Day 26 - Big Trees

Crescent City, CA to Orick, CA - 37 miles

We have been anticipating the Crescent City hill for about a week.  We knew it would be one of the longest and tallest of the trip.  We knew that it would be about 10 miles start to finish, so I pictured 5 miles up and 5 miles back down.  We were pleasantly surprised when it was only about 3 miles to the top.  After that, there was a bit of up and down before the final descent.  The descent wasn't as steep and straight as Bins had hoped, so taking his cue from Tan's comment on Saturday, he said, "That was so not worth it."  These boys LOVE speed!

We made it to the Redwoods today.  We still have 2 days until Avenue of the Giants, but we have already seen some pretty big trees.  Our last 5 miles into camp, we were in dense forest with hiking trails branching off.  Many of the groves were named and even some specific trees were named.  At one point, I saw a sign that said simply, "Big Tree" with an arrow pointing to the left.  I began scanning the left side of the road expecting to see the largest tree of the day, but instead I saw a day use park named "Big Tree."  It seemed deceptive until I found out there really is a tree named "Big Tree," you just can't see it from the road.

Day 25 - California!

Brookings, OR to Crescent City, CA - 30 miles

On Sunday morning, if the chapel is within a few miles of camp, we don't bother changing into riding clothes just to change into church clothes when we arrive at the chapel.  Today we rode to church in our pajamas.  Pajamas consist of comfortable street clothes on this trip, but it still feels funny walking into the church building like that.  We get some quizzical looks, but thankfully everyone is happy to have us there as guests.

We had our second flat tire today at 760 miles.  This time it was my turn.  What is the purpose of slime?  The bike shop where we bought my bike put it in my tubes, but I'm beginning to doubt the logic.  It couldn't patch 2 tiny holes left by a staple.  Besides that, I couldn't deflate the tire all the way to store it rolled-up in the trailer until we could patch it with a kit.  Storage effeciency may seem like an unimportant ding against it's logic, but it's a major concern on this trip.  Maybe we did it wrong and maybe we weren't patient enough, so I guess I'm open to having my mind changed about that.

The big news for today is...WE MADE IT TO CALIFORNIA!!!  We have now biked the length of 2 states and are  starting on the third (and final).

Day 24 - "That was so worth it!"

Port Orford, OR to Brookings, OR - 51 miles

We got out early this morning because we knew it was going to be a long day.  We had some up-hill at the beginning of our ride, followed by a long, gradual down hill.  Nice!  We made great time and had already covered 20ish miles before lunch.  During lunch, we had to break out the  first aid kit for the second time on this trip.  Nothing major, just me a knife and an avocado. 

We let the boys listen to audio books while they ride.  They get to put in the right ear bud only so they can still hear us and the traffic.  It helps break up the monotony of pedaling for them and gives them something to focus on other than how many miles we've gone and how many we have left.  It's also one way we squeeze in school even though we're riding most of the day.  They learn new vocabulary and give us book reports periodically.  Once we get to camp, they have to turn off the books so we have family time and the boys' undivided attention.

After lunch, Tan was riding around the park and choosing to listen to his book rather than to instructions from us.  Consequently, he lost the mp3 player for the next 5 miles.  Shortly after resuming our ride, he started riding wild on purpose and nearly collided with Stephen.  The bark that followed, plus the blow of loosing the book privilege plus the hill we were climbing all dampened his spirits significantly.

Right at that moment, a car drove past, and a woman said, "Annette," out the window.  It took me  just a minute to recognize Henry and Kathy, our sister-in-law's parents.  They knew that we were somewhere in Oregon, but had no idea where or even our route.  They were driving up the coast and turned around when they recognized us.  We stopped and visited with them for a bit, took a few pictures (notice that Tan wouldn't even look at the camera) and they graciously offered to treat us to dinner that evening.  It was so fun to see a little piece of home on this trip, even if it wasn't exactly our home.

In case you're wondering, the Tan story has a happy ending.  As it always does, the uphill turned into a downhill and soon we were all sailing down the other side.  When Tan intentionally skidded to an impressive stop at the bottom, he shouted (completely unprompted), "That was so worth it!"  I wish I could had gotten his reaction on video so that I can show it to him the next time he complains about a hill.

Day 23 - Black Sand

Langlois, OR to Port Orford, OR - 20 miles

Time to finish yesterday's ride.  The weather was so nice today that it seemed almost a shame to stop after just 20 miles.  Tomorrow is a big day though, so it was nice to rest-up.  We got to our camp site around 2pm, did some school with the boys and then played on the beach.  There was a stream flowing into the ocean where we played, so school continued with lessons on fresh water vs. salt water, rate of flow and aquatic vegetation.

The sand on the beach was nearly black.  It reminded me of the black sand beach on the Big Island near Kilauea.  There, I took a picture of my slippered feet in the sand to prove the color, so I had to repeat the photo here.  In 2006 we moved to Oahu, and spent 3 wonderful years there.  We left the island on September 26, 2009 to spend a few days on the Big Island, then move to Idaho.  Ironically, today is our 5th anniversary of leaving Oahu.

At Humbug State Park, we met a fellow rider who started his exodus in Austin, TX.  He is circling the whole US in stages.  He is currently riding the San Francisco to Vancouver, Canada stretch.  He will take a break once he reaches Vancouver this fall because it will be too cold to continue.  He, of course, was loving yesterday's south wind!

Day 22 - Nemesis

Bandon, OR to Langlois, OR - 24 miles

We had planned a 38 miles day, but it didn't happen.  I thought rain would be this journey's nemesis, but I was wrong.  I would take the rain any day of the week over a south wind. The reason that most cyclists bike north to south, rather than south to north, is the wind.  It typically blows from the north along the coast, so it makes riding more pleasant.  Today was an exception.  The only benefit of the wind was that it blew the remains of the storm past us, so we are now out of the rain.

