4. The Real Day 1

Jul 20, 2009 Uncategorized

What a day! The initial plan was to make it to Chico, California to crash with my friend’s younger brother. According to Google, taking I-5 the whole way was nearly 8 hours. I figured I would take I-5 part of the way, and 101 highway for the other part.

I woke up on my own and saw Garrett’s clock on the microwave said 10:30. Oh shit, I just overslept a few hours, and Garrett left without saying goodbye. I quickly started getting my stuff together and took a shower. When I got back from the shower I saw Garrett. I gave him a hard time for being late to work, and he told me he was surprised I was up so early. Hmmm…

It turned out Garrett’s microwave clock was not set correctly. It was actually a few hours ahead. So now I was up and awake earlier than planned. I packed everything out to the bike, said my goodbyes to Garrett, and headed to California.

Around Salem I made the decision to go to highway 101. It follows the coast at least as far as Las Angeles, and I’ve been told it’s a very nice ride. This early departure from I-5 added more hours to the trip. Here are some pics I took along the way:

These are from Lincoln City, Oregon

These pics are from Port Orford, Oregon:

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox can be found in Klamath, California. These things were huge!

Paul Bunyan

Babe the Blue Ox

Various other pictures from the Oregon coast:

The coast of Oregon is colder than a witch’s broom in December. My choice of mesh pants and jacket proved costly today. I froze my ass off riding and fighting the wind for the entire day on the coast. I fell behind schedule and was in Acarta, California shortly before 7:00 pm. I was still 4 hours from Chico. So I called Pete and told him of the changes so he could alert his brother. I decided to camp out in Arcarta and a Kampground of America (KOA). This will be my last night with KOA unless I am desperate in the future. I don’t know how they get away with charging $27/night for 1 tent. But that’s all that was here, and I was exhausted.

I set up camp like a pro and had the tent up in 3 minutes. I unloaded my gear and headed to town looking for food and firewood. I didn’t even bother asking KOA if they sold wood. They already took enough of my money.

If you ever need firewood in Acarta there is only one place to get it – Safeway. I tried Target, a gas station, CVS, and Walgreens unsuccessfully until someone told me they had it as Safeway. I bought 1.35 cubic feet of firewood. It came in a big cardboard box slightly larger than a milk carton. I loaded all the empty bags up with wood and it fit perfectly. I also wanted the box to use for kindling. So being the brilliant man I am, I folded the box flat and put it on the bike between my legs for the ride home. I may have looked foolish, but I got the whole payload back to the tent. I also bought a 6-pack of Top-Ramen (I only wanted one but they only had 6 packs for $1.41) for dinner.

I got the fire going rather quickly and then started with dinner. One bag of Ramen was the main course tonight. I used the stove and gas I bought at REI to boil some water with the small pots kit I bought at REI too. After I very long time I got the water to boil. I added the Ramen and waited. I waited too long and overcooked the Ramen into a soggy mess. Rats! Oh well, I still ate. Then I wrote this and went to bed. Here are some campsite pics: