A nearly perfect stretch of road

95.5 km today, 667.6 km total

(Photos coming soon.)

On the road a bit before 0900 today. Stopped soon for a GIANT cinnamon roll at a bakery by Sunset Beach, eating most of it on the beach while watching a model airplane buzz around. Had to backtrack a bit, since a road on the map that I'd decided to follow turned out to be gated, with "No Trespassing" signs.

Met another cyclist a bit before Seaside, Dale on a Surly. Didn't catch where he was from. Seaside was very touristy, but had a nice beach, with a pleasant ride along the promenade. Stopped for a few groceries, then at a roadside cafe a few miles outside of town for a sandwich, which I ate on a big rock a bit off 101 on a side road.

Before entering Canon Beach (apparently named for a ship's canon that had washed up on shore there), I took a side trip to Ecola State Park, following a nearly perfect stretch of cycling road through the forest: windy, narrow, low traffic, smooth pavement, with some steep climbs, but very fun descents, a few peak-a-boo views of the ocean through the big, old trees. Sort of reminded me of Interlaken in Seattle, but better. And, unlike the cars, I didn't even have to pay the entrance fee, being waved through by the attendant.

I took in the nice views of the rocky coast and beaches from the viewpoint at the park, and then continued following the road towards the beach.

While puffing up one of the steeper sections in my lowest gear, a car full of young women slowly pulled along side, a couple hanging out the windows, cheering me along. I smiled, waved, and then started blowing kisses, which they returned, giggling, as they pulled away.

When I arrived at the beach, they were pulling on their wetsuits, to head out with their boogie boards to frolic in the surf, and I talked to them for a couple of minutes. Turns out they were college freshman, just starting school, and had come to the coast for a weekend of fun. They ended up inviting me to come to their slumber party that night(!?) at the motel they were staying in (all in a single, small room), but I declined(!?). They were probably just hoping I'd buy them alcohol...

Spent an hour or so at the beach relaxing, wading, and watching the surfers, then headed into Canon Beach. At the end of the last long, fast, windy, exhilarating downhill from the park, I actually thought about turning around to ride it again, but decided to to fuel up on Tillamook ice cream in town instead. One large double cone later, I continued on south to Manzanita, where I set up camp at Nehalem Bay State Park.

Headed back into town for a pizza, which I ate on the beach while watching the sunset, then back to the campground for a shower, then back into town to check out the pub, which had some decent live music, and where I ended up talking to several other tourists.

Oregon!

72.5 km today, 572.1 km total

One week on the road today, and I celebrated by crossing into Oregon.

But first, I waited around Cape Disappointment for the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center to open at 1000, riding up to the North Head lighthouse before then, but not sticky around too long, given how windy and foggy it was.


Foggy North Head Lighthouse, Cape Disappointment State Park


The center was fairly interesting, and I spent an hour and a half or so going through it.

Then packed up and headed out, stopping at a grocery in Ilwaco for lunch. Saw another loaded cyclist go by as I was exiting the grocery.

The adrenaline rush for the day was crossing the bridge into Astoria: a couple of miles long without much of a shoulder and fairly heavy traffic. Plus, towards the end you have a fairly steep climb. But I made it over without any problems, and it wasn't actually as bad as I'd been expecting, given some of the accounts I'd heard from other cyclists. Of course, it probably helped that there wasn't much wind when I crossed.


The long bridge to Astoria, OR

Spent a couple of hours in Astoria, exploring, eating a custard sundae, and hitting a bike shop for new pedals. I'd been using cheap plastic pedals to test the Power Grips, and hadn't bothered to replace them before the trip, and one had cracked a couple of days ago. Ended up getting another fairly cheap pair, but with metal and toeclips. Also replaced a missing crimp on the rear derailleur cable.

Ran into Mike again in Astoria, but he is planning to start putting in longer miles so he can make it to San Francisco before he has to head back home, so probably won't see him again.

I ended up taking a circuitous but scenic route out to Ft. Stevens State Park, stopping for dinner along the way, and discovered that the Oregon State Parks hiker/biker sites are only $4 per night. Plus the showers are free! Quite a bargain. And the showers were the complete opposites of the ones I complained about at Twin Harbors -- if anything, too hot and too much pressure.

