For this vacation we decide to ride from our doorstep to San Francisco.  We want to go down the coast all the way, being sure to spend some time in the redwoods in Northern California.  The Oregon coast is no problem, but Bec has to spend a couple of weeks finding bike maps for Northern California.  We want to make sure that we do not end up on a freeway or out in the middle of nowhere with no place to find provisions. 

 

With all the prep work done, we load up the bike with all our gear, this time leaving behind the trailer because we know that we will be doing a lot of climbing.  Little did we know at the beginning that this ride is not for the faint at heart!  But the cost of the climbs is more than worth the views at the top! 

 

9-17-2005

 

We have trouble leaving for some reason. We are fussing about leaving the fish in the pond, though we have them all hooked up with an automatic feeder and covered with mesh to keep the neighborhood raccoon out.  We have all our gear packed but just can’t seem to get out the door.  We check and double-check everything, finally getting out the door at 8:00 AM.     We are taking a familiar route on 99W to D Lake Campground in Lincoln City and are pleasantly surprised by the many miles of new pavement and are hopeful that they won’t put back those horrible gouged out rumble strips.  Every time we do this route we see new businesses and buildings, and think that this is both good and bad.  It shows a strong economy, but at the sacrifice of open land for the next generation to enjoy.  As we pass the Spruce Goose, Louie says what he always says as we ride past, “Someday we are going to go see that!”  Bec says what she always says, “Aw, it’s just a big plane anyway. We have no time to stop.”  But, some day we will make a ride of it and put an end to our deprivation. 

 

We see a sign on the freeway that announces, “FREE BBQ.”   Louie wants to keep going, but Bec insists that a free lunch is worth the stop.  We pull into Valley RV and partake of hamburgers and hot dogs.  We have been there before to get things for our old RV, “The Turtle”, so we are familiar with the company.  They are great folks.  We highly recommend them to anyone who has a need for anything for their RV or is interested in buying one.  Their RV’s are so modern that they make our old RV look like chopped liver. 

 

Back on the road, we cruise through the Van Duzer Corridor. Louie says he has ridden this road more times than anyone still living.   At a pit stop in Grande Ronde Bec witnesses a near miss between a truck pulling a huge boat and a small car.  The truck is tailgating the small car, which decides to slow down.  The truck slams on its breaks and the boat does a dance this way and that across the road.  One would think the guy in the truck would learn from this, but as soon as the drama plays out, he continues his tailgating ways down the road. 

 

Near Otis the temperature drops so we warm up in Maxwell’s Diner for a good while.  We are tempted to get a motel, but somehow we find the courage to make camp at D Lake State Park.  Hot showers done, fire raging, we end our evening warm and relaxed. 

 

We rode 92.2 miles with 3,510 feet of climbing. 

 

9-18-2005

 

The crows wake us up with their complaining that we did not leave out some of our chips from the night before.  “Give the darned crows some food, “ says Louie all sleepy eyed.  Bec tosses them some corn chips and they quite down.  Bec crawls out of the tent to try out our mini-camp cooking equipment.  We have to eat in shifts because the cooking pan is also the eating plate.  After breakfast we talk at length with some of the other campers about how far we are going and why. 

 

Once on the road we make it no farther than Taft where we stop for coffee.  We take our coffee to the beach to watch some seals play.  On the way back we meet a couple that ride a tandem, too.  Sheila & Terry tell us that they have printed some of our maps from our web site, which makes us very happy. Sheila tells us that she rode down the coast 40 years ago, quite some feat for a woman in those days. 

 

We spend the day stopping at all the viewpoints.  Louie interrogates the other tourists to find out if they have seen whales.  One man tells us that there is a pod of them that just moved south not 15 minutes earlier.  Never having seen a whale in the wild, Louie is determined to spot some.  We talk to another couple from Colorado who are out visiting their great-grandchildren.  We move on to anther viewpoint where Louie continues to ask if anyone has had a sighting.  All at once Bec yells out, “There she blows!”  Sure enough a whale surfaces and spouts steam.  We continue down the coast, stopping to see the whales again and again, never tiring of the show they put on.

 

We meet another cyclist who is riding from Canada to San Diego.  We will continue to see him for a few more days then loose him after we get to California.  Today is warm and sunny with a glorious tail wind, but we are not making very good time because we are stopping to enjoy all the viewpoints along the way.  When we do arrive in Waldport, we stop to do laundry and buy provisions.  Laundry is a bit tricky because the only Laundromat in town does not have a place for us to change.  We wish to publicly apologize to the family who drove along the road behind the building. We had no choice but to change our clothes in the barely adequate bushes that grew there!  Not wanting to risk getting arrested, we ride in our street clothes to our camp at Beachside State Park where hot showers and a fire await.  We use the dehydrated hiker food that Louie’s sister, Deborah, gave Louie for his birthday and find out that it really is quite tasty.  The sun sets on happy campers once more. 

 

We rode 45.6 miles with 2160 feet of climbing. 

 

9-10-2005

 

Bec tumbles out of bed to those darned crows again.  They must have followed us!  She out cranky’s them and they fly away.  “Get up!  Get up!” she says to Louie as she gently rustles the tent.  He crawls out to a good camp breakfast.  We take our coffee to the beach and watch the waves lap at the sand and the birds pick at the bugs.  We see lots of clam bubbles in the sand because the tide is way out.  Bec wants to dig some up with her empty coffee cup, but Louie persuades her to leave them in peace.  We again have trouble getting started and don’t get on the bike until 10:00 AM.  Once on the road we can’t help but stop for coffee and pastry.  It looks like another lazy day on the bike, but we have lots of time so no worries mate. 

