The End of It All

I'm currently on my flight back to Columbus. I boxed up my bike last night, took a cab to the airport ($40), and paid to fly with my bike ($50). Thankfully, my mom works for Southwest so everything else was free. Thanks, mom/Southwest!

As always, I'm here to answer and bike touring questions you may have. Specific bike suggestions aren't really my specialty (your local bike shop would serve you much better than I can). But if you have any questions about being on the road, please comment and ask. I get emails whenever someone comments so just because this tour is over doesn't mean that I won't answer.

I'm in the process of composing a list of many of the things I've learned over the last 60 days. Check back in a couple of days for that.

As for my next tour, I'm thinking of doing some work in the south in December. Perhaps Los Angeles to Las Vegas via Death Valley. Houston to South Padre Island. Florida. We'll see. I don't have any weather information for those places in December so that's a huge undecided factor.

I don't know when my next long tour will be. Internships and other complications might/will steal my summers from now on so it's up in the air. I'd like to explore India or China whenever possible though.

I'm tempted to end this on a melodramatic, mushy note about this being the adventure of a lifetime and totally perspective-altering. But that's not the truth. It'll will always be my first. The first of many adventures I plan on taking. So there will always be a special place for that.

As for an ending, let's try this: thank you for following me on this grand adventure. Your words of encouragement, advice, and even just the knowledge that people cared enough to read about me kept me going through many a tough mile. And that's all this was really. Just one mile after the next on the road.

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After I found out I was the victim of credit card fraud, a construction worker dropped a paint scraper on my head.

You heard right, folks. Two days ago, my card was deactivated at one of the worst possible times. I didn't have any cash on me (spent my last few dollars on an apple fritter at Starbucks). That meant that, not only did I not have access to any money to fly home, I didn't have money to eat or wastefully spend on $7 chocolate (which I did later).

Thankfully, it wasn't Sunday. The stars usually align to screw me at the one time when it's most inconvenient. But this was not one of those times. The local Chase branch in San Francisco was open and, after a few minutes of explaining my situation, they got approval from management to give me emergency cash. Like any responsible teenager, I set enough aside for cab fare to the airport and money to check in my bike. Then I spent way too much on novelty items from around SF.

The downside is that this situation was so distracting that I forgot to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge. I rode across it, and meant to take a picture from a bit further away, but forgot to when I saw an In-N-Out Burger. That was grand.

In San Francisco, I stayed with Brendan, who Jen from Seattle set me up with. Brendan's done some touring in New Zealand and lives in an awesome apartment right outside of the Castro. But, in order to get there, I had to ride from the Golden Gate Bridge. If you haven't seen a picture of Mecca, Saudi Arabia during Hajj, Google it. It was like riding through that. On top of that, the hills in SF were basically a condensed version of the Rockies. I did feel really badass weaving through all those crowds though. San Francisco is a nice place to end an adventure.

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Coastal California kind of sucks. A lot.

Don't let the photographs fool you. They were taken during the few moments of picturesque weather on this entire coast. At every other time, the weather has been dreadfully foggy to the point that nothing beyond ten feet in front of you id visible. And that's a problem when you're biking on Highway 1.

I'd like to think that this rode was constructed for human travel, with at least at least a consideration for the notion that cyclists might use it. All the biking guidebooks, the Adventure Cycling maps, they all say to ride it, I'm here to open your mind. DO NOT RIDE ON HIGHWAY 1. IT SUCKS. Why?

1. Not only is there no shoulder, but there are actually thorny plants that stick and prod you into the center of the lane

2. Although there are signs posted to watch for cyclists, people love to joyride at 40+ mph around completely blind corners. I want to cleave out their intestines with my bare hands and eat their soul.

3. It's also heavily used by logging trucks, which really wouldn't be that bad since they make enough noise that I can pull off onto the grass/thorns before they reach me. Except COWS ROAM FREELY ON THE HIGHWAY. This morning, a logging trucks came hurtling at me. I tried to pull off the road as soon as I heard it coming around the corner, but there was a cow on the side of the ride. And God, was that cow scared of me. So there I am, standing on the edge of a cliff in between a possibly violent cow and a logging truck coming full speed ahead. I tried to calmly get closer to the cow to avoid being squahed, but that bovine was not having it. It ran straight into the road and caused all sorts of chaos.

