The Adventures of Terri and Greg

g vRoom and his looney tunes

2012-02-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

An eclectic mix of original tunes from country to swing with a touch of social commentary

Is this the end. Or, a new beginning

2010-11-05T15:24:00.000-06:00

10/14-10/29/10

This is also the brand of our bike

It’s done, over, fin‘.

We are now in San Diego!

It’s hard to describe how it feels to be done after 3 months. It’s like, this rhythm, a beat that you develop, that has now been interrupted. I think that for the both of us we feel a little bit lost, and you cant help but feel a little melancholy.

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Touring is a great way to detox the mind and soul. In the course of a day, every day, you have only 3 things to deal with. Food, shelter, and getting from here to there. These are the basic instincts that have guided us and all other creatures for ------well, ever. At first it’s hard. It’s like you feel that you are supposed to be doing more. You are still guided by the clock. Got to get up and on the road in a timely manner. Get 20 miles in by noon. Camp by 3:00! Quick, set up camp, cook dinner, bed by 9:00 and be on the road by 9:00 the next morn. We live by the clock and the calendar, so we can stick to our schedules, be on time; Get er done!!!

The studios Mr hills

For me I’d say that it took at least a 4 to 6 weeks to let all that go. The first thing that went was the schedule, with the realization that you are getting there. But, the schedule kinda goes with the calendar, cause, before to long, you begin to loose track of what the date is. Then, what day of the week it is. It no longer matters. What time is it? It’s day time. Where you goin to day? Where ever we get to. Then……you begin to loose track of where you’ve been. Not so much where you’ve been cause that runs through your mind like a favorite movie. But, it’s the names of the places, and the time line of when you were there that becomes fuzzy. That’s when you know….. That’s when you know you’re in the rhythm. You’ve been overcome by the ebb and flow. The tide. Natures flow.

tele mon! made from the wires of a duvell beer top

Another aspect of the detox is the utter removal of all that is----Media! No radio, papers, t.v., No connection what so ever to what we now consider reality. Reality T.V. Are you kidin me! We live and die by this stuff. Our moods swing according to what the politics of the hour is. Two weeks later. It’s the same old thing, 3 months later it’s still the same old………..Same old,……..Same.!!!!!!!

As that goes, so does the noise. It seems were addicted to the noise. It’s like we use it to distract us from the noise in our heads. But, after not having the distraction, the noise, the noise in your head, it empties out. It becomes quiet. Meditation. Rolling meditation. The road.

Not just us. All the long haul riders that we spoke to seemed to be sharing the same experience. That disconnect to time.

What time is it?? Time to ride. Time to eat. Always time to eat. Time to sleep….A lot!!

The collage crew and hosts in SLO

Looking back, for me, the ride was over at San Simeon, the end of the Big Sur section of Highway one. From there north, all the way to Canada, the road and all of it’s towns, maintain a rural character. Because of the geology and the nature of the road it maintains a sense of adventure. But after San Simeon the hills are behind you. That winding, twisting, climbing,---------all that is fun on the one. Is gone. The road becomes flat, straight and easy, and with that; takes on an urban nature. Busier, more lanes. More people. More noise. The one joins the 101 and is no longer all that much fun.

For Mr. Flynn

We strolled into San Luis Obispo and really enjoyed that town. Had a Salida feel if you will. I played some Guitar on the street. Was well received, as Terri cruised the Thrifts and Consignment stores. Santa Barbara was cool too but had too much of that; Well, Ken and Barbie feel. If you will. Like really expensive sunglasses, if you catch my drift.

We’re over the campground scene now. Too many professional bums . So we’re riding from cheap motel to cheap motel.

reflections of the past

Now were in Ventura. We also like this town. A little more blue collar. More Real, for whatever that’s worth. There is a cool downtown to this place with a soul (we’re always looking for the soul!) and of course a brewery,they have one and we go! The Anacapa Brewery (this is for one of the islands off the coast that you can boat to). We decide to stay an extra day and enjoy. Some good folks invite us to their home We meet their Family (Tim, Carol, Paul and Rebecca). They cook us dinner and give us a bed. Super nice of them. Thanks. Thanks a lot. We really, really appreciate it. Thanks Carol for the extra snacks you stuck in our pack!

santa barbera mision

We decide that riding thru Los Angeles does not appeal to us in the least!!…it’s a madhouse of cars, people, noise that becomes mentally draining just thinking about it!…200 miles of it…..we come to the conclusion that renting a car and getting ourselves to our destination to relax at the beach sounds like a way better plan…..soooo 3 months and 2000 miles later here we are in San Diego!! it’s a sad/sweet ending to our $%^&ing awesome, spectacular, groovy trip! WooooHooooo!! Yeeeeeeeaaaahhhhh!!! Heres to my strong, amazing “captain of the MULE”, husband & best friend

santa barbera

And to the “MULE“ an extraordinary machine, a beast, a rocketship ! And heres to “simple”, “slow” & savoring the moments on a bike…. We would of course highly recommend this trip to everyone who loves to ride! If ever the chance don’t even hesitate…just jump on and go!

San Diego is a favorite place of ours….as we get to visit son Andy and family (wife Misty, grandkids Alicia, Lily and Drew)…and do a little sailing!

our hosts in ventura. thanks again!

We like to sail. Like cycling, it’s pure, simple, pleasure. With a little adrenaline thrown in for good measure. This place, Seaforth boat rentals sits at the mouth of Mission bay and they’ll rent you a small boat with out any kind of license. They ask if you know how and when the last time was you sailed. I lie. They give me a test. I probably fail it but they want my money so----We sailed! And once again Terri and I both have shit eat’in grins. She’s a natural. Sailor that is.

The adventure?? It’s not over. It never is. It begins with life and ends with death. Maybe??? So I think that I/we will continue to blog. We have lots to blog about. What it’s like and the adventure that comes with living off grid at the end of a road that leads to nowhere, making soap, building straw bale. So stay tuned. Will keep you informed. In the mean time it’s been fun and we’ve enjoyed your feedback and support.

Peace out, and Kirk out, And beam me up Scotty, and This does’nt look like Kansas any more. Now does it, and, thank god.

G&T

Grandson Drew and daddy

waz up

Grand Doughter Lilly

Wheels are made for rollin, mules are made to pack.

2010-10-19T10:36:00.000-06:00

10/4 - 10/14/10

Terri and Gregs grooviness factor is a 4-5.…we are now up to 1,815 miles on the Mule!

Coming to you today from San Luis Obispo…Jim “Hills” pad with roomates Dave, Matt and Steve! Taking a few

Slide Ranch

Rest days here. Seems like a pretty nice spot!

Back in San Francisco….Greg and I are dropped off at the ferry by Ashley to explore the city for a few days!!

Getting off the ferry at Market St in San Francisco is amazing in itself. We head down into the financial district on foot

To check into our hotel on 7th & Folsum streets. It is a borage of visual stimuli!! To say the least….old buildings with beautiful architecture, buses, old street cars, cable cars, people going every which way on foot and by bicycle…. we check into our hotel (which by the way we booked online for $58 a nite!) its very nice, clean and convenient! Then head over to Chinatown…for some dinner….and we get to listen to some Chinese folks playing instruments and singing! Chinese Buskers if you will!!

While in this fascinating city we also visit the Haight Street neighborhood which of course is like stepping back into the 1960’s….hippy grooviness abound! Very cool vintage shops, cafes, thrift stores, some very pretty old Victorian homes and youngsters floating around trying to capture their own 1960’s groove….we catch some very good street musicians playing their stuff,too…it’s a fun part of the city for sure!

Statue with bike messangers awaiting a job

We jump on an old street car that takes us out to North Beach and Fishermans Wharf. North Beach is the Little Italy of San Francisco….yummy restaurants (we have dinner in one)….and visit the” City Lights” bookstore, an old beatnik haunt from the 50’s & 60’s ! We have a Belgian beer at “Jacks 85 Beers” in one of the old Cannery Row buildings….YUM! Jacks has been there since 1932.

Next day we visit the Mission District….full of cool murals…the Dolores Mission (very pretty) which is suppose to be the oldest bldg in the city! And have lunch at the Dolores Park Café….then hop on a cable car (these things are Too fun!…Rice a Roni…the San Francisco treat!) a popular song/commerical from childhood!! Heehee…and a bus to head over to the marina and back to the North Beach section….the marina sports a boardwalk…and some fishing/pleasure craft to drool over…..

last known place my father was alive

The beautiful thing about these big cities is the different neighborhoods with completely different flavors, foods, people! And how small family businesses still flourish and are supported. San Francisco was a treat! We didn’t even come close to seeing everything…..were glad we got to experience what we did and hope to be back again some day!

Next morning we say goodbye to Ashley (she drives us to the park n ride lot) and Slide Ranch…thanks to everyone there for sharing their space in such a beautiful spot! We hop on the Mule for a scenic ride over the Golden Gate….it’s a gorgeous morning….

The ride through San Fran went quite smoothly, much easier than expected. The route winds and wends its way through the beautiful and expensive west shore neighbor hoods. Not much traffic and good riding untill….Eventually we got spit out onto the One. And the One coming out of San Fran is more like a highway. Good shoulders but busy. In fact the One doesn’t really take on its coastal [fun on the one] personality untill you approach half moon bay. From that point forward to San Luis Obispo the One becomes fun..Again.-----cause after all it’s all about Fun on the One. Cruising with the top down, hair to the wind, your baby right next to you. Oh yea, California dreamin baby, with the waves crashing the shore and a north west wind pushin you on down the road. Oh yea baby, fun on the one. Climb a hill to a vista, take a picture, race down the hill. Youre in the big gear now, hair pin turns, 20 miles per hour , you take it at 30. Commit to the turn and the bike pops out of the turn like a well arched ski. Into the the next turn. You’ve taken over the whole road now cause even the sports cars can’t corner like this weighted down groove machine. Youre approaching sea leval, last corner. Take it hard and fast. Bang a right with all the speed you can carry cause ------you got another hill to climb, with another view and a pullout with a picture. That’s what I’m talkin about. That is fun on the One Baby!!!!