 

Riding along, we find a complete rivet set in its own toolbox.  Though heavy, we put it on the back of the bike because it is just too nice to leave behind.  When we crest the top of one hill a ranger pulls up behind us.  Louie presents him with the rivet kit that we found.  The ranger in turn fills us in on all the goings on with the whales.  He tells us with pride about an overlook on down the way that he just helped finish.  He says it is the nicest one on the coast.  We promise to stop there which produces a big grin on his part.  When we stop at his overlook, we have to agree that the view is nothing short of spectacular.  We can look over the edge to see the waves dance against the rocks.  We look out to the ocean and see the whales breaching.  No wonder he is so proud of it. 

 

We catch up with another cyclist that kept passing us yesterday.  He tells us that his girlfriend is driving a trailer with all his stuff and that his friends are riding very fast but he is taking his time to enjoy all the sights.  He will continue to pass us going up the hills, but we keep meeting him at all the overlooks.  He takes our picture at one of them and we take his.  Later we see him alongside the road with his girlfriend.  We wish we could have someone drive along with our gear.  Perhaps some day if we win the lottery we could pay someone to do that very thing.  Ah, but we have to play to win and we just keep forgetting to buy tickets.  Nice dream anyway, as we trudge up one hill and fly down the other side. 

 

In Florence we stop for a while at a field near a playground and have lunch.  Some children come out to play and are impressed with both the bike and how far we are riding.  On the way out of town we see the fellow from Canada walking his bike.  He is looking tired.  We hope he makes it all the way to San Diego, but we have our doubts.  The beach gives way to mountains.  We take on a couple of good climbs in the forest.  Half way up one we take a comfort break down a dirt road and around a bend.  To our surprise we find a whole bunch of huckleberry plants.  We fill up one water bottle so we can have huckleberry pancakes in the morning.

 

When we arrive in Reedsport, Bec begs for a motel.  We find an Economy Inn, some Mexican food, some TV, and a soft bed.  Life is good. 

 

We rode 53.2 miles with 3010 feet of climbing. 

 

9-20-2005

 

Leaving the motel is not easy.  We lollygag as much as possible.  Today we are climbing a lot through the forests.  Big log trucks blow past us all day.  A few people in big Bus RV’s are hanging on to the last good days of summer just as we are.  The shoulder on the road is good in spots but then narrows with a sharp paved drop on the side in other spots.  Bec fusses over the narrow spots, but Louie assures her that he can ride the steep sides and does just to prove he can. 

 

Today is a short ride because we plan on stopping to rent some Dune buggies at Spinreal.  We see the exit sign and down we go to the Dune Buggy rental place.  At first we are going to rent two quads, but Bec does not want to drive one by her self.  Louie promises not to bounce us up one side and down the other to take it easy on her back so we rent one dune buggy instead.  It is a frame with a geo metro motor mounted in the back.  We have to watch a movie about what not to do.  No cookies!  No bouncing over the tops of dunes!  Then we get a lecture about where to ride.  We have to stay on the trail to the beach.  No side trips or we will get stuck.  Once on the beach we can travel no more than 15 minutes and then we have to head back or we will get stuck.  Then we can go play on the dunes, but we have to stay on the north side of them or we will get stuck.  If we get stuck they will have to pull us out!  We put on these goofy looking helmets, strap ourselves in and off we go, bouncing and spinning along, up over the ridges in the sand and boom, down the other side of them.  Bec reaches over and presses her foot on Louie’s because he is trying too hard to take it easy on her back.  Excitement is what she wants!  Sand flies.  Wheels spin.  We pop out onto the beach.  We fly down the beach our 15 minutes worth and then head back.  Back on the trail we find the opening to the dunes and try our hand and whizzing up one side and back down the same side being careful to stay on the north side of the dunes.  We don’t want to get stuck.  After our prescribed time is over, we try to head back to the store, but for some reason we come out going the wrong way.  We have to turn around.  We find a place that looks big enough and go for it.  Oh no!  We are stuck!  Horrors!  We try to free ourselves but sand just flies about us, covering us.  Beg hops out and digs around the tires.  Louie guns it, but Bec just gets buried in the sand from the wheels.  We are going to have to call for help.  Louie tries to undo his harness, but he is stuck.  After some fussing he loosens it and just climbs out.  Hanging our heads, we call.  They bring a truck and pull us out and we follow them back to the store. 

 

We decide that while we had a great time, we are much better on the bike than we are at driving a dune buggy.  Louie tells Bec about a friend who drives all the way here towing his dune buggy on a trailer.  We wonder what he does if he gets stuck.  We certainly could not free ourselves.

 

Back on the bike, we ride alongside these huge dunes where the sand is eating up the trees.  It blows up onto the road in places.  We wonder what it will look like in 10 more years.  Will the trees be gone?  Will there be more dunes?  It is quite amazing to see how the sand is taking over.  

 

Soon we see the guy with the girlfriend.  He razzes us appropriately as he effortlessly whizzes past us up a hill.  Loaded down with all our possessions, we have no hope of catching him even going down the other side, due to the air drag of the front packs.  He stops again and we catch him.  He tells us that he is headed to Bandon.  We don’t think we will make it that far so we probably won’t see him again. 

 

At North Bend we have to get off the bike and walk over this huge bridge.  It sways and vibrates under our feet.  We want to ride it but the sign told us not to and there really is no room.  The many trucks that pass take up the whole lane.  We think that if they remove the sidewalk from one side then cyclists could have one side and pedestrians the other, but that probably won’t happen.  It is a long walk.  Bec has to keep her head down and trudge along due to her height anxiety, but Louie enjoys the view.

 

Just outside one town as we are looking for a post office to mail postcards, a truck driver waves us down.  He had just purchased a tandem for both he and his wife and wants to know all about how we tour with one.  Louie fills him in on all the maintenance tips and we tell him all about some of our other adventures.  We hope they have as much fun as we do with ours. 