One thing Stephen has noticed when searching for campgrounds along our route is that Google is not always complete.  State campgrounds typically show up on the map, but county and privately owned campgrounds are well-hidden gems.

When we were about 20 miles into our ride for the day (it was already 3pm), Tan took a little spill.  He went off the shoulder into some gravel and toppled over.  He was fine except for having straddled his frame.  Ouch!  While we were parked, a gal drove by and stopped to chat with us.  She told us about a county campground not for from where we were and gave us directions.  We were grateful for her suggestion, but didn't think we would need the information because we already planned to stay further down the road.  About a mile past the turnoff for the county park, we decided to turn around.  Being blown back the other direction towards the county park was a welcome change.  Apparently we aren't the only ones who have a hard time finding these camps.  Besides the hosts, there are 6 occupants tonight, and we are 4 of them.

Day 21 - More Devils

Charleston, OR to Bandon, OR - 20 miles

It rained all night long.  Hard.  By time morning rolled around, the rain had stopped, but everything was soaked outside.  Thanks to our cabin, we and all of our belongings were dry and warm.  This morning was a little different than others.  We waited until "out came the sun and dried up all the rain" before we started riding.  With the extra time, we did other activities that more resemble a typical school day at home.

We had planned to ride only 20 miles today because we knew they were going to be tough.  Seven Devil's Road was our destination.  We left at 1pm and made it up the first devil in no time at all.  Someone had even painted "Devil #1" on the road just above the first really steep part -a nice touch.  Devils 1 - 3 flew by and we wondered if we overestimated the difficulty.  It was tough, but nothing my 8 and 9-year-old couldn't handle.  l seriously question the numbering system, however.  There were at least 3 or 4 devils included in the official #5 by my standards.

Tan let me know half way up the mountain that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come on this trip because "it's going to cost a lot of money."  I had to laugh at his circumventing the true reasons for not wanting to be a touring cyclist on this particular day.  By the end of the day, he was singing a different tune.  He loves down hill riding so much and he let me know later it was all worth it.  In fact, he wouldn't stop chatting with the other bikers who rode into camp this evening about the "awesome hill."

My final thoughts for today are a tribute to my amazing husband.  We rode past a weigh station a few days ago and he stopped on the scales just because he was curious.  350 pounds.  Subtracting his 215 pounds of body weight, that means that the weight of his bike (which isn't much) plus the gear he's pulling is 135 pounds!  For every mile the rest of us ride, I think that entitles him to log at least 1.5 miles.  The odometer doesn't show it, but he is working harder than any of us!  On top of that, he is our navigator (left, right, straight), our GPS (grocery stores, laundromats, camp sites) and logistics coordinator (we have to go X number of miles each day to make it to a chapel by Sunday, easier day one day because the next day is going to be difficult, etc.).  Me?  I'm just riding and writing.  He is the real brains and muscle of this journey.  I'm a lucky gal because he walked into my life 14 years ago!  Stephen, please don't delete this paragraph when you post it to the blog.  ;)  Did I mention that he's also the web master?


  

 

 

Day 20 - Rain!

Winchester Bay, OR to Charleston, OR - 30 miles

When we left the campground this morning, the rain was just starting to fall.  Luckily, it was only a mist and not a monsoon.  We planned on getting soggy, but not soaked, damp, but not drenched.  The only problem is that a mist while you're standing still turns into a monsoon when you're racing down hill.

MythBusters did an episode once where they tested if you would get wetter by walking through the rain or running.  They concluded that you get wetter by running through the rain even if it does get you out of the rain sooner.  Our experiment yielded the same conclusion.  The faster we rode, the wetter we got.  Within minutes we looked like we had been swimming.  It was a blast!

Before crossing the bridge into North Bend and Coos Bay, Oregon, we stopped at the Bay Bridge Motel to use the restroom.  It turned out to be a fortuitous stop.  Bay Bridge Betty told us about a fabulous restaurant in town that we should visit.  We took her advice and are so glad that we did.  We rode up to the Crossroads Community Cafe and saw a sign in the window that said, "$1.50 Lamb Stew or Potato Leek Soup."  The place is open for lunch only from 10am to 3pm.  It's a non-profit that started to provide inexpensive, hearty meals for the local homeless and elderly populations, but they are open to the general public.  Lunch included a beverage (coffee, tea, water or pink lemonade) with one free refill, a bowl of soup, bread and butter and a slice of pound cake for dessert.  We ordered 4 bowls of the lamb stew and 3 of the potato leek soup for a grand total price of $10.50!  Yes, I know there are only 4 of us, but our appetites are growing with all the extra exercise.  The food was divine!  Stephen and I both left in awe of the whole establishment and it's beautiful simplicity.

When the rain started in the morning, Stephen began researching options for this evening.  Did we really want to stay in a tent during a downpour?  Would it be better to spring for a hotel?  Did the state campground we planned to stay at have any available yurts or cabins?  The rain subsided within an hour however, so we stuck to our plan of tent camping.  We had a lengthy stop in North Bend for lunch, a few groceries and a laundromat, with the weather cooperating the whole time.  2 miles from camp this evening, the rain started up again.  Stephen made an unexpected turn into a county campground we saw along our route and asked if they had any cabins.  The camp host said that he had just finished cleaning one that we could rent for the night.

Amazingly, he said that all of the cabins had been booked since May!  This was the first opening in 4 months.  We are now sitting in this snug little cabin singing "Count Your Many Blessings" to the percussion accompanyment of rain on the roof.