Sweet Sorrow

Our bags are packed (mostly). Our route is planned (sort of). Our electronics are charged (at least half way). Tomorrow we hit the road again.

We are excited, but this is going to be the most painful goodbye so far. Over the last three months we have been living with one of Peter’s college friends and her family. In this time they have become our family as well. We’ve had some amazing new experiences together and been a part of their daughter’s life. We’ve watcher her grow from 7 months to 10 months, which seems short on paper but seeing her develop and learn has been hella fascinating.

We knew this day would eventually come, but that doesn’t make it easy. At least we are lucky enough to live in a time where Facebook, Skype, and texts exist. I know we will be back again someday, or maybe they will visit us for a weekend while we are on the ride. There will be plenty of opportunities to stay connected and let our friendship grow together.

People really are the most amazing part of this ride. We’ve had the honor of living in other people’s shoes and experiencing their world. When we lived in LA it was easy to get stuck in a bubble where we gravitate towards likeminded people. Even burners like us find ourselves in friendships with freaks of the same cloth. This ride has flipped that around and we have seen lives on farms, in cities, in traditional families, in communes, and everything in between. It is beautiful, but it makes leaving hard… very hard.

Tears will be shed as we part ways, but that is part of life. Every beginning has an end. Every time you enter a door you will eventually walk back out of it. Every hello has a good bye. We are happy, we really are, but time went so quickly and I wish we had infinite time.

Clinton to Tulsa (or, The Rural Midwest is Not Built for Cyclists)

Leaving the Katy Trail was a pretty sad moment. It had been really nice to transition back into the ride by having a safe and scenic route to bike, but alas, all good things must come to an end. We left the Clinton Community Center with a general route planned to get us to Tulsa. The route was mostly hilly and we had a headwind that left us mentally exhausted by the end of the day, luckily the day ended well. While we were at a gas station refilling water a couple approached us and asked us about our ride. After some chatting they left, but soon returned and asked if we needed a place to stay. We gladly accepted, after the rough day we had it was nice to be indoors and have a warm bed. We biked the final four miles or so to their house as the sun set.

Herb and Diane (our unexpected hosts for the night) were a wonderful couple and really the definition of Christ’s teachings. It was clear from the books in the house and our conversations that they were Christian but we never felt like we were being pressured or converted. They had a warm, loving presence about them that was filled with a genuine desire to help others. We see a wide variety of people on our ride who express different religious and ethical foundations, but oftentimes their words and actions contradict each other. And, of course, we see such poisonous versions of Christianity every time we watch anything to do with politics. I really don’t think any political candidates are true followers of Christ and I often wonder how politically active individuals can reconcile their religious ethics with the vile actions and words spoken by politicians. I know there is a verse or two that states Christians should obey their government because it was put in place by God, but I think this is lazy and antithetical to the teachings of Christ. If man’s law is violating the teachings of Christ then Christians should violate man’s law. The heart of Christianity is anarchy towards the state, and I’d love to see that play out more vocally among today’s religious leaders.

Anyway, I’m getting off topic. We had a truly lovely time with Herb and Diane at their home. They left us with some wonderful apples and pecans picked from their land and it was such a treat to meet them. I hope we can stay in touch and spend some more time together in the future.

After leaving their home we kept peddling along a similar path with hills and headwinds until we crossed into Kansas (State #13!!!!) in the evening. We slept on the side of the road and spent the early part of the next day biking to Fort Scott, Kansas where we set up camp at Gunn Park for two nights. The park was beautiful and allowed tent camping for only $5, a real good deal for us. It is really fortunate when we come across cities that actually encourage people to visit and spend money instead of passing laws that push us to the side of the road to sleep.

Our time in Fort Scott was spent working with little to report. The roads started getting noticeably unfriendly to bikes with limited shoulders and lots of debris. We ended up spending the next night in a hotel in Pittsburg (something we hate to do) due to lack of safe options.  After leaving Pittsburg things started getting worse. The weather started raining on us and we started popping tubes pretty regularly all the way down to Tulsa. The next few days of travel into Oklahoma were some of the worst we had dealt with in a long time. Not only was the terrain hell on our equipment (we had more flats during this 150 miles than we did the entire 3,700 miles before it) but the roads were seriously dangerous.

I almost got hit by a car while biking in the shoulder because a car decided to use the shoulder to pass someone. If I had not turned around to check my distance between Anna and I, saw the car, and swerved into the grass hill (hardly a safe move but instinct took over and it was safer than staying put) it is very likely Higgins would be dead and I would be seriously injured or dead. This instance made Anna and I really discuss how we are going to move forward on the bike ride. Ever since leaving Indiana we have really been rolling the dice with our safety and it has reached a point where we mentally can’t keep it up. After getting to Dallas we are going to really look into routing and plan more carefully. Our method of just plugging in cities we want to visit on Google Maps isn’t going to work down south where the infrastructure and culture is very anti-cyclist and anti-pedestrian. This means we are going to need to cut any cities off our list that we don’t have a great desire to visit (like Asheville, NC) or have a safe place to stay for 4-5 days or both. It just isn’t worth the risk, mental anguish, and time suck to visit most cities anymore while on the bike ride. We will need to just visit those cities at another time.

When we finally arrived in Tulsa we stayed at the beautiful home of one of my college classmates. Shannon and her husband Jerry were incredibly kind and generous to let us take over their spare bedroom for a night and we had such a wonderful time chatting with them. It was also incredibly informative for us because we talked a bit about the perception people have of our lives and travels. It seems that there are a lot of assumptions about what we do, who we do, and the nature of our relationship. The fault probably falls on me for that one, but if anyone has any questions we are an open book so feel free to message me or something.

We really wish we could have stayed longer in Tulsa and spent more time with Shannon and Jerry, and visited with other friends in Tulsa. Luckily, we will be back in December when we drive up to St. Louis for the holidays. During that time we will have the freedom to visit more and relax a bit. Now, we are on our way to Dallas where we will be spending two months working, relaxing, trying not to get fat, and visiting with friends and family.

Miles City, MT to Dickinson, ND (or, Becoming Legendary)

We enjoyed our time at the wonderful Big Sky Campground in Miles City but, as is always the case, we had to hit the road. Our first day out was a short 37 mile day along the interstate into Terry, Montana. The ride was uneventful for the most part but we did have our second journey-related flat (we’ve also had one flat due to human error…Peter fucked up). We’re definitely realizing that our Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires were well worth the investment. After 24 days on the road – over 500 miles – with eight wheels total, we have only had two flats. The Schwalbes may be $50 each but they more than pay for themselves in both time and money saved.

Terry was small (about 600 people) but it had all the amenities we needed…basically, a grocery store and free water. The woman at the grocery store called someone and confirmed that we could camp in the city park. These little towns seem to have a common sense that is lost in larger cities. Without a bloated bureaucracy making up rules about what can and can’t happen on public land, it is easy for us to just set up a tent for the night without hassle. There was one Corgi that tried to bite Higgins because most Corgis are dickholes (at least most of the ones we’ve encountered), and there was also a loose dog that Peter helped catch, but for the most part our time at the Terry city park was fairly uneventful.

The ride from Terry to Glendive was supposed to be a fairly easy one. It’s only about 40 miles with mostly flat terrain, and the weather was forecasted to be pretty nice. Unfortunately, however, we got wind-fucked. About halfway through the day we got hit by an alternating headwind/crosswind that gusted up to 30 MPH. There are few things more frustrating than peddling as hard as you can on flat terrain and only moving 4 MPH. We even tried to get off the highway and take some gravel side roads, hoping there would be trees and hills to provide us with some cover from the wind. That didn’t end up working though – the terrain was mostly farmland and now we were both wind-fucked AND gravel-fucked.

