, and sure enough, it had been chewed through. I never saw or heard the mice, but knew that they’d been there. At first, I grabbed the bag, wrapped it up in a couple of spare shopping bags (of which, I always try to keep a few), and brought it into the tent with me. Then I had two thoughts: what if they have lice, or fleas, and left some on the bag; and, what if they decide to try to chew a hole through my tent to get to the food? I got up again, and stuck the bag into one of the trike’s driving handles. I seemed to keep hearing rustles going on, but it might have been my imagination, as they didn’t bother that trailmix again, that night. The air was calm and somewhat cool, but the stars were just aglitter – a vast expanse of familiar constellations, shining brightly and easily traced (no light pollution or haze to hide the fainter stars) and the Milky Way was just gorgeous! Oh, I had one *other* thought poking at my brain just before I fell asleep: should I now just toss that whole bag away, or was it still safe to eat? Find out tomorrow, what I decided.

Day Two Hundred-two, 090918 - Gillette, WY

2009-09-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-two, Date Friday, September 18, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:14
Distance for the Day: 72.08 miles From Moorcroft To Gillette, WY
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,146 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 3570’/3965’, Highest: 4403’ Accumulated: 2884’
Speeds: Avg: 9.9 mph, Max: 33.8 mph
Weather: 43° clear and dry
Expenditures: $14

Sunrise was just about 6:51am with bright, beautiful Venus; stopped off at Moorcroft from 10:20 and 11:40am, had small lunch of Fritos twisty chips, soda, and apple, ($7) made it to Hwy I-90, and found that, yes, cyclists are allowed on it (at least, there were no signs prohibiting them). So, I will use it to get to Gillette, and points west, on my way to Yellowstone. Michael Johnson my interviewer from the Gillette News Record paper at 3:23pm at Subway – see the article at http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2009/09/21/news/today/news00.txt ; 4:43pm took a quickie 10 minute sponge bath in the bathroom of Subway, charged my notebook, uploaded photos from my camera, and even blogged a little. 4:57pm got my picture taken by Nate Payne with the same paper.

At about 3pm, I stopped at a tire shop in Gillette to get directions to the nearest Subway and the man and woman there asked me about my trip and took my picture. I gave them my blog site, and they must have called the local newspaper, because while I was at Subway, David Johnson, from the local newspaper, came and interviewed me while I was having a meal deal ($7). After the interview, I charged up my laptop while I ate, and did a bit of blogging. After I finished, I left, and got back on I-90 towards Buffalo. I didn’t get very far, before I noticed a car parked on the shoulder, ahead, and some fellow was photographing me with a nice camera. David did mention that a photographer would be out on the highway, wanting to take my picture, and by golly, there he was! I stopped and we chatted; he asked me more questions about my trip, and then he drove ahead of me two more times to get pictures of me on the highway, and then he went on his way, and I continued on mine. So, I’m famous, again – whoo-hoo!

I like riding on interstate highways; they usually have wide, mostly clean shoulders, and smooth over the terrain with gradual rises and falls, presumably to facilitate high speed travel. The bad news with interstates: you don’t necessarily get to experience the land as well – they’re not as intimate. But, for those times when I have used them, it was because they were the only viable route, and indeed: those are the only times a cyclist *can* use them. Even though this was an interstate, I still saw a herd of antelope along the way. They seem to pretty much ignore the zoom and roar of normal traffic, but when they see me, they get alert, nervous, and start running away. I guess I look like a predator, being low and slow. Pretty funny! I rode as far as I could, until the sun got low on the horizon, and then took the next exit at about 6:40pm. I followed it up to a dirt road that had a “private property” sign on it, but it was open. I looked down and to the right of the hill where the gate was located, and saw a rather large herd of antelope about 150 yards away. As usual, they noticed me, and started to move away. They were in a large area where three large, somewhat flat, circular tanks were positioned across from a medium-sized square block of a building with a huge fan on one side of it. I sat and waited – sunset occurred at right about 7pm – and noticed a couple of workers moving around. At one point, the fan in that building fired-up and roared like it was getting ready to launch. After several minutes of that, it stopped, and the worker guys got in their trucks and started to exit the facility. As they came by me to get to the highway, I stopped the first one and asked two questions: what the heck was that facility (a methane collection and storage plant), and if they thought anyone would mind my throwing my tent up just a bit up and to the left of the gate. They said the landowner was a pretty good guy, and probably wouldn’t know, and if he did, wouldn’t mind. Cool! I set up next to a CAT scraper (N44 10.860’ W105 54.272’) to protect against the wind, a bit, and watched the remains of the gorgeous crystal clear high-plains desert sunset, with mild temps in mid-to-high 70s. The methane plant itself made a steady white noise, but wasn’t bad. By now, there was hardly any wind, and at 7:26pm I hopped into my tent with soda and munchies, and finished my book, Stephen King’s “Skeleton Crew.” by 8pm – then went to sleep. It’s still 46 miles to next service, and I was running a little low on liquids, but I should be okay. This night, I didn’t put on my tent fly, so I could see the stars any time I woke up enough to look, which happened several times throughout the night. I might’ve even been okay to sleep out without the tent, but I wasn’t sure what the bug situation was like, so played it safe.

