California! Wow. Unbelievable. Can't believe I made it this far.

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Vamonos muchachos y muchachas

Day 7 – Brookings, OR (0 miles / 336 total)

Written on Sunday May 17, 2010 8:35 PM

Today it rained. Not as much as was predicted but there was a little rain. In hindsight, I would have rather kept on riding but it was too big of a risk to be stuck in thunderstorm while riding.

This means a less interesting but busy day.

First let me start with the bike shop. The Escape Hatch, like most small businesses here is not doing well and may have to close. The owner blames many factors including the economy, Walmart, taxes, and folks like myself ordering online. Whatever the case I’m glad he was open today as he did a great job replacing my front derailer cable. It was about 25% torn through. He even managed to get it done for me in hours instead of making me wait days as some bike shops do. If you’re ever in Brookings I would pay him a visit – there are some good deals and he seems to know a lot about local fishing.

I seem to have a harder and harder time using my credit card as my face is starting to look different from that on my drivers license. Makes me chuckle.

This morning I stopped by the auto store and bought some degreaser along with rags and cleaned all the crap that sticks to the chain over 300 miles.

It was so weird to shop at Fred Meyer. I’m used to shopping at gas stations where you can’t be picky about your options unless you want a soda. At Fred Meyer they seem to have 20 different versions of sunscreen. I purchased as much fruit as I could shove down my throat in one day (a lot).

My last errand was laundry. $2.25 for a wash – more than Long Beach, CA.

The highlight though was seeing a San Francisco Chronicle for sale. I’m getting closer. If anyone who is reading this has any control over the rain tomorrow, please don’t let it make an appearance.

Sublime’s version of Rivers of Babylon is playing in the background. A nice tune.

No trivia or pictures today as I just posted yesterday’s question.

"Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think that what I have to say has more lasting value."
— Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values – a book I didn’t like very much)

sellers

Day 6 – Humbug Mountain State Park to Brookings, OR (miles 51 / 336 total)

Written on Monday May 17, 2010 4:52 PM

Sunday was a cold, desolate, windy, hilly, fun day.

I stayed a little longer at the campground then I usually do, 11:o5AM to be exact. I was hoping to let some of the fog burn off but it proved inconsequential as the fog layer remained around 1,000 ft. As with most of Oregon, the road was insulated by tall, green, majestic trees. A rain that is described as mist in Oregon seemed to keep the wind at bay. It made me think of Gordon Lightfoot’s Early Morning Rain, one of my favorite songs (it’s sung my many others including, Bob Dylan, Elvis, Grateful Dead). See the lyrics at the bottom of this post.

After going inland for a few miles the 101 hit the coast and opened up to continuous ocean vistas. I kept asking myself, at what point do I stop taking pictures of this. I suppose you don’t stop.

While beautiful, it was also empty. Cars would pass a few feet away from my acoustic motorbike and yet they felt miles away. Where were they going? What were they thinking at that moment? Are they in a good mood? What’s on the radio? For some reason I wondered these questions.

I missed a turn off of 101 (not sure how you miss a turn off at 10 mph) which I wasn’t too worried about, as long as I’m heading south I’m heading home. The good side of this was that I got to ride on the historic coastal road further down the road.

Later I pulled into Gold Beach for coffee and to rest prior to the 800 ft climb ahead. When I ordered coffee cake the guy behind me mentioned to me that it would take a while to burn that off. Getting fat is not on my list of worries.

Pulling into Brookings I decided to stay in a motel as rain seemed immanent. It was weird to not worry about raccoons as I slept.

Overall it was a good day. I met Tom and Don, two Marines that are riding their motorcycles up the coast. I also ran into Marco from Sweden riding his bike around the country (impressive).

Pavement was the answer that I was looking for on yesterday’s. Maybe next time.

Today’s trivia can be found on in the picture library.

Towns passed:
Ophir (pop. 60)
Wedderburn (pop. unknown)
Gold Beach (pop. 1,897)
Pistol River had a post office so I’m not sure if that counts as a town.
Brookings (pop. 5,447 +1 tonight)

thanks for reading.

Sellers

 

In the early mornin' rain
With a dollar in my hand
And an aching in my heart
And my -pockets full of sand
I'm a long ways from home
And I missed my loved one so
In the early mornin' rain
With no place to go
Out on runway number nine
Big 707 set to go
Well I?m out here on the grass
Where the pavement never grows
Where the liquor tasted good
And the women all were fast
There she goes my friend
She's rolling out at last
Hear the mighty engines roar
See the silver wing on high
She's away and westward bound
For above the clouds she flies
Where the mornin' rain don't fall
And the sun always shines
She'll be flying over my home
In about three hours time
This ol' airport?s got me down
It's no earthly good to me
'Cause I?m stuck here on the ground
Cold and drunk as I might be
Can't jump a jet plane
Like you can a freight train
So I best be on my way
In the early mornin' rain
So I best be on my way
In the early mornin' rain
So I best be on my way
In the early mornin' rain

Rain delay, stuck in Brookings, OR - a nice place to try to stay dry in.

