Saturday 15 November 2014

Day 32-35-Las Vegas !- 11-13 Oct. 2014,

After a quick dip in the pool we spent the first night in town taking in the neon excess of the old strip and wondering why anyone would bring children to this adult land of excess.
I remember it being bigger
The real reason everyone had come down to Vegas was not just to see me and Jason (although I’m sure it was a major factor), the main event was in fact the Red Bull Air Races. To this end, after everyone managed to find some breakfast we piled into cabs and made our way out to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to see the spectacle.  
I found Tractor! Vegas is just like Saskatchewan!

On the second day the festivities had to be canceled before the final round due to high winds. As a result the pilot with the fastest time from qualifying the previous day was declared the winner. The winner turned to be the one and only Canadian pilot in the mix, Pete McLeod! In 2007 while I was earning my private pilot’s license in St. Andrews, MB I happened to meet Mr. McLeod when he stopped for fuel while taking his aerobatic stunt plane from show to show. So needless to say, I was cheering for him.


Somewhere along the way I found time to take in the Penn and Teller show with Kelsey and Judy. I also tried my hand at blackjack and found myself up after three days but on the final day in town Vegas took it all back.
The crew in the "Blaine Mobile"

Day 36- Las Vegas to Prescott, AZ-402 km- 14 Oct. 2014,

After 4 days in sin city I was happy to make my escape, the air races were excellent and seeing some friendly faces from home was even better. As for the city itself, I’m glad I took it in but I’m not in any hurry to go back to the carnival excesses of that city.

After packing up and lugging my bags back through the maze of the hotel we finally set off heading west to the Hoover Dam under a burning sun. It took nearly an hour to break reach the city limits but after that it felt great to be back on the open road.

Yes, it's big
Day 37-Prescott, AZ-15-20 Oct. 2014,

In Prescott we met up with our friend Christine H. and Brian D., both friends from the Air Cadet Gliding Program. Christine is learning to be a Helicopter Instructor Pilot while working a degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, she was kind enough to let us crash at her place for a few days. We had intended on staying only two nights but the combination of WIFI, hot tubs, showers, beds, and Christine’s incredible beer infused cooking (I really must get that cook book!) we wound up getting lazy and staying for six nights!

Hiking
Gliding from the front seat, weird
While in town I went for several hikes into the hills surrounding Prescott and we all went gliding on Saturday at the local soaring club. The soaring club used a winch (which appeared to have been taken directly from the set of Mad Max) to launch from the only runway suitable for takeoff; there was a few more options for landing. After coming all this way and patiently waiting my turn I managed to snag a ride in a Schweizer  SGS 2-33A, the same glider I fly in the Air Cadet Program. We didn’t have much luck finding lift so we returned to Terra Firma after 20 min in the air.   

Mad Max winch
More Hiking
  
Day 42-Prescott to Apache Junction, AZ -300km- 20 to 23 Oct. 2014,

After a lazy week in Prescott we loaded up and set off towards Phoenix, we were going to spend a few days with Jason’s Grandfather and his friend, ken and Sharon, at their winter home in Apache Junction (a suburb of Phoenix). In addition to visiting, we also had to get all our paper work in order for crossing the line into Mexico.

But before we buried ourselves in paper work we took a day to ride out of town on a road that steadily deteriorated from pavement to gravel to a narrow winding dirt road that eventually took us to the Roosevelt Damn. The rough road was a blast on our bikes but the bumps caused the spare tube and my license place to bounce off after back tracking for several kilometers I recovered the precious piece of rubber but the license plate had been swallowed by the desert. At least I won’t have to worry about getting any more photo-radar-tickets in the mail!
Jason likes to take the hard way
When we finally went to work to make arrangements for the border crossing we soon found out that there was no free WIFI in Ken and Sharon’s trailer park so we wound up camping out in front of the local public library, after dark, to tap into their internet pipeline.

After three days of home cooked meals , excellent hospitality, and sever swims in the pool we finally had all our documents in order, we were finally ready for Mexico! On the morning of the 23rd we loaded up once more and headed west. Since it would take all day to ride from Phoenix to the border crossing at Mexicali, we decided to ride until we were 50 km from the border, set up camp, and cross into the unknown first thing in the morning. This plan brought us to a stealth campsite along the Colorado River, the sunset was excellent... and then all the bugs from the wetlands surrounding the river came out to join us. We awoke flee bitten but ready, with a final stop of in Calexico, CA to grab some oil filters we finally rolled up to the border crossing...