Monteray----Cute, cool, it had a nice serene feel to it. The first of the mission towns. Kinda feel s like Fante Se’ cept on the ocean. That day was a short day. Time to linger on the Presidio, and board walk. Find some high octane Belgian brews. Aw, but now its time to go to camp. The sun is getting low! Camp…..Vet memorial park. Right in what seems to be , according to the map and directions, right in the heart of Monteray. Not!! At least not without riding up a super steep. I mean sustained %10 at least, for 2 miles, grade. Possibly the steepest of the entire ride; From here forward to be known as Buzz Kill Hill!!! And that’s exactly what it did!!

The hiker biker sights are getting crowded now. The campsites are fewer and farther between and the hiker bikers are beginning to bunch up. The hikers, by the way, tend to be transients. Startin to get a little seedy! You’re sharing the pikinic table boo boo, with a guy: So what do you do? Well, I used to own property round here, but now I’m sort of try’in to simplify. Later------Well actually I just got out of prison on a gun runnin charge. So I just sort of move from campsight to camp sight……Oh. that’s nice!???!

From Montery to San Luis Obispo [ SLO] Has some of the vintage fun on the one riding through the region known as Big Sur. Cut out of the cliffs, Overlooking and Constantly giving into the sea. Steep climbs, fast Descents, great corners, no shoulder, moderate traffic due to the time of year. Invigorating. It takes three days to ride through this section. On the first day the weather is fine. Inspirational views. The next day; The marine layer hugs to the water like a down blanket and we are like an airplane flying over and looking down on the clouds. Its as if the ocean is frozen in time. The rollers suspended in slow motion as far as you can see. The waves breaking on the rocks below are not breaking at all. They are crawling up the side of the cliffs . Fingers of mist reaching for the road. Reaching for you. As if to grab you by the ankles and pull you in. Surreal; to say the least.

The Ocean and San Andreas Fault both conspire to eat the one, to swallow it, to turn it into what it once was. A steep cliff diving into the ocean. It doesn’t really belong there and doesn’t really want to be there. As a result it is constantly under construction. Road Construction is a Cyclists friend. Holding the traffic back. Allowing us to have the road to ourselves in 20 minute intervals.

On day three we wake up at a campground that sits right on a grassy knoll over looking the ocean, nestled between it and the road. The camp ground was closed. Gated shut. We and two other cyclist poach it. It is beutifull. Perhaps one of the nicest campgrounds on the whole ride. But; we are the only fodder for the coons. I spend the night warding them off. Trying to keep them from hauling our bags into the poison oak brush. Never to be seen again. The only thing a coon respects is having something thrown at them. I collect my rocks. I throw my rocks. But to no avail. We are the only campers there. There is no one else to raid. The battle carries on thru the night. No one wins!!

Verina, 61. and Helmut 73, Inspirations.

On day three the marine layer is now fog. There is no view. Just a windy road. Hard. Fast. Still fun. Just no pictures.

Big Sur is behind us now. The last of the winding, cliffy, classic coastal riding. We are now in southern Cal. Flatter roads, less climbing, More beaches, more transients. The ride is winding down. 7 days of riding before San Diego.

I will miss the coastal riding. I will miss----Fun on the One! It is hard riding. Every day up and down, up and down. Running through the gears. The climbs steep. The descents too short to get a break. 2-3000 Vert. a day. Every day. But---- It is----- FUN ON THE ONE!!!

elephant seals. 2 bulls are fighting center left.

I think we took a wrong turn.......Africa???

Hi Mom!!!!

Crescent City to Slide Ranch. A tale of Wow!

2010-10-03T20:06:00.000-06:00

To Steve. Here you go. I’m glad we can help. And yes, the conversation we had about the derailer was right on, and with some good old fashion anglo engineering were up and runnin as smooth as a tandem could be. Knock on wood.

To anonymous y. Yea.

Hello café Dawn. Glad your enjoying the season. If you guys need an overnight escape. Our place is yours.

9/18-10/3/10 Terri and Gregs grooviness factor is a 5! Top mph on the Mule was 46! 1500 miles logged!

Hello.

Today we are writing to you from Slide Ranch. Slide Ranch is located on the Marin Headlands about 15 miles north of San Francisco’s Golden gate Bridge. The ranch overlooks the pacific ocean and is right underneath Hiway one. The section that is cut right out of the cliffs and any wrong move could send you into the drink. It is called Slide ranch because like most of Northern California it is measurably sliding into the Ocean. This place once belonged to the Greatful Dead back in the 60’s and not much has changed as far as the buildings are concerned. Now and for the past 40 years this place functions as an educational retreat for youth and family’s focusing on farming goats and making milk. Yum.

We are here visiting Ashley, a friend from Salida who is working as an intern here.

This place is serene and very peaceful and has been an excellent stop over to rest our travel weary bones.

Thanks Slide Ranch for all the Hospitality!! It’s been more than Generous.

We left Crescent City after the Rains. It was a beautiful day and as we rode up into the Crescent hills the fog lifted and what was exposed was, well, …. To ride and walk and be amongst the old growth Red Woods was, for me, like goin to church. The Church.! It felt like to be amongst them was an honor but more importantly a privelidge! And not to be taken for granted, although they have been. Of what I’ve seen of the North Coast Red Woods I would say that the Crescent Hills grove was the most,….well, the most. And if you ever went to visit those woods I would highly recommend staying a few days at Elk Prarie Campground.!-----Spectacular!!

Leaving Elk Prarie , riding down the 101 we came across an elk herd. Probably 30 head of which half might have been young spike bulls. Another 3 or 4 were 3 to 4 point bulls. But, amongst them was “The Man” Obviously it is the season, and the Man was culling out the lesser bulls and trying to chase them out of the herd. Wow! What a sight. Totally Wild Kingdom. But then we realized that he might want to cull us out. So we waited till he was occupied and then quickly exited.

That day brought us into the “Triangle”, Humboldt County, The firewood Capitol of the world….Sic. Starting with the college town of Arcata, then Eureka, and ending about 60 miles south in the town of Garberville the prominent smell and vibe was “Skunk Weed” and it felt very Wild West and it seemed that the people in this region were “Tweaked” to say the least. Despite the very cool ride through the avenue of the giants we were quite relieved to be out of that part of the country and back on the coast. And finally on the 1. Highway 1 that is.

Highway 1 is of course nothing but beautiful!! Winding road that hugs the cliffs all along that big pacific coast!! SWEETNESS!!we wind our way first to Ft Bragg where we stop for a meal/beer at the North Coast Brewing Co…(a pretty big operation…..we’ve rated this place our favorite brewery so far!! Greg partook in the “Pranqster” and I the “Merle”….both Belgian brewed…and so yummy!!!very much a treat! From here we ride just past Mendocino (2 miles) to Van Damm Campground. We get here late in the nite after about 60 miles of riding! We decide the next morning to do a layover here and go into Mendocino….a quaint, small town (1000 pop) but in a gorgeous spot! WOW!! The Mendocino Headlands are amazing to say the least…these rocky heads jet out into the ocean along with big volcanic rocks that stick up with huge surf coming in crashing into the rocks!!! Quite the sight to behold!! Lots going on….sort of like watching a huge washing machine doing its thing! We eat fettucine w/clams at the Mendocino Café & enjoy visiting a very cool music store (which includes the envy of some jug bands I’m sure!!….a hollowed out guitar replaced with believe it or not a real “bed pan” for resonation AND a toilet plunger as part of the bridge….Greg happily plays and gets some good sound to come out of this homemade job! We also get to hear stories from some abalone fisherman back at the campground who are camped out right next to us!! This cute 75 year old guy tells of some interesting tales diving for these delectable treats!! And how an abalone fisherman can only dive with snorkles ….no diving equipment and they can only score 24 abalones in one season….he gives us 2 of his shells (they are beautiful!! ) we share one with Ashley our host at Slide Ranch and get to take the other one home…

Van damm Campground is where we meet up with a longtime friend of Gregs from Lake Tahoe…Roger….who comes to camp and ride with us for a few days!! He also cooks up some fancy breakfasts in the mornings…what a treat!….our visit with Roger is fun and fast…it was really good to see him!!! Thanks for the breakfasts, Rog and for sharing a few days of riding with us….these days of camping and riding from Van Damm to Gualala to Bodega Dunes…. takes us thru what looks like everything from wine country (different sort of vegetation) to big dry bluffs/cliffs that fall into the ocean with windy narrow fast descents thru switchbacks and then climbs up again! Wowser!

WE say good bye to Roger and hello to Ashley in Tomales, CA about 35 miles north of Slide Ranch (right near Muir Beach)…..we are trying to make it to the ranch by 9/30 to volunteer at a fundraising music festival there!! The music consists of David Grisman and his band!! And a few musician/singers that live at the ranch!! A small venue with about 200 people! What a fun time…great food….great music AND Greg actually gets to talk to David Grisman who he has been a fan of for about 30 years!!! Pretty special….

This weekend is actually the 10th anniversary of the Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco!! it’s a free 3 day event that we also got to go to all day on Saturday!! Geez….can it get any better than this!! Heehee!! Our first time to San Francisco ….and we’re hanging out at a music festival in Golden Gate Park…some of the music we got to listen to included Joan Baez, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, the Carolina Chocolate Drops (a very unique African/american string band!!…very cool sound) and the Magnolia Sisters!! A sweet cajun band from Louisiana! Hope you got our message Mark!!…those were just a few that were part of the happening!…Hanging out with Jim and Ashley has been great fun!….good to see them both again and in such a special place! Spending a few more days here (we must!) and heading into the city of San Francisco to see the sights….

Also I want to send out a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! To my BeAuTiFuL SISTER AIMEE (oct 4th) yeeeeeaaahhhh!!!! Wish I was there to blow out those candles and help you eat that CAKE!!! Mmmmmmm……grosses bises, sis

crescent city

dont mess with the man

tunin the mule

california coast

mendocino headlands. wow.

our feelings exactly!
couldnt say it any better

our man 'roge'

the david grisman quintet
very intimate.

those are whale bones!
Jim and Ashley.
nice to see ya.

Crescent City to Slide Ranch. Really really cool.

2010-10-03T19:06:00.000-06:00

Florence Or. to Crescent City Ca. San Diego or Bust??