Day 5 - Sunset Bay State Park to Humbug Mountain State Park (61 miles / 285 miles)

Saturday May 15, 2010 9:37PM

When Garry and Nancy from Vancouver offered me a Canadian breakfast as I was taking down my camp site I knew the day was going to be better than the previous. The breakfast, complete with coffee and orange juice was awesome. I’ve never been a fan of eating out so it was nice to have a home made meal. They both volunteered at the Olympics and had some interesting stories.

I got a late start on the day due to breakfast and writing yesterday’s blog update. The ride started on a road called Seven Devils, which is an appropriate name considering the ups and downs. The views were great and there were fewer cars than yesterday so I was doing better.

A note about the pictures
There are so many more pictures that could be taken on this trip but due to conditions (e.g. small shoulder, bad area, or I want to keep momentum, etc.). Further, there are some vistas that are so expansive they simply cannot be captured on film.

My bike is holding up fine. I need a new shifting cable but worse comes to worse it breaks and I have to stay in low gears – nothing new. I should be able to wait until I find a bike store.

[Author’s note: as I’m writing this a raccoon has begun casing the place out. He or she is unfazed by my flashlight and advances. Update! it has left and is in a fight with some other animal. Crazy! Time to go hang up my food bag. Do raccoons bite people? Did Christine pack me something that takes care of such bites? I don’t know.]

Sunday May 16, 2010 8:52 AM

Anyhow, back to my ride. After a few more miles I hit Bandon, an upscale coastal community. It looked like a mini version of pier 39 in San Francisco with all of the restaurants pushing “the  best clam chowder and crab. I really enjoy clam chowder and crab but don’t think either them are great for riding so I moved on to Mexican food. I don’t have much faith in Mexican food in Oregon but this place was alright (I don’t remember the name). It made me chuckle when the people sitting next to me asked the waiter his name and he said, Pancho Sanchez. I knew he was joking but he had to finally fess up to when they kept yelling “Pancho, could we get some more….” His real name is Michael.

It amazes me how many gift stores there are in Oregon.

I’m told by Dave at Sunset Bay Park that years back they spaced the coast towns out 26 miles apart for the stage coaches. You can roughly see that when looking at a map. The next town down was Port Orford.

Port Orford, has for sale signs on everything except for its one police car. It is a really nice town though. As noted in my pictures they painted which way to go to see the ocean. At risk of drawing the throngs of people that read my blog to their surf I will say that they have very clean, rideable, small waves.

I found a great way to charge my stuff. In the middle of the night I walk over to the RV campground and borrow one of their outlets after everyone is asleep. So far no problems.

Cars in Curry County seem to be friendly.

Still not many California license plates. Hopefully soon.

It should be noted that this is a great campground. The hiker/biker portion has a waterfall next to it and each spot is somewhat secluded. It’s strange to me that on a Saturday night this place isn’t packed. It’s at the base of the Humbug Mountains and hugs the ocean with great views. I hope to return one day, just maybe in a huge RV with a heater.

Tonight I’m joined by a couple from Germany that started their journey in LA and are heading to Vancouver. They are very nice, as is everyone I meet at the campground.
”How did you like LA?”
”I didn’t.”
”How did you like San Francisco?”
”I didn’t”
”How did you like the Mojave Dessert?”
“I really liked it. I don’t like cities, in Germany I live in the forest."
”That explains it.”
We all laughed.

In a sense I’m racing the weather as it is supposed to rain on Monday and I would like to be as far south as I can get prior to rain. We’ll see. I have no desire to ride in the rain.

Raccoon Epilog
I hung up my only bag with food in it and then went to bed, leaving everything that I didn’t need outside of my tent. Mistake. About 1 hour later I hear my bags being terrorized so I get up put on my shoes and sure enough one looks at me and then runs. It turns out they are so used to finding food that they try to open every bag they find. So I put all my bags in my tent and go back to bed. I wake up around 1AM and take a look around and see that they maliciously went after my bike and knocked it down (most likely for revenge). It was at this point that I also noticed that the dew was so thick everything was wet; the towel I left out to dry, my steel forks on the bike, my leather seat, everything. I put a spare tarp over my bike that I have been debating weather or not to ditch and went back to bed. Not much I could do at that point.

