Hello Jealous,
Correct, we made it to Cali and we are REALLY diggin' it. Ok, ok, ok...so it wasn't until after I got to sleep in a bed and have a real meal that I started to appreciate the golden state for all it's splendor, but yeah....it's pretty great. We woke up from our second day at Harris Beach in Brookings, Oregon and with a bit of dispair bid farewell to beautiful, lovely, warm, friendly, hospitable Oregon and made our way to the California border. BUT FIRST...we did some sea side stretch/yoga/push ups with our new pals Vincent and Joey.
Bout to stretch
Me and Lani were needing direction and discipline with our pre-cycling stretch routine and BOOM there they were to give us a hand.
Bowing to the seas
I'm not saying these cats knew there Sun A's from there elbows, but it was fun and the ocean was the perfect backdrop for the stretching and it felt right to give the Oregon coast a proper farewell. It will be missed...
BUT FUCK IT WE'RE IN CALIFORNIA NOW!! WOOOOO HOOO. We spent the better part of an hour taking pics and being stupid (taking breaks to pee within line of sight from the road, classy)
Oh Oregon you will be missed and I will be back, but not before the rainy season is over, that I can assure you.
It took awhile but we eventually did find people actually living in California, a place called Fort Dick where the people are a bit odd, but they were giving away kittens and boy did that turn the tables. ALMOST...ALMOOOOOOOOOST, but despite Tamara's cries for me to adopt that kitty, Lani's level headed (see: hatred) of animals steered me in the right direction and we pressed on. Something we realized early is that where Oregon is organized and thoughtful regarding bikers, California is...well they could care less. The campsites and routes for bikers are not clearly marked so we passed the state park unknowingly and ended up back tracking 3 miles and staying in a county park...NOT AS NICE. No showers and questionable restroom facilities, but we didn't have to pay so that was cool. We also got a taste of the redwoods...just babies...but COOL!
Me and Tamara quickly set out exploring while Lani put up the tent and, ya know made sure we had food and whatnot. Whatever...we were excited. HA! Tamara found a tree stump that we all hung out in and had coffee. It was cool.
We also found a hollowed out redwood that was like a little magical fort, Tamara wanted to sleep there but I reminded her that many, MANY animals probably had that same thought way before her.
Here we are in the stump, just the gals kicking in with the Dutch guys, that's right, we were on the same track as Jelle and Pim so we camped next to them and hung out, exchanged conflicting cultural norms with each other, and made a fire. It was REAL cold.
It was like the Amazon...I swear.
After many takes...we finally got this pic of all of us in the stump. The girl at the top was this really sweet, bubbly lass from Germany named Mimi who was hitchhiking down the coast and hiking along the way. She was SOOOOO nice. Hope her travels are safe here on out. After a not satisfying or nutritional breakfast of a few oatmeal packets and string cheese we were off to tackle Crescent City and the GIANT, OMINOUS, DAUNTING hill we had been hearing about since Brookings. One guy actually dubbed it the "hill of broken dreams" at first I laughed, but now I kind of get it.
This is us after doing many 1/10 of this monster...but we were heading into the redwood forest and that coast line behind us. I felt so obligated to take in the scenery around me, but at the same time I sort of wanted to barf all over it and fall off my bike and die, but we pressed on.....for roughly 7 more miles of incline...on this shitty 2 lane highway WITH NO BIKE LANE. RV's are now on the shit list. WHY DO YOU NEED A HOUSE ON VACATION??? Why do you need to drive that house 60 miles an hour up a mountain that careens through giant trees and then shout at tiny bikers who only ask that you DON'T HIT THEM!??! America at this point made no sense to me. Even our peaceful, joy spreading Canadian friend was getting angry...shit was getting really real.
Hello I'm a bike lane
We finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel or in our case the truck on the triangle. It was a bit bitter sweet...I mean you climb those hills with the expectation the downhill is going to be wicked awesome, but with no bike lane...well, let's just say I was saying my prayers the whole way down...THE WHOLE WAY DOWN. I could have easily gotten up to 45mph but only allowed myself a modest 34mph because like I said people who drive RV's through the redwoods are dicks.
COME SEE HOW GOOD I LOOK!
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After that epic climb we got down to the other side to a town called Klamath and ran to the nearest eatery a one FOREST CAFE, next to the TREES MOTEL across the way from the TREES OF MYSTERY MUSEUM and ate until we couldn't move and then passed out in the parking lot for about an hour. I went to the bathroom inside and when I came back out I saw that we looked rather homeless, at best transient and decided we should press on. We also ran into a pack of other cycle tourists and thinking the gals were behind me I set off with the pack, it included a couple from Boston and 2 Brits and the Canadian Ben we met in Brookings, along with Jeremy from France.