2010-09-19T12:07:00.000-06:00

Winchester Bay Light House.
as you can tell, fog is a major theme along the
Oregon Coast.

9/13-9/18

Yo Anonymous Y. No they don’t allow camping on the beach no mo, but, there were cool driftwood shanties in the works and we hiked that coast at dusk during the high tide and it was a thrilling adventure to be sure.

So here we are in a Motel in Crescent City Ca. The northern most town in California, riding out a 3 day rain storm.

The rain is warm. But not like the mist we had encountered earlier. This is rain. The thing about riding the pacific coast is; that in nice weather the prominent wind comes from the north west so, on nice days the wind is at your back. Perfect! But, on shitty days----the wind comes from the south. So, not only are you riding in rain but the wind is in your face. No Bueno!!

Typical Oregon Coast!

We are and have been on bicycle time now. Bicycle time is, well, a lot like Wells Gulch time. It’s a natural time. Like you lose track of not just the time of day. You know it’s day time and that you have to get from point A to point B, eat, set up camp ideally in the daylight. But, you also lose track of the day of week, or where you were yesterday or two days ago. I Mean it just all rolls into one. One hazy, almost dream like state. [Perhaps, too much fire wood.]

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For a while, in the early part of the trip I could maintain a good meditative state. No thoughts, just riding. Then it became the breath. Focus on the breath. Then counting. I found myself counting. Not consciously. Just, you know like in the middle of a climb or something I would find my self on 54,55,56 and so on. Then later---22,23,24. I couldn’t break the habit. If I thought about it, it would start to drive me crazy! Now I moved into songs!! It might be the same song for the entire day, though I have found that I can change tunes if I think about it. Songs like----well hell. Now I cant think of any!! But for a hard head wind kind of day----------- Led Zeppelin does fine.!.! The worst is when you start looking at the mileage meter and the time. You mean we’ve only gone 5 miles in an hour!! This state of mind definitely is not good. To remedy; Simple move the cateye as its called around to the bottom of the stem so now it still works but you cant see it. I highly recommend this!

Coquille Light House near Bandon.

Now the wind is really howlin out there directly from the south. There is no way in hell were goin out there to ride today! You would have to be crazy, and my guess is there are plenty of crazies out there. Power to them!! No way jose‘. Not me. I’m sittin here warm, dry and comfy and I aint gonna do nothing to upset that. Cept go out to the Laundromat and do what you do at those places.

By the way Phil. As we all know coffee is very popular here in the Great North West. However; untill arriving in Crescent City we had not seen a Starbucks since leaving Seattle. POWER TO THE PEOPLE! In Seattle there was one on every corner. Like you couldn’t find an independent anywhere. But outside of Seattle. Nothin but independent Coffee Shops.!

Rogue River

Crescent City, like a lot of places scattered throughout the west seems like it was poised, Not quite there, but poised to boom, to become one of those coool places. And then---the recesion. Maybe it’s the weather and the fact that summer tourism is over, or my mood. But this place feels like it is on the verge of a ghost town. Reminds me of the first time I came to Salida in the early 80’s. it was weird. I mean there were alll these nice parks, and houses, and lawns, but the whole time I was there, walked all over town, didn’t see a soul. Not a dog bark. Nothin!! Downtown was all boarded up. Weird. I remember it giving me an eerie feeling. Sort of like the feeling I’m experiencing now.

After this past weeks riding we are at about 1,182 miles logged…with a grooviness factor of 4-5!!! The Oregon

Coastline is just “SPECTACULAR”. Seeing it from a bike seat is pretty” rad”…our favorite word as of late!

To re-cap some of our recent happenings I’ll start with the simple enjoyment of kite flying!!…oh to feel like a kid again

Brookings.

This is certainly one of those things to do…and what a sweet place to do it in but the sand dunes! With some nice wind the kite took off with a mind of its own…and with Greg or I at the controls instantly putting smiles on our faces! And bringing us to the conclusion that we’ll need 2 kites instead of 1! Good times…and we’re on the lookout for another kite shop!

Our derailleur hangar for the Mule finally showed up Monday morning!! YiPPee!! We packed up our camp and headed for the Florence bike shop. They installed the new hangar and we were on our way!!! Only to discover something was still not right….however, we make it to North Bend/Coos Bay which is about 45 miles down the road and stumble upon Moes Bike shop (another cool family owned for many years shop) good guys, great place and they help make it right. Thanks Moes!

Yup!

So we go to North Bend to Bandon to Gold Beach to Brookings…peddling our way down the coast! Some of the towns are small, quaint with cute little harbors/light houses and all are in nothing less than beautiful settings. We also get to ride over some beautiful old bridges along the way which can be narrow and scary but very cool! We run into some rain which at the onset is okay…then when you’re riding for 4,5,6 hours in it, it becomes not okay…and you’re looking for the nearest Laundromat or cheap hotel!! The interesting thing about riding in the rain is when you’re going up hills and sweating…your lovely rain gear is of course “water proof” which means it doesn’t breathe because its needs to keep you dry from the rain however, then you’re not only wet on the outside BUT wet on the inside from sweating!! So after the 4,5,6 hours of riding you’re soaked to the bone from rain AND sweat!! HeLLO! I think I need a cold beer while I watch the dryer go round and round….heehee

Now about some “rascally RACCOONS”!! I think the grandkids will like this part of the blog! Ha!…we have some interesting encounters with raccoons in a few of the campgrounds lately….didn’t even think about it…had our food all buttoned up in the pannier (of course we all know you should NOT keep food in the tent for fear of bears!) on the bike away from the tent….I get up for a middle of the night pee, get out of the tent to hear all this commotion in the bushes next to our tent…okay…is there a person in there?? No I don’t think so….theres more moving around in the bushes….crap!? What the heck is it?? Then I hear these animal noises…like one animal is fighting with another!…geez, I just want to pee….but now I’m afraid….alright the noises are moving away…I do my thing and hurry back into the tent!! Daylight comes….then we discover….oh great!! Our snickers bars are gone…the triscuit crackers are gone…the bread is gone….the salami is gone…those little @#$%^^&!!!…we also find they tried to make away with one of my flipflops! (after chewing all around the edges of it!!) not sure why the flipflop tasted so good!…..they are sneaky little devils…very stealth and quiet,too! They were able to slip their little paws right into the pannier without even undoing any of it!….okay…we’ll have to be more careful! Encounter #2.…another campground…..we think we have everything secured….hop in the tent to sleep….this time Greg hears the little devils in the middle of the nite…he flys out of the tent …flash-light in hand….runs over to the bike…one of the raccoons (the smaller one) runs up a tree…the other one (a larger one) is hiding behind the pannier….Greg shines the light on him and tells him to “go on, get outta here”…..this guy stands there and starts growling at Greg!!…oh great! Now what!? Greg tells him again and he finally leaves!

Brookings Oregon to the California border….and on to Crescent City….some more awesome coastline…rain….and winding our way thru daylily farms…very pretty! And wet….just 28 miles today…we find a cheap hotel! With a Laundromat, a liquor store, a grocery just within a few blocks….we’ll be drying out for a day or 2 here then heading into the big Redwood country!!!

Pedal Power Baby…keeping the rubber side down!!

Astoria to Florence Man the Oregon Coast is Rad

2010-09-13T13:04:00.000-06:00

9/7-9/12/10

Astoria

We are writing to you from Jessie M Honeyman Memorial State Park. Which is just south of Florence Or. And at the northern end of the Oregon Coasts Great Sand dunes National Monument. Today we will explore the Sand Dunes and if wind permits, fly our newly acquired kite.

View north from Astoria

Coffee and Bakery in Astoria

Youngs River Falls

We are here waiting on a Derailleur Hanger for the mule. The reason being that, oh, about several days back, when the sky was misting, we were on a rather enduring climb with little shoulder on a rather busy section of highway 101. It was the last climb of the day and we were about two thirds of the way up the hill. As Terri and I often do we shifted down from first gear into a slower gear so that we could stand up and give our butts a break. After having done that I was trying to get back in the easy gear when; you know, we chain sucked the rear derailleur cage up into the rear wheel and…Well lets just say it wasn’t pretty. The cage was broken as well as the drop out. The worst part was we were stuck on a steep hill, on a blind corner, in the rain, and at this point we weren’t goin nowhere’s, as the rear wheel was locked in place by the cage. It was 3 p.m. I had to take off the rear panniers and the trailer and I set them out behind us down the road as my safety flairs. Beyond the shoulder the hill fell steeply so I had no place to work except in the rain filled gutter that was the shoulder of the road. After an hour and ½ I Finally had us anglo rigged to head down the road. The solution was to break the chain and mend it back together in a single speed. But, because of the hill I put it in a climbing gear. So, after the hill we had a nice descent but the gear we were in top end was 4.9 miles an hour, so we limped the last 5 miles into town in the rain as the sun set.

Tidal Pool

After getting into our urban campground in Lincoln City well after dark we pulled into the hiker biker sight where we ran into our fellow tourer friend Karl whom we didn’t expect to see and as we pulled up to what was to be our camp for the night we hear this screeching and fluttering sound up in the trees and as we try to figure what‘s goin on this screeching blob falls out of the trees within 3 feet of us and is fluttering and rolling on the ground. What is it?? A rabid squirrel or bat?? We reach for the flash lights and what we see is a pigmy owl trying to kill a song bird. Our lights distracted the owl and the bird got away. But, not for long. A few minutes later and we hear the same sounds again, only, the owl keeps it contained in the trees and soon the screeching stops. Cool!

Oregon Coast

9/12/10.….this blog is dedicated to my Dad, Bill, who died one year ago today…he was a big hearted, stellar human being that is so very much missed!! He would have loved to have been following us on our bike adventure and rooting

For us all the way!!! We love and miss you DadJ……

BE in the moment….Be kind to the ones you love…SAVOR the DAY!

9/10 - 9/11

Newport to Florence, Oregon

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WOW!!! What an awesome day of riding!!!! Some of the most spectacular views of the coast by far! Rocky cliffs that jet down into the ocean below…along with pine treed mountains that we wind our way around….I don’t think I have ever seen bigger,wider views of the ocean before! We saw whales spouting and heard sea lions barking! Got some great views of Heceta Light House..I think it’s the most famous for picture taking! Sweeeet!!!