4. Finally, the entire highway is pasted on a cliffside and constantly shrouded in fog. The views would be grand were they actually visible and didn't cost your life to see.

I actually ended up riding 30 miles inland to escape the highway and the clouds. I'm in Santa Rosa, CA right now, about 55 miles from San Francisco. I could probably ride there today, but I'm feeling really lazy. Besides, I can't get my hands on a bike box, pack my bike, and organize a ride to the airport by 7 AM tomorrow morning. I'll probably fly out Monday morning instead. I will be home soon, my children.

I cant get all the pics uploaded in timeA!!!

Can someone explain to me to geographic/topographic reasons why coastal California is colder than coastal Washington? It's so gray and dreary here. Definitely not conducive to accomplishing things.

I took a really easy 40-mile day yesterday to Manchester State Park about 150 miles north of San Francisco. I'd really like to stay with a Warmshowers host tonight, but I have the tiniest speck of data coverage so I can't load the website to contact anyone. Hopefully, the sun will come out soon and shine some 3G connection speeds on me.

I'd link to it if I could, but if you go back to the first post I ever wrote, there were four accompanying pictures. One of Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone, one of Glacier National Park, one of the Seattle skyline, and one of the Golden Gate Bridge. All four were collected from.various places around the internet and posted before I left. Since then, recapturing those four pictures has become a sort of prize to be won for me. I've collected three so far, though I couldn't find that exact spot in Glacier. One of my few motivations today to keep riding is to collect my final prize: a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. Thank God I didn't include any pictures of the San Diego Zoo or the Mexican border!

I'm off on my second-to-last ride of the trip. 70 miles to Bodega Bay or 90 to Santa Rosa if I'm really feeling it (I'm not). Then to San Francisco the next day and to the airport Saturday morning. I don't have a ride to the airport so if you have friends in San Francisco that would like to wake up early on a Saturday to drive me and my bike there, let me know :).

See ya!

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No more centuries

I've only seen snippets of the movie Forrest Gump, but, at one point, Forrest is running across the country for no particular reason. He's gone hundreds of miles by then. He stops mid-run, realizes he doesn't want to do it anymore, turns around and goes home.

That moment happened for me this morning. I woke up in my tent to a beautiful California sunrise and I felt nothing. No yearning to hop on my bike and see the ocean. No pangs of loneliness that normally compel me to find someone to talk to. Not even a particular desire to eat anything. All I wanted was to lay on a couch and watch a movie with my family. It's time to go home.

In part, the insane pace of the last few days brought about this moment. 800 miles in 8 days doesn't leave much room for fun. Just riding, all day, every day. And only one break day since Vancouver is starting to show. I'm physically spent, like butter spread over too much bread (someone please understand that).

I know I could finish the last 700 miles to San Diego in 7 days without issue. But it would be more out of routine than any desire to see or experience anything. Not like I'd have time for either of those anyway if I went at that pace.

I'm about 180 miles north of San Francisco right now. Instead of the original plan for a two-day ride, I'm expanding it to a four days, my final four days on the road. I haven't decided yet if I'll fly home on Saturday or Monday, but I'll be finished biking on Saturday regardless.

I've accrued enough memories for a lifetime in the last 56 days. The great thing is I still have a lifetime ahead of me to gather more.

Peace out. I'll do another update either tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm happy :)

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Redwoods! California! In-N-Out Burger!

Carson Manor in Eureka, CA

It's been so incredibly long since I've been in a library. I used to visit at least once every two days to upload pictures to the blog and what not. But riding a century or more every single day has consumed so much of my time and energy. Plus, California's libraries aren't open on Mondays. It's the same thing in Wyoming and Montana except those close on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I don't really get small towns. 


Anyway, I'm in California! The seventh (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, and I guess British Columbia so 8th) and final state on my 4000 mile tour of the American west. Northern California has been quite the whirlwind so let me tell you a little about that. 