Day Two Hundred-one, 090917 - Moorcroft, WY

2009-09-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

Day Two Hundred-one, Date Thursday, September 17, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:40
Distance for the Day: 51.31 miles From Alzada To Moorcroft, WY
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,074 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending: 2994’/3570’, Highest: 3911’ Accumulated: 3094’
Speeds: Avg: 7.6 mph, Max: 35.8 mph
Weather: 45° clear, warming to mid-70s
Expenditures: $39

Woke and got up at “5:35am.” It was still night out, not even astronomical dawn, yet. The Wintertime constellations and stars were glorious, Venus was just rising in the east, and had an orange tinge to it, and in fact, I could even make out the Zodiacal Light, aka “false dawn,” which is the glow from dust particles in the plane of the solar system left over from the formation of planets, still in a flattened, disk-shaped cloud, sharing its orbit around the Sun with the planets. I was waiting for the store to open at 6am, and when it got to that time, they didn’t open, and it was still pretty dark out. Hmmm, I peeked inside and saw the wall clock; it said it was 5:05am. That’s when I knew I was in the next time zone. So, I put on some more clothes against the cool morning air, and just counted constellations, deep-sky objects, and watched the thin crescent Moon rise over the eastern horizon; it kinda reminded me of a solar prominence as seen through an H-alpha solar scope. As it rose fully above the horizon, I could see the whole sphere of the Moon, its dark side faintly lit by Earthshine. Very cool. When the store opened at the local 6am, I went inside and got a egg/sausage/muffin sandwich ($4) for breakfast, and resupplied my fluids and food items ($15), and took off across the street at 6:34am, still before sunrise, to the start of SR 112 to Hulett, and Devil’s Tower.

An early morning achievement: a few minutes after sunrise at 6:48am, I entered the State of Wyoming at 6:59am! The road was hilly, and even a bit mountainous, but I took it easy and steady, and made it the 31 miles to Hulett without trouble by 11:20am. I saw real mountain bluebirds along the way, and a flock of redwing blackbirds flying through a forest. There were birds of prey, a couple of vultures, and a lot more antelope. I stopped in Hulett at 11:30am and got a hamburger and fries lunch ($14), recharged my laptop and iPod, and blogged. I also stopped for a soda ($2), and also at the local hardware store to pick up a roll of fluorescent tape ($2) to make as many ding-dong flags as I should need. I continued on at 3:15pm towards Moorcroft. The big bonus of this particular re-route was the chance to pass by The Devils Tower mountain, which I made at 4:30pm. It was pretty spectacular, and I took a bunch of pictures of it. I stopped at a small roadside tourist shop and got an orange crème bar ($2), then at 5:03pm, continued through the somewhat hilly terrain toward Moorcroft. On the way, I saw a handful of deer about 40 yards from me on a shaded, tree-studded hillside to my right. They froze, but when I waved at them, they moved a little, still unsure if I was a threat or not. I moved on, an so did they. As the sun got low on the horizon, I looked for a good stealth camp, and found a volunteer firehouse at 6:40pm, just off and above the road (N44 29.726’ W104 46.884’). It had clean gravel around the back, and was concealed from all but the most eagle of eyes. I hung out reading my book until 7:20pm, when the Sun set, waiting for it to get a little darker, before setting up my tent. I didn’t need to use my tent fly, as it was warm and dry – no mosquitoes, ants, spiders, slugs, etc. I think that must be why there’s not much astronomy in states like North or South Dakota, Nebraska, etc. The mosquitoes would be murder. There was one light above the back door, but it didn’t bother me, so I cloaked my trike and was in bed by 8pm, munching on trailmix, Spicy Hot V8, and some soda. There was *some* car noise from the road, but it was lightly traveled, and not very loud. I woke up at 1:05am and tongue was completely dry – my nose was a little stuffed from the dry air, which made me breath through my mouth. I drank up the rest of my soda, and went back to sleep. I’m sure the stars were blazing, but due to that light above the door, I couldn’t see them. Phooey!

