Saturday was a great day for me. Even though we had already put in 400 miles of tough up and down and head winds, I was exhilarated by the realization that at the end of the day we were going to arrive at the true beginning of the dream fulfillment. Florence represents the starting point for our eastbound journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and the real starting point for the dream that I have held in my heart for the past 20 years or so, ever since I took up serious cycling.

We really cruised through the day and enjoyed the sights, scenery, route and each other. I can't count the times during the day that I pinched myself (figuratively) and revelled in the knowledge that we were going to finish the northward journey and finally set out on the eastward one, and thought about what may lie ahead. Sometimes with trepidation, as we have many high mountain passes to go over and many desolate areas to cross, but mostly with awe and wonder at what we are going to find. And we are really hoping to have a tail wind for at least a little while.

I believe that the past 10 days have been a good time for learning about our capabilities, increasing our strength and endurance and developing our skills for this type of travel. We still have a lot to learn, and will face new challenges of all types, both external and internal (we have been very blessed that we haven't had any rain yet, and are still married and talking ... well, sort of).

So now, here it is. Tomorrow, Monday, we start east. Our first night we expect to meet up with our son Tom and his fiance Trisha as they head from Seattle to Modesto to seek their new direction. From there, it is over the Cascades and across Eastern Oregon. That's as far as we need to look for the time being.

coastal finish

Had a well earned day off in Orick for the holiday. Met at breakfast with a German couple, Margrete and Gurt, who were heading south- of course. Had a nice chat with them they also tandem ride at home. Walked the river bed almost 2 miles to the ocean and the ---- visitor center. Saw 4 pairs of Ospreys flying way up and a family of seals sunning on the beach. We got pretty close to them.

Tuesday, our earliest start yet - 7:30 - after a hearty breakfast. Passed some beautiful coastal areas and some small herds of elk along the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Met more cyclists heading south. Got to Crescent City about noon for Subway thanks to M&C and continued onto a campground. Passed a beautiful ag area devoted to lily bulbs. Then the headwind - we were on the flat and making only 7 mph. That campground that seemed so close was indeed very far away. We pulled into the Salmon Harbor RV resort freezing and finished at 3:30. The tent site was all to ourselves right on the beach AND out of the wind. Hot showers and a beer from across the way and we would live again. Watching about 20 sea lions, over a hundred pelicans and some seals was our evening entertainment. We als0 watched a compact perfectly round tunnel shaped air stream flow right past us forming just over us and flowing to the south along the coastline. Just like in Nemo only in the air instead of the water. Cooked our first camp stove meal - canned chicken,chicken barley soup, water, rice, broccoli. Yummm!

Wednesday woke up to heavy fog and didn't get going till 8:30. Foggy all the way to Brookings plus a headwind. People keep telling us it doesn't start until late morning or after lunch but it feels like a headwind all the time to me. Up and down all the way to Gold Beach with one super long hill all with an unbelievable headwind. In Pistol River, we were being thrown around trying to go across the bridge - it was terrifying. Reuben had to walk the bike across. We continued up a huge hill with gusty winds. Finally we turned east before the Rogue River into the Indian Creek RV Resort at about 3 pm. Beautiful setting by a creek next to a fish hatchery. Once again the only tenters. It takes us about 2 hours to ready camp,shower,hang up clothes,etc. once we arrive at camp. There was a restaurant just down the road where we ate dinner with a beautiful view of the river.

Thursday, 7:15 start (yeah) with smooth riding over mild hills. About 10 miles into the ride in Ophir, we found a lovely spot for snacks and morning prayers overlooking the ocean - no whales that we could see. Stopped in Port Orford for great salad and pizza at the Hard Rain Cafe, picked up groceries as well. The wind was beating us up real good so we decided to skip Cape Blanco State Park and Lighthouse, where I wanted to camp, and traveled another 4 miles to a KOA Kamp OUT OF THE WIND. I think this 4 miles took overan hour!! Had leftover pizza, carrots and broccoli for dinner.

Friday, left camp at 7:30 and made it to Bandon at 9:15 for a fantastic breakfast at the Minute Cafe. The people there were so friendly and curious about our ride,etc. We did stop for pix at Face Rock. Met a Brit, John, heading south and we were on the road again by 10:15. 7 Devils road was a beautiful alternative to 101 winding up in the hills, quiet, little wind, all the way to Charleston, a typical fishing town. Only 10 miles more to North Bend and the Comfort Inn and we got there at 1:30. Used the last of the Subway card! This was a great day of riding. Walked down to check out the 1 mile bridge we had to walk the bike across in the morning. CONSTRUCTION closed the northbound ped walkway!! Ate a great dinner at Mama Mia's near the hotel - owner, Max is a real nice fellow.