We crawled along for several hours and finally arrived at Glendive around 4 PM. We had found some online references to free camping in a park in town so we set up base there. Anna went to the Albertson’s across the street for some groceries/beer and also confirmed that we could camp in the park as long as we didn’t start a fire. I’m not really sure why someone would just start a fire in the middle of a park with no fire pits, but clearly this has been a problem in the past.

For the price (free), the park was pretty nice. There was no easily accessible electricity or WiFi, but we had soft ground, a nearby grocery store, and access to a bathroom. Granted, both bathrooms reminded us of a scene out of the movie Hostel with terrible lighting, blind corners, creepy concrete walls, and the smell of sliced opened bowels filled with Taco Bell. The latter part came from the women’s bathroom where someone had apparently taken a shit all over the toilet, walls, and the button you push to flush the toilet. Someone also abandoned a full, diarrhea-filled baby diaper in the trash can in there. Some people are gross.

Seems sanitary…

We did have a nice lady named Donna give us $20 while we were hanging out at the park waiting for people to leave. We tried to explain that we didn’t need the money but she wanted to be kind so we accepted it. It turned out that Donna worked at the local vet where we were taking Higgs to get his rattlesnake vaccine booster the next day. Small world…and small town.

After everyone left the park (finally), we set up our tent for the night. We slept well but woke a little earlier than expected because city maintenance showed up to spray the weeds in the park. Our tent was in their way, so they called the cops on us. An officer approached our tent and informed us that camping was not allowed and that we had to move. He was friendly enough – if anything, he seemed to agree it was ridiculous that he’d been called to oust campers at 6 AM. We later learned that the city only sprays the park for weeds once a YEAR, which means if we would have camped there literally any other night, we probably wouldn’t have been hassled. Oh well.

Getting up early had some perks. I rode around town a bit to get a feel for the infrastructure. There weren’t a lot of options for power, WiFi, water, etc but I did find another park that had electricity.

We spent the day in Glendive doing our normal errands…working, powering up our stuff, and getting supplies. I also took Higgins to the vet to get his rattlesnake vaccine booster. That was a kind of crazy experience. Vets out in rural areas are a bit different than their urban counterparts. For one, the things for sale are incredibly frightening. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen syringes used to inseminate various livestock, but they are large. Another strange thing was the number of bulls in the parking lot. I am used to zero bulls in the parking lot; this vet had at least six.

After we got all our work and errands done for the day, we decided that Makoshika State Park was our best option for camping that night. On our way through Glendive to Makoshika, we said good-bye to our old friend the Yellowstone River. We’ve been riding along or near the Yellowstone for a couple of weeks now and it will be kind of weird not to see those rolling waters nearby anymore. Anyway, after a very quick ride, we arrived in Makoshika just as the sun was starting to set. Generally, we hate spending $18 for 12 hours on 225 square feet of hard land without electricity or water, and with only a drop toilet to share with 20 other people. (We aren’t New Yorkers, after all.) We didn’t have much of a choice though, and in the end we’re glad we didn’t. Makoshika was absolutely gorgeous. The pictures we took don’t do it justice at all. The way the colors from the sunset highlighted the natural beauty of the badlands was enough to truly take your breath away. (More pics can be found at our Facebook page www.facebook.com/shiftsandhiggles )

The view from our tent can’t be beat.

Home is where the tent is…

The next day we got up fairly early, but took our time hitting the road. We have gotten into a pretty decent routine and as long as we don’t have a Couchsurfer waiting for us or anything, we feel no real rush. Our mileage has been good and our bodies are getting in decent shape. 40-50 mile days just aren’t as big of a deal anymore, so we take our time in the morning. Last night, we’d planned on doing a little hiking in Makoshika in the morning, but it was already in the 80’s at 9:30 AM so we decided not to. Makoshika is now on our list of places to return to, though. It would be awesome to come back and do a multi-day backpacking trip between the different campgrounds.

Makoshika!

We had to ride the interstate again today because it was our only real option heading east. There are some side roads but they are mostly gravel and incredibly hilly…basically the bane of our existence. The terrain has started to flatten out a bit but there is a noticeable lack of trees along the interstate, which sucks on sunny and hot days. Occasionally we find a small town that has some buildings or a city park with shade, but most of our breaks are short and in the sun on the side of the road.

As our day came to an end, we encountered a lot of trouble finding a place to camp for the night. We stopped in a small town called Wibaux that had a very nice park, but the sheriff informed us that they didn’t allow camping there for whatever reason. At around 4:30 PM I called ahead to the next town (Beach) and talked to their Visitor Center. I was informed that there were several tent camping options in Beach, but the person wouldn’t discuss it over the phone for some reason – instead we were told to come in to the Visitor Center and talk to someone in person. So, with a basic idea that we would have shelter in Beach, we kept moving and crossed into North Dakota.

State Line Selfie!!!!

When we arrived at Beach around 5:45 PM, their Visitor Center was already closed. Apparently the person I talked to on the phone didn’t think it was important to mention that the center closed a half hour from when we were talking. Bullshit. I grabbed some flyers that had information about the town, but that ended up being a bust. The only campground listed on the flyer turned out to not actually exist. (Thanks?) Anna biked to a few gas stations and talked to some of the locals to see if anyone knew anything about tent camping options in the city, and nobody knew anything. After some quick exploring of the town proved fruitless as well, I went into a local RV park to see if they would allow us to set up for the night, and the owner said that we could set up for free! This was our first taste of that “legendary” North Dakota friendliness we’d heard about.

Higgins is disappointed by the lack of sticks.

The RV park wasn’t much, but it had power and we had explicit permission to be there – more than we can say for many places we’ve set up our tent. We plugged in our devices, I went to buy a six-pack of beer, and we settled in for the night. It wasn’t a great night of sleep. Being in a city is always a little stressful for us. We lock our bikes and take precautions but there is always a small nagging fear that someone will rob or burglarize us. Our entire lives are with us, losing a bike or trailer or wallet or piece of equipment would be devastating. In the middle of this night, Anna thought she heard someone trying to steal my bike. It turned out to be nothing, but once you are on edge at night, it is hard to settle in. Then, it started raining so we had to get up and cover everything with our tarp. I really think the meteorologists have been trolling us all. We check the weather constantly and it is wrong so often, particularly when it comes to forecasting rain.

After our less-than-restful night’s sleep, we got up and got ready to go. We decided that we would rent a hotel in Dickinson (two nights away). We hadn’t showered in nearly a week and it is never good when you can smell your own crotch while standing. Our budget allows for a hotel room once a month in case of an emergency, so this wasn’t a big deal. Besides, I had a lot of work to do and if I could marathon 12-15 hours of work in one day, having access to reliable motel WiFi would pay for itself five-fold.

The ride through western North Dakota was hilly, but gorgeous. We traveled through Theodore Roosevelt National Park and got to see the Painted Canyon. Every time we crested a hill we had the most amazing sights on all sides. We took photos but, again, they couldn’t do it justice. We had no idea this part of the country was so lovely. Roosevelt National Park is another spot we’d like to spend more time in. Maybe one of these days we’ll get a van and spend a year just driving to state and national parks and backpacking them for a week each or whatever. While at a scenic overlook for the Painted Canyon, we met an incredibly stoned guy who asked us about our ride. He thought Higgs was a child at first. He was from Minnesota and had kind of an old hippy vibe. We had a great time talking to him and he gave us the stereotypical peace sign as we took off.

