Paul on a bike, except when I'm working on the new house...

Ah, good news, found  new cassette for the rear wheel, a 7 speed, which I think the bike shop in Eureka will be smoking a rotten turd in hell for telling me that the wheel was an 8 speed. So after 9am getting to the 'athletic' store and finding a cassette that should work in the future, I had to go back to the motel to use what left of the wifi I had in the neighborhood.  So I could cancel the order I placed for the exact same thing, it was only a about 20 minutes, so cancel shouldn't have been much of a problem.  The new SEVEN speed wheel is doing well, not as much absorbsion of the trailer shimmy, but the wheel seems solid. On the road again, and I think I made it almost to Leggett, ca, the campsite that has three locations wasn't open at the first, so when I saw the State campsite that's right next to 101, perfect, so many of these places are 10 miles away from the hwy, which if you drive is okay, but biking out just to bike back in sucks.  And is impract

Well I'm one stop away from my final chance to go through that tree you can drive(bike) through, with all the signs I kind of thought I went past it already.  Not sure it's really worth a $1.... $35 at the campsite was okay, but the extreme humidity next to the cold Eel river made everything wet, but I got the sleeping bag into the tent fast enough.  The humidity just sticks to the outside of the tent which limits breath ability a bit, but keeps out the cold air. I was even so warm I had to take off the sweater I was wearing.  The odd thing the Russian ladies who showed up when it got dark looking for spot F (I was in H), they set up next to my campsite, and the downside was one of the two ladies snored...The next morning we talked a bit and they were going where I just left, seattle. The looked good online rear wheel snapped a spoke this morning, so good thing I bought another one in Eureka, sadly the sprocket cassette snapped the pins, so it was a bit of a challenge to get

What to say about a layover day, didn't find another $20 bill, but there's always tomorrow(I did find a quarter and a few pennies), That place that starts with a G was 40 miles, so stopped at 20 to stay at a campsite, $35, not too bad, though it's next to a river, so that wind is a gonna be cold tonight, letting the tent air dry a bit as the bottom is a bit wet due to the trailer being rained on so much, I'll dry it off with the dirty clothes before I go to bed. Had a father/daughter stop near me on the road here, evidently the son/brother had stolen the car and left it in Rio Dell(where I was last night), strange thing, I didn't see anyone, so must not be as much in the way of drugs out here, sure are a lot of 'whip-it' cartridges littered on the roadside.   People must not like their brain cells.  Better than Eureka, like a little seattle that place is. Had yet another flat, with all the holes in the front tire, I guess it's about time to let it go..

Saturday, went out and bought another rear rim found a good one, as the rims I just bought from amazon really didn't look as good as they did online, so I just didn't have confidence that they would be able to handle me plus the trailer, they are shrader compatible, so I at least won't have to find special stores to get tube. I was able to get the extra thick tubes made by goodyear and some thick 26" tires that are not that much smaller(maybe a couple of inches), but you definitely notice the difference when pedaling, which means those hills will be a skoosh easier to pedal up, yea! Fatter/wider tire means more support, and lets hope it can deal with the trailer 'shimmy' every time I go over a bump.  I think there should be a warning on the Surly Bill trailer to not use 700c rims, the torque is all wrong, just plain wrong, 26" seems right, width and torque. I have noticed over the few days I have been here, California has a smoking problem, no not just

Had two flat tires, one 10 miles out a slow leak, so I think I nearly broke the pump getting to the outskirts of Eureka, to encounter the meth/whip-its/junkie population the town has to offer. Remember, I barely remember it's a thursday, let alone thanksgiving. Made it to Motel 6, cheap enough, but no free wifi, so Mcdonalds and free coffee(from the free coins I snag on the road). The new rims I bought and had sent 'general delivery' arrived, just have to remember to check the post office I need to send those to if I do that in the future.  The rims thankfully are shrader valve compatible, so I can get tubes anywhere. Had to fix the second flat a second time this morning, oh well, new tube.  But hopefully I won't have to depend on it for long, as I'm going to get two of the goodyear extra thick tubes for the new wheels. Looking forward to getting on down the road.  Might leave early tomorrow. Though I do have to replace the disc brakes, as the ones I have are