The damn piece of metal that did it

Descending from Crater Lake, I decided to attempt the 130-mile day from my campground to Crescent City, CA on the coast. I knew I probably wasn't going to make it that far, but I wanted to go as far as possible. The ride was uneventful since it was on a very slight downhill grade. I lost most of the 8000-foot elevation from the Oregon coast to Crater Lake in the first 45 miles. I ended up making it about 97 miles all the way to the California border before disaster struck: flat tire #5. I've been too stubborn to replace my broken hand pump before I have a word with the staff at Paradise Garage in Columbus so, if I get a flat in the middle of nowhere, I'm stuck. You'd think it'd be something I want to replace soon. But I refuse!


So, there I was, on a totally deserted road, immobilized by a flat. Thankfully, there was a rest stop about 100 feet down the road so I camped out there for the night. Unfortunately, the rest stop was right outside of a tunnel so, all night, all I heard was people constantly honking for fun as they went through the tunnel. I promise it was well-lit and only 100 or so feet long so there was no reason to be honking. But I guess they didn't really expect someone to be sleeping in the vicinity. 

A redwood!!

The next morning, as I was eating breakfast, a man named Howard and his wife Linda saw me looking like my dog had just died and offered to drive me down to the bike shop in Crescent City. Wooooooooohooooooo! They were great and Howard himself plans on biking the Pacific Coast soon. I got all of my tire issues resolved at the bike shop and stayed in town for a couple of hours to psychologically recuperate from problems that arise from biking 700 miles in 7 days. 


I headed down Highway 101 with a new resolve afterward because I was finally in redwood country! This region of California is one of the places that I've been looking forward to visiting the most because it's the only place in the world that the giant redwood grows. The tallest tree species in the world, redwoods tower up to 379 feet with trunks up to 26 feet in diameter and live to be 2000 years old. 

Stole this from Wikipedia for legit reasons

They're generally visible from Highway 101, but there is a branch road called Avenue of the Giants that takes you right through the most monstrous, oldest trees in the world. If there is one place on my travels that I suggest you go, it's the Avenue of the Giants. Biking down that road is an experience every bit as humbling as a night sky exploding with stars. You feel so small, so insignificant, in the presence of life so much grander than you, alive since an ancient time that you couldn't possibly conceive. Seriously, go there. And take a bike. I know my suggestion to bike rather than drive seems biased, but this is an experience you want to take at your own pace. I went on a Sunday night at sunset and the road was completely silent. I don't have any pictures of the road because of how enamored I was by it; it didn't even occur to me to photograph anything. 

I'm being kicked off the computer.. finish later. bye. 

Climbing: I thought I was done with this crap

Still smiling at mile 90

The Three Sisters

Since so much has happened in the last few days, I'm going to split it up into two or three posts. You'll have to bear with me on pictures though. The measly data coverage I'm getting right now can carry text at most; there won't be any pictures til tomorrow, but trust me, they're brilliant.

On Friday, I left my host's house in Bend, OR. We had mutually decided the day before that Crater Lake was far too lofty a goal for the next day. But, what the hell, I went for it anyway. After already riding three consecutive centuries, I went for a monstrous number four: 105 miles with a 4000-foot climb.

Enlarge this picture. This was 18 miles of climbing!!!

I rolled along, happy as can be, for the first 70 miles. But at mile 75, I turned a corner to see a completely vertical mountainside in the distance that someone had apparently pasted a road to. It turns out that the ride didn't have much elevation gain at all until mile 75. That seemingly vertical wall was what I had to climb to reach Crater Lake.

I'm going to gloss over how much that portion drained from me. The burning in my legs was threatening to cook every muscle by the time I summitted. But, God, did I whip that road. 18 miles of serious climbing with two short rest breaks. Summitting was one of my proudest moments.

However, 105 miles in at the park entrance at 7 PM, I was informed by a ranger that it was another 20 miles uphill to the closest campground. In that moment, I almost broke apart into individual atoms and just drifted away into the wind. But park ranger Nannette saved the day by offering to drive me there. Thanks, Nannette!! I would have died without you.

Next problem: it's Friday night so of course the campground is full. But I didn't even have my panniers back on my bike after the car ride over before that problem was resolved. A Russian woman with a thick accent came over and told me that she was camped in the woods across the street and I could join her. This started a great day-long friendship that culminated in her suggesting I join the military. God, she was great.