You should probably just see this in person.

We arrived in Belfield, our hopeful home for the night, as the sun was getting ready to set. The park we stopped at did not have any “No Camping” signs so we decided that camping was allowed there. That’s how the law works, right? Everything is allowed unless expressly forbidden? Legal or not, it worked out well for us. One cop patrolled by at around 9 PM but didn’t see us. We slept well and woke up around 5 AM to get moving before the cop did his morning patrol. As we left, a guy stopped us and asked us what we thought of the park. It was only 7 AM at that point so he probably realized we’d camped there. He was friendly though and seemed genuinely proud of the city park.

It is constantly amazing to us how nice some of these parks are in very small towns. A town may have only 600 people, but it will have an incredibly nice park with a pavilion, new bathrooms, kitchen facilities, picnic tables, and other equipment. I’m always curious how they afford them. Sometimes there are signs thanking the Lion’s Club (or some similar organization), but sometimes there are not. I wonder if these small communities have better direct control of their tax dollars. I imagine in a town of 600 people everyone knows the city council members by name and if they waste money it is pretty obvious (and hurtful because you all know each other). Maybe the community can also band together to create nice things for a low cost without bureaucratic waste. The anarchist in me who is sympathetic to a communal or socialist set-up at the local level loves this.

The ride from Belfield to Dickinson was kind of gloomy and pretty uneventful. It wasn’t particularly challenging, we just rolled along the interstate about 22 miles into Dickinson. (With a warm shower waiting for us, we only took one short break.) Our hotel (The Rodeway Inn) was the cheapest one in town and had terrible reviews, but it was much better than we expected. The staff was incredibly friendly – they even let us check in early – and our hotel room had everything we needed: a hot shower, reliable WiFi, electrical outlets, plenty of room to put our bikes and gear, clean linens, a mini fridge and microwave, etc. It took about an hour to get all our equipment unpacked, dismantled, and into our room, but once we settled in I got to work pretty quickly. Anna started knocking out some of our errands like laundry, uploading pictures to Facebook, etc. I ordered Domino’s for dinner because I wanted it. We didn’t get to bed until 1 AM, which was a bad decision, but when you have an actual hotel room sometimes you lose track of time. Oh well – we will just regret this in the morning!

Billings to Miles City (or, Gettin’ that D)

Like most of our stops, Billings was a chance to rest, get a tune up for the bikes, and catch up on some work. We took our bikes to Spoke Shop and they treated us wonderfully; if you are ever in Billings and need some work done, we absolutely recommend them. Our Warm Showers hosts, Wanda and Lenny, were absolutely amazing. They are a retired couple with several bike tours under their belts. They let us stay in their gorgeous sun room and joined us on a mini brewery tour and to get some Thai food. They also treated us to a delicious homemade dinner, rhubarb crumble with ice cream, and espresso in the mornings. We ended up chatting with them about a lot of things, from politics to religion to things to see and do around eastern Montana. We learned a few things and really enjoyed our conversations. Unfortunately, Higgs acted like a dickhole for pretty much the entire time we stayed at their house. I don’t know what his deal is sometimes, he just gets it in his head to be obnoxious and protective and anxious about everything. Oh well, he is a dog and we do our best. Overall, Billings was a treat and we had a great time. It is also a gorgeous area with high sandstone cliffs (the Rimrocks) overseeing the city, and of course, the Yellowstone River winding its way through the region.

We hit the road a little late on Sunday (5/31) but only had a short day planned. Before leaving town we stopped at the local IGA for groceries, met a couple of people outside it (people are really really friendly in Montana), and handed out a couple of our business cards with our contact information. Printing those was one of the best decisions we made. It is so crazy awesome that people are interested in our journey and following along with us.

The day ended up being a pretty hot one as we rode our way along a mostly flat highway. The shoulder was minimal but traffic wasn’t too bad so we made good time. It is always nice to arrive at a free camping spot along the Yellowstone River pretty early. We were able to set up the tent, eat some food, lounge and read in the hammock, and explore the area for a bit. We even had a cat adopt us and hang out for a bit… though Higgs was not entirely pleased about this. He always wants to play with cats but they will likely claw the tits off his face (especially this particular cat). As the temperature dropped we got some work done, wrote some postcards, and banged. It is nice that the initial exhaustion from the bike ride is wearing off and our sex is picking up again. So often we mentally want to bang but are just too tired from the physical and psychological toll the ride takes on us. Riding all day and not knowing where you are going to sleep at night can be very exhausting.

As is often the case in Montana, we drifted off to sleep to the sound of teenagers shooting guns in the distance. In the middle of the night a storm blew by us, causing a little bit of panic as we scrambled to make sure everything was secured and all our valuable stuff was inside the tent. It never ended up really raining but how quickly and unpredictably the storm came near us was a lesson to be learned.

The original plan for the following day was to wake up and knock out about 50 miles. We also wanted to stop by Pompey’s Pillar, a national monument where Captain Clark carved his name and date into a rock. Apparently even renowned explorers like to tag things. We got to the monument at around 11 AM and took our time exploring, hiking to the top of the pillar, and picnicking. We met a handful of cool people who inquired about our trip and our set-up. I also almost stepped on a giant damn snake that decided to slither into the shade under Higgs’ trailer when we weren’t looking. It looked like a rattlesnake but turned out to be a bull snake, which is less dangerous but still made me pee my pants a little when I first saw it. By the time we hit the road again it was well past 1 PM and getting close to 90 degrees out thanks to the glaring sun. Oh well, vitamin D is important.

There was almost no shade along our route east towards Myers. The sun beat down on us and hills that were normally just an annoyance became a real struggle. We pressed on though until we got to Custer, a 150-person town with a gas station and a saloon (and not much else). We desperately needed water so we stopped at the gas station to buy a gallon. While I was shopping a man approached Anna and informed her that Custer has a park that we could camp at for free. We were still 20 miles short of our planned stopping point, but we were exhausted from the heat and also there was a huge storm coming in super quickly from the southwest, so we decided to take the man up on his offer. He was a portly gentleman with a cowboy hat on, and he was riding around in a golf cart that we never actually witnessed him get in or out of. As such, I decided he was The Sheriff. Apparently, The Sheriff had a key to the park buildings, and he unlocked things for us (by handing us the key – like I said, we never saw him leave the golf cart) so that we could use the bathroom. Towns like this are very interesting to me – they are so tiny that people literally know everyone else in town. The 2010 high school graduating class was only 9 people, and on the park building is a sign that says something like “If you need to use the bathroom call Cindy”. No last name…because obviously everyone in the town knows who Cindy is.

There is something about these small towns that I find fascinating, and a little sad. Clearly these towns used to provide services and have a purpose. Custer, for example, was a stop on the railroad in the past, but now it is nothing but 150 people who either can’t leave or won’t leave. They have no grocery store besides a gas station filled with junk food. There is a saloon/restaurant/bar/casino as well but that doesn’t seem to be bringing a particularly large amount of economic prosperity. I can’t imagine growing up in a place like that, where you literally know everyone’s name and there are no chances for summer jobs or escape. I would want to hitch my way west to Billings or something. What really surprises me is people like The Sheriff who went to college in Missoula and then returned to Custer by choice. I have a feeling that these rail cities are going to continue to decline and disappear. Any location that has so much economic reliance on one industry is basically doomed to fail, particularly in this day and age when automation can do almost anything. It makes me wonder which cities thriving today are just a technological advancement, base closure, or cultural shift away from becoming a ghost town.