Saturday, May 30. Talked with some nice folks in the breakfast room at the Inn and shared our blog site name. Thought an early start (7:45) would be best for traffic and wind on the bridge. Turns out it was a perfect bridge walking day!! Had one mega tuff hill, passed some gorgeous lakes and across another cool bridge into beautiful, quaint Florence at 1:30. Checked into the historic Lighthouse Inn just across from Old Town. We had plenty of time to stretch, clean up, and walk around town. Very pleasant place. There was a street faire going on and we bought some jerky from a guy who was leaving to go down to his daughter's graduation from Stan State this Friday. When we told him that was when our daughter was graduating from there as well, he offered to hold up a sign with her name on it. We also met a couple who were marketing their invention called Glide Cycle. They just opened up sales for these things in March in Oregon and will soon open up distribution place in Sacramento. The are both former runners/cyclists and he is a physical therapist. He was looking for a way to keep running and invented this thing. Check it out at www.glidecycle.com

Pentecost Sunday and a day off as well!!!Took our time this morning with gooood coffee and breakfast and rode up the hill 2 miles to OurLady of the Dunes for Mass. We rodeout to Harbor Vista Park to dip the rear wheel into the ocean but alas there was too much sand. Well at least we got a picture.

We're On Our Way!

The dream began fulfillment in earnest on May 20, when we loaded up the bike and all the gear, had a farewell Mass and blessing from Father Dan, joined by several of our friends, then Marty & Kathy Reis and Dick & Kay Elson joined us at Mimi's for a departure breakfast. The six of us then drove up to Fort Bragg, just above Mendocino, and spent the evening with cocktails, dinner and good friendship.

The next morning, after cereal and waffles at the motel, we bid farewell to our friends and headed out for the first day of our journey by bicycle. It was a gorgeously sunny but cool day (as we have learned most days are on the coast) and very little wind. We saw very little traffic on Hwy 1, and the road was in good shape. We experienced our first logging truck after about 20 miles, a hair-raising ordeal as it loudly approached us from behind on a steeply inclined curve with no shoulder. Fortunately we got around the curve and found some shoulder before he roared past. It took a while after that to calm down and get back into the California Dreamin' groove.

As we made our way up the coast, we found a good climb of about 800' just north of Westport. Beautuful woods and steep grades seem to accompany one another, as this one was about 7%. We took a break about halfway up, met a fellow riding south from Vancouver to San Diego, then started up again. About 30 seconds later, we heard the next logging truck coming up behind us, and we were again entering a steep curve with no shoulder. Since he had to slow for a switchback, we were able to get around the curve, find shoulder, and this time stop and wait for him. As it turns out, there were two of them and a pickup. After that we effected an SOP (standard operating procedure): if you hear a logger coming, get off the road.

What goes up usually comes down. After this climb we had a super downhill and relatively flat section, then turned uphill again, this time for about 1800' and 7% again. We rested several times on this climb, which lasted a couple of hours, and were feeling quite whipped when we crested with 4.5 miles remaining to Leggett, our intended destination. The 4 mile downhill was refreshing, but to our dismay it didn't get us all the way to Leggett; we still had a half mile of steep grade to go up. Oh well, we ground through it and found our way to Leggett, arriving there about when we had planned, at 3:30pm.

What a disappointment Leggett was: we expected all services to be available, but only the market was open. Nice market, but we had hoped this would be the end to our first day. We ate lunch (a bit late after all that hard work) and picked up some additional food supplies and water. While sitting there pondering our situation, a fellow rode up on his bike and entered the store, coming out with a 12-pack of beer, which he strapped on the back of his bike. Pretty cool. He said he was camped about a mile away (downhill) in a nice hiker/biker campground with showers.

It didn't take us long to decide to join him there. We loaded up and rode to the campground, which charged us $6 for the two of us. Greg (the fellow we met at the store) and his buddy Jim welcomed us, and we started setting up camp. While Teresa was showering, the mosquitos started swarming, so she went to the Peg House and came back with our own beers and insect repellent. We finished camp set-up and personal hygiene, and walked across the street for a proper dinner: fresh BBQ tri-tip sandwiches and salad. After 47 miles, 4200' of total climbing, and a not-so-well executed nutrition program, I believe we were asleep by 8pm.

Friday started about 5:30, after a sound sleep for me and an okay night for Teresa. We left camp around 7:15, went across the road for breakfast at the Peg House, an eclectic combination of gas station, gift shop, market, restaurant, outdoor pavilion and banquet hall. They even have an old black and white car parked out front with two mannequins inside posing as CHP officers (Teresa hid the beer as she was returning to camp the night before). Met a couple of characters, one from Las Vegas heading to Seattle to get out of the heat, the other a local on a Harley (the motorcycle kind) who had done a little bicycling in the past. Lots of bull exchanged.