Day Two Hundred, 090916 - Alzada, MT

2009-09-26T17:19:00.001-07:00

Day Two Hundred, Date Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Time in Saddle: 7:09
Distance for the Day: 65.38 miles From Ekalaka To Alzada, MT
Accumulated Trip Distance: 10,022 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 3139’/2994’, Highest: 3530’ Accumulated: 1512’
Speeds: Avg: 9.1 mph, Max: 32.1 mph
Weather: 50° clear and dry, warming to the low-90s in the afternoon
Expenditures: $19

Woke up at 6:08am got up at 6:20am broke down ready to roll at 7:05am after using the church bathroom, again (thanks Father DeForest!) The crescent moon was in a pretty conjunction with Venus, a very close pass by each other; also got to see Mars for the first time this year in the constellation of Gemini. The weather this morning was beautiful and dry, and I heard a coyote howling at 5:30am which set off all the town dogs. I went into the church to have a sit and plug in my notebook, but all their outlets were the two-prong type, which I couldn’t plug into. I then left to go into town, and noticed the doors to the local bank were open at 8:36am. They weren’t open for business, yet, but let me have a sit and plug in just the same. I spoke with the manager, Mike Quady, he gave me valuable intel on routes I should take. I decided at this juncture to skip going to the Grand Tetons National Park, unless it doesn’t seem too bad to go down to them from Yellowstone and then back up through Yellowstone to West Yellowstone. I was already losing time with the reroute, and if I try, as I originally intended, to get to the Tetons, first, and then Yellowstone, second, it would take a lot longer, and I don’t think I have the time. Mike even gave me a promotional Ekalaka Bank cap (thanks, Mike!)

At 10:11am, I stopped in at the town café for breakfast (eggs, hash browns, toast - $7). I thought I’d better get a decent breakfast, because I wasn’t going to get lunch, or possibly dinner, either. Surprisingly, there was a strong wi-fi signal coming from *somewhere* (it wasn’t the café’s), and I was able to handle email, check weather, and use Google Maps. Afterwards, I took off, already stocked-up from yesterday’s trip to the grocery store with three quarts of Gatorade, two quarts of water, and four pints of sodas.

Woo! Tough day. The sun was hot, but thankfully, the air wasn’t just as hot – probably only in the mid-80s, plus, there was almost always a slight to moderate breeze out of the east. This turned out to be most helpful, which I’ll explain later. I started down my new route for the day, the one suggested by the guy who told me the gravel road was no good, yesterday, which was Hwy 323 to Alzada, a 72 mile stretch with no services, a 15 mile stretch of gravel road, the last 6 miles of which were under construction (as described, yesterday).

The first 30 miles of 323 went very well, with nice pavement, light traffic, and gentle breezes to cool me off in the warm sun. Very peaceful out here, with very little traffic, and I can hear the birds singing in the trees and not much else. The gnat problem has for the most part stopped, but the grasshoppers seem to have redoubled, with them jumping up as I approach, and hitting me in the face, chest, arms, legs – kind of annoying, though harmless. Once, one even got under my shirt – I had to stop for that. I went over a 500’ mountain pass, through the Custer National Forest, and past the Medicine Rock Park. I didn’t go into the park, but saw some samples of the weird, carved shapes of that region. I saw two gray deer leap over the roadside barbed wire fence, bound over the road, and then leap over the other barbed wire fence on the other side. They were only about 40 feet from me, and their movements were just astounding – they seem to give these little kicks, and then they’d rise up and over 4’ fences as though they were floating through anti-gravity fields. There was also a gray stag with a full ‘rack’ (antlers), but he didn’t like the looks of me, and turned around and hid behind some of the medicine rocks. Then, I got to the gravel road. Yeesh!

