Bodega

Bodega Sand Dunes State Park. I rolled up to the hiker/ biker spot and one of my friends was still camped out there. It's nice to see familiar faces on the road. There were a couple of jokers camped out next to us though. They looked like ex-roadies for Huey Lewis or Bad Company. One had a long leather trench coat on while I was feeling fine in shorts and his buddy had the classic 80's thick and ultra black shades on. They tussled with their tent for a while and then proceeded to watch movies on a laptop while slugging beer and liquor. Weird dudes.

In California when you see a sign that says, "Danger, Sheer Cliff, Stay Back" what it really means is that Ninjas might be around.

Big Grinnin'

Yeah Ya'll. I say whatever about the other day. It took me a little while to process the bullshit but now I'm all good. I hit a store, got some fresh veggies and chicken breast and called it an early day around thirty-five miles. The Day after was awesome. A little over fifty miles to camp and it was all coastal with the wind heading my way. Just fucking beautiful. I have times when I think that bike touring is just physically strenuous and boring. Then I hit amazing sights and cute little towns and charge up hills just to cruise back down. I forget about miles and speed and pedal effortlessly while in awe of my situation and surroundings. I love my life.

So I was going to post again and be lite hearted about the whole thing with a very Easy Rider kind of attitude until I went to upload some new photos and somehow since the library two hours ago I have lost a bunch of recent photos. Pretty much a weeks worth. I have no Pictures of the Redwood Forest or even the last three days of Oregon. PISSED.

Not My Day

I'm havin' troubles today. I woke up at 8:00 so I could get to the library early enough to still make it to Bodega Bay. I got kicked off the computer after my hour but there system was so whack that I had to move to another computer then that one was super slow. It took forever to do anything. So I actually started riding at a little after one. It was windy, gloomy, and bleak. Then my chain got caught up in the rings twice. It turns out that the bottom ring is bent. Then it started raining a little.

Hobo Chili

YEAHHH... this picture was taken about ten miles from the California border by my riding buddy Richard. We stayed at this park overnight with two other bike tourers that were heading North. We gathered some wood and I made a big dinner of chicken in a red sauce with rice and beans and flour tortillas. I am becoming a very good outdoors, minimalist chef. Did you know that you could use an old shoestring in place of a bullion cube? It makes for some good Hobo chili.

After we crossed over the border we left 101 and headed inland to go deeper into the redwoods. Such an amazing place. At that point Richard and I had been riding together for four and 1/2 days but we were heading in different directions afterwords. The company was nice but my solitude was beginning to get crowded. I learned a lot from him though. Mostly that pop-tarts good. The kid was culinary maniac. This first day we rode, we both stopped at a Safeway. I got Gatorade, apples, bananas, beans, and a loaf of bread. He came out with an 8 pack of donuts and a quart of milk. Then proceeded to consume it all before getting back on his bike. Another time, a few days earlier, we stopped at a store about three miles from camp to get dinner stuff. We went halves on the food and he also bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's. I wrongly assumed that we would share it for desert until a mile down the road when i looked back to see him steering his bike with one hand and using the other to squeeze the ice cream into his mouth. The pint was finished before camp. WILD! The day after we split up I was cruising back on the 101 when I saw him sitting outside of a convenience store finishing off a whole box of macaroons. The kid was amazing.

So I'm just outside of Manchester, Ca. about 120 miles from San Francisco. My plan was to do roughly 70 mi. to get to Bodega Bay sand dunes but this library didn't open til noon. So I don't know how far I'll get. It doesn't really matter anyway. I've been having trouble finding internet access for a week now so i definitely wanted to hang out and use the computer. The next decent size town is probably San Fran. I also had issues finding a computer that would let me transfer images. When I got here I initially could upload pics but now I can't. Arghh! I' gonna move to another computer and if it doesn't work I'll just spill something on it.