 

We have to get off highway 101 to get to the Sunset Bay campground.  It is about 11 miles so we wonder if we have gone the wrong way.  We stop to ask and are told to keep on going.  We almost stop at a county park but realize it is the wrong park, so we head up a hill that we could see in front of us.  We had hopes we would not have to climb it, but we do.  Finally we get to Sunset Bay Park and our warm showers.  The forest around us vibrates with life.  At first we have company at our hiker/bicycle camp in the form of deer and then a whole group of cyclists, who are traveling to San Jose, arrive.  We share a campfire with them.  One we dub, “The Pakistani”, spends his time eating pop tarts and doing these incredible stretches. Later that night the raccoons get into his Tupperware and he has to hunt it down.  They had drug it into a small ditch that also contains candy wrappers, pop tart wrappers (his no doubt), and other Tupperware containers.  Looks like the critters have quite a feast going on.  

 

One guy, small world that it is, turns out to have been the organizer of  “Sierra to the Sea”, one of the coolest organized rides that exists.  Bec did that ride solo some years ago.  The guy knows Leo from the Soviet Union.  When Bec did that ride she had a terrible cold and was on several different antibiotics.  She should have stayed home, but   was determined to have fun even if it did her in.  Leo took it upon himself to make sure that Bec did not get lost.  He kept finding her and leading her back to the others.  She has never forgotten his kindness. The group tells us that they are missing one guy, another cyclist named Leo.  They tell us that he always makes it, but he is not as experienced as they are so it takes him a bit longer.   It is now time to go to bed and Leo still has not arrived.  We all fuss a bit and then decide he must be staying someplace else and will meet up with the group again later.  In the morning a ranger comes up to the group and tells us that Leo wants everyone to know that he got hit by a car and had to spend the night in the hospital, but that he is okay.  His bike is ruined.  He is going to either get it fixed or get another and continue the ride.  We wish him the best and will always wonder what happened to him.  We don't think that we will catch up to these guys again because they are going to ride the “Lost Coast”, a very hilly route along the California coast.  We hope they bring lots of provisions and strong legs.  It is a most difficult ride through isolated hills. 

 

Today we rode 40.9 miles with 2110 feet of climbing. 

 

9-21-2005

 

The climbs to Bandon are huge.  We trudge up some 10% to 15% grades through the forests.  We think we will never get to the top.  When we get to the top of one climb, we tumble down the other side to grind up the next hill.  Finally we get to the top of world and can see the ocean off in the distance.  The scenery reminds us of the Smokey Mountains where we could see miles of forest covered with haze.  We catch up with another couple on half-bikes.  They tell us that they read that this is some of the toughest climbing on the whole coast.  For us it is only training for what is to come on Highway 1 in California, but at this time feels formidable. 

 

The scenery doesn’t change much for us today, as our pace is slow and deliberate through the climbs in the forest with the ocean only being a memory.    We stop at a store for a treat and chat with a young man who is waiting for his girlfriend.   She is behind us on a bike, pulling a bike trailer.  “I’m trying not to get too far away from her,” he says.  He tells us that he was only showing off when he blew past us on one of the climbs.  We pass deer that quickly jump back into the forest, which is much better for them than jumping out into the road.   Big log trucks filled with huge trees pass us going both ways.  This is always puzzlement to us.  Why don’t they all go to the closest place?     

 

We stop for lunch at Bandon, a small town supported by tourism.  Years back, it had a hostel but that is gone.    Bec eats weird food for lunch, a baked potato and onion rings.  All the climbs translated into a need for carbohydrates and fat.  Louie relishes a hot sandwich and coffee.  After Bandon the road levels somewhat.  We pass 6 people traveling north against a fierce head wind.  We wonder how they can manage. 

We wiz past the Canadian in one town.  He is carrying his wheel out of a church.  We did not stop to say hello but could not help but wonder what was going on. 

 

We pass a Wild Animal park attraction.  Bec half-heartedly asks Louie to stop, but Louie isn’t that interested.  Later he says he feels guilty for not indulging her.  But Bec was not all that keen on it.  She was only wishing for a break off the bike.  We had lots of wildlife at the last campground - raccoons, deer, and small squirrels.  We pass a bunch of campgrounds but they are all 3 or 4 miles off the road.  Neither one of us want that.     

 

In Port Orford, we find an RV park directly across from a laundry.  We pitch our tent between some big bus RV’s, shower up, and wander across the street to the laundry.  On our way out we are surprised to find Rich from last night.  He tells us that Leo thought a truck and trailer was going to hit him so he dove for a ditch and tacoed his frame in the process.   We also see the young man and the missing girlfriend with trailer stopped at the store.  The couple from the top of the climb wander into the laundry.  They are not too talkative so we leave them to their work.  We see them again at the store and comment that we must all have the same needs – laundry and food.   

 

We go to dinner at this nice little restaurant.  It is very cute inside.  For some reason it takes one hour to get our dinner.  It is not very crowded, but the cook can only do one thing at a time.  It is warm inside and we are happy to sit on padded soft chairs so we do not complain.  We end up spending two hours eating dinner.

 

We tuck into our sleeping bags with full tummies, clean clothes, and warmed bodies.  In the morning we find out that a pack of wild dogs ran through camp.  The lady in the RV next to us had to go out and rescue her cats from them.  She was hoping that she did not disturb us as she chased them off.  We slept so soundly that neither of us heard a thing. 

 

We rode 49.4 miles with 2400 feet of climbing. 