Michael got  hit worse. They tore up one of his books and, he suspects after doing inventory, ran off with one of his socks. A mad, mad world.

Cities I passed through:
Bandon (pop.2,833)
Langlois (pop. 50)
Sixes (pop. unknown)
Port Orford (pop. 1,153)

Dr. Christine had the correct answer with Umpqua lighthouse.

Today’s trivia:
What is the hardest part of learning how to ride a bike?

On a side note, I’m not getting everyone’s text messaged. I believe T-Mobile gives up after it can’t find me for some amount of time.

Also, I can’t say enough how nice it is to get emails, messages, comments, text messages, etc. I don’t respond because of reception issues, battery usage, exhaustion, and because I’m sometimes on the side of the road and it just doesn’t work. But, it is very noted and very appreciated.

sellers

And we're off.

Day 5 has commenced.

Day 4 - Honeyman State Beach to Sunset Bay State Park (57 miles / 224 miles total)

There is no other way to put this so I will just say it, day 4 sucked:

• I had to walk across a long bridge not meant for walking but even worse for riding. The sidewalk was so narrow I don’t know how they can call it a sidewalk, but they did.
• The wind was the strongest, yet I was stuck riding perpendicular and/or walking my bike for too much of the day.
• It finally hit me that the Oregon Coast, is in fact, hilly. When I reach the top of a hill I think to myself, “you did it, you can relax.” But the hill simply responds with “you did, now here’s another hill” and I abide.
• Cars were out in force today. None were dangerous but there were so many of them you become numb to the Pacific that is guiding you along the route. Diesel fumes are a kick in the pants.

I thought I was going to have a good day but looking back on that now I wonder if my optimism was simply coffee induced. Who knows.

Let me talk about the hills for a moment. Most hills go unnoticed by those in a car. Some may even be missed entirely by a cyclist on a nice bike but let me say as clear as I can, no hill goes without disdain for a guy on a bike tour with as much weight as I have. Hills can lead to instant frustration when combine with a mileage marker that is off by mere 1/2 a mile (as is the case with Sunset Bay).

So what do you do when you’re in Oregon and you are having a bad day? You stop by Dairy Queen and scarf down a waffle cone chocolate strawberry in two minutes.

The guy working the register at Taco Bell he was having a long day.

What do you do with a bad day? I’m not sure. Without a head wind would a tail wind ever feel great? I expect that there will be more of these days to come. I have no intention of stopping but yesterday I would have rather been doing any number of things.

And, for the record, I’m sick of sand dunes.

But my day did get better. Sunset Bay is a nice campground with nice showers (I finally took a shower). The camp host let me stay in regular camp ground instead of the hiker/biker slots. I also met Michael who is heading in the same direction from Portland. He’s a nice guy on his first tour. He smokes, which cracks me up. He’s a little sick so I gave him my Dayquil that Christine was nice enough to pack in my suitcase of medical supplies. We also shared some rum before going to bed like the pirates that used to hide in Sunset Bay.

My handlebar bag is holding up pretty well – not perfect, but it doesn’t need to be.  I adjusted my seat and it feels better today. My pinky is no longer numb. All good things.

We had a number of correct answers to yesterday’s trivial questions:

Grandma Marge from Rockaway, OR and Marin, CA was the first to respond with Hazelnut

Kelly C. also had the right answer.

Tabasco (David K.) had a different, but correct answer, “Sellers”.

______ was the first lighthouse built in Oregon.

Cities passed:
Dunes City (pop. 1,241)
Gardiner (pop. 600)
Reedsport (pop. 4,378 – I would avoid stopping here as they don’t seem to like people on bikes)
Lakeside (pop. 1,371)
Hauser (pop. unknown)
North Bend (pop. 9,544)
Charleston (pop. 700)

Anyhow, I better go as I’m sitting under a no trespassing sign.

Sellers
[still no good internet so the picture quality is bad. I’m not sure if the labels uploaded correctly either]

Day 3 – Newport, OR to Honeyman State Beach (53 miles / 167 miles)

I’m doing this partially for myself. Routine is comforting and in trying to gain some sort of routine I’m writing down my policies and procedures.

