I rode a lot further than I had planned today, 61 miles. I thought that I would be heading into the Cascades. I am in the Willamette National Forest about 1 mile east of where 126 and 242 split. I believe I will make it through the pass at 4817 ft. tomorrow. I don’t know my elevation right now, but I do know that Eugene is at 431 and night before last I was at 0. (the ocean) I would guess that there are a lot of hills in my near future.

For most of the day I followed the McKenzie river.pic WOW! What a clear, cool mountain river. If you close your eyes and think of what a pure mountain river should be, this is what it is. The river’s personality would change every half mile or so. One minute it would be rushing white water over jagged boulders, then the next placid, mirror smooth. I think I now have a better understand of some of the John Denver songs.

Along the way I stopped at a fish hatchery. Neat. The fingerling were jumping out of the water trying to swim up the filling pipe. They were ready to go. pic I also saw a covered bridge. pic

It rained a lot today. Not hard, just enough to keep me cool. I was looking for the rainbow all day and finally found it just before I stopped.pic When I set up camp it rained even harder. I am surrounded by large pines and there is a cool mountain and the sound of rain on my tent to put me to sleep.

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Ok…So, I am back in Eugene, but this was the plan. I rode back from the coast yesterday. It went very well. I was worried about the mountains that I was going to have to cross, but it was almost easy. I was back in Eugene by about 3:00. Total miles for the day 70.3 (right inline with my 70 miles a day goal).

Today is not going to be as easy. I will be climbing to 4813 feet from 431 for the next two days. I plan to only do about 42 miles total for the day, but we will see.

I did a quick calculation. I am about 15 days from Yellowstone, there are about 14 days to my birthday. Maybe if I push a little bit I can be there to celebrate.

Anyway, not peddling into the wind is great! Although peddling into the wind was great training.

In other news, I think I saw an otter in the river yesterday. It was hunting. I saw it chasing a fish that finally jumped out of the water trying to get away. I am sure I saw an osprey at the ocean. I saw a very large eagle (maybe a young bald eagle) and lots of baby guarder snakes (the green sided ones) along the road.

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Better Pic

The dipping of the back tire complete, I set off east. Made it 4 whole miles before I stopped for breakfast

This is going to be a long ride.

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Today I made it to the coast, again. I am watching the sunset from high atop a grass covered sand dune. pic The ocean roaring below me. It is breath taking.

I had some time to reflect today. Life is amazing. I have seen so much in the last week. I have also met great people. What an adventure. I am truly blessed.

Tomorrow, I start the trip east in earnest. I was wondering what meeting, sights, and challenges it will bring. I hope for nothing more than what I have already had. I would like to ride to the Atlantic, but the road is for the journey, not the destination.

So, everyday, I will savor, and when I am done, if I am at the other coast, all the better.

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Ok. Well I got stuck in Eugene last night. The train was 5 hrs late and I missed the bus to Florence. That is ok. I had planned to take a later bus anyway. I had some other stuff to pick up in Eugene.

I got a new bag rack and new bags. They are smaller and made for bike touring. I haven’t got everything into them yet. Some hard decisions need to be made. I think that after about 60 miles of lugging this stuff on my back, I will be in a better mind set to part with some of it.

I found a nice biking jacket in a second hand store. $5!!! Almost exactly what I was looking for. The bike shop down the street was selling them for about $80.

I also went to this killer used book store. WOW! I wish I could have loaded up on some books (books are my weakness) The store was in an old brick building and had 2 floors. There were shelves about 11 feet high and books everywhere. I would have to say it was one of the nicest used book stores I have ever been in. I picked up some maps for about 5 states there. $.50 a piece..

Also, I am working on an image gallery. It is not done yet, but you can see the pictures. The link is on the right hand side of the page. ENJOY!

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larger

I made it to San Francisco. What a city! I would have to say that of the cities I have been in so far, this is my favorite. pic1

While here, I stayed with Natasha and Matt. What nice people! They took great care of me. Great conversation in a great city.

Anyway, I rode across the Golden Gate Bridge tonight. It was a spectacular ride. The wind was wicked, but the view. WOW! The view.

Tonight, I am hopping a train to Eugene, OR. Then I will take a bus to Florence, OR on the coast to start the trip. It looks like the trip will officially start on about the 9th.

In other news, the pack rack broke while riding across the Golden Gate Bridge. Funny, there was nothing on it. 300 miles with all that weight, not a problem. Then an 18 mile ride with no weight and it just couldn’t take it.

So, I think that it is time to do some more soul searching about what I really want to take with me on this trip. I really enjoyed riding the bike with out the bags on it. I think that I am going to go light weight and look into some real bike bags and loose some more weight from the bags. It is all a learning experience.

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Today I went 77.6 miles. I went through San Lius Obispo and made it to Harmony. It is a great artist town. Very nice. (pic1 pic2)

Over the last few days I have been heading into the east blowing prevailing winds. I have been heading west. So, the wind has been in my face the whole way. They are blowing 15 to 20 miles an hour pretty constant. Frankly, it makes it hard to stand, with out thinking about riding. I average about 5 miles an hour in these winds. Head down, pumping hard. Let’s just say it has not been fun.

People have been telling me that you have to ride south this time of year, but I have peddled on. My goal was to reach San Francisco so I could head east.

Today, I ran into a nice older gentle man riding south. He stopped and asked where I was going. I told him and received the typical laugh. He has done the cross continent thing before and suggested that if I wanted to go east I should start in Seattle. So, going to San Fran. Really didn’t make sense. He also told me that the winds were just going to get worse as I got into the mountains around Big Sur.

I continued north, and in Harmony made peace with the idea that I was going to have to jump a train to go north. So, I turned around and peddled the 30 miles back to San Luis Obispo to catch the train.

Being so far north opens some new doors. Like I could head to Alaska. I have never been there before. Anyway, I have some decisions to make. I’ll keep you posted.

tomorrow, I am heading to San Francisco to visit and stay with a friend.

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Day 6

this is joshua he is heading south from san fran to la. Total miles for yesterday was 47.5.

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This is day 5

As I entered Oceana, CA I could not resist. I had to stop at the Rock n Roll dinner. Yes, those are train cars. The outside is cool but the inside was great. I ordered the Elvis (of course).

Ok, now an update. I started in Lompoc this morning about 12. Passed Vandenberg Air Force Base. Then went through Guadalupe. Cool town. It reminded me of something out of a movie. Like a mix of an old west town and a Spanish mission.

Haven’t stopped for the night, but looks like the day’s miles will be about 50.

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To start with I rode 22.9 miles in the morning. I blew out another spoke about 15 miles from Lompoc, CA which meant that it was time to get new wheels. Once a spoke goes on a wheel like I had it is very unstable. So, it was a slow carefull ride to Lompoc.

I got into Lompoc about 10am and asked around about a bike shop. After a few trys I found a great one. Bicycles Unlimited on North “H” Street. The guys there really fixed me up good. I got some killer new wheels, and a new cluster for the back. They also tuned the bike a little. They really took care of me. If you find yourself in Lompoc in need of bicycle parts that is the place to go.

So, I got a room and srarted eating and sleeping while they fixed the bike. I had roast beef and mashed potatos for lunch and fish and chips at Alfee’s a good combo of protien and carbs. I never thought of fish and chips while planning this trip.

Later

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