 

9-22-05

 

Today is to be a short ride.  We are heading for Gold Beach where we plan to take a jet boat up the Rogue River.  We have taken another trip on this river from Medford and thoroughly enjoyed it so we are looking forward to seeing this side of it.  Bec has trouble getting comfortable on the bike seat so she begs for adjustments and short stops.  We go up and down all day through incredible scenery.  Up one climb the couple on the half-bikes pass us.  Louie notices that the woman’s bike is making a familiar clicking noise and mentions it to Bec.  Bec says, “Let’s catch them and fix it for her.”  “No way.  They will stop soon enough and we can help her then, “ says Louie.  Sure enough, the man has a flat and we come alongside and stop.  Louie gently tells the woman about the noise.  She says that it has been making a noise for quite some time and that it is driving her bananas.  Louie pulls out his tools and proceeds to go over the bike, fussing with this and tightening that.  After he is done she asks Louie what she owes us.  “Just a smile,” says Bec.  The husband grins from ear to ear – payment in full.  Later when they pass us up a hill, the woman gives us the thumbs up.  Must have worked!

 

We go up and down again all day.  The water in the Ocean is a deep blue-green.  We stop at one place to watch some pelicans that are hanging with some sea lions.  The waves are smaller here.  Big rocks jut out of the Ocean and bald islands dot the edges.  The temperature is dropping.  Finally we round the corner and can see Gold Beach across a bridge and down a hill.  We pull up to the Jerry’s Jet Boats to confirm our appointment for the morning.  All is set except that we have to wait until 7:00 PM to determine the condition of the river and how far we will be allowed to go.  We ask for places to stay and they point us to a motel up a big hill.   On our way out we see a motel in various states of repair off to our right near the Jet Boat place.  We look at the hill and we look at the motel.  We decide it cannot be worse than some we stayed at in the South and go for it.  It has the required warm bed and TV plus we don’t have to go up the hill to get to it so we go for it.   We find dinner at a nice café overlooking the mouth of the river.  The sea lions on the doc fight over space as the sun sets in the ocean. 

 

We rode 27.7 miles with 1490 feet of climbing. 

 

9-23-2005

 

Today is our boat trip!  Yahoo!  We get a day off the bike and a trip up the river.  With much anticipation we board the jet boat.  It is everything we imagined.  We see a bald eagle in a tree.  Our guide tries to entice it to the water with a fish, but apparently it is full and won’t come down.  We pick up the fish so the eagle won’t believe that it can just wait for us to go away to get it’s treat.  We see elk up on one hill.  We do whirligigs in the water.  Wee!  At one point a bear swims across the water in front of us.  At another we pause to watch a Mom and cubs eating berries.  Much of the river is protected.  That is how it remains a wild river.  Even the animals are protected for a mile on each side.  Since bears are within hunting season we are happy to see that some of them are smart enough to stay near the river.  Only a few people are allowed to float it and fish it and permits are given by lottery.  

 

We stop for lunch at a café that caters to river folks.  We have to hike up a hill to get to it.  We see many lodges along the river.  Some are private and others serve the needs of boaters and hikers.  We pass some homes where the people who live there have to get their food and provisions by jet boats because there are no roads to them. We are not sure we could live that isolated and we would certainly miss our biking.   

 

We see snowy egrets fishing for their dinner.  We see people salmon fishing.  One man holds up his catch for us to admire.  Now there are only 28 miles of the Rogue River that we have not done.  We will have to take a three-day rafting trip to see that portion.  Perhaps some day we will get off the bike long enough to do the float. 

 

After the trip we hike into town.  We find a small Chinese restaurant.  We watch several deer across the street munching on the grass next to a house.  The owner of the restaurant says that they always hang there.  Later we find out that the deer are so tame in the area that you can feed them by hand.  We also find out that a bobcat makes the bushes near our motel its home and that we may see it early in the morning.  It does not make an appearance, however.

 

Today we did 104 jet boat miles. 

 

9-24-2005

 

Today we start early because we need to get to the redwoods.  We know that we are going to have a huge 5-mile climb to our campground, Mill Creek.  We know that it will have some 10% grades on it.  Horrors!  Louie wakes up with a sore throat and aching all over.  He has a cold!  Bec feels as if she is trying to get it, too, but is fighting it.  We decide that we will only go as far as we can and will stop if he gets sicker. 

 

Again we go up and down all day long.  We see a hawk on a rock right next to us.  We go on and we see some otters in the water.  We stop to watch them play.  We ride right next to some deer with no fear!  They don’t even lift their heads.  The scenery is much the same as yesterday – trees, hills, some ocean and then no ocean.  Then on a straight piece of road we see them, the redwoods.  They rise up high in the sky and line the straight flat portion of the road on both sides of us making us feel as if we are riding through a gigantic dark, cool tunnel through the trees.  We ride on in awe of both their size and their age.  But, the biggest of the big are yet to come. 

 

In Crescent city we stop to get our nightly provisions.  We meet Mr. Minimalist.  He is a nice looking 33-year-old man who tells us he spent is 20’s making money and decided to spend his 30’s looking for where he wishes to live.  He heard that you could live for $500 a month in Costa Rica so he is bike touring all the way there.  But his bike is shot!  It has issues even Louie cannot fix.  He is traveling on $100 a week while we struggle to keep it below $100 a day for the two of us.  We are not sure what is going to become of him because he cannot figure out how to fix his bike.  Later we see him walking up the 5-mile hill that we are riding to get to Mill Creek.  We think it is going to take him a long time to get to Costa Rica.  We never see him again so we will never know what became of him. 