The posse...it was so cool to ride with that many people, really empowering, but soon I realized that Lani and Tamara weren't with me. Assuming they wouldn't be far behind that the campsite would be soon (wrong) I just kept on....until it got hilly again and I took a breather. So the people I was riding with trudged on and I was left to wait for my pals who weren't coming in any real hurry. UNTIL...I noticed a pickup with a oddly shaped metal pole sticking out the back. Before you know it I see Lani's trailer and their bikes flying by me at highway speeds with Tamara waving at me from the bed. They didn't stop until about a 1/4 mile down. I later found out Tamara had to bang on the cab to get them to stop since the guys driving didn't know me and Lani wasn't paying attention...THANKS LAWN!
Kickin' it in DA TRUCK BED, it sounds fun at first, but then you're flying down the highway in fall time in NoCal and you realize IT'S A BIT CHILLY...and then it gets really old.
We made the best of it though by cracking jokes and telling ourselves how great the hot showers at the state park would be. Mmmmm...hot showers.
It was at times quite windy...see picture.
So we got to the camp side a one RED PRAIRIE state park...but we realized it was WAY off the 101 and we'd spend half the day biking back to 101 just to get outta there so we decided to go to the next campsite called Patrick's Point. Got dropped off there, even though it looked to be closed and made camp. Eager as I was I ran to the shower to get warm and clean. Well, the California state parks are PAY showers, FUCK so we pooled our quarters and off I went again. Hmm...the parks closed, but SURELY the hot water boiler is still on FALSE. I took a sort of half shower in FREEEEEZING water and walked back to the tent super pissed I wasted a dollar on that bullshit. I called the park number to get the skinny and realized that only a portion of the park was open, so we saddled up with our shower gear and towels and made for the pay showers over there...in goes another dollar and SWEET SWEET SHOWERS we did have. We all woke up sore and hungry and not really into the "cycling 30 miles" thing so we walked down some paths to the cliffs and stretch near the coast. It was really REALLY windy, but super beautiful. I forgot my camera, so there aren't pics of that, sorry. Then we set off for Trinidad, which the park is actually in, but we needed to head to the central part because our host for the evening lives in Trinidad PROPER. Carol from Couchsurfing.org offered to put us up for the night, but she wouldn't be home til 10pm so we had to entertain ourselves until then. We got some food and then loitered around the coffee shop until we got bored, then just went back to Carol's house and waited for her on her front stoop. It was roughly 6pm. You can't honestly believe we had the patience to just sit there, do you? No....Tamara had the good idea to go back the coffee shop and leech there WiFi from outside, sit in our sleeping bags and watch netflix movies on my computer...and that's just what we did. The connection was slow and the movie wasn't that great, but it killed the time nicely and when we returned Carol was home and invited us in. After some pleasantries and learning the ropes we all say down for a nice chat with Carol, who is an amazing woman who teaches special ed at Eureka High School, who raised a globe trotting son who's in school at NYU. We all were really tired, me, Lani and Tamara from our whole day of sloth-like activities and Carol from a full day of teaching and SALSA CLASS!! Ay-chi!! Lani and Tamara gave me a bed to myself since I've not been sleeping well (and still haven't :o(
After a lazy start and some procrastinating (Carol keeps such a nice home complete with scones and french press coffee :::SIGH:::::) We headed down the road to Arcata, only about 16 miles...nothing crazy we're still lazy and tired from that hill plus there are COOL TOWNS HERE!! My friend back in Minneapolis, JESSICA, gave me the name of her friend Liz (who I actually briefly met this winter) who lives in Arcata and offered to put us up for the night, so that's where were at. I should have more pics of Arcata tomorrow. It was such a shock to see such a bustling, young, college town along our route since in Oregon that wasn't really the case. People are just so friendly and chatty here and we'll probably hang out for a bit and really soak up the atmosphere. We all really dig it.
The thrift stores in Arcata are BADASS
This is Penny one of the dogs that Liz is looking after while house sitting. She is my new best friend and we'll never be apart. Truth. There are 3 dogs, 11 chickens and 1 duck...only a 10 minute bike ride out of Arcata...I love this place. I might never leave. PLUS I already know 1 resident and she's fucking RAD!
Can you feel the love?
That's up to date as it gets. Now I'm going to sit and watch a movie and maybe fall asleep. Missing Minneapolis, but really loving my time out here. Thinking of friends and family often, you are all on my mind.