The sky

 A few facts about Crater Lake:

1. It's incredible beyond what words or pictures can reproduce. You need to see it for yourself.

2. It sits inside the crater formed after Mt. Mazama blew its top 7000 years ago.

3. It's the deepest lake in North America, 3rd deepest in the world at 594 meters.

4. Because no rivers run into the lake and its fed by only rain and snowmelt, it trades titles on and off with a lake in Russia as the purest in the world.

Just kidding, it's actually lake water!

The water is so pristinely still and blue. I've been thinking for days about how to describe how blue it was and I've come up with nothing. I can describe violent colors like red and orange well, but I have trouble with softer ones like blue. Just wait for the pictures.

After spending the morning riding and lollygagging around the rim of the lake, I packed my stuff at camp and headed out. I made it another 45 miles that day before I hit John Stewart State Park campground. Park ranger Randy offered to pay for my campsite for the night after we chatted for a bit and I accepted his incredibly kind offer.

National parks really are not bike-friendly at all

It's bed time so I'm going to type up the next post in the morning and upload pictures ASAP. I'm in an amazing campground in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, sleeping among some of the tallest, oldest trees on Earth. I'm blissfully happy. 8 more days until San Diego!

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I'm a bad blogger.

Sorry for being incommunicado for so long. Riding takes up so much more of my day now that I'm doing such long excursions. And the cell phone coverage in southern Oregon/northern California is essentially nonexistent so I couldn't blog even if I wanted to.

The problem is that I'm really, really lazy right now so I don't have the energy to type everything. I'm camping in Humboldt Redwoods State Park tonight so I'll update from there.

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The Challenge.

View Larger Map

Can I do that in 13 days? You bet I could. Is it actually going to happen? I'm going to try my hardest to make sure it does. 

I've had quite the revitalization since last night, in case you didn't notice. Bored, lonely, and anemic, all I wanted then was to go home. But after a murderously paced 108 mile ride today, I feel like I could conquer the world. In fact, I feel like I can ride my bike with no handlebars.

I'm determined to make this mad dash through California. It's 1,251 miles from the room I'm sitting in right now to the airport in San Diego. Yeah, I won't get to spend any days off my bike to explore San Francisco or Los Angeles. But, even when I ride 80+ miles a day, I always have time to stop and enjoy natural beauty. The great thing about northern and central California is that their highlights, the coastal views and the redwoods, are both things that can be enjoyed from the comfort of my bike flying down the road. 

Like all things, my burning desire to reach San Diego can best be explained by a quote from Titanic:

The press knows the size of Titanic, now I want them to marvel at her speed, too. We must give them something new to print. And the maiden voyage of Titanic must make headlines!

 It fits my situation perfectly, except that I'm not really trying to impress anybody with this endeavor (well mostly not). It's a test of personal ability. I've proven to myself that I can endure, that I can make it through the long haul. My bike is called  the Surly Long Haul Trucker after all. I've gone 2800 miles in 50 days at a leisurely pace, stopping everywhere I've wanted to and rarely feeling particularly tired after my rides. And yes, Mom, I agree that it's been very enjoyable that way. But I'm ready for a different challenge. Something terrible, epic, and exciting. Something like riding thirteen loaded centuries back-to-back down the California coastline.

I'm not crazy (or maybe I am?). I know my body's limits and I won't push myself too much past them. If something feels really wrong, I'm not going to hesitate to slow it down a little bit. I just want to prove to myself that I can do it.

Incidentally, I'm going to end up riding more than 4001 miles so the title of this blog is completely inaccurate. I'm now going to delete it and set up a new blog at www.4051miles.blogspot.com.

If I had a nickel for every time my front tire has given me trouble, I'd have a quarter by now.

Hey y'all. I managed to get another flat tire today. This is number three. But is it my fault though that the "bike lane" in Silverton, OR has more debris scattered on it than the aftermath of a hurricane? I ran over a shard of glass that punctured my tire and tube so that was a tedious, expensive replacement. Let me tell you a little about Portland and then I'll move on to plans for the upcoming days.