We ended our day at Honeyman Memorial Campground in the hiker/biker sites. Note: Sometimes the hiker/biker sites

Are way off the beaten path in a pretty dark forested area of camp. We had to climb our way up into this one while pushing The Mule….we shared this site with about 9 other cyclists including our buddy Karl which turned out to be pretty fun! Getting to know other cyclists along the way has been great….giving each other tips, encouragement or sharing a beer while we all pedal to our destinations……We moved our camp closer to the showers/toilet the next day…sharing our space with Karl…he decided to take a day off to do chores. We had to check on our bike part (not here yet!!) do laundry, food shopping and emailing/interneting/phone calling,too! One of the beautiful things about camping is you’re “cooking out”…..like BBQ-ing, it’s a guy thing…at least for my guyJ….so Gregs the kitchen dude and has been doing most all of the cooking!!! SwEEEEt!! Hes a great cook to boot…I’m a lucky girl….

I on the other hand get to do the tent stuff…I think I have the “putting up the tent” down to just under 3 minutes!!! Its the little things….right?

9/9-9/10

Lincoln City to Newport, Oregon

So. We needed a mechanic in a town thar has none…but wait, maybe one. Lincoln city hasd no town. It’s one of those soulless places. One long strip mall. Like 10 miles long. And at the end of the mall supposedly is a bike shop. So with our 4.9 mile per hour top end single speed when begin the 2 hour spin in search of the bike shop. Oh no! it’s not there! But wait! Ther’s a van that says Bike Newport. [the next town down about 30 miles] and they are closing up shop in deadbeat Lincoln city and takin their gear back to the mother shop. And, they got room for our tandem. Timming is everything and we just cought them before they left. So we loaded the mule into the trailer and went to their very cool shop in Newport. Complete with a lounge, showers, laundry, and a keg from rogue brewery. All for the wayward touring cyclist.

that’s how we make it to Newport, and that’s how we get to the Rogue Brewery where they treated us well and gave us the rogue discount as they should.

9/6/10

Astoria to Manzanita, Oregon

After having spent 5 nites in Astoria, at the Norblad Hostel and enjoying one of the local cafes (Blue Scorcher) and

One of the 2 breweries (Ft George Brewing Co) we left for our descent on the Oregon border. We escaped the Columbia

River Vortex known as Astoria (this is our story) by the usual path less traveled only to make a navigational blunder by

Heading out on the wrong highway! Although it only cost us 12 miles or so the extended loop that we headed out on

Took us by a beautiful waterfall…the roads were windy and nice and not busy at all. At the top of a long climb we

Discovered that our rear wheel was out of true and a few spokes were loose and broken and made our final descent into

Seaside a little uncomfortable! Ruining what could have been a screaming descent! Fortunately for us we found a bike

Shop that had been family owned and operated for many years….they made it right for us! After having a little lunch we headed back out on to Hwy 101. Lots of traffic, a scary loud tunnel, some hard climbs and rain……..but thru it all….imagine…winding thru this beautiful mountainous coastline with fog and mist all around…glimpses of earily gray ocean waves…SWEEEET!…..but then you feel you’re ass grinding in the seat…and reality has set back in! you’re still trying to get up this hill….okay..you make it….but you make it to this quaint little town called Manzanita (in the RAIN!) just 2 miles before the damn campground ( you’ve been on the bike all day and you’re hungry!!) you see this cute little hotel…okay,that’s it we’re checkin in!!!

Our friend Karl Mayor of all Bike Camps

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Seattle to Astoria our last Ferry and the end of Washington

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9/2/10

From an historic old hotel in downtown Astoria now functioning as a youth hostel:

8/24/10-8/27/10

Downtown Seattle from Pikes Market

A Busker at Pikes Market. He was very

good

The gumwall. Gross

Space Needle in your Arm

Seattle: The ferry ride into Seattle was a nice way to enter the city! It drops you off right into the downtown area. The older parts of downtown still boasts of cobblestone streets and historic old buildings. With bike lanes on all the streets its first impression is a bike friendly place! Which we are happy aboutJ We make our way to Kara and Jeffs (the couple we will be staying with )home into the Wallingford area which is just north of downtown…a busy place BUT the drivers are all very courteous to cyclists!! EurEKA!!! Isn’t that sweet! Its pretty much a major sin to do anything to a cyclist in these parts…what a nice place to be!…Kara and Jeff are awesome hosts!! Not only did they show us yummy places to eat, give us the skinny on where to go and what to see BUT they also had heavy whipping crème (which we are fans of for morning java!!) AND a bottle of gin (our favorite for gin and tonics!!) YOU GUYS ROCK!! A little side note: we figured out that we could indulge in the heavy whipping crème even at the campgrounds by using it for morning coffee AND as a sauce for our pasta dinners on the little MSR stove! Yes,yes…you can still enjoy some of the delights of home even in the campground! Our lovely Seattle hosts also took us to Molly Moons ice cream joint just a few blocks from their place where the line was out the door( which we hear is a constant all year round!!) Holy Moly!! What folks will do for ice cream!! This wasn’t just ordinary ice cream BUT yummy homemade concoctions of different flavors put together in homemade waffle cones,too….a party for the taste buds! I had a lavendar/honey…WOW! Okay…now I want an ice cream!… all this cycling definitely puts you in the EATING mode pretty much all the time.….Greg and I enjoyed riding the Birke-Gilman bike trail right near their house which was a great way to get around town…drank some good brews…..saw the Space Needle…Pike Market…the “gum wall” down Post Alley..(this was a huge wall made up of bubble gum…folks would go there, chew their gum and stick it on the wall!!) a kids heaven! Seattle is a very cool, fun city that I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to and visit! We so enjoyed hanging out with Kara and Jeff…very interesting and well traveled couple that were a lot of fun (their “pooches” too) THANKS SO MUCH you guys!!!

Our Hosts in Seattle Kara and Jeff
Thanks

8/27/10

Seattle to Shelton; Our 12th and last Ferry ride!! 35 some odd miles??

A 1 hour ferry takes us From Seattle to Bremerton. We meet three kids trying to ride from Vancouver to San Fran. I think trains and buses are going to play a large role in their success. More than they have yet to come to terms with. We have now moved from communities and areas that have had a large yuppie influence to blue collar Washington. Bremerton has that feel. As we head out the roads funnel us onto a short section of a 4 lane freeway. I don’t know if its tailwind, adrenalin or what but for 3 miles we roll at 18 miles an hour on the flats on a busy highway with a shoulder littered with all kinds of crap! Right as our shoulder begins to merge with way too much traffic an escape route magically appears to the right. That route as it turns out is the old two lane hi-way, no longer in service except for local traffic. We escape the mayhem. Whew!!! The rest of our ride is great. Not the best shoulder but a shoulder indeed with light to moderate traffic. And, a tail wind. We ride like gods. Wow, we love tail winds. Some how we miss the rain and the temperature is just right. The kids; we run into in a small town at precisely 4:20, they are experiencing bike drama but still are rather optimistic of their days destination. In their minds they are going to get to the town of Aberdeen tonight. It looks good on paper, but, they don’t seem to realize that Aberdeen is close to 100 miles away, its 4:20 in the afternoon and they have only covered about 15 miles at this point. We tell them that they better get riding. Later, 20 miles later, at about 7:00 pm, at a crappy cheap hotel in Shelton, as we are booking a room in said hotel, they come rolling in. Perhaps a bus to Portland is their new plan. Thats ok with us as they had a certain recklessness [called youth] about them that seemed as though would pull us in if we couldn’t separate ourselves from them. [ I know, I know, I’m an old crumudgin.]

Mermaid Sculpture at Winery

8/28/10

The logging town of Shelton to Montesano and Lake Sylvia State Park. 38 miles, max speed- 29. [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 2 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 3

Washington state Border w/bridge in background

Wow. What a fun day of riding! Shelton is a quaint Logging town with a cool but dead downtown. Blue collar old folks, all the kids have moved away. Feels like Salida 20 years ago. Today we [as we have often done] break from the guide book and take the road less traveled. Sometimes this doesn’t pay off and you end up on roads with no shoulder and too much traffic. Not today! No shoulder, but, no traffic. We have the road to ourselves! Sweeet! Some climbing but not too steep, winding through the southern foothills of the Olympic Peninsula. Logging and Christmas tree farms. This day is one of those rare days so far where we get to maintain a speed of 10-15 miles an hour for many miles. It was just plain flat good riding. Possibly one of the best yet!

Like a lot of the campgrounds; to get in them, require a rather steep climb. Except for Seattle some of the steepest roads we’ve seen are getting into or out of campgrounds and this is no exception. As we have experienced many times though the campground is full, the hiker biker sight is not. And, like alot of the hiker biker sights it is close to the amenities but separate from the campground. This one is on a hill over looking the campground making us lords over the grounds. It is 4:20, phone hits to Flynn, and a couple of women walk by and comment “ wow I’ve always wondered what the primitive campsites look like”. And, I say to Terri under my breath; for $15 I’ll give you a tour. And we begin to joke about how when folks walk by well scratch our underarms and hoot and howl like primates. Which leads to the realization that animals and corporations have more rights than US citizens!….They can poop, pee, and fornicate in public. Scream, yell, and raise hell with out any recourse and pretty much; if, so long as your body is covered in hair, you can damn well do as you please.

The Oregon side of the great bridge.
Whew! Glad to be off it.

8/29/10

Lake Sylvia state park in Montesano to Grayland State park via Westport. 44 miles, 29 mph max. [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 2 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 1. The road for the first 10 miles is on a highway to Aberdeen a highway we’ve been able to avoid since leaving Seattle, but now, un-avoidable. The only thing good about it is that we must have a tail wind, and aside from the bridges, nice shoulders to ride. At Aberdeen we cross a fairly long bridge over Grays Harbor w/ no shoulder that leads to what has been fairly consistent in the state of Washington; Perfect road riding. We are now on coastal hi-way 101. Except for a few exceptions, for the rest of the way to San Diego. There is a nice shoulder, the road is flat but curvy and the traffic is light. Nice!! For lunch we wind up at a Winery where we sample, purchase, and lounge before heading to Westport and for the first time; the pacific ocean.