Stay tuned for the next episode of "Dual Sporter Semi Weekly", where you learn how your hero (me) wound up trapped at desert oasis while Jason absconded with my precious motorbike back to sunny California.  


Saturday 8 November 2014

 Day 23-27-San Francisco - 30 Sept.-5 Oct. 2014,

My first priority was to get a new set of rubbers for my bike, after making a few calls and struggling to make myself understood over a poor skype connection I had a set arranged which would be ready for pick up in two days. Perfect, I didn’t really want to change tires on my first day in a new city!
With that settled, we got ready to head over to visit the USS Hornet, a WWII aircraft carrier which had escaped the scrap yard by becoming a museum ship. We had planned on catching a bus to Oakland (where the Hornet is docked) but Google estimated that it would take nearly 3 hours to bus the 30 km to the dock. Would we risk riding the bikes with what was left of my tire to avoid a 3 hour bus ride? Yes we would! (With all of my heavy gear unloaded the risk of destroying the tire was greatly reduced). We made it there and back without incident! Yay!
What was left of my rear tire 
 We had initially planned on spending just an hour or two on the ship but in the end we spent the entire day crawling all over this massive ship. The Hornet was commissioned during WWII to fight in the pacific, after the war this oil burning carrier remained in service until the 70’s becoming famous for retrieving the crew of Apollo 11 when the splashed down into the ocean after their excursion to the moon.
I have the ball, USS Hornet
USS Hornet
After sleeping in after a late night of socializing we set out to visit Alcatraz which required us to walk for the better part of an hour to catch the ferry to the Island (I suspect that if you were an inmate you would get a ride to the ferry). Once you get away from the crowd at the dock you are free to explore the island which over the years has been home to thousands of birds, a military fort, a prison, a museum, and finally a Nicholas Cage Film.


Alcatraz
Alcatraz
 That night we went joined an inter-Hostel pub crawl which gave us an opportunity to meet up and swap stories with some fellow travelers from all over the world. We had originally planned on just staying three nights in San Fran but during our stay we heard that there was going to be a three day “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” music festival in Haite Park which was totally free! I could practically see Jason’s rainbow hippy pants vibrating with excitement! We booked an extra few nights in the Hostel and set out with Liam (a fellow world traveler from England) to chill out in the part and enjoy some music.
Hardly Strictly

On Saturday morning, it was finally time to swap tires. The tire shop wanted $45/tire to change them for us so we elected to change them ourselves in the parking lot across the street. During the process the milk crate holding Jason’s bike off the ground decided that it had had enough and dropped his bike onto the ground while the rear tire was off (very embarrassing). After struggling to get the tire on while bike was lying on its side we were able to get it vertical with only a few choice words. After 3 hours of work in the sun we had managed to replace both of my tires and Jason’s rear tire, maybe next time we will let the professionals take care of it… but probably not. Jason went back to join his people at the music festival while I set out to explore the city on my brand new tires.

Jason's bike taking a nap while we change the tire

On my last day in the city I tagged along on a walking tour showing off the changing architecture styles present in down town San Francisco (yes its nerdy and yes I enjoyed it).

Sutro Baths, modern day ruins
Twin Peaks
The time had finally come for us to load up our beasts of burden and bid farewell to the hostel  and San Fran. In the late afternoon we rolled north across the GG Bridge into the Golden Gate National Recreation area. Our goal was just to find a place to camp for the night before we began the long journey inland to Las Vegas!

The bridge from full house!

Day 28-Golden Gate National Recreation area to Yosemite National Park -390 km- 6 Oct. 2014,

We packed up early and rode down towards the beach, we were planning to have breakfast on the coast, but halfway down the way was blocked by thick fog. Turning back inland, we climbed out of the fog and found a scenic pull out to enjoy breakfast. From our vantage point we could see the peaks of  San Francisco sky scrapers  peeking through the thick cloud pant.

It was time for an oil change, we found a Walmart in the next city and set up shop in the parking lot. Using paint trays as drip pans we dumped the oil and replaced it with new crude. Luckily we didn’t observe any metal chunks in the old oil and we only made a little bit of a mess in the parking lot!
During the very hottest part of the day my bike began to wobble on a mushy back tire. I pulled off and found my rear tire was flat! Just 2 days after I had replaced the rear tire and tube! It didn’t take long to have the tire off and a new tube installed (we are starting to get good at this!) in the process I found a finger sized hole in tube, I must have pinched it during the tire change. So there was really no one to blame but myself. We hadn’t been able to find an electric pump so Jason and I spent the better part of half an hour pumping up my tire with the hand pump.



Having worked up a sweat and an appetite we rolled into the first gas station we found and were rewarded with some fantastic smoothies to beat the heat. Once we had regained our cool we rode on to Yosemite national park and set up camp for the night. As the sun began to set we finished the day with a short hike up a logging road and were rewarded with a grand view of the valley and the setting sun.
  
Day 29- Yosemite National Park-Oak Creek -280 km- 7 Oct. 2014,

The day started with a leisurely ride through Yosemite which brought us up to 10000’ in elevation; our highest point yet! From there we began the long descent back towards sea level (and below!) in Death Valley.
Yosemite
During the hottest part of the day we stopped in Bishop, California to retreat into the air condition glory of the local Safe Way (I may have spent a few minutes with my head in a freezer). After acquiring nourishment we consulted the oracle (google) and found that we wouldn’t make it to Death Valley before dark. Instead we found a campground on google maps 50km down the road and set off.

When we arrived at the ‘campground’ we found a beat up road and what may have been the remnants a campground twenty years ago. Since there was no one around we decided to take advantage of the free camping and set up camp for the night.

I had talked to me brother, Graeme, when we stopped for internet and lunch; he let me know that there was going to be a lunar eclipse tonight. Is set me alarm for 3:30AM, left the fly off of my tent (it doesn’t rain in the desert anyways), and was able watch the eclipse from the comfort of me sleeping bag.

Day 30-Oak Creek to Death Valley -290 km- 8 Oct. 2014,

As we rolled down the road the elevation began to fall away and the heat began to rise. By the time we arrived at the entrance to Death Valley I was sweating from every pore and still had 3000’ to descend. We reached the campsite that we selected on the interwebs (chosen mostly because it was free), it turned out to be nothing more than a flat patch of gravel just off the highway with an outhouse and a single tap. I suggested that we travel the extra 20km to the next campsite in the hopes that it maybe had a pool…. Or even just some shade. As it turned out, it was just a larger and hotter gravel lot that wasn’t free. After stopping at the gas station to grab some cold beer, we headed back to the first campsite to set up camp under the scorching sun.
The valley.... of death

Jason and I had different method of dealing with the extreme heat, I covered myself from head to toe to hide from the sun (this included a water soaked buff covering my head and neck). Jason took the opposite approach. He stripped down to just his underwear and ball cap and soaked in the sun. The Chinese tourist that stopped to ask us for directions are probably still confused by our bizarre appearance.

Later that evening two more adventure riders pulled in I wandered over to say hello. As it turned out it was another pair of Canadian riders! Roger S. and his wife are a 50-something couple from Northern British Columbia riding down to Argentina (just like us!) for the second time (unlike us) and they were planning on doing the trip in only 6 months (now I’m starting to feel very slow). They swapped stories, advice, and beer with us for a few hours until a crotchety old man from a few sites over came over and complained that our casual conversation was disturbing the peace! Didn’t we know that some people came out here to get away from all the noise of the city? The time was 9:30… he must have had very sensitive hearing.

Day 31- Death Valley -200 km- 9 Oct. 2014,

Today we stripped down our motor bikes and set out into the desert to explore our surroundings. Jason had plotted a route for us that he had found on another ADV riders blog. They had conquered this route on 400cc dirt bikes and described it as ‘challenging’. On our heavy 650cc tractors it felt like a gruelling slog at some points but the ride was well worth the effort.


Again Jason was riding too fast (in my opinion) on the washboard and boulder infested dessert roads. I suggested that maybe he should slow down to preserve his bike and his body; he pretty much scoffed at this. Inevitably, Jason hit a rock in the road which flattened his front tire and dinted his rim badly. As a result, I spent the very hottest part of the day cowering in the meager shade provided by my bike while Jason fixed his flat; afterwards he didn’t ride any slower. I am all for riding bikes hard and fast but when these bikes are your constant companion for a ten month adventure, where they will often be your only way out of hostile environments; I feel that they should be treated with extra care and attention. Jason doesn’t feel this way and at this rate I will be surprised if he makes it to Panama before he shakes his bike to pieces.
We are getting very good at changing tires!