At first, it was a bit tough, trying to find ‘paths’ – usually where tires passed the most, that were somewhat free of gravel – that I could grip and travel on faster. Also, there was the fairly heavy traffic of huge ‘extra-long’ gravel carriers. I found that if I stayed on the *left* hand side of the road, the wind would carry most of these vehicles’ dust clouds off to the right, away from me. The drivers understood what I was doing, and helped by driving on the wrong side of the road when they passed me – most considerate. Fortunately, no convergences occurred (vehicles approaching from the front and the rear, right as they passed me), so I actually (amazingly) got very little dust on me for the 10 gravel miles I rode. There *were* fairly long stretches where the road became pretty decent – compressed dirt, which was smoother and easier to ride, so it wasn’t all bad. The fellow I’d talked with the evening before (the one who told me the gravel road from Ekalaka to Broadus wasn’t do-able), drove up in his truck, and offered to give me a lift over *this* gravel. I thanked him, but turned down his offer – that would be cheating! I wondered if I was going to regret that.

I went along as best I could, and refused to look at my odometer. I find it’s too torturous to keep looking at the odometer when you’re suffering. In circumstances like this, it’s best to keep it out of mind, and be pleasantly surprised when you’ve reached goal. Believe you me: time flies by a lot quicker when you’re not watching the clock/odometer! I eventually passed over the 10 miles to where the actual road construction was happening, and one of the supervisory type guys called me over, and offered (in a friendly, though somewhat insistent manner) to give me and my trike a ride the rest of the way past the construction zone, and to pavement again. There were huge scrapers and loaders working the last 5 miles toward Alzada, and they have trouble seeing cars and buses, much less tiny little gnats like me. I accepted, in truth, gratefully, as I was getting a little knackered riding over this slow, tough road. We loaded my trike, and he drove me over the last 5 miles of gravel, past all the big construction machines. Looking at that road, I was glad to be getting that ride – it was big, thick gravel, no bald spots, and would have been super-tough to traverse – I probably would have made a top speed of 4-6 miles per hour on that road. We got to the paved road, and he let me off, there, and we chatted a bit before I thanked him for the ride, and he took off. I noticed my brand new trike flag was starting to come off its pole! I thought, “I should shoe-goo that on,” and then got thirsty and drank some Gatorade and promptly forgot about it. My best excuse was – I was a bit loopy from the heat, thirst, and no food since breakfast. It was 20 more miles to Alzada – my legs and knees were already a bit strained, but, 20 miles isn’t *so* bad. I had muscles that were a bit painful, and had to use the leg-stretch trick to keep my knees from flaring up. A ways down the road, I remembered the flag, looked up, and it was gone. DEMITOL! It wasn’t that breezy, but when these huge rigs go zooming past at warp speed coming from the opposite direction, they hit you with a hefty gust of wind, and I figure it was one of those times, which occurred at least several times every half hour, that I lost it. Now, I need a new flag, again. I think I’ll just get a roll of that thin, stretchy, fluorescent plastic tape, and make a bunch of tassels for the damn thing. Ach-patooey! I was feeling weird at this point – kind of weak and breathless, and knew I needed to eat something, but I wasn’t hungry, only thirsty. I forced myself to choke down a PayDay bar and a meat-n-cheese stick, and felt a little better.

I eventually made Alzada at 6:30pm, and got one of those “been cooking all day” Polish sausages (it was pretty good – but maybe that’s just because I was very hungry) and a root beer for dinner, plus got a couple more drinks for tonight and tomorrow morning ($12). I found out that I could camp at this location for free, so at 7:20pm, with the sun just about ready to set, I decided I would stay here for the night, and have breakfast here, too (N45° 1.439' W104° 24.365'). Tomorrow, I would head down SR 112 to Hulett. I’m told it’s a 31 mile, *very* hilly road – terrific. But, it’s paved the whole way, lightly traveled, and also goes past Devil’s Tower (you’ll remember that from the movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”). And, it’s part of my new, viable route into Yellowstone. I’ll have to go on Interstate 90 for a while, but I believe it should be cycleable. I’ll find out if it’s not when I get there.

I blogged from what I *thought* was 7:40pm to 9:30pm, and chatted with a couple of truckers who were also staying overnight, plus the gal who was working the mini mart that evening. Everyone left after a while, but one of the truckers came back with a couple of pints of ice cold water bottles for me – his donation to my trip – that was nice! Then, I set my tent up on the concrete walkway right next to the store. As I was setting up, I saw a medium-small tarantula scuttling across the concrete near my tent – cool! I like tarantulas. They’re quite harmless, and very interesting insects. I chased him around a little bit, and then let him on his way. I got to bed by what I *thought* was 10pm (I had passed into the next time zone [Mountain Time] without knowing it, so the time was actually 11pm). The noise from the nearby highway was pretty loud, even with my earplugs, but that didn’t matter – I was out like a light within 15 minutes.

Day One Hundred Ninety-nine, 090915 - Ekalaka, MT

2009-09-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

Day One Hundred Ninety-nine, Date Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Time in Saddle: 8:00
Distance for the Day: 73.18 miles From Rhame To Ekalaka, MT
Accumulated Trip Distance: 9957.3 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 2998’/3139’, Highest: 3257’ Accumulated: 3002’
Speeds: Avg: 9.1 mph, Max: 33.4 mph
Weather: 53° mostly clear with high cirrus
Expenditures: $33

I woke up at 6:12, and got up at 6:26. A beautiful crescent moon and bright Venus were visible, and I’m happy to report that leg extension exercise really works good! Usually, when I woke up in the morning, my knees would be stiff and sore, but not now. As Cati would say, “Yoopie!” I did get hit by skeeters once in the evening and once this morning, though. By 7:17am, the Sun had still not risen, as I continued on towards the next town, Marmarth, ND. Along the way, I saw three antelope off in the distance in a cow pasture, with the white, teardrop-shaped fur behinds, and they all had antlers – that was pretty cool. By 8:39am I saw the last corn field, and saw and smelled my first sagebrush. The terrain changed pretty rapidly from farmland to desert plain, with mesas, sage, and even oil derricks. I could see a bit of the Badlands off to the north, with its river-carved landscapes – I was sorry I didn’t get to see more of them – they definitely looked intriguing.

I stopped in the tiny town of Marmarth 9:30am had a real breakfast at the café of eggs, hash browns and sausage + a soda ($9). I left at 10:14am, and crossed over into the great state of Montana at 11:02am, still on course for Baker. I got to Baker by 12:15pm, where I stopped for lunch (sandwich and soda - $6), while sitting outside in the shade of the grocery store, charging up my laptop at an outside outlet. I then continued south on Rte 7at 12:45pm. I hit a section of road construction, where I chatted with the flag person, Molly, about my trip. She arranged for me to get a lead car escort from Bert, and Molly even gave me her radio so I could keep in comm with Bert, so he could tell me what he was going to do. It was only about a quarter mile or so, and once the way became clear, again, I handed Bert back Molly’s radio, thanked him, and continued on (now at 2:41pm) towards the next town, Ekalaka. The road, SR 7, was very straight on the map, but it was still very hilly. I would get to the top of one of the higher hills, and could see down the road at the next series of hills all the way to the next largest hill – hill after hill – I love it.

I finally made Ekalaka by 6:15pm; that was a long haul of semi-serious up and downs, dancing between 3k and 3.2k, but I survived. From here, I had to carefully assess my food and drink supply situation, because the supply points were going to be far between for a while. While sitting outside the grocery store, I got mobbed by a handful of local kids (Austin, Jonathon, Cameron and Jordan) who asked tons of questions, which I was happy to answer. I then got a bunch of sodas and food items ($18), and then checked the route on Street Atlas. It would be 63 miles to the next town (Arvada) with services, but, I also found out from a local guy that the route between Ekalaka and Arvada was a rough gravel road, and the better alternate would be SR 323 to Alzada – it was mostly paved, but there was a 16 mile segment that was gravel and the last 6 miles of that 16 was under heavy construction. The sun was getting a little low by now, so I thought I’d check out the gravel road, first, before making any final decisions. I went down that gravel road for a mile, and nearly had my teeth knocked out from the washboard surface. I tucked tail and returned to town. There was no way I, never mind my trike, could take 63 miles of that.