Cape Disappointment

80.7 km today, 499.5 km total

There may have been a few raindrops last night, or maybe it was just the pine needles that were covering the tarp this morning that I heard falling during the night. Got a fairly late start, but it was an easy day. It was foggy early, but burned off fairly quickly, and the day alternated between sunny and overcast skies. A very nice ride along Willapa Bay and the National Wildlife Refuge. I arrived in Long Beach around 1500 and wandered around town, meeting the first other touring cyclist of the trip, Mike from Vancouver BC, pulling a trailer behind his mountain bike. We compared notes for a bit, then I headed off to explore a bit more and have a late lunch.

While in town checking my email on the sidewalk, a boy, probably around 10 or so, asked if my computer was a laptop or a DVD player. A fairly common question given its diminutive size. Then he started asking a bunch of other questions, like where I came from, if I rode the bike the whole way, how long it took, my average speed, and how many times I had crashed. "Luckily, I haven't crashed at all so far," I answered, and he said "I'd hate to be your laptop when you crash." Me too, kid, although I think it has a better chance of coming through unscathed than I. Since he seemed incredulous that I'd ridden all the way from Seattle, I told him I'd just met a guy who'd come even further. He asked if he had a "gray beard and a big nose." I said no, but I knew who he was talking about, since the other person on a bike I'd seen in town matched that description.

I rode onto Ilwaco, then to Cape Disappointment State Park, where I set up camp. Mike was there also, and we talked some more (being interrupted by a pair of curious raccoons) before I set off to explore the park. It was fairly foggy, windy, and chilly, but I set out on Waikiki Beach watching the waves come in, and the fog turn the faintest pinkish color as the sun set and darkness fell.


Waikiki Beach, Cape Disappointment State Park


Cooked up dinner, and the brazen raccoons were out in force, one putting his front paws on the opposite bench of the picnic table I was sitting at, his back paws on the ground, peering up to see what I was eating, while his friends were attacking the plastic container Mike had in his trailer, the racket drawing him out of his tent to further secure things.


Pesky little bugger, but cute.

Wildlife

85.6 km today, 418.8 km total

A couple of nighttime intruders in camp last night, some fearless raccoons making a racket. This morning, as I was packing up, I looked up to see a coyote standing less than 10 meters away, studying me. I've seen plenty in the wild before, but never that close.

Another great cycling day. Nice views of the ocean, watched the fishing boats, then headed inland for a while.

Matt's Bicycle Touring Haiku #1:

Fat cows in a field
I'm hungry and dreaming:
Big... thick... juicy... steak.

Although the last word could have been "snake," since about that time I inadvertently ran over a small snake. I think it was already dead, although i did see a couple of live ones later, basking on the warm pavement. Also had to swerve several times to avoid crushing fuzzy caterpillars and a couple of slugs. Also saw several raptors hunting in the wetlands.

Camped at a county park in Bay Center, and had a tasty dinner at the local bar: big, fresh, local, pan-fried, Willapa Bay oysters and oyster stuffing (I'd been seeing piles of shells all day), while listening to stories of the local fishermen drining at the bar.

Rest Day In Westport

35.6 km today, 333.1 km total

I'm trying to take it easy at the start of the trip to give my body a chance to adjust to being on the bike, so took a rest day to hang out in Westport today. Did laundry, had lunch in town, rode the bike path, talked to some surfers on the beach, studied Spanish, and just relaxed.


Westport, WA



Bike parking in Westport, WA; unfortunately, nothing to lock to nearby.


Got harrassed about my ID at dinner, when I ordered a beer. The waitress seemed to think it was fake or someone elses!

On the Coast

74.0 km today, 297.5 km total

Got into a couple of wrestling matches with my sleeping gear last night. Generally, things work very well with the hammock, but last night was a bit of an exception. When I first got in and got all arranged, I realized there were some bushes scraping against the fabric as the hammock rocked back and forth when I moved, which was loud
enough to be very annoying. So I got out and pushed back the underbrush. When I got back in my sleeping bag, silk liner, sleeping pad, and the clothes hanging from the line overhead all conspired to make things difficult, and it took me several minutes of furious struggle, squirming, jostling, and thrashing about to finally wrestle them into submission. This scene repeated itself later in the night when I needed to exit to relieve myself. Not sure why I had so many problems last night, when the other nights have been fine.