After an okay few miles, I ran into one of those one lane road things with a light, only this one was uphill, so about 3/4 of the way up the light changed and oncoming traffic started coming down the hill, at least they were nice about it. Wasn't until about a mile later that some jerk with a pick up decided he couldn't read the "Share the Road" sign, and he had to honk at me because sharing the road was to difficult to move over to the left, since there wasn't any oncoming traffic, oh so difficult. Managed to get a supreme deal at the Trinidad Inn, it's wednesday, must be slow. 23 miles until Eureka, and there's a walmart and a fred meyers, both doing the black friday and even some thursday, so I should be able to get some tires that will work.  As people call it thanksgiving and not thursday, it's a holiday, so my new rims are going to be stuck at the USPS general delivery until friday. Or at least I hope it will be there on friday.  Rim looks li

Got out from the cabin real quick, nice little place, two more days out from Eureka, probably make Trinidad tomorrow, would try to go further but there isn't much available to stay, and they have all these 'no camping' signs in the forest. The trip out of Klamath was okay, bit of a hill, then making the turn to the Scenic Route, saw some large redwood trees, they were big, but I guess the carpenter in me just looks at them as "how many board feet could I get out of one of those trees, no need for a glue-lam beam", big trees....Wow.... So made it to Orick Ca, small I guess logging community, only hotel in town was the Palm, the other hotel was full, I guess, as it also looked like it had some structural issues.  Couldn't get the trailer into the room, but I am hopeful that it will be left alone, people here seem okay.

Hwy 101 is a really bad idea, as a road that is, built on land that's just headed into the sea....lolz There were several hills and with the heavy rain I was sucking wind a little altitude and too much 'mist' in the air, but I made it.  Three 'one lane' roads where there was a stop light for each direction to take a turn. This was definitely a shock, going from the absolute comfort of St. Paul's, into more rain then I wanted. Drying out 1/2 mile from the Tree of Mystery, if the weather cooperates I might go back and see it. I ordered a new wheelset to replace the ones I've got, deep V 26" rims, and I sent them 'general delivery' for the post office in Eureka Ca, so I'm hopeful that they will be there on wednesday, about when I should show up in Eureka, or I might get there by thursday, general delivery says they will hold it for 30 days, but I don't want them to get lost. First time doing this, fingers crossed. I'm staying in a

Weather cooperated, the hills weren't as bad as the google said they would be, even found some coinsies...which will come in handy for the new rear wheel I will need to buy, as the current wheel is starting to seize...it was probably past it's prime a while ago, but I greased it and hoped it would last a while, then again I'm towing a trailer and my butt is on it so no wonder it's complaining... I think I'll go down to a 26" if possible, that way I can get more rim and tire to support all of the weight of the trailer, there's less than an inch of difference between a 26 and 700, since a 700 is smaller than a 27", and with a fat 2" tire the difference in ride height should be negligible, might even be more comfy to bring the front up a lil. So made it to Crescent City, California they say, Movie Stars.... Wow, one more state down, now I just have to fix things, and keep on moving. I do not recall Washington thanking me, then again, not

Wow, one more state down, and four more to go. And no, this has not been as easy as I had hoped, if I only had not been a month behind my schedule, the weather has been pretty iffy. This morning according to the google and the local news, it was supposed to be sunny, and it rained, for several miles, especially the two plus mile hill I had to push the bike plus trailer up.  Later though the sun finally came out, and many of the hills became manageable, as in that 41T rear cog got a workout today. Made it to Brookings, city sure does start a few miles down the road, from where the actual city starts. Found an okay motel, the manager guy sure gave me the evil eye as I was pulling the trailer into the room, but I managed even with the audience. Could be worse, I could be going through snow. 

This song keeps me flying Mal's Song

Got up, had to reload the trailer to get it off the curb, it's so hard to find places that are handi-accessible. But then I was off, longest time since leaving McMinnville that I've spent most of the day in the saddle, so from a start of maybe 8am, I made it to Gold Beach by 2pm. Even though right out of Port Orford, it started to rain, then HAIL, which taunting me in the distance was bright blue sky, the sun glinting down.  So far not so bad, then 101 turns inland, cliffs and tall trees, keeping the hail from melting, which meant it was a bit like riding through snow...and a few miles after that, got some nice straight-aways to eat up the miles. Saw the signs for the "Oregon Coast Bike Route", and I went past it, why travel an extra mile or two, up an over more hills when the main hwy is a straight shot? So ignore that sign people, stay on 101. Interesting sights, a Raven standing on a deer carcass eyeballing me, wasn't just a crow, it was big. Saw the chea

What the hell is wrong with you sitting your Ford or Subaru, going the opposite way, you honk that damn horn, like I'm going to appreciate you interrupting my day with you stupid. True the pilot vehicles honking 50 yards or so behind me to let me know there's a house coming, now that's useful. Honking just because you think you can share the moment, you need to get a life.