Things to do when I wake up:
Pack up items inside tent (including rolling sleeping bag and mattress)
Get dressed in tent
Exit tent
Check food bag to make sure it was not stolen by masked bandits (raccoons)
Boil water for coffee
Warm water for drinking (water gets very cold at night)
Eat PowerBar
Perform bike check (with all bags off) consisting of:

1. Check the lever in both wheels to ensure they are still firmly attached.
2. Adjust brakes to be closer to wheel
3. Work on at least two adjustments (e.g. seat height, front handlebar bag, shifting cables, etc.)
4. Check fenders
5. Inflate tires to 100psi (I usually lose about 30 psi every 24 hours)

Make sure water bottles are completely filled (one with sports drink mix and one water)
Take picture of self for blog
Pack up everything except for tent, tarp, sleeping bag, mattress, solar charger)
Take down tent
Pack up tent, tarp, sleeping bag, mattress, solar charger
Check panniers for loose bungee cords and safety latches
Turn on blinking lights
Turn cell phone to loud
Check phone to see what day of the week it is and mentally plan for the amount of cars
Take a last look around campsite for anything I may have forgotten
Depart camp
Contact folks if I did not the night before

Guidelines for riding my bike:

1. Safety first
2. Take a break every ten miles for five to ten minutes (stopping to adjust something or taking a picture does not count)
3. When one water bottle becomes empty I must stop at the next point that has water
4. Stop to make adjustments as needed (some adjustments are low priority and can wait until at the camp site).
5. 70% of weight should be on the back of the bike
6. Wave at all school bus drivers
   

When I arrive at camp:
Turn off blinking lights
If I have a cell phone connection (doubtful) let folks know where I am
Unpack solar charger in order to continue charge
Remove all bungee cords from bike (bungee cords and wheel hate each other)
Set up tent
Unroll sleeping bag and mattress (unless mosquitoes are present then this should be moved until bed time)
Unpack needed goods for the evening
Change out of bike clothes into dirty clothes
Prepare dinner
Review map for following day’s ride as food is being cooked
Eat dinner
Write blog entry (unless absurdly tired)
Add description to pictures
Clean dishes
Clean up site
Brush teeth
Lock up bike (just to be safe)
Walk around camp ground or read (be sure to smile and say hello to everyone as they may be useful in case you need something or have problems)
Use bathroom
Read (optional)
Sleep

About my day:
I had some problems at the start: speedometer didn’t work, my front handlebar bag kept sagging even after I worked on it for a good amount of time, and I departed at 9:30 (I would like to try to leave by 8AM). But my legs felt a little stronger and the wind was at my back.

The coast line was beautiful but, as noted by the Adventure Cycling Association Map #2, this portion had the narrowest shoulder so far of the trip (big by Southern California standards). The drivers seemed more in a hurry today but still overall nice. I rode through a tunnel today (the road was empty enough that no cars past through). The only problem was that the tunnel was uphill (crazy but true) and freezing. When I made it out I was exhausted and my right pannier hit  the side barrier at 6mph (slow enough to dismount and not let my bike fall). But this was extremely frustrating as it was on an uphill and my bike required a bunch of realignments (wheels, brakes, fender). I fixed the wheel and rode to the next opening 1/8 mile later to safely fix everything else.

I passed Sea Lion Cove, which gets its name from all the sea lions (too many to count). Yachats seems like a modern version of Rockaway.

In addition to nonstop trees and coastline I also crossed over a few bridges as you’ll note in the pictures. Oregon takes great pride in their bridges. Each one seems to have a story.

Nate Jessup hailing from Central California has answered both trivia questions correctly – congratulations Nate.

Physical evaluation:
One of the two nerves in my left pinky is a little damaged from the amount of pressure I applied to the handle bars yesterday  so I changed my hand position and it felt a lot better. My upper back is the sorest part of my body – my knees and butt seem to be holding up ok. Nothing to worry about at this point.

Special thank you
A special thank you goes out to all of you sending me messages (i.e. email, text, phone calls, comments) it means a lot as at times I get lonely enough to read my spam mail. I turn my phone to loud and anytime I pass an area in which I get reception it goes off. I’m sorry I don’t respond to the messages.

Favorite quote of the day:
I get asked a lot about what I’m doing and there are a lot of various responses but this was my favorite today: “Man, you have balls. I’m not into bikes but maybe I should drive my car down the coast. I’m really into cars, that’s why I love this job so much. Praise Jesus.”
- Chevron gas station attendant

Cities passed:
Seal Rock (pop. unknown)
Waldport (pop. 2,050)
Wakonda Beach(pop. 0?)
Yachats (pop. 617)
Florence (pop. 7,263)

Breakfast:
Reeses candy bar
Coffee

Breakfast #2:
Two bagels from Chevron

Lunch:
Lunch was complicated as there was no restaurant to think of between Yachats and Florence (plenty of motels and wooden sculptures for sale). Instead of one meal I ate a two PowerBars, one bag of cheese Ruffles, and a RedBull

Dinner:
Freeze dried Beef Stroganoff along with three Advil and a PowerBar for desert.

Trivia question: Oregon is the only state with an official nut, what is it?

Thanks for reading,

Sellers
[My internet connection is very weak at the moment. The picture quality will be improved at a later point.]