But all griping aside, it was an excellent day of riding!
 


Day 32- Death Valley to Las Vegas -300 km- 10 Oct. 2014,

Since April we had been looking forward to taking in the Red Bull Air Races in Las Vegas. In addition to seeing high performance planes zipping around we were also going to meet up with a bunch of friends who were flying down from Canada to see us! Or maybe to see the air races…. But either way these friends would have hotel rooms with real showers and real beds!

We departed our gravel lot early to beat the heat and cruised into Vegas! As the city began to come into view my GPS began flashing a low battery warning, uh oh! The charger on the mount had been acting up the last few days and had finally decided to quit working all together. I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of navigating to the hotel without the GPS…. Fortunately the battery held out long enough to get me to Circus Circus (the hotel) where I rendezvoused with the crew from Saskatoon. Apparently I was a little hairier and smellier than when I left! 

Sunday 19 October 2014

Day 10-Whistler to White Rock with a CRASH!-285km-18 Sept. 2014,

I awoke several times to find that it was still “dark” outside. After rolling over and going back to sleep I finally checked my clock to find that it 9:00, why was it still so dark out! The combination of overcast skies and thick trees meant it was still “dark” in my tent. I staggered out and quickly packed up my gear before the authorities discovered us squatting under the power lines. We rode into town to finally see Whistler in the day. I spent some times wandering the walkways of this story book town and looked longingly at all the mountain bikers ripping down the hills. Next time I am here I will definitely be renting a bike to join them.

Jason lead us up to loggers lake and mad the short hike up to a rope swing that he had found on his previous visit. When we arrived we found the remains of some ones camp fire which was spreading rapidly across the dry ground. Having nothing to put out the smoldering fire we waved over a guide with his gaggle of hiker who had a tarp in his bag which we filled several times from the lake below to douse the blaze. Not fully satisfied we called the forest fire prevention line so that they could get a crew out to dig up the site to ensure the roots were fully extinguished.
we are also firefighters

With our good dead for the day done we decided that, despite the cool, it would be silly not to take a swing. We were here after all. Stripping down to our skivvies we scaled the tree to the launch platform 5m above us, screwed up our courage, and swung out into the unknown. The way the swing was set up once you left the platform there was no turning back. If you hung on you would eventually come to rest dangling over shallow water and submerged trees. You had to fully commit and release at the highest point of the swing to plunge 10m into the lake. Once I got up the courage to do it once it was so much fun I simply had to do it twice!

the view from the top of the rope swing

After gearing up and hiking back to the bikes we rode down the mountain to meet up with Alissa one last time at the local brewery. When we arrived, I realized that I had left my precious skivvies unsecured on the bike which caused them to flutter off somewhere on the mountain road. Someone was going to get a very special souvenir when they found them! After saying farewell to Alissa we set off for the big city of Vancouver.

The light rain had made the highway slick which made me take all the corners with care. Despite this, on the exit to Noth-Van I felt my back end sliding out. There was nothing I could do to stop it, next thing I knew my bike was sliding on its side off the road. I knew I would be fine, I was traveling at a mere 30km/h when the tire slid out but how would the bike fare? When I skidded to a stop, uttering every curse word into my helmet I was able to stand up and find that, except for a rip in my pants, I was fully intact. But my bike, my faithful companion on this voyage, hadn’t been so lucky. The hard panier on both sides of my bike had been smashed to bits scattering my belonging into the ditch. What had caused this accident? Low tire pressure? Old tires? Oil on the road? All good excuses but ultimately the blame had to be on my shoulders. I was going too fast for the conditions and paid the price. It could have been much worse. The incident didn’t really scare me, more than anything I was just mad at myself. This would be an expensive lesson, the side cases would have to be replaced, but I would learn from it. I didn’t want this trip to come to an end because I was being careless with my riding.
Still smiling! kind of. -JKD Photo
With the help of Jason and a passing motorist we lifted the bike and rolled it into the nearby parking lot where we secured my bags and what remained of my side cases with rope and set off to our destination. In addition to hurting my precious bike, we were going to be late for dinner. We still had 50km to go to reach my family’s home in White Rock. Our route took us thru through the worst of Vancouver’s traffic. Riding through Vancouver at rush isn’t something I would wish on anyone. When we returned to tour the city… we would take the bus.