Left Peg's about 8, heading out on US 101, and began to find out why we weren't seeing anyone heading north: the wind. We were warned about it back in Fort Bragg, but the rule of thumb was that it picks up after lunch. I guess we skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch, because it was there from the start.

Otherwise, however, the day was beautiful. We had second breakfast after about 2 hours, then had lunch in a neat town called Garberville: lots of friendly people, friendly dogs, and great food at a restaurant called Flavors. Met a retired/disabled fireman who was a little off, but very friendly and interested in what we were doing. His spouse, who saved us a little later allowing us to get on our way, is probably a saint and also this man's best friend.

A little later, we entered the Avenue of the Giants, the off-highway route through the Humboldt Redwoods. Magnificent does not do it justice: suffice it to say we had a very enjoyable ride through endless groves of enormous old-growth redwoods. Again, the traffic was really mild and very courteous. We ended up at a small town called Redcrest, again around 3:30pm, after 57 miles and 3000'. I should have known the second day would end with a climb, just from the name: RedCREST. Not much there either, just the Redcrest Resort, a place with cabins and a campground. The cabins were booked, so we a campsite for $22: It included hot showers, so it was worth it. The only cafe in town, which has just opened 3 days before, closed at 5, so we had to hurry to clean up before dinner. The local market had been closed for two years, so the cafe was our only food source. We ate dinner, walked around a little, then began to setup camp. As we were doing this, we noticed the sky was closing in on us: fog coming in on the wind. Headed to bed before 8 with a little bit of concern for the next day.

Saturday arrived, and at least the fog had not settled down to the ground. You could feel a little mist now and then, and it was cold and windy. We prepared some instant oatmeal with dried blueberries and some hot chocolate, or plan being to refuel about 15 miles up the road in Rio Dell. This would also likely be the first location we could get signal for our I-phone and get email. Starting our from RedCREST, we had a fast downhill that nearly froze us, and kept us cold all day. Even if cold, we enjoyed another 11 miles on the Ave of the Giants, then came out onto 101 to Scotia and Rio Dell, crossing the Eel River once again. Breakfast in Rio Dell was good, and we did warm up a little.

Leaving there, we had the choice of following the map or taking 101; we chose the map, which was the scenic route and about 11 miles longer. For the next six miles from Rio Dell, we had several nice views down upon 101 meandering peacfully through the valley, while we were going up and down, up and down. We finally hit one hill that had to be at least 12% grade, and it was time to get off and push for about 400 yards to the top.

After that last tough hill, we came down into the valley and pretty much stayed there. We were supposed to go through Ferndale, which we were looking forward to, but we chose to take a shortcut to Eureka that shaved off about 6 miles, bringing the day's total to 42. We arrived in Eureka around 2:30, found a nice cafe, and found a motel. Church was at 5:30, a nice 1.5 mile walk that did us good, and we enjoyed a great dinner downtown at Lost Coast Cafe that included a couple of stouts for carbo-loading. The Kinetic Grand Championship was taking place from Arcata through Eureka to Ferndale. It's a big deal with man powered machines traveling on road,water and sand. Check it out online. The restarant was a circus like atmostphere with strnge vehicles and costumes.

This had been a very tough day for us, especially for Teresa. We have been adjusting to the changes in comfort, physical demand, nutritional needs and uncertainty of destination. For folks who have planned things out continuously for all these years, this is a bit stressful. Finding a motel in Eureka and cutting the route short helped. We still have a lot to learn.

Sunday, although the overcast, cold and wind continued, turned out to be a pretty good day. We left Eureka at a good time and went to Arcata for breakfast, about 7 miles. Nice little coffee shop with great food and quick service. Arcata is where Humboldt State is located, and our route took us along the campus. We then headed along the marshlands and up the coast by bicycle trail, until we came to Trinidad, where we had lunch att yet aonther organic cafe called the Beachcombers. Magnificent views of the ocean were ours for most of the morning.

Our objective was to reach the little town of Orick, which had at least one motel, and take a rest day. Along the route that day, we came across several smart south-bound riders, who informed us of many nice places for camping, so we felt reassured that we would at least find a place. Before starting out that morning, I had called a motel in Orick to see if they had vacancies. They were booked, but told me to call back after 11 to see if that had changed. From Trinidad, I called again and a vacancy had opened, so we were assured of a room for two nights. This assurance provided us a calmness that smoothed out the rest of the day, and our journey was most enjoyable. We did much more stopping and looking around, rather than focusing on the end of the day to the detriment of enjoying the moment. We arrived in Orick around 3:30, after logging 47 miles for the day.

So, after nearly 200 miles, our journey is already much more than just a bike trip, we are learning a bit more about ourselves and each other that we either did not know or had forgotten. We are also being challenged to overcome fears and obsessions that may prevent us from fully participation in what is going on around us. Each day will come, each day will go, and we will be in a new place at the end, whether we are moving or not.