Westport and our introduction to the pacific coast is anti-climatic. A fishing town at the end of a treeless wind swept spit. We eat, say hello to the coast, and head down to our camp for the night.

Grayland state park is set up for RV’s and for the first time since we started this trip there isn’t an empty hiker biker site awaiting our arrival. So, we have to rent an RV site and camp in the neighbor hood! But! There is a trail leading to an endless sandy beach where for the first time on our trip the surf is rolling in. the sound of energy. Not unlike the sound of a far off freeway only---different, better, a wholesome sound. We put our backs to a drift log, drink our wine, and 420.……Kirk Out!

8/30/10

Grayland to Bruceport 35 miles. Max Speed, 23 mph. [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 2 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 1 Nice coastal riding. Very little traffic with nice shoulders, views of the Pacific, and inland marshes and meadows. Wild flowers line the road as it wends its way through old fishing and logging communities. The towns; Raymond and Southbend, definitely have that old school blue collar / roughneck feel but both are well kept, clean and neat. Quaint would be the word to describe them. And a little sleepy. Our camp for the night is the Bruceport county park . It has a super cool feel to it. Its small and sits on a bluff overlooking Willapa harbor on the Pacific ocean and the sunset. The park is surrounded by some old growth with maintained grassy areas for tent camping and, nobodys here!! We like this place. We haven’t camped at a bad place yet but this is at the top of our list so far. The weather has been really nice, we become lackadaisical, we don’t put the rain fly on or put our stuff away, in the middle of the night it begins to rain.

8/31/10

Bruce Port County park to Naselle. 25 miles [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 1 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 4 due to rain and head winds.

The rain is warm. Not like Colorado rain where it comes immediately in torrents and the first drop that hits you is like ice that sends shivers right down the spine. No not like that. Its warm, air temperature warm, and not in torrents but a little heavier than mist. A fine rain. The big rain drops come from the trees. What ever moisture is being stored in the branches and needles of the trees; that comes down in torrents when the wind blows, and the wind is blowing. The wrong direction too. In our face as we try to pedal the last 40 miles or so to Astoria Oregon. Marking the end of Washington and beginning of Oregon riding. We wont get there. Not today. It will have to wait cause we’re over it. The wind and the rain that is and we are renting the first motel room we see. But, we have to get there first. So on we ride keeping our faces down towards the pavement. Partly because of concentration and partly to keep the wind from blowing the rain into your eyes. I count each breath to a hundred, and start over trying not to watch the mileage gauge, trying not to watch the time cause neither the time or miles is going by fast enough. Fortunately for me, cause of the rain, the mileage gauge is not working today.

9/1/10

Naselle To Astoria 17 miles

Today the sun shines the ride into Astoria and out of Washington is, as usual, Beautiful. Crossing the 4 mile bridge over the Columbia river cool, but stressful.

We are diggin Astoria. What an Idyllic location on the banks of the Columbia as it enters the Pacific. An historically and geographically important place. Although the city is small the Downtown is large. Bigger than Boulder and it is intact. Meaning there are no malls so the big box stores like J.C. Pennies and Sears occupy downtown storefronts. No wallmart here! 3 Breweries, several bakeries, and old school businesses that you just don’t see anymore. We like it.

Everywhere we have been up here, including the rural logging and fishing towns people show absolute respect for the bicycle and Pedestrian. If you even approach a cross walk or act like you want to get across the street cars just stop for you! Terri and I can not get used to it. The roads all have good shoulders and as soon as you pull into a town no matter the size bike lanes appear. Bike and Ped. Advocacy is alive and well here and Colorado could sure take some notes!!

It has been an absolute pleasure to Ride all through this great North West.

The State Oregon actually produces a pamphlet promoting riding the coast 101 hi-way!! It’s been explained to me that the wonderful shoulders are not just there for the bikes convenience but for safer driving and that the roads that have wider shoulders have less fatal accidents on them cause cars aren’t falling off the white line!

the columbia River Bridge

Eddied out on Schooner Suva out of Port Townsend

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8/24/10

Well 10 days have passed since we last blogged and you might ask yourself; where the hell are they, whats goin on etc… well rest assured we are alive and well and in Seattle.

Beer Trials

First off ; We want to give a big shout out to the people who have left comments: Yo, Yo, Yo, Steve. Where you at Bitch!!! And to Mr. Cooney; The coffee is quite good, but, thanks for the offer, We actually don’t talk much, we just get into that meditative groove that is cycling. The music is in the soul, and just say no to I pods. At least when riding. Very important to hear those menacing cars approaching. And to Pimpy A’s friend; glad you are following us and that you are enjoying the ride!

Cool Painting in brewery

Bob buys us a Beer. Thanks

Before having left Bellingham, which is a sweet place, we encountered some good old fashioned hospitality. Bellingham has a very large farmers market that we visited. But , our visit was short lived due to the fact that there was a micro brew pub called Boundary Bay right across the street. We entered, ordered a sample platter o’beer and invited our selves to sit down next to a guy named Bob Hollister. An elderly gentleman whom like a lot of folks up here in the N. West is a bike guy. Bob was kind enough to buy us a round of Beer. Thanks Bob.

Cool Mural

Teri and Charlie our hosts in Bellingham have a friend John who co-owns a 28’ catalina sailboat and he took us out for a sunset booze crooze, so to speak. It seems that though the intentions are there, actually consuming mass or even moderate quantities of beer or booze just doesn’t seem to happen. A lack of appetite I suppose. Any how it was a beautiful evening, with live music next to the water, and a waxing crescent moon!! Thanks John.

A BIG THANKS again to Teri and Charlie..our wonderful and gracious hosts! And for showing us what a great place

Sun set booze crooze in Bellingham

Bellingham is! We will miss the trains…and those kooky “turns” that make that squawk like noise….AND vanilla ice cream with wild blackberries….YUM!

Bellingham to Deception pass State park [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 4 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 3 Mileage for the day----55, Max speed----.33.

Crescant D' Lune

Le Conner w/ Mt Baker

Deception Pass Note the Eddie boil coming off the bridge pilon

Good Sailin w/ Cpt. Lloyd and first mate of the kithen Alisha at the helm!

Sooo after 5 days of chillin in Bellingham we finally hit the road. That days ride was the best yet. Heading south out of Bellingham is a road they call Chuckanut drive. It wends and winds it’s way through dense wet forest cut right out of the cliffs above the ocean. It offered nice climbs and great descents with awesome views of Bellingham bay. The ride then dropped us out on the flats with wind at our back and so for the first time in 300 plus miles we were able to maintain a healthy 14 mph speed for several miles. I have to tell you that to be able to roll along like that was invigorating. Taking a break at a small country store we met a kid on a nice carbon fiber bike and when I say kid I mean 18 to 22 years old who must of weighed well over 300 pounds. Anyway this kid is on the tail end of a 60 mile ride and has a permanent shit eatin grin and having noticed us looking at the map, decides to give us some route advice. Man did he guide us right. I have to admit that I am still surprised that we were taking advice from this hugely over weight kid but, he obviously knew his way around as a cyclist, cause his suggested route was right on. The highlights beside Chuckanut drive was the berry barn, [homemade pies, icecream etc…., a small town named Le Conner, and Deception pass; that is a water channel that feeds a huge inlet and the current flowing through looks like a river. Complete with boiling eddies, waves etc..

Deception pass to Port Townsend [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 3 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 2. Mileage for the day----37.5, Max speed---32.4.

The Martha a 125 yr. old Schooner out of Port Townsend
sailing along side Suva

Nice riding along the shore, rolling roads, nice quaint towns, lots of cyclists, not much traffic. Nothing about this ride stands out other than it was Idyllic. Port Townsend on the other hand is Cool, from a water/sailors point of view. It is a Sailors town. They have a wooden boat festival there every September but you don’t have to go there then to see wooden boats. And so begins the story as to why we haven’t blogged for awhile.

On the Main Sail Hallyard

Who is that girl. I'd like to Marry her!

Time for a swim

First Mate Micheal

Al and Kim and the crew

Farewell Suva and it's crew. You will be missed!

As we un boarded the ferry into Port Townsend we had one agenda. Find the brewery. To do that we road down what is the main drag of town which emptied us out to a marina full of old wooden boats that for us was a treat to see. Such a treat that it became alluring. After taking a slew of photos….. We were about to enter the Twilight Zone. Or should I say the Twilight “BOAT” Zone! After a few phone calls over yummy beer at the Port Townsend Brewery we hopped on a sailboat called “The SUVA”http://schoonersuva.com/ the next morning with 5 other folks…the SUVA is a 64 foot sailboat complete with Captain Lloyd Baldwin, first mate Michael, Cook/Galleys first Lady Alisha and room enough for 7 people to eat, sleep and play sailors! The other couple that came besides us were Al (retired military that flew B52 Bombers) and Kim (retired school teacher)from Spokane WA, both very sweet and liked to have fun! And so we embark on a 5 day tour….filled with mostly great weather (we did have a bit of a challenging first day!), wind for sailing (we buried the rails a few times), starry/moon filled nights (Greg and I chose to sleep outside up top on deck!), fun little harbors, other cool sailboats (including the hippie types with the skull and crossbone flags!), lots of great stories , awesome food (thanks Alisha! We all wanted to take her home with us!) lovely company, a fun captain (cut the sheets!!!) and some good sailing instruction (we all got to be at the “helm”!)…We have to sum it up to a 5 day laugh fest (great for the soul!!) & just being on the water in a sailboat is next to heaven!

If you want a good, old fashioned , unpretentious sailing on a super sweet all teak wood boat Chinese built in 1925, then you want to sail on Schooner Suva, and Cpt. Loyd will treat you right.

After our sail fest First mate Michael put us up for a few days to get our feet back on the ground. Thank YOU Michael for your kindness & opening your home to us! We like sailing. That could be a next life., and the temptation of being eddied out in Port Townsend on a long term basis was hard to resist. But, backcountry rule #101 prevails.----stick to plan A until it completely and utterly fails, and then, and only then, go to plan B. And plan A has always been to ride from Vancouver to San Diego. We have Kids & Grand Kids there!

