PDF to SFO or Bust

  It’s hard to believe that our journey has come to an end. Just like most travels it has gone by very quickly, yet when I think back on our first days on the road, with the road crew, it feels like years ago. We’ve seen so much, and traveled so far in that time that my brain just doesn’t know how to categorize the memories. I’m sad that our days of 50 miles rides along ocean beaches and amongst giant trees is over, for now , but also happy to have some time to rest my bum from all those hours in the saddle. It won’t be proper rest, as Christi has big plans to walk all over San Francisco, but at least my butt will get a break. 😂 Ready to hit the road before sunrise In order to have enough time at the Golden Gate Bridge before sundown we set an alarm for 5am, and actually stuck to it. After eating the last of our oatmeal, and packing our campsite for the final time, we were ready to finish our journey. With stars in the sky and a light breeze, we hit the empty roads towards San Fra...

  After booking a cool little cabin at Redcrest Resort, and a quiet night of blogging, we were excited to have a relatively easy 40 mile stretch of riding through the redwoods. We got a bit of a late start, but it was okay because there were few food options on the way, and 40 miles would go quickly with so many giant trees to keep us company. After eating a couple slices of leftover pizza for breakfast (yes, the same pizza from Eureka 😂) we were on the road around 9am. We decided to stop for coffee and pastries at one of the few operating businesses along this stretch of the Avenue of the Giants. It was called Rise and Grind, and it was operated by a young artist, but we didn’t get her name. The coffee was good, even though I’m not generally a coffee guy, if you add enough sugar it all tastes great!  “Look up at the coffee sign Christi!” While we were enjoying our brew, I received a phone call from an unknown number... I’m on vacation, so I let it go to voicemail... It was t...

  No rest for the weary… I awoke at sunrise, just like every other day on this trip, so I decided to catch up on blog posts while Christi continued to snooze. By the time I was ready to post, Christi was awake and did some blog posts of her own. After a couple more hours of being lazy in the hotel we decided to head out and see the “sights.” First on the list was the Victorian Carson mansion, it was pretty, but also a private club so we couldn’t go inside, and we settled for a couple pictures from outside the gates. We continued strolling through old town, on the lookout for a bar or cafe to stop at, grab a drink, and use the restrooms… this proved to be a Herculean task. Through all of downtown there was only one cafe open, and it was packed! I looked at google maps and identified a couple restaurants/bars that “should” be open, so we walked toward an Irish bar on the end of town. When we got there the sign said it wouldn’t be open for another 15 minutes, so we kept strolling towa...

  After a great night around our first campfire of the trip, we were abruptly awoken at 6AM by raindrops coming down on us inside the tent. Due to the nice weather, and starry night sky we decided to leave the rain fly off the tent, and it proved to be a great idea, until it wasn’t. We only had 50 miles to ride today, but after our early natural alarm clock, we decided to get geared up and hit the road. We were pretty excited for real beds, clean clothes, and a day off in Eureka that awaited us after today, so we were motivated! About 10 miles in, I got a flat tire, the first in a few days, but I wasn’t able to identify the cause, so I put a new tube on and kept going. The road today was narrow, without shoulders for large sections, so we got to share the road with cars often, and there were a few serious hills for the first half of the ride. By the time we made it to a lunch stop in Trinidad around noon we were famished! A clif bar for breakfast was not enough food for the miles a...

  September 16th, 2020      Morning view leaving the campground (above) was the last time we were going to see the ocean for a few days; we were heading into the Redwoods! It was too late to find the beach when we got to camp, and in the morning we were ready to get our day started so no sand between our toes this morning! Harris Beach State Park was very close to the California border, but first we HAD to get a hot breakfast. We hadn’t done this since Waldport, OR and it sure hit the spot!     Like typical West Coast fashion, there was a weed store feet from the Oregon-California border. This gave us a chuckle. We spent some time at the California sign trying to get a picture that both of us were looking at the camera; yes I was the problem child who couldn’t figure it out. But after a few tries we got the take we wanted and looking at the bottom post of the sign I found a surprise! I love painted rocks and someone special had left this cool rock for anoth...

  Today was the big day, it was time to cross the border! We had to make our way through Brookings first, and decided that we deserved a “healthy” breakfast before making our trek South, so we stopped at a little place called Blue Water Cafe, and had some amazing food. Fueling up for the day After breakfast we made our way south on a country road that dropped us off on 101 just North of the border. Once we made it to the crossing sign we had to stop for a picture. I tipped my bike over and rigged a spot to put my phone so we could take a timed picture. This proved to be more difficult than planned, and I have about a dozen failed attempts on my phone to prove it. 😂 Me trying to figure out how to start the camera timer on my Apple Watch, Christi trying to give me directions Once we had our shot we continued south into Humbolt county, home of the Redwood Forests! It wasn’t until many hours later that we would see our first giant redwood, however. We spent most of the day riding on c...

  September 15th, 2020      After having a starry night to gaze at, we were in for a real treat the next morning. We got up around 0630 to take some time to explore the beach at Humbug Mountain State Park. The beach was very quiet, besides one other person with his dog, and it made for some amazing pictures. Dipping our toes in the water lasted a few minutes before it was back to business; time to get back into the saddle. Today’s ride would bring us to Harris Beach State Park, which would be the last camp before we crossed the California border, and would be about 50 miles.       The first person we met today was Jeff from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He rode up on us as we were coming up to a view point of the ocean. Jeff was also on a bike tour, but was traveling much farther than us. This particular ride he was biking solo all the way to San Diego and then crossing over to Florida. His ultimate goal is to ride around the perimeter of the Unites Sta...

Since we got to camp late and didn’t have a chance to wander down to the beach, we got up early for a stroll before our ride. It was a beautiful beach, just a short walk from our campsite. No sand dollars, sorry mom. 😢 After cleaning the sand from our feet and packing up camp it was onto the road, we had 50 miles and some serious elevation to get through today, and it started with the mountain our campsite was named for, “Humbug.” The views on this ride, however, were far from Humbug. One of the dozens of “haystack” rocks we’ve seen on this trip, it’s a running joke now.  Today was the first day we bumped into another cyclist on this route, his name was Jeff, and you can read all about his journey on Christi’s blog post, but it was great to socialize a little bit with a fellow traveler. Jeff quickly lost us as we stopped frequently for pictures of the magnificent Oregon coast along this stretch of highway. We also just couldn’t keep up with his pace on the hills. 😂 Haystack rock ...

First time we’ve seen the ocean and blue skies!      September 14th, 2020     Not sure why we love to torture ourselves, but the Seven Devil’s Road Brandon described in his post was no joke! Without warming our legs up properly, we were hit with multiple up hill battles that required “granny gear”. My legs were toasty by the last big hill and they welcomed the downhill portions. We continued to be plagued by fog and low-visibility.     After crossing another death bridge, we were blessed with a 2-mile stretch of shoulder completely covered with gravel. This last stretch brought us into Bandon and gave Brandon his next flat tire! Brandon with his second flat tire (as you can see).      Bandon was a cool town and will be a future destination via car. See below for some savory food pictures. It was here we finally saw blue skies after indulging at Bandon Rain Unique Craft Ciders. Bandon Rain had cool rain cloud and rain drop lights. The rec...