 

Louie fusses because he thinks we lost the bike light somewhere, but it turns up inside the tent later that evening.  On the climb up to Mill Creek we pick up firewood along the way and pile it on top of our belongings.  Now we are climbing up 10% grades with 10 pounds of groceries and 15 pounds of firewood added to our load.  It makes our bike and gear feel as if it weighs 500 pounds.  The pavement cracks under our wheels.  Louie is struggling with his sore throat as he breaths deeply for the climb.  The climb is unrelenting, but it is the awesome forest of age-old redwood trees around us that takes our breath away.  Finally in the distance we see the sign for Mill Creek Campground.  Under it is another sign that we cannot read yet.  We get closer and cannot believe our eyes.  It is closed!  Oh no!  There is no place else to stay.  We talk about staying there anyway, but we think it is not a wise decision.  Louie thinks the rangers will roust us and Bec thinks if they don’t that the bears will! We have no choice but to move on. Without stopping we begin to divest ourselves of the 15 pounds of firewood, tossing it here and there alongside the road.

 

We decide to try for our campground in Klamath.  There we hope to spend the night and take a bus tour of the redwoods the next day, the Fun Bus as it is called.  Disappointed and ill, Louie wants to stop at every RV park he sees before Klamath.  Bec urges him on.  “Kamp Klamath is not that far,” she says.  But it feels as if it is 100 miles away to Louie.  She promises that we will stay a few days so he can get over his cold. 

 

Once we get to the cut-off to Kamp Klamath we still have 5 miles to go.  It is getting dark.  Finally we reach the park.  Louie is disappointed because it is not in the redwoods.  But, it is beautiful and located right along a river.  We have hot showers and cook our dinner in the dark.  Louie is having trouble breathing so Bec pulls out her inhaler that she brought just in case she got sick.  Thank goodness it helps.  We hope to do the Fun Bus in the morning. 

 

We rode 83.1 miles and did 4710 feet of climbing.

 

9-25-2005

We find out that there are not enough people to do the Fun Bus.  But, with Louie still under the weather we decide to spend the day at the roadside attraction called, “The Trees of Mystery.”  We hop on the bike and backtrack to the attraction.  We meet up with a group of riders doing a ride for the Lung Association.  They are riding from Seattle to San Francisco in two weeks.  We are taking three weeks to get there from Portland.  It makes us happy that we have time to stop and see things along the way.  We would hate to have missed our dune buggy ride or the River trip.   

 

We have a great time at Trees of Mystery.  We wander through the gift shop where Bec buys a T-shirt.  We take our time on the path reading all the information about all the trees.  The Indians would not come through this portion of the forest because it was too spooky for them because many of the trees are in strange shapes.  We see cathedral trees where the trees grow in a semi-circle.  Many people get married at the cathedral trees in this attraction.  We see a giant tree that got hit by lightening and burned from the inside out.  We see trees that grow out of trees making what they call a chandelier tree.  We see huge trees that fell on the ground with other trees growing out of them.  

 

We get on the sky trail and take a tram to the top so we can look out over the tops of all the redwood trees.  Bec swallows her fear of heights but only after Louie promises not to rock the tram.  At the top we get to look out over the experimental redwood forest that is not experimental anymore.  No more studies are being done there.  We turn around and look out over the Ocean.  We hike back down a trail where we have to hold onto ropes so we don’t slide down the steep hill.  It is a great hike through the trees.  Bec is glad she can do it.  At the bottom, we get back on the tram so we can then ride it both up and down instead of take the trail down. 

 

On the way back to camp we stop to pick up firewood and note all the statues of big bears in Klamath and on the bridge that crosses the Klamath River.  We find out that a flood happened in 1964 that wiped out the town and that it had to be relocated at higher ground.  It also took out the old bridge where they left a monument to it in the form of the entrance to the bridge with these huge bears on each side.  We wonder what the significance is of the bears and think our decision not to stay at the deserted Mill Creek campground was probably a good one.

 

Kamp Klamath, a large private campground, is okay, but feels as if it is a bit past its prime.  The showers have rubber mats and are hot, but they need to be cleaned.  The couple that run it are very nice and try to accommodate us in every way.  They keep Bec’s insulin in the refrigerator for her during the day.  The woman even offers to do a hike with us.  We do appreciate their hospitality.  It is refreshing.  It appears to us as if the woman runs the store and does most of the work around the place while the man fusses over his vehicle and watches TV.  We are there past the season so perhaps during season it is kept up better.  We are developing a deep appreciation for State Parks and small RV Parks that accept tents, both of which are very clean and tidy.   

 

We only rode 17.6 miles, 510 feet of climbing.

 

9-26-2005

 

Today is a gigantic climb out of Klamath.  At times there is very little shoulder.  Trucks come so close that it makes Bec squeal.  Louie calmly asks her to hold it in, because it makes it difficult for him to concentrate on keeping the bike upright.  No sooner does he pose this request than one comes so close that it even makes him holler!  We climb on and on and on dancing on the bike in perpetual slow motion.  We alternate standing, but the bike is so heavy that it is difficult for Louie to stand much.  Thankfully, his cold is better today so he can breath deeply. 

 

Halfway through the climb, we pass an old lady just sitting alongside the road in the middle of nowhere.  Is she real or is she a ghost?  How did she get here?  Bec wants to stop to find out if she is okay, but knows that if we stop there is nothing we can do for her.  Someone in a car will have to help her if she needs help, if she is really there.  Bec watches for her to disappear in her bike mirror but she remains. 

 

Again we go down to meet the Ocean.  We stop at a Redwood interpretive center to find out that Redwoods send out their seeds once a year in very small cones.  99% of the seedlings don’t make it.  We learn that old-growth forests are better because the trees vary in size allowing some light to get to the forest floor to encourage other plants to grow.  We learn that the bark of the redwood protects it from both fire and insects, which is what allows them to get to be so old.  Second growth forests have trees that are all the same size, which drowns out the light at the bottom causing the forest floor to be a dessert.  We notice another couple in bike clothes at the center but don’t get a chance to talk with them as they leave before we do. 