I found the local church just after sunset, and the pastor Steve DeForest (I hope I got that right – I asked him twice, but am still, now, unsure) in charge of it. A very nice man, I got his permission to camp on the back lawn (N45 53.331’ W104 33.068’), and he even gave me access to the restroom inside for all night. I was able to take a quickie sponge bath – how nice! He also gave me a pamphlet on why it’s good to find Christ, but as usual, it left me unmoved – one of the arguments ‘for’ was, “it couldn’t hurt,” which I found to be a little specious. If you’re going to believe in God, I don’t think the reason should be, “just in case he’s for real,” or, “you can cover all your bases if you do.” I’m glad he and so many others find comfort and guidance from that style of religion, and I very much appreciate their help, and support the good services they provide to their communities, but their basic, binding premise is just not for me. If I were them, I’d take that ‘reason’ out of the next version of that pamphlet.

There were a few mosquitoes, but they weren’t very aggressive, and I escaped getting hit. I set up my tent just before it got dark at about 8:30pm, and read, munched, and drank my orange soda until about 10:30pm. They had that odd 11pm town horn, too, but since I wasn’t at ground zero this time, I wasn’t affected nearly as much. As to my route, I would have to figure out how to reconfigure it in the morning.

Day One Hundred Ninety-eight, 090914 - Rhame, ND

2009-09-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

Day One Hundred Ninety-eight, Date Monday, September 14, 2009
Time in Saddle: 8:11
Distance for the Day: 77.04 miles From Regent To Rhame, ND
Accumulated Trip Distance: 9884.1 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending: 2326’/2998’, Highest: 3017’ Accumulated: 2149’
Speeds: Avg: 9.4 mph, Max: 24.2 mph
Weather: 70° temperate, windy, clear
Expenditures: $17

Woke up at 6:07, got up at 6:35am to clear skies (with some clouds around the horizon) and beautiful Venus; ready to roll by 7:13am. It was very windy all night, and that kept me up a little, blowing my tent around. There were mosquitoes – I got hit three times in the legs before putting on my rain gear. I went to the local mini mart at 7:30am for a breakfast croissant, choco milk, Danish, and cookie + a soda for the road ($15). Very surprisingly, for this small one-dog town, they had wi-fi, so I checked and handled email, weather, and posted a blog I’d forgotten to enter (#177) (thanks for bringing it to my attention, M!) I had to append it to #176 to keep it somewhat chronological. I then took off to continue on to Scranton at 9:45am. It’s a somewhat long haul, almost 50 miles, from Regent to Scranton, so I stocked up a little extra on drinks.

I was able to go 28 miles before my right knee started hurting at 1:30pm. At 2pm it got worse, so at 2:15 I took a rest break – I thought I’d try to keep an eye on the pain pattern, to see if there was anything I could do to resolve it. There are a LOT of insects in this part of North Dakota – amongst the fields of hay, corn, barley, several times a minute I would have to swipe gnats away from my goggles, and occasionally they’d get inside my goggles, so I’d have to take them off and poke them out with my finger. I stopped in Scranton from 4-4:30pm to stock up on liquids and food items ($8), and continued on towards Baker. A few notes: the roads overall in ND have been great, except for two 10 mile stretches of dirt gravel. They don’t have much shoulder, but they’re so lightly traveled, it wasn’t a problem; gazillions of grasshoppers that jump up and hit me in the face, chest, arms, or under my legs; I think I’ve discovered a way to fix my painful knee syndrome – just hit a level or downhill segment of road (or even stop), and push my heels forward and lock my knees to the fully extended position and stretch ‘em for a couple of moments several times, the pain goes away for quite a while, and if I do this every now and then, the pain never gets a chance to start – cool! I’m slowly gaining altitude as I continue south and west. I reached the town of Rhame near sunset, and looked around for services, but there was just a bar with a soda machine outside, so I got soda ($2) and found a patch of lawn behind the firehouse (N46 14.009’ W103 39.228’) that was pretty concealed, so set up my tent, cloaked my trike, and was in bed by 8:30pm, munching and reading until it got too dark to read, at about 9pm. I went to sleep, but at 11pm they let loose the “town horn!” I just happened to be at ground zero (it was on a pole above the firehouse), and was so loud, I clapped my hands over my ears and went into a fetal position for almost a minute, before it slowly wound back down. Yeesh! Then, at 5am, a train came rumbling through with horn a-blast. I was about 200 yards from the tracks, so of course, it woke me up, but not like that town horn!