Today’s blog entry contains a number of swear words and is not meant for younger readers, family (including the family of my girlfriend), previous employers/bosses, or future employers…..
“Where the hell am I?”
”Look at your GPS.”
”No, that’s not what I mean. I remember the ‘Welcome To..’ sign I passed a few miles back. I know the name of the town. It’s not what I mean.”
”It’s a little late to start asking that question.”
”What the hell am I doing?”
”Again, a little late.”
”This is fucking crazy. I’m out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing out here but fucking cows. What the fuck am I doing. The only person I’ve talked to today is myself.”
”I don’t count.”
”No shit. Who the hell rides their bike from Rockaway, OR? Did I really quit my job?”
”Stop yelling, the cows are getting riled up. Look, you’re riding your bike, that’s it. Let’s keep this simple so we can make it through this.”
”This is fucked. My life is strapped to my bike. My mood is dictated by the fucked up weather. I wash my clothes in sinks. I deal with cars that slow down just to yell or let the dog in the back of their pick up bark at me. I count a good day as a day when it hits 60 f. Fuck this.”
”Fine. Stop here.”
”Right. Stop here. I’ll just call a cab and tell them I’m next to the farm with black and white spotted cows that is across the street from the abandoned farm. We’ll throw my bike in the trunk and take a ride down to LA. That would make a great blog entry ‘so I decided to cab it the rest of the way.’”
”Look there’s a car coming it’ll be weird if they see you talking to me.”
”At what point do I start worrying about myself?”
”That should have started when turned left on 101 from your grandmother’s house.”
”I guess you’re right, I’ll keep riding.”
”Stay diligent.”
”Always.”
So anyway… I had a really good day riding. The weather was nice and sunny, plenty of shadows. I had a great nights sleep (10 hours). Three bowls of cereal for breakfast along with two cups of coffee.
I stayed at the Holiday Inn last night, which is plenty nice. Actually too nice. As crazy as it sounds, I prefer camping – hard to beat walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night looking up at all the stars.
My right knee has a new type of pain that I attribute to overuse. It started yesterday morning but seems to be doing better towards the end of today. We’ll see. I’m watching it closely.
It was tough to stop riding today. I was having a good day, not to hard, nice breeze gently pushing me along for parts of the day. But, as with blackjack, better to quit while I’m ahead. The next spot that qualifies as a place on the map is a private RV campground 13 miles ahead. The next town is 30 or so miles down. Scotia seems like a good place to stop, it has an interesting story.
Today included a few cool town including Ferndale and Rio Dell. I also passed College of Redwoods and Humboldt State University – both seemed nice. Most of today’s ride was off the 101, another plus.
My bike is doing ok. Not great, but if I had to guess, I would guess it will make it into the Bay Area. The back wheel was untrue (aka bent) and the nice folks at Revolution Bikes took it in and fixed it with minutes. Best $10 I’ve spent on the trip. The homeless lady outside the store advised me I could have gotten it fixed for free down the street – no buyers remorse here. My chain may be stretched and I don’t want to talk about my front detailer cable which is broken, again.
I fear the rain that is coming tomorrow. I constantly check weather reports trying to figure out exactly when and where the rain will hit even though such a request is impossible.
It smelled like cows/Davis all day. (I remember when my grandfather would roll down the windows while passing cows as my brother and I protested from the back seat all the while telling us how good it smelled as he had lost his sense of smell.)
Steven Tyler's voice sings Dream On via the juke box in the corner of the diner I'm eating dinner at. Lyrics below.
Type of beer most likely found on the side of the road: Busch.
Something I forgot to mention the other day: I got a flat in front of Pelican Bay Prison. A first - I’ve never had a flat in front of a prison before.
Even though I hardly respond, I again want to extend a thank you to all of you sending me messages – I read them all and they mean a lot. If you want to see something funny. Send me a text message and you may see the red dot stop moving as I often stop when my phone erupts.
I wish the sun would stay up in Long Beach / Redondo until 8:30 as it does here.
I rode with two guys from Wyoming who were riding to San Francisco from Gold Beach, OR. One was a professor at a college, the other has ridden across the country (“Stay away from Indiana – it’s just bad weather in the summer.” No worries there.).