Stopping in Custer ended up being the right choice. The storm did indeed hit us hard. Lightning was flashing all around and sheets of rain came down accompanied by 50 MPH winds. I really have no idea what we would have done if we hadn’t had a building to bunker down in. Best case scenario, we would have been soaking wet and miserable; worst case, our tent would have broken from the extreme wind or we could have gotten hurt. We knew just how lucky we were to have found a place to sleep indoors, safe and dry. After a night of great sleep we got up around 7:30 AM and hit the road a couple hours later. We knew daytime temps could get pretty hot so we wanted to hit the road before the sun could drain us too much. The morning was overcast and cool, pretty perfect for biking. The mountains gave way to rolling hills for the most part as we headed east, which was a nice change. There were still some hills ahead of us but it looked like the worst was behind us.

The geography changed slowly as we headed east. The mountains gave way to sandstone cliffs and rock formations and desert plants. This is one of our favorite things about cycling: you get to see the world evolving around you in beautiful ways. Thanks to our slow pace and lack of glass or metal panels blocking us from nature, we get to really feel the world directly – the tastes, smells, sights, sounds, and sensations working together to create a memorable experience.

This day ended up being our longest to date at 53 miles total (6 hours in the saddle). The latter part of the day always ends up being a blur as we search for a place to camp. We got lucky today though – we stumbled upon an abandoned rest area right outside of Forsyth with lots of trees and fresh water trickling out of a pipe. We set up our tent and crashed quickly.

Throughout the night we heard a lot of people stopping at the rest area to fill up jugs from the water point. The next morning, a friendly guy stopped by and informed us that the water is from a spring and is completely safe to drink (they even test it monthly for contaminants). No wonder so many people were stopping by! Guess we didn’t need to use those iodine tablets after all…

As comfortable as we were in our tent (and sore from the day before), we knew that Miles City was still over 50 miles away – we still had a lot of ground to cover. We got on the road fairly early, although we did make a stop at a grocery store in Forsyth to get some groceries first…because when you are eating 5,000 calories a day, you need to restock regularly.

Our final leg into Miles City was a little hillier than the last couple days. We’d learned that our planned route had washed out from the recent rain and was likely impossible to navigate on bike. One of our other options, the frontage road, was gravel, and gravel slows us down considerably. So, we ended up veering away from the Yellowstone River and spending some time on the reliable interstate, with its wide shoulders and smooth pavement, even though this did add more hills to our day. Despite the hills and the heat, we didn’t stop too many times during the day. It is clear we are becoming stronger and more durable pretty quickly. We did stop to eat lunch at a small town called Rosebud, though. We ate some amazing hummus wraps (hummus, fresh peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach, nom nom nom) with the stuff we got from the grocery store in Forsyth that morning. When you are burning through calories like crazy, your appetite can grow incredibly strong, making everything taste so much more amazing than it normally does. Anna would recommend this to anyone trying to eat more healthfully – even veggies and hummus tastes like a gourmet feast after an intense hour or two of good old physical activity.

After 45 miles or so, we arrived at the free campsite I’d found on Google. Except, it didn’t exist. Google had put it in the wrong city and there was no campsite in sight. We had to bike another five miles through town to get to a campground on the other side of the city. It sucked, but there was nothing else we could do. So, we biked those last five grueling miles (stopping on the way to pick up some beer, of course) and arrived at Big Sky campground around 8 PM with a total of 53 miles for the day, 7 hours in the saddle. It kind of sucks to pay for camping but the rate here was reasonable ($16/night) and they have a ton of amenities including showers, laundry, and WiFi. Considering how much work Anna and I are going to knock out in Miles City, it makes it a worthwhile investment to pay for WiFi for a few days.

The next few legs of our ride are going to continue to be civilization sparse. We will be in North Dakota in a few days and besides Dickinson, Bismarck, and Fargo there really isn’t much. It should be a relatively easy ride as we slowly loose elevation all the way to Chicago.

Bozeman to Billings (or, May Monsoons Kick June in the Balls)

Bozeman ended up being a pleasant surprise. We got to stay with two amazing hosts, as well as wander around the cute little downtown area. It’s a bit of a shame that the college in Bozeman doesn’t have any Master’s programs that I’d be interested in. So far Missoula is still our favorite city in Montana, but Bozeman is ranked a close second and we’d certainly love to return for a longer stay at some point.

On Monday (5/25) we got kind of a late start. After saying good bye to our Warm Showers host we stopped by Wal-Mart to get some groceries for the road. Billings is a four-day trip away and we wanted to make sure we were ready. There are plenty of small towns along the way but it’s difficult to know what type of stores they’ll have in them. We’ve found it’s much better and safer to be prepared.

While packing up outside the store we had several people come up and chat with us about our journey. We handed out some of our business cards and were able to secure a place for us to stay in both Alabama and the Florida Keys, whenever we make it that far. People are really amazing and generous most of the time… well, some people. Our journey is far from a statistical study but so far it seems people of lower income are more willing to help out strangers than those of higher income. I’m not really sure why that is.

Anyway, we hit the road around noon with a warm sun and clear skies above. The first 15 miles were pretty rough, we had to climb another mountain pass. It wasn’t as bad as MacDonald but we were pushing by the end and the sun was taking its toll on us. Once we reached the top things got a bit easier. We coasted downhill about five miles through some farmland and met back up with the interstate. There were tons of other cyclists on the road (thanks Memorial Day), including a man we met named Vlad. He is in the middle of cycling from Washington state to Massachusetts. We exchanged a few quick stories with Vlad and wished him a good journey. Needless to say, he was traveling much more quickly than we were.

After another small climb we had a nice 10ish-mile downhill into Livingston, our planned stopping city. During this part of the ride we had our first flat. Anna’s front tube was punctured by a really sharp and pointy piece of gravel. So far the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires have been a huge success – one flat for eight wheels over two weeks of travel is pretty impressive for us! We were on the road pretty quickly after the flat and had dinner on the side of the road just inside Livingston. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure any housing in the city. There were no Couchsurfers or Warm Showers hosts, and the campgrounds were pretty expensive due to the location near Yellowstone. We reached out to a few churches but only heard one response, from a church that told us they had a policy against letting people stay in their church overnight or camp on their land. Seemed like a pretty un-Christlike policy to us but we politely thanked them for the response and just moved on. It’s a little sad but we are kind of used to churches ignoring us or telling us no when we need help. I am always tempted to throw a few verses their way to remind them of who they claim to be following but I always bite my tongue. If we had passed the church on our route I would have definitely knocked the dust off my shoes on their doorstep, though.

We continued to cycle along the Yellowstone River as the sun started to set. It was beautiful out and we saw tons of deer wandering around, but unfortunately finding a safe place to lay our heads was difficult. There was so much open land (not good for camping secretively) and so many miles of barbed wire with NO TRESPASSING signs (not good for camping in general). We asked the only person we saw if he knew of any places we could camp…we were hoping he would offer up a small space on his dozens of acres of land but instead he just suggested that we head back into town and pay for one of the expensive campgrounds. We ignored his advice and pressed on, eventually finding a little cove on the side of the road to set up our tent for the night. It is slightly ironic (I think, I still don’t know the proper way to use that word) that a veteran was unable to find a safe place to sleep on Memorial Day.