Port Townsend to Seattle Via Bainbridge Island

[Terri and Greg’s Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 2 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 2. Mileage for the day----53, Max speed---38.5.

A nice Ride through rural farm land and dense forest. The roads had good shoulders except for the part where I decided to go for a more rural route where we rode for ten miles or so with no shoulder. All in all though the traffic was light and the roads friendly. More Good riding with nice weather! Getting off the ferry [our 12th] in Seattle was like being at the starting line of the Tour De France with over 100 commuting cyclists rushing to get out in front of traffic. Intimidating. Riding through Seattle is nice, aside from the hills. Bike lanes and paths are well laid out, and like everywhere we have been so far drivers are very patient and polite.

Before crossing the bridge to Bainbridge we sat to eat blackberries and lunch when rolling along came a tandem couple that are riding the Pan American Highway from the very most northern part of Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina. They have finished the northern section and were just beginning to head south out of Seattle via the West side of the Olympic Penninsula. We hope to meet with them when we get to the coast. if you want to check out their seen go to http://2totango.net./2totango.net

Hello Seattle

We are now being treated with Seattle hospitality by Kara and Jeff Stone who are sharing their home and showing us their hood. Thanks.

The Riviera of British Columbia. The wrap up!

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8/14/10 Belling ham The B.C. wrap up.

The locals around here call this whole area the Riviera of Canada/U.S. And it really does have that kind of atmosphere. We love it but were told as sun lovers that we probably wouldn’t like the winters. I Trust em. All and all this whole north west experience has been more than we expected. I mean, it has far exceeded our expectations. If we even had any.

The overall grooviness factor was certainly at the top of the scale. Great food, fresh produce, lots of recreational opportunity, water and mountains. Yea pretty groovy. The difficulty matched the grooviness factor; steep short climbs with steep short descents. Lots of shifting and no real breaks. Having said that there certainly were some great spin days. But basically we are carrying too much weight. So with regret we are sending the instruments home, as well as our extra tarp and a few other items.

Terri and I would love to come back up here and spend more time and do some serious water exploring.

Here is a little story I’ve been wanting to tell since we left Parkville before getting to the sunshine coast…..When we were camping at the Parkville campground a fellow tourer camped near us, who had come from whence we were headed, and looking at our rig I suppose he deemed us inexperienced novice tourers or something. Maybe he had a point! So he proceeded to tell us how experienced he was and that he carried tools for every occasion etc.etc… Just as I was getting my tools out to tune up the shifting on the Mule. In the mean time he began to tell us how brutal the hills were on the Sunshine coast and that he encountered hills that were more than 14% grade and proceeded to question our ability to conquer them. We assured him that our Mule was of the mountain breed and after I got my tools out and started working on the rear derailer he excused himself and walked away. I waited to tell this story until after we rode those monstrous grades so as not to jinx myself but having been there I assure you that though the hills are steep and the riding hard, there are no 14% grades on the sunshine coast road. If you want long and steep I mean very steep I would recommend riding in the Gila mountains north of Silver City New Mexico! Those are the steepest, Longest grades I / we have ever encountered. Wouldn’t you say Steve.?

Total miles for the B.C. Loop starting in Sequim WA.--- 351. Time spent in B.C. 2 weeks. Avg. miles per day--- 25.

A Fun Guy

Victoria Street Sculpture

Leaving Victoria

light house in the san Juan Islands

Gin and Tonic

In the fish bowl. Literally

the man with over 600 kites. 65 are up now.

Happy as pigs in s!@#t on the bike path to Victoria

Market in China Town

Finnally real beer. Terri quafing a scotch ail. We allmost miss the ferry.

T & G Leaving B.C.

The San Juan Islands

Local wild life....we didnt see any Orcas.

Bellingham

Charlies Art.

A tale of more Ferry's, And a Brewery

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8/11-8/13/10 Bellingham

Card board art

Just chillin on shamu G/ with our hosts

Charlie Teri and Shamu

Just chillin. Our hosts Teri and Charlie have been very gracious and hospitable. We have our own bed and bath and since Charlie’s retired and Teri’s on sabbatical they have been able to give us a grand tour of what seems to be a very nice town. Victorian and craftsmen style architecture abound and the weather is once again just perfect. Gardens/Greenery/apple trees/blackberry bushes EVERYWHERE!! The envy, no doubt of us Colorado folks! & WATER!!!!!! The view from Teri and Charlies is also envious…of Bellingham Bay! The other lovely thing is hearing sounds you don’t normally hear where we live….ferry horns, train whistles and sea gulls! LOVE IT! It looks as though we may stay here through Sunday the 15th as a friend of Charlies is going to look into taking us sailing on Sunday. Cross your fingers. Or I’ll at least cross mine. Just can’t be around all this water and deny an overwhelming desire to get intimate with it. Tomorrow, Saturday, We hope to get in a kayak. We’ll see.!!

Groovy art car. Eat your heart out Steve

8/9/10 T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 4 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 1 Mileage for the day----28.5, Max speed---???. Taswasswen to Victoria via a 2 hr ferry ride back from the main land to Vancouver Island.

You can’t be in a hurry when Island living. Especially when you are dependent on ferries. That might explain why every one in western BC is so mellow. , and so liberal. Vancouver Island to me seems to be very sustainable. They provide almost all their own meats, dairy, produce etc.. as well as the arts, crafts, and trades. Everyone that we have talked to loves our President Obama. They are mostly glad to see the Bush Dynasty….OUT TA THERE!!!!!……

Charlies Stained glass

Any hoo Our ride back to Victoria was the same ride we did 2 weeks earlier only backwards. A beautiful 20 mile spin thru farm land (cute PIGS wallowing in the mud,too), and ritzy neighborhoods all on a well laid out bike path that eventually leads you into downtown Victoria.

The bike trail into victoria

Our host in Victoria Mike and his home

Daphne, Mike's Wife

Our new friends Mike and his wife Daphne live only a few blocks away from the youth hostel we had stayed at earlier and a short walk to downtown Victoria. Which was nice cause we already knew the lay of the land. One of the best parts about our connection with Mike & Daphne is that they knew where the Micro Brew Pub was!! YEA! Swans!. Home of a beautifully crafted 8% Scotch ale and IPA. Delish! Perfecto! So after an evening of brew snobbing (some live music), a great breakfast, a walk about, we ended up in the brewery again where it was 4 dollar pint Tuesdays featuring the 8% Scotch Ale., And that nearly made us late for the three hour evening ferry to Bellingham including an all you can eat Salmon buffet as you ferry through the San Juan Islands. Not a bad way to get to the States. Oh and did I mention that we still had a bunch of Canadian loonies and toonies (I think we need to give nick names to our coins too…maybe we could “coin” the quarter “the GEORGIE”??) to unload that resulted in buying a few rounds of gin and tonics. We arrive in Bellingham at 8:pm and our friends Charlie and Teri meet us with only a short walk to their home, over looking the Bay, where we will lick our wounds, rub the mule down, do our laundry and just chill for a few days. And maybe, just maybe get on the water.

Charlie And Teri's Home

Getting from there to here. A tale of 3 ferries. Sort of. And were not here yet.

2010-08-12T13:27:00.000-06:00

8/12/10

Hello to all and thanks for the blog support. Sorry we haven’t updated in awhile but I got a little frustrated with the process and needed to take a break. So… to bring you and I up to date: Currently I am writing to you from the comfort of a desk overlooking Bellingham bay where we are staying with former Salida residents Charlie and Teri. Like all of these north pacific towns we have encountered; Bellingham is quaint and beautiful. So far we have yet to see a town or spot we didn’t like.

Horseshoe Bay and the end of the not so Sunshine Coast

8/6/10 T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 4 . T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 3-4. Mileage for the day----34, Max speed---39. Mederia Bay on the Sunshine coast To Sechelt and the Porpoise Bay Campground. The riding continued to be more of the same; longer sometimes steep climbs with nice curvy descents, thus the max speed of 39 mph. However for every mile we get closer to Vancouver the more the traffic, as we are encountering more and more towns. The traffic still ebbs and flows with the ferries but now more local traffic as well. Still the riding is nice and we can still find that peace when we are the only thing on the road. Man that is nice. When the last car passes and the noises cease, a feeling overcomes that could nearly be described as bliss. But, when the sound of a car begins---- the spell is broken. Sometimes shattered. Part of this “bliss” has definitely been eating the WILD BLACKBERRIES that are growing all along the roadside…two words to describe…”frickin YUMMY!!…how can one resist! Yes, like kids in a candy shop we eat them…if I was a BEAR I’d live hereJ

The town of Sechelt was our goal for the day and as we entered town we could tell this was a special place. The town itself sits on a flat, only about a mile wide that separates the Georgia Straight from the Sechelt inlet where our campground layed. So there was water on both the front and back side of this town. The campground was only a couple of miles from town and an easy, nice ride to get there and back.

So far this is our favorite campground. What a great spot. This place had a biker only camp area and though the campground was full as it was a Saturday, the bike area was empty. The sites are nestled in trees and very private yet there were Flush toilets, hot showers, a sandy beach and kayak rentals literally steps away. Terri and I planned to spend several days here as we had ridden 3 days of hard climbing and was ready for a rest and this seemed to be the perfect place.

That night, in town for dinner, a man named Mike had been admiring our bike so he sought us out to talk cycling.

He lived in Victoria and offered to give us shelter if we were to find ourselves back in Victoria and then proceeded to try to talk us out of riding through Vancouver and getting back to the states via Victoria as Vancouver is a million people and 3 million with outlying areas and that it would be very stressful to try to coax the mule thru the maze. Our reply. We’ll think about it.

8/7/10 T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 3. T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 4. Mileage for the day----17, Max speed---???. Porpoise Bay campground to Horseshoe Bay and ferry terminal.

Well, for the first time since we’ve arrived----- it’s raining.!! And according to the locals it’s going to rain for day’s. So much for a rest day, we’re movin on. Might as well ride in the rain then sit around in it.