 

After leaving the center we turn a corner and see a herd of elk alongside the road.  We dismount and Louie gets closer to take a picture.  They are as big as horses and certainly not afraid of us.  Bec encourages Louie to hurry up because she thinks they could use their antlers to make short work of Louie if they get tired of him.

 

We are looking for Patrick Point State Park.  We come to the turnoff and continue on to the park.  We make camp and then head off to find a store.  The closest one is several miles down a road that climbs up and down.  After all the climbing we did during the day, it does not feel too bad since we offloaded all our gear at the Park.  We get great views of the ocean and some seals sunning themselves on the rocks.  At the store we buy some Mac and Cheese that Louie thinks will be difficult to cook on our meager cooking equipment.  On the way back we load the bike up with firewood.  We end up with a huge stack that Louie says makes him feel more comfortable because it feels just like when we are toting our gear up and down hills! 

 

Bec feels quite worn out by the climbs today.  Louie says he feels a bit brain dead from concentrating on keeping the bike upright despite the narrow shoulders and big trucks.    We meet a guy at camp who is traveling north with a huge guitar and mega camping equipment all loaded on his small bike.  He is happy as can be.  Bec thinks that if she were to travel with huge guitar it would be traded in for a ukulele soon enough. Latter while Bec cooks up our tuna with mac and cheese we can hear him strumming and singing. 

 

We rode 47.1 miles with 3590 feet of climbing. 

 

9-27-2005

 

Thankfully today is mostly flat. There is lots of traffic, but the shoulder is nice and wide for most of it.  Bec waged a mighty battle against Louie’s cold but is finally succumbing to a sore throat and cough.  We stop in Arcata to get her some cold medication.  Arcata is a bustling town with the local population looking very collegiate.

 

We stop at a coffee house for a break and some hot oatmeal for Bec.  We take our time and read the local paper.  There appears to be a big problem in Arcata with the kids drinking and smoking pot at the “Gazebo”.  The police just bide their time and quite regularly roust them there.  We are not sure where the Gazebo is or what the Gazebo is, but we think that after a while the kids would figure out that the cops are going to bust them there so they should take their party someplace else!   

 

Today we only see two other bike travelers, the couple we saw at the Redwood Interpretive Center.  We have a bit of fog today, but it burns off.   We see lots of snowy egrets in the bay.  We are starting to see many more eucalyptus trees lining the road.  They smell wonderful.  Bec has Louie stop so she can scoop some up to crush between her fingers to help with her cold. 

 

We ride for a long time next to a huge bay.  The Snowy Egrets pick at their food.    In Eureka a pickup full of kids gets impatient with us and throws something at us.  This is our first encounter of road rage on the whole trip.  Other people waving and offering us kindness make up for it.  There is more industry here than in other towns.  We see some log mills that are working and some lumber yards that are empty. 

 

When we arrive at Fortuna early, but Bec is miserable.  Louie finds a motel and puts her to bed.  He finds a laundry and does the wash.  When he comes back he drags her out to a Kentucky Fried Chicken place with an all you can eat buffet.  Bec finally feels a bit better after her rest.

 

We rode 47.6 miles with 1330 feet of climbing. 

 

9-28-2005

 

Today we are going to ride and camp in the Avenue of the Giants.  What an awesome ride!  At one point we stop to take a small hike and encounter another couple on their way back.  They say it is so incredible that they found themselves whispering in reverence to the trees.  We ride slowly so we can enjoy the sight of them.  Bec picks up a brochure at one stop and reads to Louie all the information as we pass each section.  All the groves are named in memorial after different people. 

These are the biggest and oldest trees we have ever seen.  It is quite remarkable.  We are so happy that this section of old growth has been preserved. 

 

As we travel through we come out to little communities along the way.  At one place we stop and buy some homemade blackberry Popsicles that are refreshingly delicious.  A dog begs to go with us, but sadly he must stay.  We stop at a small restaurant just as their fryer burns up!  We have sandwiches anyway. 

 

We find out that there are not many mammals in the forest because there is not much for them to eat.  So the mountain lions and bears stay near the edges where they can find food.  That is good to hear because when we come to our designated campground we find out that it is closed due to septic tank problems.  We back track to an isolated hiker/biker campground we had passed earlier.  There are no showers, but there is a river right next to our campsite – just a short hike down a hill.  This camp turns out to be absolutely the best.  We are nestled smack among the redwoods.  We think we will have the camp to ourselves but the couple from the Interpretive Center shows up.  They are riding from Seattle to San Diego. She is getting tired and wants a day off, but her companion is determined to keep going.  She says they are only doing 30 miles a day.  Another guy shows up and then another woman.  The guy grumbles about the Burlington Campground being closed.  He wanted a hot shower.  

 

We set up camp and take a hike around.  We find a whole bunch of blackberries to have for breakfast.  We fill up a cup we find beside the road.  We are really getting good at foraging for food from the forest, this being our second set of berries for our pancakes.    We are the only campers with firewood, having scoured the area before the other campers arrived.  Bec feels a bit guilty about not inviting people over, but Louie says this crowd looks more like they all want their solitude so unless they approach us, we should leave them in peace. 

 

We rode 33.4 miles and did 1350 feet of climbing. 

 

9-29-2005.

 

We are riding to Leggett today.  Last night was a bit rough.  Louie could not sleep and Bec coughed all night long.  The campsite was not the problem – the colds were. 

We stop at the Burlington Interpretive Center and learn even more about the redwoods.  They have an old RV built out of a redwood tree.  It makes our old RV look fancy and new.  Every town we pass today has a house made out of a tree or a drive-through tree.  It appears to be quite the attraction.  We stop at one of the many roadside redwood gift shops and they are kind enough to give Bec some ice for her insulin.  We have a diet soda and some treats and are on our way. 