We had barely been settled in our tent for ten minutes when a car pulled up next to us and the driver told us we could stay by the river with him and his friends, just a couple miles down the road. We definitely would have taken him up on his offer if we hadn’t already gotten settled in, plus we were exhausted from our day of biking and biking j two more miles sounded like too much work. So, we crashed long and hard in our original side-of-the-road spot, knowing that we had only another 25 miles or so to go before we reached Big Timber, our next resting point.

The night went pretty smoothly. The road we camped along was pretty much unused during the night and it wasn’t until around 6:30 AM that we heard cars passing by our tent again. We slowly returned to the land of the living and hit the road around 10 AM. (Getting up and moving can be pretty tough sometimes. We don’t do a lot of miles daily compared to other tourists…in fact, Anna calls us bike turtles instead of bike tourists because of our large shells, slow speed, and the way we carry our homes with us. But, those shorter miles are still draining since we are active and in the sun most of the day.) Anyway, after we finally hit the road, we spent the first 11 miles treading slowly over very rough and rocky terrain. Now it was time for our Surlys to show their strength. The Disc Truckers are beasts that absorb shock well and put up with a lot of punishment. I really can’t imagine doing the last two weeks with our old equipment. It certainly would have been possible but it would’ve been a lot less fun and way more frustrating.

Our day improved after we turned off the bumpy dirt road onto a smooth paved frontage road and coasted the remaining 16 or so miles into Big Timber (Big T!). When we got to town we headed to a really nice city park to do a little maintenance and upgrades to our gear. Then, around 5:30, we headed over to our host’s home. The pastor of the Lutheran Church in town had kindly offered to let us stay with him. Pastor Joel turned out to be an incredible person. He seemed to know exactly what travelers need. He offered us a spare bedroom and bathroom, told us to make ourselves at home, and just to let him know if we needed anything. He then headed into his living room and gave us our space and privacy. This was really wonderful for us because after miles and hours on the road, we are usually pretty frazzled and it is really hard for us to make small talk. We’ve found it is much better to let that wait until the next morning, after we’ve rested and our thinking is a bit clearer. Pastor Joel did just that, he let us rest.

The next morning we woke around 6:30 AM (thanks Higgins, you dickhole) and started getting ready to go. Pastor Joel was awake shortly after and we talked with him a bit about our lives, Big Timber, and the world in general as we packed. It was clear that he had some stories to tell and has lived a full life so far. He has three kids and a handful of grandkids, but there seemed to be a bit of sadness behind his eyes. He mentioned that he was single, though didn’t mention why. Being in a big house alone with only an aging dog has got to weigh on the spirit a bit. I wish I knew more of his history, but he spoke of it vaguely and focused mostly on the future.

We left Pastor Joel’s with a smile and a wave and hit the road around 9:30 AM. Our day as planned was going to be one of our longer ones, at 44 miles, but the terrain looked to be in our favor. We traveled quickly on an interstate frontage road for about 24 miles until we hit Reed Point (we even had a bit of a tailwind for once!) At Reed Point we ate some lunch, played with Higgs, and made the decision to get on the interstate for 8 miles instead of taking the backroads for 10 miles. The backroads were gravel, hilly, and altogether nasty. The interstate, on the other hand, was pretty flat and had a large and smooth shoulder. It was definitely the right decision.

In no time at all, we arrived in Columbus and headed over to Itch-Kep-Pe Park, an amazing free campground maintained by the city. We arrived at 3:30 PM, which is pretty early for us, and began setting up camp. While setting up camp a guy named Kevin (I’m pretty sure his name was Kevin, I suck at names) approached and started chatting with us. He is on a cross-country journey as well, traveling in his van, which is pretty awesome and decked out with solar panels, a big bed, and a desk for studying. We ended up chatting around the fire for about six hours about our travels, how fucked up our government and system is, science, comics, transhumanism, and exploring the stars. He was truly a student of the world and had an inspiring curiosity about all things, it really reignited my drive to finish Khan Academy and keep studying sexuality and psychology. He even told us about the Persiad Meteor Showers coming up in August – we will be on the road between Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago at that time so maybe we will camp out in a low-light area and watch the sky light up. It was a great conversation and I hope we stay in touch throughout our travels. Alas, we needed rest though and hit the sack at about 9 PM.

We woke up super early again thanks to our asshole dog. I’m not really sure what feeding schedule he thinks he’s on now but he wakes us up at 6:30 and won’t leave us alone. We are going to need to fix that somehow. Maybe I’ll just abandon him on the side of the road in rural Montana (kidding). Luckily, we fell back asleep until 10:30 or so. I had a work call at noon so we just stayed in the campground while I knocked that out.

The late start to our day ended up making things a bit miserable (although we had no way of knowing that ahead of time). It started drizzling soon after we got on the road and we were hit by a big thunderstorm around 2 PM or so. The rain was just pouring down and making it pretty much impossible (and dangerous) to keep biking, so we had to hide out under a tree. We were cold, completely soaked, and any equipment exposed to the elements was also completely soaked. (Although luckily our trailers and panniers are pretty water resistant, so everything inside stayed mostly dry.) Our mood was a little on the gloomy side as we weighed our options…we could either set up camp there under the tree and just give up on making it to Billings, or we could keep waiting with the hope things would clear up so we could hit the road again. Looking up weather reports was no help, all they told us was that there was was a 51% of rain the rest of the day. Do you know how worthless that information is? 51% provides no guidance. It is the flip of a coin. I sometimes think meteorologists are just fucking with us all. We all know the old saying, “April showers bring May flowers”, but we often forget about the lesser known saying, “May monsoons kick June in the balls”.

After an hour or so we still hadn’t made the decision to give up and set up our tent, which was lucky because the worst of the rain ended up passing, and we decided to get back on the road despite the continued drizzle. We were now running pretty late but the road continued to be smooth, paved, and relatively free from hills. We stopped infrequently, only to let Higgs use the bathroom and to eat a little bit of food. I did go into a gas station to get a candy bar because I deserve it. At the gas station a big, burly Harley rider walked up to me. He had an eye patch over one eye and his jacket looked like something off of Sons of Anarchy. I know nothing about motorcycle clubs so I just assumed he had an uzi or something on him too. He had seen us biking earlier in the rain and asked about the ride. I explained it to him and he chuckled, called us badasses, and offered me a fist-bump. I returned the fist-bump (obviously).

The rest of the day was basically on and off rain. Luckily it didn’t downpour again though, so we were able to press on through the drizzle and eventually made it to our host’s home at around 8 PM. We were greeted with towels to dry off with, red wine, and rhubarb crumble with ice cream. We were also given a private sunroom to sleep in and access to their hot shower as well as their hot tub. It is going to be a lovely time here in Billings. While we do need to get our bikes tuned up and get some work done, we are certainly looking forward to a few days of relaxation and exploration of this town. We have some ideas for breweries, a Thai restaurant, and a source for fantastic sushi. But to be honest, I just hope they have some decent pizza.

Emerald City

Well, we are in love. Our hearts are infatuated, we are distracted, and every passing smile or familiar scent reminds us of beautiful Eugene.

We arrived Thursday night around 7pm. Our hostess was in the middle of preparing for her own tour so we grabbed some food from Cornbread Cafe (a fat-kid vegan joint) and got our first taste of this little town. After dinner we went to our “home” for the night and found out it is a guest house in an amazing co-op. They didn’t have a yard, but instead had gardens everywhere and a pen of chickens. All the homes were eco-friendly and mostly made of re-purposed products, the guest house we were staying in was actually a cob house. They brewed their own beer, people peed in buckets to be used in gardening, and they had “family” meals and time gathered around a campfire. I have no idea how many people live there but the community they built was incredibly welcoming and warm. We felt loved and people were genuinely interested in is… and finding out many of them are anarchists certainly helped. 🙂 That night we hung out and chatted with everyone before eventually watching a few episodes of Orange is the New Black (HOW IS THAT SHOW SO FUCKING GOOD?!?!) and sleeping.