Yes, it really did rain the whole way to port orford, Except for a half second outside of the Ace hardware in bandon.  New raincoat did it's job, o'neil kayak shoes did their's as well Stopped in at Southcoast Cycle http://southcoastbicycles.com/ had to wait until 10am when they opened, nice girl who was in the start of her morning opened a couple minutes early, snagged a extra tire for the rear wheel(when dragging a trailer with 700 rims in my opinion you need at the least a 700x32 to take the weight on the back and have some give), and a set of riding gloves which seem to be effective when doing 25ish miles a day, hope I can get to flatter lands where I can do longer blocks and eat up the miles. Passed several camp site parks, but the problem with them seems to be that even though the sign says turn ahead 1/4 mile, then it's 3+ miles to the campsite, that's 'no bueno'. I hear there's better weather further south, yay, maybe I can do some stealth ca

Made it to the next warmshowers host, but sadly I couldn't get the surly trailer past the sand dunes in the road. There were a couple of what I hope were control burns on about the 253 mile marker if hwy 101, but it didn't do much to dry things out. Also found a live bullet, got to keep your ordinance tight people, so got it out of the roadway, just one 9mm round can ruin your day. Found a nice room at the Lamplighter Inn, true had to pay for a nicer room since my trailer wouldn't fit up the steps in their other rooms, nice room, clean, no scent of 'there used to be people smoking here', which I have found in a few other motels along this route. Though the room did have the 'mojo' of the 70s, it had two large beds, which just said Boom Boom Room to me... Speaking of the trailer, finally got replacement bolts for the drive side, do not understand why this is backwards, the axles came installed backwards, that means as the wheels turn, they loosen the bo

Full of promise, okay, the rain took some of that out of me, but I am safe and in the company of Margaret and Daniel Partner, two nice people helping me out on my way down the coast.  They fed me very well, haven't had Okra for quite some time. The rain is back, so I'll be on the floor, and out of the rain. I was going to try to get here yesterday, but the ominous clouds said rain, an then a few minutes later, they delivered, rain until about 1am, then on an off again rain all night long, the train at about 5am was almost a nice massage, but the moss kept the vibrations down. So up on Monday morning to greet the day, looked great, then after an hour or so of hopeful pedaling, the rain came back, then thunder, far enough away with a 5 second count between lightening and sound.  I didn't expect to get Hail, little pill sized hail, but it thankfully gave up after 20 minutes, only to come back a little while later, the old story of wind making it easier to walk the bike than

Well today's weather was a bit wetter, it at least wasn't so windy that I had to push the bike down the hill. In fact it was just like a wet rainy spring day, until I got to the top of the hill where there was some chill in the air. Feeling good, only 27 miles to Coos Bay, and I'm going to go slow, maybe 13.5 miles per day, this will give time for the bolts to arrive tonight, and be shipped overnight(arriving in Coos Bay on Monday I hope), so I can once again have the trailer be whole, and I won't have to worry about it. And yes I thought it was further to Coos Bay. Downside to Reedsport is the lack of Tmobile cell service, so I had to make calls over the McDonald's wifi. Lots of nice logging roads to get lost on, or more to the point, former logging roads make good camp sites. Found my guilty pleasure at Grocery Outlet, pepperoni ends, the leftover bit when they slice the pep for the Gallo or Hormel pepperoni packs you buy in the store, now I need fruit, and

You know it's windy when you have to push the bike down the hills...ha!  at least it wasn't raining as well, still barely made 25 miles today with all those hills, and then the wind. Traffic wasn't so bad, at least the Coal Blasting** is behind me, I hope, though I am getting close to a Casino again. So Oregon DOT has some work to do when it comes to 'bike friendly' concept...along 101. Last night I stayed in http://www.deaneslodge.com/ a nice quirky place, and affordable, along with if I were traveling with people, it would have been really awesome with all you get, full kitchen but too bad I was only there for a night, due to some foundation issues the shower opened right into the toilet, lets call it quirky, and I'm nimble enough to get around the very clean commode.  Staff was very friendly, very clean place, can't recommend it enough. So after 25.3 miles to Florence, I'm at the Economy Inn(English is not their formal language so be understandin