Anyway, I did sleep fairly well, and got up around 0900. Packed up and headed into town to call my mom, arranging to meet her for lunch at 1100, which was quite good.

It was very warm when I said goodbye to mom and got under way after lunch, taking 12 to Aberdeen. Fairly heavy traffic, but an OK shoulder most of the way. Stopped for
ice cream and to refill my water bottles, and discovered I'd lost my Bullet Pen, probably falling out of its spot during the wrestling matches last night. Too bad, since it had accompanied me on many trips and proved to be a reliable companion. Oh well. So long, Space Pen.

I then wandered around Aberdeen for a bit before heading over the bridge to take 105 towards Westport. Lighter traffic, and a better shoulder most of the way than 12.

When I'm touring, I usually try to take a 5-10 minute break every hour or so. This lets me get a snack, keep hydrated, relieve the pressure and restore circulation to the points where my body makes contact with the bike, and stretch out a bit. Sometimes though, like today, these breaks can stretch out for much a much longer time. Being able to enjoy chance discoveries is one of the advantages of keeping an open schedule and not trying to cover too much ground.

So, I was about an hour outside of Aberdeen looking for a decent spot to rest, when I saw a pullout with a small "State Parks Property" sign and a path. Following the path for a short distance through marshy wetlands, I arrived on a nice, secluded beach on Grays Harbor, a perfect spot. I parked the bike, drank some water, ate a bit of chocolate, then went for a wade. The water was surprisingly warm, so I returned to shore to change into my swimming suit, and went for a quick dunk. Laid on the beach in the sun for a few minutes to dry out, then set up the sunshade (also my sleeping pad, and rear rack pad) and napped in the shade for a few minutes. Studied Spanish a bit and relaxed for a hour or so before heading back out on the road.


My first private beach, hopefully not the last!

Not too much further I saw a roadside shop selling jerky, which sounded good, so I stopped to get some: both spicy and regular, plus a soda. Chewed on a couple of pieces, trying to remember if I'd had any since the Utah desert trip where we'd killed, butchered, and "processed" a sheep, turning the meat we couldn't immediately eat into jerky, slicing it thin to dry in the sun.

I arrived at Twin Harbors State Park shortly after, and looked in vain for the hiker/biker sites. Unlike most parks, there wasn't even a map, and I couldn't find any park staff. So, I set up in one of the normal sites, but paid the lower hiker/biker rate, with an explanatory note.

Hiked over the dunes to the beach, for my first view of the open Pacific Ocean this trip. Waded in the cold surf while watching the sun go down, then returned to camp to cook dinner.

Afterwards, headed to the shower to be completely disappointed, expecting a nice, warm shower. The signs even promised "Hot Showers, 3 minutes for 2 tokens." But even at my most charitable, I could only describe them as a "Tepid Drizzle, a complete waste of 2 tokens." The first one spit out maybe a dozen drops of cold water. Nothing else. The second one had extremely low water pressure, a couple of small streams of just barely warmer than cold water. So I ended up taking a sponge bath with the scrub cloth from the sink, which had normal water pressure and seemed slightly warmer.

Laid out on the picnic table later, listening to the distant rumble of the surf, looking at the stars and the Milky Way, seeing several bright falling stars streak across the sky.

Potlatch to Montesano

99.5 km today, 223.5 km total

A nearly perfect day of cycling. Great weather, light traffic, no mechanical problems. Followed by a refreshing swim and a good dinner.

I slept in this morning, then spent some time tuning up the bike: fixed the remaining shifting problems, cleaned it off a bit, oiled the chain, and fiddled with the positioning of the grips and barends.

Finally got moving a bit before 1200. Ended up going too far along 101, and backtracked into Shelton on 3. Had lunch there, then followed the ACA route on pleasant backroads to Elma. Called my mom when I arrived in Elma to see if there was anything interesting to see (she works there), then continued on to Montesano and Lake Sylvia State Park.

Set up camp in the hiker/biker site, then went for a quick but refreshing swim off the boat dock, as the designated swimming area didn't really look all that enticing.


Lake Sylvia, a nice place for a swim.


Headed back into town for a good Mexican dinner and to explore a bit.


Grays Harbor County Courthouse in Montesano.

Along the deserted road, on the way back up the hill to the park, I turned off my lights for a few minutes, cycling by starlight. Slowly climbing up the hill, following the barely visible center line, I looked up, picking out the constellations I knew but rarely saw in Seattle, hovering there above the trees.