Astoria to Portland was my first century (100+ mile ride) ever. I rode a total of 102 miles that day to cap off the most intense week of my trip thus far. From Vancouver last Sunday around the Olympic Peninsula, down the Washington coast and into Oregon, I logged a total of 567 miles in 7 days. Wooooooohoooooooo!

Riding that much destroyed me though. Seven weeks in, my legs are sore for the first time. I can fully manipulate my thumb and index finger on my left hand again, but my pinky loses sensation for hours after a ride. Also, my hair is too long so I get hilariously awful helmet hair now.

Anyway, I took the day off in Portland. I feel bad for not exploring more than I did, but I was really tired. I went to the unofficial largest bookstore west of the Mississippi and read for hours there, ate some amazing street food, and just wandered for a while. I bought a shirt with an octopus riding a bike on it and a gypsy tried to sell me shrooms in front of a doughnut shop. Portland is a wacky place.

My days are still plagued by clouds though so I wanted to be on my way. I left this morning at 9 AM for another 100 mile ride that ended up being cut short by the tire issues in Silverton. I made it 75 miles. I got caught trying to stay at this campground without paying. The man was really nice about it, but paying $22 to sleep somewhere for the night is absurd. It was the only option though so I guess it's fine. I took an unreasonably long hot shower to get my money's worth.

It's been 49 days since I left and I'm ready to come home. The feeling is brought on by a mix of the fact that I haven't seen another touring cyclist since Montana (seriously), I have 5000 feet to climb to Crater Lake in the next couple of days, and I probably don't have enough time to make it to the southern California beaches that I wanted to go to really badly. Ugh. I think I'll feel better when I make it to Crater Lake, but there's a lot of work to be done between here and there. Besides, the closest airport Southwest flies out of is San Francisco so I have another 700 miles minimum regardless.

I'm off to beddy bye bye now. I bought a camera tripod in Portland finally so I can look like a true badass in all pictures from now on. Good night.

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yo yo yo

Hey everybody. Just thought I'd do a quick update before I hop on my bike for the day (I know, it's already 9 AM and I haven't started yet. What am I doing with my life?)

I took the day off yesterday in Portland. Unfortunately, my legs were really sore so I didn't do all that much exploring in the city. I have pictures that I'll upload later.

I'm doing another 100 mile ride today to Detroit, OR. I can only hope that it's nicer than the other Detroit. Hopefully, there'll be service there so I can take the time to do a longer post.

I should be at Crater Lake by Thursday night. Pray for sun. Love you all.

Shahmeer

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I could exorcise a demon out of you with my stench right now.

It's been five days and four hundred miles since I last had access to a shower. Had the sun actually been out at any point in that time, I'd probably be considered a bioterror weapon by now. I camped in the woods 3 times since Bellingham, WA and on the beach twice. Thankfully, I found Warmshowers hosts to stay with for the night so I will soon smell like a contributing member of society again.

The last two days were really blah. That's the best way to describe them. No interesting sights to be seen, other cyclists to meet, or sunshine to enjoy. In fact, the weather was probably the worst I've had this whole trip. I've come to find that my happiness and motivation are both solar-powered. That doesn't jive well with cycling through the Pacific Northwest. Also, the coast this far north only has highs of around 68-70 degrees. Some people may call that ideal riding weather, but I honestly prefer the 90+ degree, super-sunny weather of Montana. The dealbreaker came on Thursday when I had to put on gloves at 6 PM and my breath was visible. I've decided to take an inland Oregon route from Portland to Crater Lake so I can get some heat again.

Oh I forgot to mention this in the beginning! I crossed into Oregon today! This is the 6th state I've entered and the penultimate state for this trip (only California's left).

The ride itself today was probably one of the most exhausting. 82 miles from Aberdeen, WA to Astoria, OR. Lots of climbing throughout. The killer came at the very end though. Crossing the Astoria Megler Bridge on a bike is an ordeal. The bridge is 4 miles long, there is no bike lane so traffic is zooming by inches away, and it's incredibly uphill. WHO THE HECK MAKES AN UPHILL BRIDGE?! After already riding 78 miles, it was not what I wanted to do.