We finally arrived at Frank and Tammy’s home in White Rock where we were greeted with fantastic left overs, a garage for the bikes, and real beds for us!


Day 11-13-Relaxing on the Coast-578km-19 to 21 Sept. 2014,

We had originally planned to stay just two nights but Frank and Tammy’s legendary hospitality forced us to stay 4 nights. The first day we spent lounging around making final arrangements to depart Canada and finding a replacement for my smashed side cases.

On the second day we ventured into Vancouver with my cousin’s Mark and Rebecca to see all the sites. Rebecca is now living in the city and leading an exciting life as graphic designer.
Spot the tourist -JKD photo
We eventually found our way to a dinner where I enjoyed a fabulous burger and a $5 shake. The shake eventually led us to decide that we had to watch a Tarantino film that night so we set off to Rebecca’s place stopping only to acquire one of Jason and mine’s favorite things… a box of wine.
$5 shakes and Ray Ban club
After the movie Jason, Mark, and I set off to find our way back to White Rock, having an hour to kill we decided to try our luck at the casino (Jason and I needed to practice for Vegas after all!). We didn’t have much luck which meant we all left a little poorer than when we entered; which is about what we expected.

The next day we were all supposed to head out with the boat for a day on the lake. Mark, who had only just turned nineteen, was discovering that box wine did not agree with and decided that he would be especially susceptible to sea sickness today, so he went back to bed. The rest of us went out and enjoyed a fantastic on the water. Becca taught Jason and I the finer points of wake surfing which, to my surprise, I discovered I wasn’t terrible at! Sadly I cannot say the same about my wake boarding skills.
How I looked on my first attempt -JKD photo
How its supposed to look -JKD photo
How I looked by the end of the day -JKD photo

Frank, Tammy, Rebecca, Mark and Mary thank you for all the hospitality, you made it very difficult to leave!


Day 14-White Rock to Seattle-195km-22 Sept. 2014,

Woke up to a misty rain falling from the sky, because of this we took our time packing up and were rewarded with glorious sunshine by the time we departed. Before we left Canada we canceled our cell phones and acquired US dollars to get us through the first week in a foreign land. After a one hour wait at the border in the scorching sun we were finally at the security point. The guard asked me all about our trip; it’s hard to tell if he is genuinely interested or trying to decide if we needed special screening. I felt a little rude giving him terse answers but I was in a hurry to get across to start the next leg of our journey. 

Once we were across, our first stop was at a boating supply store to acquire new genuine pelican cases for my bike, to get us there I had tied down my two back packs to what remained of my smashed side cases. My make shift set up must of looked pretty rough to any passing observers. The shop had exactly the cases I wanted and were nice enough to lend me a drill so that I could make holes in my brand new cases. Before long we were off again! I am curious to see how these new cases hold up in a crash but I am in no great hurry to find out for sure!

With my shiny new cases  we rolled onto Seattle to meet our host, Rick P., who we had found on Moto Stays (Couch Surfing for those with two wheels and a story). Rick took us to a local Tapas bar which brought back fond memories of my time in Barcelona in 2011, of course at the time we could only afford to look longingly thru the windows at all the delicious food offered up at the many tapas bars while we dined on left overs from the hostels free breakfast (which can be turned into a free lunch and supper if you have big pockets). Rick has lived all over the US and in Southeast Asia and we were able to fill the night with stories of travel and discussion of the future of China.



Day 15-Seattle and Everett- 23 Sept. 2014,

We rode up to Everett to visit the Boeing factory were the 747, 747, and 787 are assembled in the largest building in the world! Sadly there was no cameras allowed but the 4 brand new 747’s being put together looked tiny in this massive building. We even got to see the massive Dream Lifter land and unload its cargo of parts for the 787 which were being delivered from plants all across the globe for final assembly.
It lifts dreams

We returned to Rick’s place to drop off the bikes and catch the bus into downtown Seattle. Seeing the space needle, monorail, and other left overs from the 1962 world’s reminded us that the future looked a lot more futuristic  50 years ago but then again the people then had no idea how cool the iPhone would be!
I dare you to go closer

The space needle wasn't difficult to find

 Day 16-Seattle to Port Angeles-155km- 24 Sept. 2014,

Woke up to pouring rain so we fell back on our previous strategy of taking a long ass time to pack up while hoping the rain would stop. Our tardiness rewarded us again with a sunny departure in early afternoon. Rick, thanks for being a great host!