After Lincoln City, got hopping, a bit of hill, and not hill, found the Oregon Coastal Hwy Bike path, I'm hopeful that it was shorter, but at least it seemed as I didn't need to go up the huge hill. Found a state park, but couldn't figure out the signage, nor the fees, I'm a hiker/biker, but they didn't have a spot for that on the map, so I just left, went about a half mile down the road saw another guy doing the same thing I am, camped near a beach access ramp, so I looked where he was, no room for me, so I looked on the other side of the parking area, room for me, set up the tent, locked the bike, and after about 1am the traffic started to die down, and I could hear the rhythmic sounds of the ocean waves, haven't had a full solid sleep through the night without waking for a while, eventually that should change, as things get warmer. Battling the sleeping bag has been an issue, but I got it back into the bag easier this morning, Seiko gave me a tip, now if I

Thank you Lincoln City, it was tough getting here, but as my gateway to Hwy 101, things look promising, true I didn't go anywhere, I just sat and rested, but I feel better. The maps make things look like there will be easier places to camp, and I had to learn the hardway, stop earlier, because finding a place later, can be not so much fun. The breakfast here was nice, got one more to go, then it's time to hit the road.  Stuff all packed back up, looks like the food is getting eaten up, so more stuff can fit in the bins rather than on top of the bins... Got my first two positive responses from Warmshowers.org, I know, people can't be available all the time, but yippie, get to meet some bike people along the way who are nice enough to host weary travelers for a night, maybe two if they have something really cool going on, but a safe place is all I need.  Get that shut eye, so I can rest an recuperate, which I think is part of why I'm not 100%, maybe 80%... 

So made it to Lincoln City Oregon, should have stopped sooner, got caught in a nothing that can help me place, and no place safe to stop... As I was leaving yesterday, from McMinnville, there was another cyclist who was caught in the same situation I was, I think he might have been the one I saw moving around every hour or so, he was having a worse day than I was... Hwy 18 was okay for quite a while, long stretches of wide open road, but then about where Grand Ronde has a casino the hill changes, wasn't going to stop at the casino, just seems to suck the life out of things around it...so kept riding, got up to Murphy pass 760ft, then started to go down, then up, down, then up.  Saw a safe place to park the bike/trailer, but it seemed a bit cold and my sleeping bag is a bit damp, should have made a go of it there.  Doh! But anyway, found a good cheap place to dip into the contingency fund, Ashley Inn seems to have been well maintained and Cleaned, very important thing I ha

We've all scene the exciting travel guy, jumping from rock to rock, meeting halfway interesting people, but they never show you the "no room at the inn" time, when you look around after 10pm Mcdonalds closes at 11, and don't see a place to camp. I looked over at this strip mall, saw there was a nice bench in front of the veterans job placement, sure wish there wasn't a secure place to lock up my stuff, but anyway, the bench was wood so comfy enough, sat in my sleeping bag which was still a bit damp from all the 'moist'.  I will get it dry, one day. but that is not this day... Odd how some folk in this little berg ride around on their bikes playing music very loud, stay in one place for a bit, then move to another place, more music, then repeat...all at 1am in the morning...and later, but even they got tired and went to whatever home they had. Thankfully they gave me a wide berth... But, I have coffee now, warming up, and I will get changed into clean

Both cities are the kind of Ashamed to be a Vet kind of mess. Wasted all day in portland on friday, spend the night getting out of there as fast as I could find a way out. River City bikes, called them on the phone, asked if they had the Surly axle bolt guy checks and says they have one.  clear 'bait an switch', cause when I get down there it's look busy to impress the customer and maybe I would order it from them, I'm not spending a week in portland.  One guy who I assume might have been and owner kept trying to make excuses, saying they must have thought I said Burley, wrong, parts are different, so not only was I lied to, he now wants to say I'm stupid. Too bad, not that I'm throwing money around, but there were a few parts I needed, and would have bought, not gonna buy from a liar!  There's always Fred Meyers, outside of portland, cause they aren't getting a cent from me. Map from the Oregon visitors bureau, would have been helpful, if there wer

What can I say, the Damp I woke up to on thursday was a leg drainer, but i got some good sleep, except when the trains went rumbling by, though it was sort of a back massage when they did, onto portland, where I hope I don't have to 'wait for parts', but the 'fix' I did with a smaller bolt and a few pieces of pop can seems to be holding, just avoid the big bumps, though I have gotten up to some speed here and there when there was FINALLY some downhill, googlemaps sent me some places, wasted so much time trying to find little roads to take me off to some side road, when I should just stay on the main road with a BIKE LANE, grr. So hello Oregon, one state down, and five more to go, Texas heat, cannot wait, and a puppy, puppies are full of lourves....I think it might be dry enough for me to take a pic of the welcome to Oregon sign, but I'll have to post that later here.... So a state with no sales tax, good, I need to buy a couple things, new rear rack as the on