Friday morning and afternoon was just a bunch of errands to prepare for the ride to the party our hosts invited us to. We ended up leaving for the party (which was about 30 miles away) at around 4pm but with flat terrain and mostly empty trailers/panniers it wasn’t a bad ride. The road was kind of shitty with traffic and it was a tad chilly but definitely not the worst day. The party was on a farm out east of Eugene and had a ton of wonderful people. Our hostess and her partner played in a band that performed and we camped out on the yard. It was nice to sit back, get a little drunk, listening to some amazing live music, and having drunk sex. It is hard to really capture how relaxing it was to sit curled up on a lawn with an Oregon mist falling around us while bluegrass music plays in front of us. It was so incredibly euphoric.

We got up and hit the road back to Eugene fairly early after a quick good-bye to all the wonderful people we met. We had to get moving fairly quickly in order to make it to the World Naked Bike Ride that started at 4:30pm. The ride was even smoother than the day before despite the chill in the air. We even got a free lunch at a random market that was celebrating their great customers… we have never been a customer of them but I’m not one to turn down free coffee, food, or carbonated sugar drinks. We got back into Eugene with plenty of time to put on some body paint, buy a smoothie from Dutch Bros (with added tequila), and meet up with the rest of the riders.

As is usually the case at events like this the participants are dis-proportionally older men. We did meet several other people our age and had a great time riding through town. There is something very liberating about being naked in public. There are just no secrets and nothing to worry about. You quickly stop caring what others are thinking (or that many of them are snapping pictures), instead you enjoy the variety of responses you get from those who happen to be wandering the city along the route. There are cheers, shocked gasps, people averting their eyes, people laughing and waving, some people hide their kids while others lift their kids up to give them a better view. I guess even in a fairly progressive area like Eugene, Oregon the sight of 50ish naked people smiling on bicycles is unexpected. The whole event was wonderful but a few particular moments stand out:

• At one point a cyclist not in the ride was riding in the opposite direction of us. Hans made eyes with him and smiled. The guy was so distracted by her nude body and friendly attitude that he stopped paying attention to the road and ran straight into a parked vehicle.
• An old Asian woman with two teenagers saw us and you could see the woman slowly processing what she was seeing. After a few seconds she covered her eyes and started turning in a circle saying “oh no! oh no! oh no!”
• One of the people that joined the ride after we started was a homeless guy with a face tattooed on his head. He screamed at people for no reason and must have smoked a half dozen spliffs during the ride. We found out later his name is John Brewster and he had a documentary made about him.
• A guy yelled at Hans “I wish I was that bike seat!!” and then offered her weed

Of course it wouldn’t be a protest event without some controversy, but sadly the source of the controversy is an online, anonymous, puritan, busy-body, coward piece of shit. I posted one of the photos from the ride (see below) as my cover photo on Facebook. Within a couple of hours it was flagged as “nudity and pornography”. I’m not sure if Facebook will remove it but it won’t surprise me if they do, they tend to be overly conservative about the human body. Their terms of service are also vague enough to justify all sorts of censorship. I think Facebook is well within their rights to ban any photo, but that doesn’t make them any less assholes for reinforcing body shame and blocking those with controversial views… it might be good for the bottom line right now but eventually they will become the next MySpace.

Is this really pornography? Obscene? Are we so terrified of skin that we resort to running to the authorities to protect us?

We did finish the ride in high spirits though and we were happy when we went off to get dinner. Our new host and his girlfriend actually met us at dinner and the tradition of fucking awesome people existing (and also owning chickens) continued. We crashed relatively early knowing we had some errands and work to do the next day… stuff like drop the bikes off to get worked on, prepare for the upcoming weeks, and just let our muscles relax a bit.

Sunday was an average errand day. We were able to hit up a brewery #12, hang out at a cool coffee shop, catch up on some work, and rest up a bit. On Monday we rented a car and headed towards Bend for a quick adventure or three in that city.

Bend really surprised me. Despite living in Oregon for a good portion of my life I don’t remember ever hearing much about Bend. I was missing out. After a 3ish hour drive, filled with Dan Savage, nature, and discussions, we arrived at Smith Rock State Park. Smith is an amazing place with miles of hiking trails and natural climbing walls. It is a place we would have loved to explore more but we didn’t have the time. We did get a chance to spend a few hours hiking the trails and found a place out of sight for some quick sexy pics to send to our “sex tag” friends… plus, fooling around in a public place where you can get caught is kind of hot.

“Sex tag” is a new little game we were invited to play with a couple that we know thanks to the online world. Basically, one couple sends a sexy pic to the other and then they return the favor. We are currently using similar pics (so they send an oral pic and we send an oral one back) but that probably isn’t a rule or anything. Anyway, it is a lot of fun so if any other couples are interested in playing with us just send us a text (843-424-5441).

After Smith we headed into Bend to meet up with our Couchsurfing hosts, Samantha and Tyler (fake names… you know, to protect the guilty). I know we have talked about how awesome people are before, and it is always true, but Samantha and Tyler set a new bar. Hanging out with them was really like hanging out with old friends. We grabbed some drinks and dinner with them at brewery #13, and then got more drinks at brewery #14. It would have been great to stay with them for another night or four but our time was limited and we left early the next day… but not before knocking out two more breweries in Bend.

On the way back to Eugene we stopped by a clothing optional hot spring up in the mountains. Unfortunately, Terwilliger didn’t meet up to my expectations for a couple of reasons. First, I shouldn’t have damn expectations. Second, Higgins was a big pain. There was no place within sight of the springs to put him so he started to panic, howl, and bark. I know I probably should have ignored him (he needs to know that we aren’t at his beck and call) but I didn’t for two reasons. The primary reason was that I hate thinking something within my control is annoying other people, his howling and barking was obnoxious and I hated knowing that the other 20 people or so at the springs might be bothered by him. The second reason was that I don’t know Higgins past well enough to know how he was abused in the past, I don’t know if he was abandoned, tied to a tree, or whatever in the past and putting him through that sort of mental anguish breaks my heart.

The third reason the springs didn’t really go well for me is based on one person there… which is shitty and probably wouldn’t have been a problem if the other stuff wasn’t going on. There was one guy in the springs who seemed intent on having “deep” philosophical spiritual conversations with everyone there when it was obvious many of us just wanted to relax. He was also incredibly selfish with space, almost like he felt entitled or a sense of ownership. He spread out taking up 2-3 times as much room as everyone else. Anytime people are nude the polite thing to do is give everyone enough room to sit so that you aren’t touching strangers… but he took over so much space that the rest of us were cramped and kind of forced to listen to him ramble. The Terwilliger Prophet (as I like to call him) was so sure he had found the answers to life, the soul, god, Jesus, dreams, and everything, and he just wanted to talk without caring if others wanted to listen. It reminded me of a couple of obnoxious interactions I had at Burning Man where people try too hard to be deep or profound and don’t take the time to see if other people care or want to talk. There were lots of cool people there too, including several people who brought there children to the springs. The Prophet just became overwhelming and made the environment uncomfortable because of how he monopolized space and conversations.

Our final full day in Eugene was Wednesday. We dropped off the rental car, picked up our bikes, and set out for two more breweries in the city. After getting thoroughly day drunk we biked back to our host’s house to make them all dinner and enjoy a calm evening in. Tomorrow we head up to Corvallis for some couchsurfing, Independence for the Rogue farm, and then off to the coast.