But salvation lay within a grocery store in Astoria. The whole way up the bridge, the only things on my mind were Nutella, coconut flakes, and banana slices on a tortilla. And it did not disappoint. Granted, I'm now carrying a pound of coconut flakes, but I'm sure they can be a snack item.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. I have some pretty mundane pictures of nothing in particular that I'll add later. I'm riding 96 miles to Portland tomorrow and taking a day off there on Monday so interesting things should be posted soon.

On a final note, I've lost 6 pounds since starting this trip. I weighed myself for the first time in months today and I'm down to 117. Don't freak out, Mom. My current eating habits are probably going to continue when I'm not riding 80 miles a day so I'll be up to 300 pounds soon enough.

Later, gaters.

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My favorite spot I've ever pitched my tent

Hey y'all. I'm going to be really nonchalant about the fact that I just got done bathing in the bathroom of this library and now I'm on their computer. I'm back in Forks now after an amazing night spent camping on the beach. If you search for La Push, WA on Google Maps, there's a label just south of the town for Strawberry Bay. That's right where I camped.

Getting to the beach required a 1.4 mile hike through the forest. The trail wasn't navigable by bike unfortunately so I locked my bike in the woods, strapped my bags over my shoulders, and trudged on to the beach. The hike there was all downhill so that was great. The way back, not so much.

The beach faced south so there wasn't any glorious view of the sunset, but it was truly beautiful regardless. I've never pitched my tent in a more beautiful place. And, with the exception of a couple on the far side of the beach, I had it all to myself! This was amazing song to listen to as the sun set.

The weather last night was some of the best I've seen in the Pacific Northwest. On a weather-related side note, if you can believe it, I have not been rained on once in the last 44 days. There was some light sprinkling once in Seattle, but I have not gotten wet because of rain since I started. Isn't that crazy?!

I'm still not sure where I'm going today and it's already 3 PM so I need to get off of the computer and figure it out. I'm probably headed for Kaloloch Beach 40 miles away. The rainforest idea kind of died this morning so we'll see. Forks is not a nice place and I want to leave as soon as possible. Enjoy the pictures!

These logs had to be crossed in order to get to the beach

Apparently a dinosaur trampled through to this spot at some point

When I woke up :(

My question for you.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Try to be as specific as possible.

The circumstances can be your own. To live, to visit, to do whatever. With whoever. I'm just curious.

Please comment if you're reading and let me know. Leave your name if you're comfortable. All you need to comment is a Gmail account. Thanks!

An awful sunny day in Forks.

To the open ocean!

Today, for the second time in my life, I found the remains of a dead bug in my eye. Each time it's happened, a part of my soul wilts and dies. I feel less desire to continue living today than I did yesterday. Last time, Mark picked the bug out with tweezers. But without him around or any appropriate tools, I had to coax the slimy gnat, coated in my eye fluids, to my tear duct and nudge it out of there. Great mental image, huh?

My photography doesn't suck. Washington is just slanted.

Anyway, I'm in Forks, WA now, the site of the unfortunately famous book/movie series Twilight. I've seen signs for several Twilight tour companies and merchandise galore. But I'm assuming the movies weren't shot on location so I don't know exactly what the tour companies exhibit. Can anybody with more Twilight acumen enlighten me?

I spent last night in Altaire Campground in Olympic National Park. Since I was only spending the night in the park and leaving in the morning, I unethically snuck past the ranger station so I wouldn't have to pay absurd cyclist national park fees. When I crossed into the park though, a scene from an old western starting playing out. Imagine me on one end of the face-off. On the other, a giant, unleashed black dog thirsting for my blood. It stood 100 feet away in the middle of the only road into the camground, barking at me like I had come into its house on Christmas morning and peed on its puppies. I was frozen, somewhat in fear, but mostly at the absurdity of an unleashed dog in a national park without an owner in sight. Thankfully, I was on a bit of a downhill stretch so I backtracked about 300 feet so I could gain some speed. I went hurtling at that dog like I was going to slice it open with my bike tire (something I really wanted to do). In that moment, I felt so cool. But then a car came and almost hit the dog, sending it running into the forest. I felt less cool.