Return to Potlatch

90.8 km today, 123.9 km total

Got up about 0645, underway by 0715. Cool and foggy this morning. Stopped at a grocery for donuts and juice, eating on a bench outside. The fog burned off soon, and it was nice and sunny the rest of the day. The bike was having intermittent weird shifting problems, and I stopped several times to fiddle with the cable tension. After starting out from one stop, the frame wildly swayed, and I discovered the lower S&S coupling was totally loose! First time that has happened. I've added checking those to my daily pre-ride checklist. It was shifting much better once that was tightened, but I'm sure with all my fiddling things need further adjustment soon.

I had a nice ride along forested backroads, then along Hood Canal. Stopped at Twanoh State Park for a break and to cook up some lunch.


Later, riding through Union, I saw a sign for a salmon bake going on at the fire hall, and wished I had held off a bit for lunch. But decided maybe I'd return for an early dinner after setting up camp.

Followed a pair of bald eagles down the road for a km or so, and admired the views of the Olympics and the wetlands of the Great Bend.

Rolled into Potlatch State Park about 1245, set up camp, and wandered a bit to see what had changed (not much), and talked briefly with the ranger. I spent a couple of summers working here while in college, so it was interesting to see it again.

Around 1400 I was getting hungry again, so decided to check out the salmon bake (one of the advantages of traveling by bike, you get to eat at least 2 times as much as you normally would). For $10 had a bunch of good food: salmon, corn, potatoes, coleslaw, cornbread, blackberry cobbler, and icecream, plus lemonade and iced tea. Mostly an older crowd, but I chatted briefly with a few of the locals.

Headed back to the park, showered, did laundry, and then hung out at a picnic table by the water, drying my clothes and studying Spanish. A bit chilly once it got dark, so made some tea before sleeping.

Finally on the Road!

33.0 km today

At last! I finally managed to start my trip, even if I didn't make it very far. I left work around 1630, after taking care of several last minute details in the U District. Hit downtown rush hour traffic on my way to W. Seattle, and had fun negotiating traffic on the bike (really!). Actually ended up taking a new route for me, down Utah behind OR and in front of Starbucks, since I had to avoid a long, slow train under the viaduct south of downtown. Met up with my sister briefly at Alki Beach, then continued on to Lincoln Park, where H. saw me off. She gave me a good luck pin, and I gave her the spare keys and a demo of how to use the U-lock I'd given her. Barely managed to make the ferry, but it was a nice ride with good views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, and the sunset. It was getting dark when I arrived in Southworth, so ended up stealth camping in the woods behind the playfields at a school not too far from the ferry.


Kilometer Zero: the bike packed and rearin' to go outside APL.

Homeless

As of this morning, I officially became homeless. The boat has a new owner, a young woman who also happens to work at the univeristy and who is planning to move on board at the end of the month. Hopefully they will get along well. It was a bit strange to hand the boat over and see her go, since she has been my home for the past several years.

I also wrapped up the few remaining things at work, such as making sure all my contact info was updated, dealing with my campus mail, talking to the security folks and having my debrief, cleaning out my email account (which was especially annoying, since I'd already done it once, but had it undone by a disk failure on the server), and the innumerable other little house keeping tasks that I hadn't gotten around to.

So, the current plan is to leave town Wednesday. I'm at my parents' place for the night, but will return to Seattle tomorrow on the bus with the bike and all the gear I'll be taking with me. I'm planning to attend one last bike ride with a slightly crazy group I've been riding with all summer, to see just how much my cycling muscles have atrophied. I haven't really been on the bike at all since Sep. 1. After the ride (well, after I bail, as the "rides" often continue on into the wee hours of the morning), I'll see some other friends, spend the night in Seattle, and head off on Wednesday morning.

In a way, I guess my trip really starts tomorrow -- although I'll be in Seattle, I'll have started living out of my backpack. Tomorrow will be another busy morning as I take care of a bunch of little items that I need to attend to, but all the big stuff is taken care of now. And my bags are packed and the bike is waiting, ready to roll.

