Roller Coaster Time

Just over 600 miles to go. Seattle has always been so very far away and for nine months we've been striving to get there. Now, it lies 625 miles away.  Just about two weeks of riding. Only 5% of our trip left. And I'm scared.

To be fair, scared is just one of the many different feelings we've had these past few days. Until now, we always had other destinations. At first it was Phoenix, AZ. After that, Albuquerque, NM. Then Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Little Rock... And so on and so forth until our latest stop, Eureka, CA. But Seattle is really it. sure, we're going to ride in Alaska and Hawaii, but we get to take other means of transportation to get there. Seattle is the end of waking up, riding 65 miles, finding a spot to camp, falling asleep, then doing it all over again. Scary.

As we rode away from my Mom and Scott the other day, tears staining my cheeks, 625 miles seems very far away. Saying goodbye to family has always been hardest part of this trip and it proved once again to weigh heavily on us. What were we doing? In just a few hours, my Mom would back home in the comfort of her own house. We were riding through the cold California rain towards an unknown.

That was a difficult day. 101 was not an easy road. Sections of no shoulder kept us constantly looking back in our rearview mirrors. Sharp twists and turns kept us uneasy as we did everything we could to be seen. The constant rain didn't help our spirits as we rode further and further away from my Mom. What were we doing?

A campsite was just not happening that night. Maybe we were a little too spoiled from staying at The Carter House for three nights in a row, maybe we just needed a pick-me-up. Whatever it was, a dry, warm room kept us sane and we slept peacefully.

The next morning greeted us with more rain. Harder rain. Instead of riding towards Crescent City, we rode to the cafe next door and waited out what we thought would be the worst of it. Here, we met a few folks interested in our story and they smiled in amazement as we retold the same story we've been telling for months. The rain ceased a bit, and we left the Palm Cafe with our spirits lifting a little higher.

Just ten miles up the road and we found ourselves in a fantasy land of beauty. Prairie Creek State Park was a wonderland for Adam and his camera. Instead of spending an hour there, we wished we had a week.











But the clear skies didn't last long and within a few minutes of photographing the sun shooting through the foggy mist, we were caught in a downpour with nowhere to hide. What were we doing?

We looked at each other, not sure how to take this. Amazingly, we smiled at each other. The rain came down a little harder. We smiled more. Our tires found their way through the small flood in the road and we laughed. And that was that. The rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun came out in time for us to enjoy lunch on the steps of a small church with a few friends.

Feeling much better, we continued on towards Crescent City, climbed a 1,200 foot hill (yes, there are still hills to climb on the coast), then froze as we flew down the 1,200 feet on the other side, right into Crescent City, and into Gerry's home. He invited us in just before another rainstorm came through and we dried ourselves and our things that night.



Fall set in the next day and we found our groove again in the crisp salty air. Pacific Coast is the perfect setting to keep our spirits lifted during these next few weeks.


 


























Moment of Zen:
Last night we met The Peace Artist as we were climbing the last hill before Gold Beach. He was pushing a Chariot baby stroller and our first thought was, "Who would be walking their child on a road like this?" Turns out, Peace, as he introduced himself, was running 10,000 for Peace, Love, and Art. He gave away all of his worldly belongings.... gave away... and he is running around the U.S. for peace. Sounds a little crazy, I know, but he is a normal guy! As we were talking on the side of the road, a truck flew by us, a little too close for comfort. We debated giving him a one fingered salute, but Peace shot him a smile and a peace sign instead.

 I guess we always have more to learn.

The Weaving of the Worlds

We have two lives. Reality this year is getting on a bike and riding 65 miles to the next town. It's sleeping in a tent and swatting bugs away as we eat. It's giving presentations to 292 excitable students. It's raising over $21,000 for our charities so far. Our imaginary life is being at home with friends and family. It's living in a house and sharing meals in a kitchen. Lately, we've experienced an interesting weaving of the worlds.

Weave In
Spooner Pass was a beast! But after we crested that summit, riding into Lake Tahoe with the sun setting across the lake was serene. We watched a beautiful sunset, then continued down around the lake looking for a campsite. This is when it sunk in that, as beautiful as the sunset was, it was a sunset. The sun was gone and the dark was creeping in. We turned on our lights and pushed through.