The foliage in Washington is very reminiscent of Jurassic Park

The campground itself lay on the banks of the Elwha River so I fell asleep to the sound of rushing water. It was great then, but not so great when I had to pee in the middle of the night and I didn't want to leave my tent. I rode out this morning at 8-ish for Forks, 60 miles away. I'm in town for an hour or two buying groceries and doing laundry. Then I'm heading out to some secluded beaches by La Push, WA, 15 miles away to camp for the night.

Tomorrow, I'm heading into Hoh Rainforest. My phone corrected it to Hog Rainforest in one of my last posts so know that that isn't correct. It's only 30 miles from La Push so I'll probably leave early in the morning, do some hikes in the forest, and call that my rest day for the week.

Along with a miniscule book selection, even compared to towns 1/10 the size, Forks Memorial Library also has a 30-minute limit on their computers. I meant to add pictures to this post, but I won't have time. I'll try to see if I can get an extension. If not, I'll add them soon.

See ya!



I kept looking for the goat



Rose approaching Jack

Canada is always watching

Why can't Columbus bike trails have fun stuff like this?

Crescent Lake, the cleanest lake water I've ever seen

Plans for today

Hey there. Last night, I stayed with at couple of Warmshowers hosts in Port Townsend, WA. The bed I slept on had some magical enchantments on it so I didn't wake up until 8 AM, a record for me lately.

I have some more route stuff figured out for the moment. Tonight, I'm heading to Klahowya Campground which is a 20 or so miles outside of Forks. It's an 87 mile ride so it shouldn't be much of an issue. My destinations the next two nights after that are what I'm really excited about.

I've heard rumours about some show-stoppingly beautiful, completely secluded beaches on the Washington coast. Last night my host, Lowell, showed me where two of them are on a map. So I'm headed to Second and Third Beach tomorrow night. I'm told that camping right on the beach and watching the sunset will be very doable.

The next night, I'm headed into the Hog Rainforest. I've heard things floating around about the area, mainly that it's the only temperate rainforest in the lower 48 states. I cannot confirm or deny this yet. But that should be awesome as well.

I'm leaving civilization way behind for the next three days at least. Hopefully, I'll have a little glimmer of cell phone service somewhere so I can do some updates. If not, look for some truly awesome pictures coming up soon.

Finally, I'm coming home in three weeks! Today is Day 42 on the road. It's incredible that so much can be packed into such a meager number of days in comparison to the rest of my life. I can't get philosophical now because I need to get the hell on the road. But look for me back in Columbus, OH somewhere around August 23!

Today's picture is completely unrelated to the post. I just miss my mom and dad. Also, high school feels like eons ago. But that picture was taken less than 14 months ago. Wow.

See you on the flip side, my friends.

Meerkat.

Route change, Deception State Park, and dead cyclist (not me)

There's not a whole lot to this post. Just a few things I want to mention before I head out of the library.

My intention this morning was to ride back to Seattle from Bellingham, WA, 107 miles away. However, even when I plan to ride more than 100 miles loaded in a day, the stars align to change those plans. I stopped for a meal in Burlington at around 11 AM. That's where I realized how much I hate backtracking. Since I rode up from Seattle to Vancouver, I've already ridden this whole way before and it seems pointless. Sure, I could take a different route. But I only have 21 days left to get as far south as I can; I need to take the shortest paths.

So I decided in that moment to change my route again. Instead of continuing south to Seattle, I'm headed west now to the coast. I'm about to take a ferry to cross some body of water and then I should be camping in some state park tonight. Tomorrow, I'm headed around and through Olympic National Park, including the town of Forks, WA, the setting for the Twilight Saga. I haven't read it, but I'm still excited to see what Edward merchandise is available for purchase.

From there, I'm going to continue down the coast of Washington and most of Oregon. I'm still making my 200-mile side trip into Crater Lake National Park, but that won't be happening until southern Oregon. I'll figure that out when I get there.

I'm off to the ferry. Enjoy some pictures from Deception Pass State Park which I rode through today.

Bike lane railing was added after a 50 mph wind blew a cyclist into traffic