We caught a the Ferry from Edmound Bay to Kingston, for a motorcycle trip we seem to be spending a surprising amount of time on boats. On the ferry we encountered dozens of other motor cyclists out for a ride which is significant because it is probably the largest group of middle aged men we will ever encounter who did not want to talk to us about adventure riding. Apparently gold wing and Harley riders don’t talk to dirty Canadians on KLR’s J.
Harley riders not talking to us



Hi speed selfie
 We rode onto Port Angeles where we stopped for supplies at the local Safeway which tempted us with their steaming piles of hot and ready Chinese Food…. Never again! With my stomach in knots we made the short ride into Olympic National Forest to camp for the night.



Day 17-Port Angeles to Amanda Park-277km- 25 Sept. 2014,

Indulged in a leisurely morning with the sun shining down thru the trees of the Olympic forest. Once we packed up packed up and ready to go a started my bike with a mighty roar! When Jason tried to do the same his bike stubbornly refused to start. After fiddling with the fuel petcock and cranking it for a few minutes we pulled off our helmets and broke out our tools and thinking caps (these are most important of all). Having established that there was in fact air and fuel reaching the engine we had to check for spark next (these bikes really are about as basic as you can get). By pulling the ignition cap off the plug and using the spare plug that I had brought we were able to establish that there was spark. So why wasn’t there any fire? It was possible that the plug was fouled but in order to get at the plug you have to remove the entire fuel tank which was something we wanted to avoid.

Then Jason remembered that he had had similar problems before which was due to poor connection between the cap and the wire. After pulling the connector apart and tweaking the copper wires within he was able to bring his bike back to life but it would continue to give us troubles for the next few days. Again I felt the frustration I had felt back on our third day of travel (the chain incident), Jason knew that his wire was faulty back in May but hadn’t bothered to replace it and now his lack of preparation was delaying us once again. This time it was only took an hour to fix but what would happen when something more critical, that should have been replaced before departure, went leaving us stranded somewhere? Vent over.

With both bikes thumping in unison we set off to ride the 15km up to hurricane ridge. I started off in the lead but halfway up Jason blasted past me, “too fast” I thought as I shook my head. The KLR isn’t the most nimble bike to start with and loading down with all our gear doesn’t help matters. But maybe I was going a little slow? I had been even more cautious after my spill coming into Vancouver. I went around a few more corners and then saw Jason and his bike in the ditch. I guess it was too fast! The bike was a little scratched up but was otherwise fine.
Jason's bike needed to have a lie down
The new hole alows for easy access

Now we had both crashed once which is maybe something we needed to teach both of us to be more cautious in the future. Once we pulled the bike out of the ditch we finished the ride up to the peak where we were rewarded with a grand lookout and freezing wind.




Also, a raven who was trying to steal my phone!
Criminal raven

We descended into a thick blanket of fog as we descended into Port Angeles as we pushed on toward Forks, WA it began to mist, then rain, and finally pour! Being wet and cold is pretty much my least favorite thing. I can handle each separately but together It is just miserable.
Hiding from the rain
We reached Amanda Park, a tiny tourist village on the edge of park. Wondering into the only motel in town we found out that they wanted $125 bucks for a single bed! No way! (In retrospect I wonder if the proprietor took one look at us, dirty and wet, and decided that we would make $125 worth of mess).

We rode into the park with the rain still coming down to try and find some shelter. In the second camp ground we inspected we found a picnic shelter but someone had already laid claim to it. Just as we about to take off again the figure stood and beckoned us over saying that it wasn’t much but he would be happy to share the space.

So we rolled the bikes in and tried to warm ourselves by the small fire. The figure turned out to be Doug, a 65 year old Vietnam Vet of no fixed addressed, he had appeared to be living there for several weeks. He rambled on about various conspiracy theories happy to talk even if we weren’t really listening (I think he would have had the same conversation with or without us there!). He certainly eccentric but he was kind enough to share his space and entertain us with all his conspiracy theories!
Soon after two cyclist appeared in the rain gazing longingly at our shelter. We invited them to join us as well and with that we had five people setting up camp in this picnic shelter to avoid the rain. The cyclists turned out to be British ski bums living in whistler (where we had just been!)  cycling to California in the shoulder season.  Living off of a motorcycle is a can be Spartan at times (remember, Jason only pack two pairs of underwear) but it seems positively luxurious when compared to life on a pedal bike. I will be the first to admit that touring cyclists our way tougher than any biker (including the gangster variety of bikers).