On our way out of Sechelt we had a long and busy climb and in the thick of it our new friend Mike came by, parked on the side of the road, walked down to meet us and walked and talked with us up the hill.[ Kinda gives you an idea of how fast were riding or how steep the hill is]. He asks us if we had decided whether we were going to Bellingham via Vancouver or Victoria and we told him that we had decided on Vancouver and he wished us luck. We rode on in the rain to the ferry that would take us to another cool place called Horseshoe Bay where from there one begins to ride into Vancouver or get on a 2 hr. ferry to B.C. There is no camping, were wet, and tonight we stay in the last hotel room available in Horseshoe Bay, and it’s a nice room.

8/8/10 T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 4 [because of the ferry rides, and the misty mountain hop, to quote our favorite band. T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 1. Milage for the day----20, Max speed---not worth mentioning. A Ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo B.C., an easy 10 mile ride to another 2 hour ferry back to The Vancouver side of the world to a town named Tsawwassen and a 10 mile ride to a motel to catch another 2 hr. ferry the next day to Victoria. Wow !!

Misty Mountain Ferry Hop

Ok, Ok. Mike had a point. We were tired mentally and physically and after talking to a lot of folks who ride we decided not to go to or through Vancouver and that the ride from Vancouver back into the States and Bellingham would not be fun. So we have chosen to do the 4 ferry ride, misty mountain hop, in or should I say out of the rain, path to Bellingham and the U.S.A. Being land locked we like ferries. Ferries are neat. So were riding ferries, for 3 days. We have our ferry wings now!! As our friend Teri would say.

The best part of this day ; besides the ferries, is we have still gotten in 20 miles of riding on flat easy terrain and therefore workin out the kinks that started to form in our knees.

A Light house on a Ferry crossing

Heading North to San-Diego???

2010-08-06T11:43:00.000-06:00

Old growth duglass fir with my wife and the mule

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Greg entered a logging competition!!

Well i am Still trying to figure out the best way to load this blog and it's been a pain in the arse.
8/6/10 T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 4 [because of the ferry rides, the misty mountain hop, to quote our favorite band; and the road. T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 3-4. Milage for the day----34.29, Max speed---36.5. Comox. Airforce campground (TeePee Park) to Mediera Bay on the Sunshine coast.

I don’t know if you are all aware but apparently BC is having one of its driest summers ever and there are a lot of forest fires around here. Consequently the sky has had this overcast foggy look to it but it is all smoke. Otherwise the weather has been perfect. What would be bluebird days, and no wind, bordering on almost too hot and muggy but not quite . Therefore the views which are cool are hazy and barely in view.

Todays ride was another picture perfect idealic road riders dream. We are on the so called sunshine coast and have therefore entererd into to the coastal mountain range so the road is hilly. Were back in the mountains. On the coast.

The climbs are chlanging but not menacing and the downhils curvy and swift and fortunately very little trafic [knock on wood} as the shoulders are almost non-existant. The trafic flows with the ferries. Of wich we rode two for a total of 2.5 hours. Nice. Any hoo the trafic is almost nill untill one of those ferries dock and then woosh; a but load of traffic comes all at once and then; the sound of the rubber on the road and meditation of your breath. Perfect. This whole area is definatly the Aspen of bc or maybe of Canada for that matter. So the realestate is $$$$$ and so is everything else. But it definatly is beautifull country and would be great to explorer further , especially by boat or kayak.

8/4/10 TGBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 3 T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 2. Milage for the day----57.32, Max speed---33.5. Parksville [Rathtrever beach Provincial Park] to Comox.

We have now reached the northern most part of our trip. Todays riding was DREAMY. Slow easy climbs, Long big gear descents. The road followed closely to the shore and passed thru many quite, beachside communities. Little traffic, nice shoulder. Exactly what you want in a road ride. Today was a bench mark in a few ways. 1] we broke our 30 mile barrior. 2] We finally found a bike shop that was open and was able to check the pressure in our tires. Well, after coming from 7000 ft with full pressure and dropping down to sea level we lost ½ of our tire pressure. So now at the end of todays ride we have full pressure. Golly gee what a difference. I have a feeling our mile per hour average is going to go up. And the last 10 miles no longer felt like we were riding in sand, and the bike handled so much better. What a dumb ass. Anyway the difference made the bike feel so much lighter and for that I am grateful.

So, to recap today’s ride. Todays ride was one for the sprinters. With lots of small town sprints all the big sprinters occupied the front of the peloton for most the ride. With only one category 1 climb at the end of the day the peloton was able to stay together for the duration. For all the GC riders, today was mostly a rest days, staying near the end of the pack and out of harms way.

8/2-8/3/10 T&GAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 2 T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 3. Milage for the day----29.6, Max speed---33. Nanaimo to Parksville [Rathtrever beach Provincial Park]

Not much to say about this ride. We had a nice casual first 10 miles out Nanaimo on a bike path. The next 10 on the shoulder of a 4 laner. Not so bad untill the last couple of miles up a slow busy climb. There are two things that really piss me off. R.Vers who are afraid of the middle of the road so therefore give no quarter. The other; loud motorcycles.!@#$%^&*!@#$%. how can riding with that sound do anything but make you mad or crazy.! I mean, what is the point. O.K O.K. I feel better now. Not better than James brown. Just better. The park is a big family destination because the tidal flats go out for 100’s of yards where the water is shallow and warm. But also because they show kidie movies in a little apmhitheter. We couldn’t figure out what all the comotion was about . So after a little investigation we found the outdoor theater and was entertained by??? [Whose my hero----BOLT’S my hero??] cute. Parksville by the way, is a one bar town!

We have met some real nice folks here.

The Star of today. the Sun

Where the f!@#$%^&* our we

I think we finnaly figured it out. South to San Diego!!

the mule takes a ride on the ferrie....can you see it??

Look honey

Misty Mountain Hop

The Art of Coffee while resting in Nainamo

2010-08-01T12:57:00.002-06:00

7/30/10

Chemanius to Nanaimo---Nicol St. Hostel T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 2 T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 3. Milage for the day----30, Max speed---27.

Fire

Adding coffee

Ok. For me, on this day the honey moon was over. In Chemanius we stayed in an old hotel on the historic registry where the best feature was that they had a shower. The kind where the water goes from warm, to cold, to scalding and back again. For the rest of the day and I Think for the rest of our time in B.C. we will be riding on busy highways and two lane roads. However the scenery is awesome, the drivers polite, and temperature and weather perfect. Since we really didn’t have time to “train” and are “coming off the couch” 20-30 miles seems to be all we can manage. Good thing we budgeted three months for the trip. Terri has asked me to define what I meant by the honeymoon being over. Well, getting used to riding in traffic with all the weight in first gear trying to keep the bike straight, while a semi-or large truck is passing is -----a bit unnerving and requires all my concentration. This makes it hard to enjoy the scenery. But this has come after 5 days riding in a row which brings us to our next chapter.

7/31/---8/2 2 full rest days at the hostel in Nanaimo. T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Grooviness factor 1-5] is a 2 T&GBAD [Difficulty factor 1-5] is a 1. Milage for the day----to be determined, Max speed---not yet achieved.

This hostel is pretty cool. Overlooking the water it has terraced garden steps and on the lowest step is a place to tent which we are doing. Yesterday, Saturday, we met a fisherman who was an avid cyclist and so gave us two filets of fresh caught salmon for our dinner last night and tonight .[Thanks] Of which we grilled.

honey in my coffee

le creme

So - since we don’t have much to share for the last two days we are going to discuss the art of our camp coffee. Terri loves her coffee. I know what she likes. She likes it strong, with honey and cream. Whipping cream is best. So when packing the kitchen; coffee or the making thereof is of great importance. Do we bring the Bialetti? Or perhaps a press. The problem with these two options is that they only serve one purpose. Coffee. What we chose is a simple camp pot. One that we can boil water in, cook pasta and rice and make COFFEE!! A technique that we perfected up at the land years ago that we call the Cowboy Press or Spin. The process is as follows. Water. Enough for two large travel cups. Four heaping tablespoons of the coffee of choice. In this case; Strong, robust and dark. Bring to just under a boil and let stand for a couple of minutes. Time enough for say; a sun salutation. And for the true art-----The spin!!! Place lid on pot, find an area outside with plenty of room and no small children. And spin the coffee over head allowing centrificle force to pack the grounds to the bottom and side of the pot. I prefer 5 spins. Bring the pot to a carefully executed stop so as not to disturb the grounds and pour. Ahh, A strong cup of perfectly brewed coffee with no grounds. Perfectamo. And now I am beginning to feel the presence of a much needed bowl movement!

Ahhhhh…change of scenary is good for the body , mind &; soul!! My skin and hair LOVE the humid sea air….my mind is

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the Swing

Seeing something new and wholly appreciating it!!….and my soul is loving and soaking up the adventure of it all. Greg and I were talking about what to look for in the adventure of it all and we’ve come to the conclusion that wherever there is SOUL that’s where we will put our energies. It seems that the Americanization, californication , mcdonaldization , walmart nation has sucked the soul out of everything. So when you find it -----Savor! So far Salida rates quite high in SOUL……savor. Therein lies the GROOVINESS FACTOR!! Yeah,baby!!

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Le Pour

Savor

Two days two ferry's and a few miles

2010-07-30T10:15:00.000-06:00

7/28/10

ruckle provincial park on salt spring island

McDonald Camp Ground to Ruckle Provincial Park on Salt Spring Island. T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Groviness factor 1-5] is a 5 T&GBAD [Dificulty factor 1-5] is a 5. Milage for the day----12, It was supposed to be a rest day. Total-----68, max speed 28. Today, via the B.C. Ferry’s, brought us into the “Gulf Islands” Which is really all part of the same Island chain that makes up the San Juan Islands only were in Canada, where the only language barrior is Liters, Celsius and Kilometers. We landed in Fuford Harbor witch was very Bohemic. Thus part of the grooviness factor. But the ride to the CampGround was, well brutal. Fortunately we picked up a six pack of beer for this asssault on a very hilly Island. All I can say is it’s a good thing we have mountain bike gears that are geared for Colorado Mountains. At one point we were going 2.8 miles per hour!!!

salt spring winery [for flynn]

The Scenery however is Stunning. Beautiful small farms, Luscious forests, Sweeping views of the islands and inland lakes. We really dug this place. Our campsite was a “walk in”. meaning you literally walk into the Camp and you camped right on a rocky bluff right up to the waters edge…. Did I already use the word Stunning. O.K. O.K. I know its early in the trip and hopefully I don’t run out of superlatives!! Did I use that word right??? We did phone shots with Kevin, thanks to the Margesons.