Two younger riders from Oklahoma seem to have dropped off the map. Hope they are doing ok. After being asked how far they typically ride in a day, “We’ll in Oklahoma you can ride for 80 miles, no problem. This Redwood forest is another story, I wanted to stop awhile back.” Made me chuckle, I felt his pain.
Towns passed yesterday:
Trinidad (pop. 311)
McKinleyville (pop. 13,599)
Arcata (pop. 16,651)
Towns passed today:
Eureka (pop. 26,128)
Loleta (pop. 800)
Fernbridge (pop. 0?)
Ferndale (pop. 1,382)
Rio Dell (pop. 3,174)
Scotia (pop. 1,200)
Trivia – Scotia was originally called?
Congrats to Dan B., a previous winner and winner again with Baron Alexander von Humboldt.
Ryan had a good guess with Captain Cook.
A local patron has turned down the jukebox in favor of the tv, time to go.
Wait, wait, don’t stop reading. One more thing. For the second time in a week I’ve seen old dudes ride their tractor from their house that is off the road to the road to pick up their mail. I love it. When I get old I’m going to get a tractor and do the same.
sellers
A special thank you goes out to Mateo who inspired me to document my conversations with myself.
Dream On:
Every time I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It goes by, like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay
Yeah, I know nobody knows
where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win
Half my life
is in books' written pages
Lived and learned from fools and
from sages
You know it's true
All the things come back to you
Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away
Yeah, sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dreams come true
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dream comes through
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream On Dream On
Dream On Dream On
Sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away
Sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away......
Yes! First comment! I'm jazzed.
ReplyDeleteOkay, your conversation to yourself was awesome...just don't question leaving your job--please! It was the right thing to do and you know it! The riding the bike for miles...well, that's a little crazy, but that's why people love you, Sellers!
You are getting to see so much of our beautiful country. Most city dwellers think that the US is too crowded but those of us that have traveled across the country know better!
As for the cows...you will never see so many cows as you can in Nebraska! I was driving down I-80 in Nebraska and with the windows all rolled up, I could smell something awful and I thought to myself "What the heck is that smell?" But I drove on, still smelling that stench--for 150 miles. And then I came upon about 2,000 cows grazing!!! Ugh. :)
I've really enjoyed reading your blog! Thanks for sharing your adventure!
Alexis
One of Uyen and my favorite games while passing a herd of cows is to (while driving, in our case) yell, "HEEEEEYYY COOOOOOWWW!!!" And then, for every cow that looks up, you get a point. I hold the unofficial record with 17 (VERY unofficial...not really sure). Try it out, it'll pass the time for about 20 seconds.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should think of "Dream On" today. It was a featured song on "Glee" this week...so I've been humming the song in my head for the past few days.
I think I heard the original name for Scotia is BFE.
Nice country up there huh!
ReplyDeleteThe original name for the town of Scotia Ca, is "Scrotum" Ca
one of the funnist things to down when you see a cow is to walk up and punch it right in the face and yell, Beef! it's whats for dinner!
Laughed out loud to your conversation with yourself- brilliantly funny and no doubt accurate. We have our whole lives to work, but not always the health or mental stamina to do what you're doing with this ride. As crazy as it may seem now or when you're talking to cows, I'm sure you will always remember it fondly.
ReplyDeleteAs for my memories of Eureka- always stopped there as a kid on my way up to Oregon for summer trips. I still remember the rancid smell- a combo of sulfur and burning wood due to all the wood and paper mills. Gray haze. Hope it's better now. Probably a different kind of industry haze.
Another company town...they're everywhere like Pleasantville. Pleasantville or shall it be called Lack-of-Forestville or maybe Clearcutville...
keep on ridin! so enjoy your blog and pictures have me daydreaming of camping on the coast.
Ryan: Excellent trivia answer.
ReplyDeleteSellers: Photos remind me of the heyday of blacksunday.com: Mark likes cows.
Keep on truckin'!
Huh. Me and Dave tell you the same things. Hehe.
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask you! Is your bike named Ponderosa because of Bonanza? I loved that show growing up. =) The theme song's going through my head as I type.
You're doing amazing Sellers. Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you.
Cheers!
Forestville CA
ReplyDeleteBert's co-worker
STEPH