Day 18-Amanda Park to Portland -380km- 26 Sept. 2014,

The rain poured all through the night and was still coming down hard in the morning. Everyone took their time getting up and making breakfast because no one wanted to go back out into the down pour. Finally around 11 it seemed to lighten up a little and we decided to make a run for it. We made it as far as the campground gate which the park rangers had been kind enough to lock with us inside. There was no way around the gate and sliding our heavily loaded bikes under the barrier wasn’t really feasible. So naturally we pulled out the trusty adjustable wrench and took the gate apart. That’s right, we couldn’t force the lock so we just undid the bolt holding the chain. After putting it back together we were off into the torrential rain.

After about 30 min of riding we broke into glorious sunshine! Then ten minutes later we were back into the rain. This pattern of rain with brief glimpses of sunshine continued until we reached Astoria. After grabbing a bite to eat at our favorite internet café (McDonalds) we rode up to visit the Astoria Column. This monument looks like it has been transplanted from a European capital into this sleepy coastal town.
Astoria's Column
Overlooking Astorua
After taking in the view we hoped back onto our bikes and blasted the last hundred miles to Portland and checked the cheapest hotel I could find so that we would have an opportunity to dry out all our soggy gear.


Day 19-Portland to Crater Lake-500km-27 Sept. 2014,

After performing some parking lot maintenance on Jason’s bike we headed east to see these awesome falls.

Next we wound our way thru some of the curviest road we have seen yet heading deeper into the interior of Oregon. We rode hard and just managed to make it to the camp site just as the sun was setting and the temperature plummeting; in the morning I would find frost on the picnic tables!


Day 20-Crater Lake - 28 Sept. 2014,

This morning I hid in the tent until all the frost had disappeared. When we finally gained enough courage to venture out we set off on the bikes with only day packs and worked our way around the lake stopping at every scenic look out that caught our eye. The peak we had wanted to hike up to was hidden in a layer of cloud so we compromised by hiking down to the lake along the only trail that provides access to the lake from the crater’s rim.   

Clouds and cold

White pine trees bent from constant wind



 After a day of exploring we picked up a friend making kit (aka six pack of beer) and headed back to the camp site. Since Jason and I were sick of talking to each other we took the beer over a few sites and made friends with Emilia, Trevor, and their dog Red. We had bumped into them on the trail during the day and they were happy to share their campfire with us. They even busted out a guitar to keep us entertained. Sometimes talking to strangers pays off!


Making friends in the campground
Day 21-Crater Lake to Clam Beach -420km- 29 Sept. 2014,

The morning was cold, but not as cold as it had been the day before. I didn’t really mind pulling on long underwear and a sweater because I knew I would be heading down from the mountains into sunny California today! With every mile we rode I could watch the altitude drop on my GPS and feel the heat begin to rise. Eventually we made it to the coast and the red wood forest. The thousand year old red woods tower around us blotting out the sun that had been keeping me warm. We even to manage to find a tree to park our bikes in for safe keeping! And a photo op!
California Coast

Clam Beach
Late in the afternoon we pulled into Clam Beach, a no thrills campsite beside the highway. As I started to cook supper a gentleman wandered over asked for a beer…. Or a cigarette…. Or weed…. Or money (so he could buy some beer). I apologised for not having any of these thing and asked him if he would like some food, it would be no trouble for me to toss in a few extra noodles. He wasn’t interested. Jason made the mistake of rolling a cigarette for our new friend; as a result he spent the next 45min sitting in our campsite asking us over and over again for beer, cigarettes, weed, or money. He got very excited when he thought he had found a tiny bit of marijuana on the picnic table and begged us for just one more cigarette so he could smoke it. We checked later, as far as we could tell the marijuana he had found was in fact bird dung…. Perhaps we should have let him smoke it. Finally, to get rid of our very eager friend we gave him all the change from our wallets, about $2, and encouraged him to hitch hike into town where he could turn that money into a beer far away from us.