A Hectic Week

I've spent most of the last week running around trying to get everything in order before I leave. All of my possessions have been moved out of my office, off the boat, out of the van, and into my parents' garage. The stuff I decide to keep will soon move into storage. I could probably just have shoved all of it into a storage unit a couple of days ago, and in that case I probably would have been on the road by now. But I've decided to take some extra time for the tedious tasks of organizing things and donating/selling/giving away a bunch of stuff I really don't need anymore. It will make things easier when I return, probably result in smaller storage bills, and now is a perfect time to do it when everything is in one place and I have a pretty good mental inventory from just having moved all of it. Plus I don't really have any hard deadlines at the moment, and it will be satisfying to know things are in order and my life even more simplified.

As far as larger possessions, the van, which has mostly served as a small storage unit for the last several years, is in the process of being donated to charity. There are some complications with the boat, so I'm not quite sure how that will work out yet. I am hoping to get rid of it soon, since I'm ready to live elsewhere when I return, and I'm not so thrilled about the prospect of paying storage for it while I'm gone and it is sitting empty.

On a somewhat related note, I'm also in the process of trying to finalize my gear list and decide what I should take with me and what I should leave behind. Over the last couple of weeks I've been mentally weighing the relatively large amounts of gear I was thinking of taking, and have been considering leaving the panniers and tent behind. Instead, I'd just go with a lightweight backpack strapped to the rear rack to hold most of my gear, together with a handlebar bag to hold stuff that I'll need frequently while riding. Not exactly a conventional bike touring setup, but it does have some advantages that seem appealing. I'd still have full, if rather minimal, camping gear, and the gear list would be similar to other lightweight backpacking and cycling trips I've done in the past, so I know it all works pretty well, at least for shorter trips.

Since it looks like I may need to come back to Seattle for a brief visit to unload the boat in a month or two, I'm thinking I may give the lighter gear list a test run until then, and re-evaluate things after I've spent some time using it on the road.

Speaking of which, I've also been watching the weather and the extended forecast for the Canadian Rockies, and am thinking that I might just head down the Pacific Coast instead. But we'll see what happens when I'm actually ready to leave, hopefully by the end of next week.

Last Day at Work

Today was my last day at work, but I don't think it has really sunk in yet. I had actually finished most of my work yesterday afternoon, so today was pretty quiet: touching base with a few people to make sure everything was in order, organizing some of my files (both paper and electronic), and starting to organize my office in preparation for cleaning it out.

Officially, I'll be on paid vacation until October 3, 2006, when I will begin a one year leave of absence, and plan to return to work in early October 2007. I still need to finish cleaning out my office, so will be going in for several hours over the weekend or sometime next week.

Besides the office, I still have several other personal things to take care of before I can get on the road, but hopefully I'll be able to wrap everything up within a week or two, so that I start riding in the Rockies before the weather turns wintery.

Mostly I just need to get my possessions organized and into storage, and deal with making sure bank accounts, insurance, mail delivery, etc. is all in order before I take off for a year. There have also been some new issues with the boat in the last week, but hopefully that won't cause any major delays.

I've rented a car for the next week, in order to facilitate hauling things around and running all the various errands I need to do.

But actually, today while running around town in the car before coming to work, I was wishing I was on my bike. The bike would have been able to cut through the traffic, slip in between the pedestrians in crosswalks when turning corners, and avoided all the time I wasted hunting for parking. The car actually felt lumbering, ungainly, and slow, compared to the nimblness and maneuverability of my bicycle in downtown traffic. Timewise, I would have been far better off on my bike. Over the past several months, I've ridden through downtown traffic nearly everyday on my way to and/or from work, so I now feel pretty comfortable mixing it up with the traffic downtown. It requires a lot of awareness, but is actually quite fun. (Hint: Take the center of the lane in traffic, since you can probably move just about as fast as the cars in most places downtown, and at all costs avoid the Bike Lane of Death on 2nd Ave, or any of the bike lanes next to parked cars elsewhere in the city for that matter, unless your idea of a good time is running into suddenly opened car doors while doing 20+ miles an hour, or being cut off by cars turning corners while ignoring the bike lane).

Anyway, back on topic, the cargo carrying abilities of the rental car will be needed, and I can't match its highway speed on my bike. I'm not looking forward to the gas bills though.

In any case, the next week or so will be very busy, but hopefully I'll still have a bit of time to enjoy what is traditionally regarded as the last weekend of summer.

And I'm really looking forward to finally starting my travels after years of anticipation.