Weave Out
Turns out, there's no camp sites along the North East side of Tahoe, so we tried our luck in Incline Village. No such luck. The light of day was completely gone and just when we were about to give up and turn down a dark road towards a $150 room, Larry and Candy pulled over to tell us not to bike that road in the dark and invited us to their home instead.

Weave In
We spent the next few days riding to our destination of Chico. Two nights in the Sierra Nevadas, sweating in the heat of the day, bathing in the chilly river at night. Our first night's dinner was ruined by the uninvited bees swarming as we cooked some meat. Our second night, another uninvited guest came along and took Adam's bike shorts, hanging to dry in the tree. We told the kids in Chico that if they see a bear wearing a pair of bike shorts to let us know.

Weave Out
Chico weaved the beginning of our trip with the end. We met Rich on January 15th, day 6 of our journey, in Blythe, CA at the Blue Grass Festival. We gave him our card, he looked us up, followed our journey, sent some yummy Turkey Jerky along the way, and invited us to meet him, his brother and sister-in-law Gil and Jo, in Chico. Instead of sharing our dinners with uninvited guests, we got to share our meals with a family in a home filled with laughter.

Weave In
Even as we took a couple days rest, we were still working hard and had two presentations: our first, to almost 300 students at Shasta Elementary School. They were an excitable crowd and we ran out of time before we could answer all of their questions. As we ended our presentation, the principal took the microphone and challenged his students to each bring in .50 cents and they could raise enough money to buy a bicycle. A bicycle for World Bicycle Relief is $134. We just found out these kids raised even more than that! The 4th, 5th, and 6th graders raised a total of $160: inching closer and closer to our goal of $25,000!

Weave Out
When in Chico, a must-do, besides seeing the World's Largest Working Wooden Yo-Yo, is visiting the Sierra Nevada Brewery. Loved our yummy meal followed by a brewery tour!

Weave In
After our time in Chico, feeling mighty spoiled, our next destination was Eureka, CA where we were going to meet my Mom and Scott. In order to get there, though, we had one of the craziest, steepest, skinniest, most beautiful, scariest roads of our trip. Route 36 started off a treat. The first day, traveling up and up and up over the final mountain range to the coast, the Coastal Range, was a beautiful, hot, carless day. But this quickly changed. After camping alone in the dark, except for the four pairs of eyes that glowed in the reflection of our headlamps as we ate, we started our second day in good spirits and climbed the last big summit in the first ten miles of the day. It was all downhill from there... Literally.

As we continued on, the road got skinnier and skinnier but the traffic only increased. We soon found ourselves immersed in a Redwood forest, unable to enjoy it's beauty to it's fullest because of the constant logging trucks flying by. Logging trucks, I believe, are Cyclist Enemy #1. They slow down for no one, knowing the paycheck depends upon the amount of trips they make.

Weave Out
One more night, a short 20 mile day, and we were in Eureka awaiting the arrival of Mama and Scott. As soon as we saw them, it was like we were swept away from California, from the bikes, from our tour, and taken back to Madison, CT. We spent an incredible few nights at The Carter House Inn, courtesy of Mark Carter, himself. The bed and breakfast was a Diamond in the.... well, it wasn't in the Rough, but it was a Diamond, that's for sure.











We found some Redwood forests, the beautiful Pacific Coast, walked the town, and even enjoyed a home cooked meal by Scott.

  

Weaving it all together!
We shared some amazing meals together in Eureka, dining in places we'd usually never dream of walking into, but even though we were living the high life, we were all taken back to the outdoors when Adam found an inch worm squirming around on his plate(we're not going to tell you the restaurant name). Ahhh... I guess Mother Nature wanted my mom to experience a little of our reality.

All too quickly our time with Mama and Scott ended. We had mixed emotions as we climbed back onto our trusty steeds, Jenny and Ontwa, and rode away from Eureka and towards the end of our tour.

The emotions will be running high these next few weeks as we finish the bike-only portion of our Give a Bike: 50 State Tour. 

Check out the awesome news story on NBC Eureka!!!