A Dab Will Do Ya!!!

Pre-Post: This is open and honest version of the events of our bike ride. If you are uncomfortable hearing about sex, drugs, profanity, etc you should check out our PG-version at www.10LegsWillTravel.wordpress.com . If you don’t want to hear about these adult actions please leave now.

 

The home we were couchsurfing at in Petaluma was an absolutely gorgeous home on a farm just outside of town. Our hosts were a great couple who had some kids in college and turned the extra bedrooms into a place for couchsurfers and such to crash. They made us a great curry which we scarfed down while making small talk but we went to bed pretty early. Part of me hates that we don’t get to spend more time with our hosts, they have been such great people but we are usually really beat by time we come riding up to the door. It is especially difficult when a host family has incredibly soft beds, blankets, and pillows… these ones were unbelievable. I have wet dreams about sleeping in them. I almost quit the bike ride and begged to be adopted. If heaven exists then it is filled with beds like that and glorious curry.

After a restful night’s sleep we started riding north again to the town of Sebastopol where we could stop, get coffee, and chill for a bit. The city had kind of a hippy vibe but was terrible for bikes… the roads sucked, the people sucked, everything made me want to get out of the city. And to put salt into our wounds a local food/drink place called Tea Infusions advertised a ton of vegetarian/vegan options, including a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, but they didn’t have any. Apparently their website’s purpose is to create hope and inspire dreams only to throw them to the ground, stomp and spit on them, and then hit you in the throat with a golf club. Regardless, Anna got some work done and we continued on our way to Windsor.

The ride during all this time is kind of boring. The vineyards and rolling hills all kind of blend together and the lack of diversity makes the miles seem to pass more slowly. It has been pretty similar for days and when we arrived in Windsor we were ready for a break. Our plan was to go further that day but I think we were all pretty mentally exhausted and happy to grab a spot at a local sketchy RV Park that allowed tent campers. The park was filled with broken down vehicles, abandoned buildings, and overgrown fields. Basically, it was the beginning of a horror movie… but that’s cool, I love horror movies and know how to survive.

Wanna race?

We were happy to get on the road the next morning and get on with the ride. We stopped in Healdsburg for some beer from Bear Republic and then moved on past Geyserville where we found a place to camp near a freeway overpass. I saw a skunk that night and stayed up way too late reading The Hunger Games (my cousin gave me a Kindle and I figured I’d read it before I wipe the thing clean and link my account… man, Katniss is one cool chick). Basically this day did not really have anything exciting happen.

None of us got great sleep that night. The sleeping conditions weren’t great, I got too little sleep thanks to my unquenchable love for dystopian romance novels, and lots of critters came around the tent waking us up. We kept on moving and finally made it to Cloverdale where we were going to solidify our plans through a couple of days of riding that didn’t have any real cities. Our plans changed that day because Hans bang-buddy from Santa Rosa (let’s call him Jesus because he has an enviable beard, silky soft flowing hair, and I don’t want to use real names of people unless I ask) wanted to meet up with us for a day or three.

Now, I have a shitty habit of getting kind of annoyed when plans change. It passes after about 30 minutes but I tend to just kind of sulk until it passes. It sucks. I hate it. I want to change it but I’m not there yet and this happened when I found out Jesus would be joining us. The three of us had some kind of tense silent treatment and conversations during our coffee/shopping break in Cloverdale. I wish it could all be wonderful rim-jobs and rose petals but we are humans and that means we will sometimes get on each other’s nerves and have conflict. Luckily we all fucking love each other and are rational people so we can overcome any problems.

So, when we left Starbucks I was still kind of in a sour mood but we agreed to go to Ruth McGowan’s brewery (WE LOVE BEER) for a quick drink. As is often the case the quick drink took longer than expected because we met a kick-ass couple named Tidus and Yuna. They bought us a round of drinks, we talked about a bunch of adventures… they even gifted us half a joint and gave Higgs-Nasty a gourmet dog treat (which I didn’t really know existed). By the way, if you ever meet adventurers on the road and enjoy their company it is always wonderful to buy a round of beers or food or supplies for them. We love it. (Shameless Plug: Want to donate to us so we can fight off bears, drink beer, pay bail, and see wonderful parts of this continent? Want some cash to go to Karma Rescue where we got Higgins? Want a postcard from a random place or a picture of our biker butts? Check out our GoFundMe!)

After a couple hours at the brewery we hit the road determined to put down some miles, but knowing we had a shitty hill ahead of us. It was pretty terrible but we are getting used to terrible hills, they are just part of the experience and in some ways make us really feel like we’ve earned some of the amazing sights. We camped that night on a random spot about 10 feet from a road. It was another time when none of us knew the legality of what we did but we didn’t have a lot of options, besides we figure most cops are probably fairly decent people and won’t arrest us for trying to be safe. Regardless, I slept like a rock due to lack of sleep and nobody really bothered us except a small pack of coyotes (or some other dog) that howled in the distance for a bit.

The ride the next day was pretty easy, only a quick 20 miles to Boonville where we were meeting Jesus at Anderson Valley Brewing Company. Oh man, they have some great beers. Their Summer Solstice tastes like alcoholic cream soda, mmmm, I can’t stop thinking about it now. We had several beers, rested a bit, and got ready to go again when two awesome things happened. First, some random guy gave us a huge nugget of weed (I actually don’t smoke much weed so I have no idea if nugget is an appropriate description but whatever) that was like 1/3 the size of my fist. Welcome to Northern California.

Second, Hans met this girl in the bathroom who is a photographer and she wanted to take some pictures of us, including a couple of Polaroids that we have with us now. She was absolutely wonderful and a real pleasure to meet and pose for. I am usually kind of awkward when my photo is being taken but she had a calming effect and really got some great images of us. I hope she reads this blog and contacts us so that we can see the images when she puts them online.

After the great time at the brewery we all decided to have Jesus join us for a couple days of camping and floating on the river. He offered to take all of our equipment, including Higgins, in his truck so we could ride more comfortably. Oh man, what a difference. I had become pretty used to the 100+ lbs of gear I have and once I was free of it I felt like I was flying down the road. We made the 10ish miles to the campground incredibly fast. It was the tits.

 

The campground was a great little county park under the redwoods along a river. It didn’t allow RV’s which we like. Places that allow tents only tend to be a lot cheaper and not have all the unnecessary amenities like electricity and water at each campsite. We played in the river (Higgs first time), grilled up some food, and got a great night’s sleep before another day on the river.

The next day we rode without equipment again a few miles to a river access where we floated in Jesus’ raft, drank a bunch of beer, and let our muscles and minds relax. We had been going pretty non-stop since Santa Rosa so a little day’s rest was perfect. None of us really wanted it to end but we had a few more miles to put down before camping again, this time on the beach as we got out of the woods and wine country for a while and back to the coast.

 

The 10 miles or so before reaching the beach on Highway 128 was the best ride so far for us. It helped to be sans equipment but the beauty of riding through the beginning of the redwoods is impossible to capture in words. If you ever get a chance to ride your bike along the slight downhill on 128 you should do it, you won’t regret it. The ride is easy, the road well paved, the trees keep the hot sun off your face, and life is just so perfect. It really has made us anxious to see some more of this beautiful world and experience it on bike where you feel the wind, smell the environment, notice temperature changes, and really feel connected to nature in a way that seems impossible behind a screen or window.