 

It is endless ups and downs again today.  We keep going away from the eel river only to come back to it and cross it.  Every time we cross it we plunge down to it and then have to climb back up over another hill.  We are still in the redwoods, passing grove after grove.  All the bridges are named in memory of people just like the redwood groves. 

 

Part way up one climb we pass one of the fellas that was in the campground last night.  He says as we pass, “It’s relentless, isn’t it!”  He is sitting on a concrete guardrail eating a bagel.  He has bowed legs, is slightly bent over, and is quite thin.  He must have been riding his bike for a very long time.  We keep climbing past him all the while looking down at the eel river falling away from us below.    

 

On one of the climbs we pass an old woman walking along the road.  It is the same one who we passed a few days before sitting alongside the road!  She cannot be real.  How did she get here?  Again we climb on only to plunge back down once more. Big trucks bear down on us.  The only place it bothers us is where the road is so narrow that we have no choice but to pull off the road to let them by.  We try to hug the white line and they try to hug the yellow line but there is only so much room to go around.  It is easier for us to give way, so we do.  It is difficult for both the truckers and us. 

 

We come out to a small town and see some of the very same truckers alongside the road.  Some are standing on the edge between two rigs.  As we pass them, Louie leans over and says, “BAA BAA BAA BUMMM!” just like the trucks sound as they roar past us.  The truckers jump and then burst into laughter realizing what it is all about.  Later they pass us and give us a hearty wave! We get lots of friendly honks and encouragement from not only the truckers but from others as we climb and climb the day away. 

 

We come across some Wild Turkey, not the kind you drink, but the kind who wanders about in fields.  They have little chicks following them around.  We pass many redwood gift shops with redwood sculptures of all kinds set out front. 

 

At Leggett we are hoping to find a motel, but the only motel is 2 miles out of town – straight up.  We stop at the town pizza hall and load up for the final climb of the day.  The two miles feel like 50, but eventually we get to Stonegate Villas.  They are wonderful.  It is run by a couple that bought it all run down.  They tell us it took two years to just get it into shape enough to rent two rooms.  It is so cute with a central courtyard complete with picnic tables, trees, cats and bluebirds.  It is very clean.  You can reach them at Stonegate Villas, PO Box 239, Leggett, Ca. 95585 if you ever wish to stay there.  The woman even does our laundry for us.  We have to force her to take a $5.00 bribe for the chore. 

 

Tomorrow we will cut off highway 101 and begin our real climbing on highway 1. 

 

We rode 52.1 miles with 3510 feet of climbing

 

9-30-2005

 

This morning we decide to stop at one of those drive-through trees.  A rabbit with huge ears and a gentleman who wants to visit Portland join us.  The rabbit just wants to go on his way but the gentleman wants to talk to us at length about Oregon because he is going to visit there.  We don’t mind because we know that the morning will involve many difficult climbs.  He takes our picture and we take his then we really have to go.

 

We climb all morning long, sometimes trudging up 10% grades only to tumble down and climb back up again.  We do enjoy the first dive because for once the trip down the hill is twice as long as the original climb up the hill, but then we had to climb back up half of the altitude that we just rolled down.  Bec begins to call off each climb, “900 more feet, 800 more feet, 700 more feet.”  It is the only thing she can do.  The traffic is thankfully light. 

 

We stop at a small oasis carved out of the trees by the Mendicino Lumber Company.  They have information on signs telling us that they are trying their best to manage the forests as a renewable resource.  The only harvest 2% of the trees while noting that the forest regenerates at a 3% rate.  They do their best to conserve old growth.  We share our lunch with some Stellar Jays, pick up our trash and somebody else’s and continue our quest. 

 

When we finally fall back down to the Ocean, we are so happy to see the waves crashing on the rocks.  Just a few moments before we were deep in the redwoods.  The traffic changes from light to heavy.  Now we are getting lots of big log trucks.  Where are they coming from?  They were not on the road we were just on, but yet they are coming from that direction.  Bec is expecting flat roads or at least rolling hills along the coast, but the climbs do not relent.  A couple of times we have pull off the road to let the huge trucks barrel by because the road is so narrow and winding.  Bec is struggling with the climbs again today.  Louie talks with her to help her pass the time.   

 

We stop for coffee and treats and just sit for a while to let our legs rest and give Bec time to recover.  We decide we are going to get a motel again tonight instead of camp because the fog is beginning to roll in.  We arrive at Fort Bragg and take the first one we can find. 

 

Bec wants spaghetti.  None can be found so tonight we get Nachos instead.  Bec is too tired to fuss much.  The bed is soft and the room is warm.  The hot shower is delicious. 

 

We rode 45.7 miles with 3710 feet of climbing.

 

10-1- 2005

 

We start out in the fog this morning.  It is such a wet fog that our bike computer quits working.  We can only guess how far and how high we are going.  The cold Bec has and the light dinner catch up with her and she bonks.  We have no choice but to push on.  The fog makes it hard to see the climbs that are coming.  Only by seeing the inclinometer reading can we tell how steep they are.  We go up one 20% climb that is pure torture only to roll down and then have to do it again at a 10% grade.  The road looks level to us in the fog but the inclinometer says 6% or 10%. 

 

A brown and white speckled hawk lifts himself up from his roost on a post and flies alongside us for a while.  A deer hiding behind a small tree beside the road lifts his head to watch us go by.    A whole group of turkey vultures no more than 3 feet away sit on a fence drooling over us, just waiting for us to fall over.  Bec is ready to throw herself down and let them feast on her poor tired body, but Louie continues forward.  He is a champ today, gently coaxing and encouraging her on.  He is patient with her as she fusses and tries to get comfortable on the bike.  He is earning mega relationship points today!

 

We stop for a rest at a small museum and learn that the area was once covered in redwoods but they got all logged out.  They would take them down to the Ocean and ship them out, but many of the ships sunk.  We look around later as we ride and see fields and cows.  Not so much as a stump remains. We wonder why no one bothers to plant the trees back in some of the empty fields.   

 

We arrive at Guallala only to find that the motel will cost $250.00.  We ask around and discover that we can stay at the Guallala Hotel for $65.00 but the bathroom is down the hall.  We opt to share the bathroom and get the room.  The Hotel was built in the early 1900.  It reminds us of one place we stayed on our New Zealand trip.  It is well kept up, but it is old and funky.  They have us put our bike in a back storage area.  The guy who is supposed to wake up and give it back to us is drinking at the bar.  We think he probably will have some trouble remembering. 

 

Bec still wants spaghetti.  She makes Louie walk all over town looking for it, but none is found.  She needs some good old Italian food to put the glycogen back in her legs.  We finally settle on dinner and eat practically everything in sight, but it is not spaghetti.

 

We cannot figure out what is the deal with this town.  Everything is very expensive here.  There are lots of people walking about.  It appears to be a resort town of some sort. 

 

 We rode what we think is 62 miles with what we think is 3500 feet of climbing. 

 

10-2-2005

 

Wonders – the bike computers are working again.  It must have been moisture in the wires. 

 

Sure enough, the guy who is supposed to give us back our bike is nowhere to be found.  Louie wanders about for a while and then dials a number on the desk only to get someone in Los Angeles.  Eventually the guy shows up, but he looks terrible – way too much party for that one. 

 

Today is nothing like yesterday.  It is warm from the start with a great tail wind.  Most of the traffic is heading the other way.  We get great views of the Ocean.  We see one spot where a bunch of seals and pelicans are hanging together.  We think it is because they both have fish breath! 

 

Our back tire is beginning to cause the bike to bump along.  Sure enough the sidewall is going.  Thank goodness we have a spare.  We keep the bad tire anyway because we know that a bumpy tire is better than no tire if our spare goes too.  The Bike is beginning to make all kinds of other noises.  In desperation, Louie even sends a post card to Jonathan at Gateway Bicycles lamenting about how tired the bike is.  Louie stops and tightens everything, but nothing helps.  It continues to groan.  

 

Gratefully Bec is better today even if the bike is not.  The climbs feel much easier.  We have no 20% grades but do have a few 15% ones. We are traveling next to brown hills on one side and the ocean on the other.  We are on narrow roads that hang off a bluff.  At one wayside we stop and cook the last of the MREs that Louie’s sister, Deborah, gave him for his birthday.  It is nice to have a hot meal in the middle of the day.  We watch the waves crash on the rocks and the seals lying in the sun while we eat. 

 

We end up staying at a county park south of Bodega.  The wind is blowing fiercely. There we meet a gentleman from Germany.  He tells us that we should visit Germany as they have many bikeways and they like Americans. Louie made sure when he bought provisions earlier, that he got Bec her much desired spagetti. Tonight he makes it for her on our camp stove. Bec is much happier now. 

 

We rode 39.2 miles and did 3930 feet of climbing

 

10-3-2005

 

We start the day with birds and bunnies joining us for breakfast.  The air is warmer than it was last night.  We cook our pancakes and eat in shifts due to our meager cooking equipment.  The coffee warms our stomachs. 

 

The scenery today is all brown hills and scrubby trees.  As is usual, we are going up and down with 10% climbs being the usual, but they are thankfully short, at least at first.  Then we pop out to a bit of heaven – a flat road along this bay.  The wind is at our backs.  The sky is blue and the water sparkles next to us.  We can hardly believe how wonderful this is.  We ride along in joy.  Then we look up and see cars climbing a mountain on a road that looks to us as if it is straight up.  Oh no!  We were so happy. 

 

We start the climb.  It is 10 then 15 and finally the dreaded 20% grade.  Why did they build these things?  Up over the top we go and then we dive down the other side only to climb back up again.  One would think that we would be used to this by now.  But we get to do this again and again.  The ocean to our right is down the cliff.  The road clings to the edge of the hill.  We push and we push.  People on motorcycles give us the thumbs up. “You go”, says a guy in a car.

 

Finally, we look down, across the water to the city, our first sighting of San Francisco.  Traffic picks up as we plunge one last time down into Sausalito.  We are exhausted, but happy.  We decide to stay here rather than try for Downtown.  We celebrate with a nice Italian Dinner that totally blows our budget.

 

We rode 59.8 miles with 5130 feet of climbing

 

10-4-2005

 

Today we take a ferry into San Francisco, drop off our gear at the hotel and proceed to ride the bike all over.  We cross the Golden Gate Bridge, ride through the Presidio, ride through golden gate park, and then visit Haight Ashbury.  It feels much easier to ride the bike without all the gear.  The hills in San Francisco are easy compared to what we have been doing! 

 

We have some issues trying to follow the bike routes because San Francisco has this numbering system for them and we do not have the Rosetta Stone.  It reinforces the need for good signage for cyclists.  Bec is going to have to work more on that with her bike committees.  We observe a sharrow at work.  It is an arrow with a bike in it painted on the road that is designed to help motorists and cyclists share the road.  

 

Today we ride 23 miles with 1500 feet of climbing. 

 

All total 819.6 miles with 47,530 feet of climbing! 

 

The rest of our vacation is spent touring San Francisco by foot, cable car, and Bart as well as doing some tours of the Muir Redwoods and Yosemite National Park.  It all is good. 

 

This vacation has been quite the challenge especially for Bec, but the views and the scenery were well worth the effort.

 

By the way, the neighborhood raccoon found out we were not home and helped himself to all our pond fish.  He figured out how to slide under the cover.  That rascal!

 

Becky and Louie