7/29/10

Ruckle Provincial Park on Salt Spring Island to Chemanius. T&GBAG - 3, T&GBAD-4. Milage--24, total 92, Max speed--38.

The weather so far has been perfect. Making us wonder why we brought all the x-tra gear. Blue sky’s, no wind.

salt spring bakery stand [honor system] there were lots of these....COOL.

Today ride involved more climbing into busier roads with less shoulder. But I will say, so far, B.C. drivers are very polite. A refreshing change from Colorado where the sport is--how close to the rider can you get your mirror before actually hitting them. I think we are done with the hills for a while. We’ll see. Now we ride north to ??? Where ever we decide is where.

7/27/10

Victoria to McDonald camp ground just north of Sydney B.C. T&GBAG [Terri and Gregs Big Adventure Groviness factor 1-5] is a 3 T&GBAD [Dificulty factor 1-5] is a 1 Not so difficult. Milage today 23.5 total 56 miles??

Although we were a bit creeped out by the Turtle Inn in Victoria we ended up having a good night sleep even though we shared a twin bed. The place was clean and would suffice for the price. The best part is that it was located across the street from a bakery / café called Wildfire Organic Bakery. It was family owned and operated in the artisan tradition. Supporting local farms and the breads, pastries and other goodies all baked in large wood fired brick ovens. …..What a treat.

ferry ride

turtle hostel victoria

wood fired bread oven

Our ride out of Victoria was a treat. All bike paths for 20 miles to McDonald campground. The trail rolled mostly flat through nice neighbor hoods , small farms with occasional glimpses of the Straight of Georgia. This is was our first night to camp and not with out a slight and near disastrous outcome. Those damn MSR wisperlight stoves. Before leaving a ran the stove which is 20 years old for a test drive at home and it tested out fine. Well it seems as though the gasket dried out and cracked and after I pressurized the stove I didn’t notice the fuel leaking out of the bottle. When I lit the stove the picnic table, and fuel bottle cought fire. Trying to remain calm I commented to Terri :”We got a problem here” Fortunately none of the fuel had gone to the ground and so we avoided starting a forest fire. Whew! After 3 days of riding, all pristine our next ride is 64 miles and since we did not have a chance to train for this ride today is a rest day,. Some guitar, Violin, a casual ride back to Sydney [2 miles] and than a 5 mile trek to a better campground. Next ride is Salt Spring Island to Rathtrover Beach Provincial Park---64 miles our first big day with the land yacht. So far weve riden 40 miles on nice bicycle trails. But not tomorrow.!

Sequim to Victoria 7/26/10

2010-07-26T23:47:00.001-06:00

Terri and victoria

Our Hosts. bill The Carver and Friends Steve and Nancy

Well we are now offically off, and our first leg was Sequim Wa. to Victoria B.C. via the Victoria Express ferry. Apparently there is now a bike path/rail to trail called the Olympic Discovery Trail that goes from Port Townsend through Port Angeles. We road a 20 mile section From Sequim to Port O'Angels . The trail was absoluetly beautiful. as was the weather. However for a fully laden tandem it was---well, difficult. lots of tight turn and steep grades. On a Terri and Greg big Adventure Difficulty scale of 1-5 I would rate it a 4 and a TGA All around grooviness Scale [TGAG] it gets a 5. We are staying in Vic. B.C. At he Turtle Hostel....Not our cup o' T. Oh well. Victoria is Beautiful, lots of pretty old buildings, very european feel, we were looking for some yummy beer and were told to go to Big Bad Johns....well it was big and bad and not sure if John was there or not, but we settled for the Stickey Wicket!!the town and port was fun to ride around in and its definitly a party town. but we got no more gas so Kirk Out! After carousing Victoria the total milage for

bike and discovery trail

the day is ------32.

A car, friends, a bike and a rack.

2010-07-26T08:28:00.000-06:00

Finally were on the road. Not the bicycle road. The petrol road to Sequim on the northern most tip of the Olympic Peninsula. that’s where were going to put the bike together ,load it up, and head for Port Angeles, Wa. From there we will take a ferry to Victoria B.C. and then???. But now I am getting ahead of myself.

Our arrival to Sequim is being facilitated by the kind intentions of our friends Steve and Nancy in Salida. Steves parents live in Sequim so months ago when we began to realize this trip, we mentioned to Steve and Nancy our intentions and they responded with a resounding---- we would love to take you to Sequim…..SWEET! And Thanks.

About our gear and bike.

The bike is a titanium tandem with s&s couplers so that it can break down into suitcases for air travel. It takes 700c wheels and if needed would easily accept 29 / 3” tires if we ever needed to do some serious off roading. Fully built with racks , fenders and water cages the bike weighs 55 lbs. Our gear weighs approximately 80 lbs. not including the bob trailer which we are dragging along to carry a guitar, violin and rhythm instruments.

Here is a list of our gear and equipment

Tools; a tool to turn every nut and bolt on the bike including; chain, spoke.

Spare spokes

Spair chain pieces

Swalbe marathon plus at 42c tires [bomb proof]

Front and rear racks,

Front and rear fenders

4 water bottle cages

2 coffee cup holders on the handle bars---sweet!

Front paniers regular, med. Size. For kitchen and food

Rear paniers; xtra large ???????

Tent

Small fly----old pup tent

¾ “ lg. sleeping pads w/chairs

Sleeping bags

Appropriate clothing

Small net book

Bob trailer small travel fender guitar

Old Chinese violin built in 1880’s and handed down to me through my mother from my great uncle. [jazz man in K.C. back in the day]

Various rhythm instruments.

The Pacific coast ride is approx. 1800 miles. Averaging 50 miles a day a person could take 40 days . We have 3 months

budgeted so we plan to take a leisurely tour. So if you have any suggestion we would love to here them.

7/24/10

On our way to the N.West we spent the night in Yakima Wa. Fairly uneventful except for one thing. When we were leaving the next morning coffee was the order of the day, so that’s what we were looking for. What we found was a kiosk right down town called Dreamgirls Xpresso. Obviously we should have got a clue but us Coloradoans I suppose we must be a bit nieve. So Imagine driving up to this thing with my wife, Nancy, [our ride] and myself and being greeted by a girl dressed in nothing but lingerie. When she asked what it was we wanted all three of us just sat there jaws dropped and speechless. Several seconds must have passed by before Terri was first to spit out that we wanted a couple of latte’s. Wow. Starbucks must have really put the pressure on the small time coffee places.

So far the weather out here has been Blue bird. And the view of the big peaks is stunning. Though I have been to Seattle a couple of times I never saw Mount Baker or Rainier. Needless to say----Impressive.

7/25/10

All right!! We’re at our “beginning” Sequim Wa. Were stayin at the parents [Bill and Ella] of the folks that drove us out here. Fascinating family. Stories of the great depression, dust bowl, and one of the family was ”Bull Durham” of early 1900’s baseball fame. Bill is in his 80’s , is a wood carver, and as he puts it ‘if your gonna retire you got to have something to do. I’ve had friends who retired with nothing to do but sit around and watch T.V. and they're dead with in two years” Hear that…..! Today we test drove the Tandem and worked out the travel kinks on a 21 mile lap around the coast of Sequim. Beautiful riding with quiet neighborhoods, laverndar fields, lots of apple trees, a few vineyards and country roads that wind and wend their way through. Tomorrow---- a light day to Port Angeles and then a Ferry to Victoria B.C…. see you then.

still tryin to work things out

2010-07-20T20:17:00.000-06:00

Well we bought an acer notebook with windows 7 starter so we could maintain contact and the blog. Unfortunatly the thing seems pretty shaky. Startin to wish i'd have gotten the apple. Ya get what ya pay for i reckon. Any way just checkin to see if it [this notebook] can do what i bought it for.??? ok so the photo upload worked so here is a photo of terri and i riding around the leadville loop in leadville co. a very cool 12 mile ride.

Vancouver-San Diego on a Tandem Gettin Started

2010-07-14T20:34:00.000-06:00

So---This is why I started this Blog. Several years ago, or should I say five homes ago; with the profit from selling our first spec. Strawbale home; I took the profits and did two things. I paid off the Four Runner and I bought a custom, titanium, BLACKSHEEP tandem bicycle. A divorce bike some call em. A Mariage maker I say. To each his own. The intent of owning this bike was to Tour. Since owning it' we have done a few small tours: Two Ride the Rockies, the Katy Trail, a self support Colorado tour---Salida to Salida via Aspen - Crested Butte and Gunnison. But, what we really want to do is tour BIG. You know. Cover some ground, get down with it.

Were self - employed. What that means is; you make hay while the sun is a shine-en. For us the sun just kept on a shine-ing and as the saying goes "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". Well---like everybody else the sun ain't shine-en to brightly, and the gift horse closed his mouth, but, another one opened and I'm about to get a sun burn. Sooo--Rather than sit around and worry about work, me and the miss-es are headin out the door. Gotta take you retirements as they come.

The hardest part is just gettin out the door. Literally. We plan to leave July 22nd and be on the road for at least 3 months, and to do that and keep the rest of your life goin....well lets just say I probably got 3 months just in preparing for the ride. But now were close. I can feel it. Butterflies, oh shit, lets get the f---- out of Dodge!!

So the plan is to get a ride from some friends who's parents live in the northern-most part of the Olympic Peninsula. From there either a sail-boat or ferry ride to Victoria B.C. and ride Clock ways up and over to vancouver and from there on out ??? For a guide we are using the {Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall. Otherwise with the time we have allotted to the tour, well------?.

This photo is the trial run with using the rain fly. It's an old pup tent. The photo is on our land.

Not sure what the hell i am doin

2010-07-14T19:55:00.000-06:00

Like I said. I am not sure what the hell it is I am doin. So I am trying to see how this comes up.

First post.

2010-07-14T18:24:00.000-06:00

Hello and welcome. Got lots to say no time to say it. Right now it's all about our bike tour. In the mean time we'll see what i can jot down.
WHEN A HOME DREAMS GREEN -- IT DREAMS STRAWBALE!!