The beach we stayed at was at the intersection of 128 and Highway 1. It seemed little known but fairly well maintained. The dogs loved playing on the beach (Jesus brought his two boxers) and we loved having a long afternoon to hang out around the fire and let our bodies rest. It was also nice to have separate tents so that we could have a bit more privacy sexin’ each other up. Anna and I clearly don’t have a problem with Hans being around but it was nice to not worry too much about waking anyone up. I know she was happy to have a couple days getting laid by Jesus as well. We left fairly early the next morning but Hans rode in the truck with Jesus while Anna and I hit the road on bikes for the 20 mile ride up the coast to Fort Bragg where we were spending the day and then meeting our friends Wakka and Lulu for a couple days in an Airbnb home.

Fort Bragg was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful when we arrived so we went to the Glass Beach that had a bunch of sanded down glass bottles as sand. Jesus had to be on his way back to Santa Rosa pretty early so we said our good-byes and headed up to meet our friends at the Airbnb place, a gorgeous home with some gardens, animals, and probably the coolest atmosphere I’ve ever seen in a home. We have found there is a correlation between people owning chickens and being awesome (not roosters though, fuck roosters). I don’t think we will ever stay in a hotel again if there is an Airbnb option… the price is usually about the same but the atmosphere and amenities are 1,000,000 times better.

Wakka and Lulu arrived a couple hours after us and we had lots of warm greetings, but our night was just getting started. We had some MDA with us and all decided to party a bit for the night. We actually thought it was MDMA but after taking it and doing a little research we were likely wrong. This is why it is important to use a test kit before trying a new batch of drugs. I usually have one but didn’t carry it on the ride. MDA and MDMA taste pretty similar, though the coloring was a little off which should have been a warning. We also heard from some friends who took some of the same batch and they said it was really intense/different than prior batches of MDMA (we were told they are Moon Rocks but I don’t think they were). Because of their warning we started off slower than normal, I took 100mg instead of the 150mg that I normally start a night of home rolling with and even that was a bit too much.

We all had a really good time though, despite the different drug. MDA didn’t quite have the euphoric or cuddling effects as MDMA, and it didn’t make you energetic, but we did get some cool psychedelic visuals and mental hallucinations where you kind of get stuck in your head. It also chilled us all out and we spent some time massaging, cuddling, and just enjoying each other. Hans and I also were able to talk a bit about our prior disagreements, which was really nice. We all swear by using MDMA to help resolve problems in relationships, open the doors of communication, and solidify love and intimacy. Fuck the DEA and government in general for taking this wonderful tool out of doctor’s hands. It is evil that they would keep medicine from people who are hurting. Ugh. I don’t want to go down that road right now, I’m in too good of mood and talking about those evil parasites who see prohibition of medicine as good always gets me riled up.

So, after a night of rolling (is it called that with MDA?) we slept in and slowly recovered from the hangover, which was substantially more than MDMA. We felt groggy and kind of light-headed but mustered up the motivation to go to North Coast Brewery and the beach again. The weather was a little ugly but we still had a good time. Once we returned to the home we got some more rest, I watched some House on Netflix, ate a pizza, and zonked out early.

Now we are still in Fort Bragg but camping nearby. We all needed another day or two to catch up on the blog, emails, work, banging, etc. Soon we will be on the road again towards Arcata where we will have more breweries, more big trees, and a nude beach (where we will likely take our nude biker butt photos that we send exclusively to those who donate us a few dollars). We will take tons of pics and hopefully be able to update again soon. Much love!

 Post-Post: If you would like to see all our pictures you can check out our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/10legswilltravel.

 

 

Holy Cross to Saint Francis

Pre-Post: This is pretty much an uncensored version of the events of our bike ride. If you are uncomfortable hearing about sex, drugs, profanity, etc you should check follow our PG-version at www.10LegsWillTravel.wordpress.com . This is a warning. If you don’t want to hear about these adult actions please leave now.

Waking from our comfortable church campsite was far from easy. With only 27 miles ahead of us motivation was a little slow to come but eventually we got ourselves together and hit the road. The ride into Santa Cruz was pleasant with roadside fruit vendors (where we bought oranges) and the first view of the ocean we had had in almost two weeks. We arrived at my friend’s (Maria) house with a lot of daylight yet and plans to explore a bit but we just couldn’t motivate ourselves. Instead we smoked a little weed, caught up on some emails, took showers, and let our bodies rest.

Hanging out with Maria and her partner, Michael, was an incredibly positive experience. Meeting up with an ex after many years can often be a stressful experience but it was obvious that everyone involved was happy and healthy, and I felt great compersion for what they had going on. Maria and I had not seen each other in 3-4 years and our last interaction wasn’t particularly positive, but that was all under the bridge. We spent hours reminiscing about time in college, Michael and the Anna’s (who are all from St. Louis) discussed their home town, and we finished off a fair amount of beer. Adult relationships, friendships, and everything are fucking amazing. Maria and I influenced each other a lot in college and shaped how we view society and relationships today, it was great to reignite that friendship.

We left Maria’s house pretty early and planned on grabbing food and coffee in Santa Cruz before hitting the road. We had breakfast at Saturn Cafe and had our first real vegan restaurant stop of the trip, and it was amazing. The food, service, and atmosphere was wonderful and we highly recommend it. If I lived in Santa Cruz it would probably be the hangover diner of choice, much like Swingers in LA was for us.

With food in our stomach we went to grab coffee and internet to plan the day. During this time we had our first experience with the tension in Santa Cruz that can be felt in the air. There was a clear distrust going on in that city between the three groups we saw, the older local residents who probably had a lot of money, the houseless people who seem to live in a lot of California beach communities, and the younger post-college crowd of hippie surfer types. The older residents seemed to resent and stick their noses in the air at the rest of the groups, there seemed to be a sense of entitlement and superiority these locals felt towards others. To these older residents we were part of “the other” and were often scoffed at or looked at oddly.

The houseless residents, on the other hand, were nothing but friendly with us. They often provided us with tips about where we can store our bikes safely, how to navigate the city without getting harassed by law enforcement, and such. The younger crowd also seemed to see us as part of their group, in fact two surfer types overheard us talking about needing a place to camp because of the windstorm and immediately offered us a place to sleep at their home.

Our plans to leave were stopped twice. The first day after leaving Maria’s we didn’t even get out of town. The wind was unmanageable and we had to bunker down in the city at a local cheap hotel. The next day we got 8 miles out of town when the wind and rain convinced us to return to Santa Cruz to stock up on cold weather and wet weather gear. We were obviously unprepared. It turns out turning around was not necessary, the sun came out in the afternoon and it was a beautiful day, but we decided to be prepared instead of risking an unneccesarily cold, wet night in the woods. We finally left Santa Cruz after three nights.

We wanted to love Santa Cruz. Badly. It was a beautiful city but it clearly had problems. The division between groups was very obvious, even to outsiders like us. It really was so thick you could practically feel it in the air. There were certain neighborhoods on the west side that seemed much calmer and peaceful but the downtown area was uncomfortable for us. I’m not sure who the older, wealthier group is… long-time locals who resent a younger crowd or snowbirds who moved to their favorite vacation spot and now want it to lose the appeal it had when they were younger or something else entirely. Overall, I don’t think I could live in that city. The idea of feeling unwelcome or looked down upon based on my age or bank account is not a place I could call home.

Finally leaving Santa Cruz behind was a relief. The day we left was sunny, though windy. The headwinds we faced were no joke but we were in a good mood. We had not put many miles down the last few days and our bodies were feeling good. With 90 miles in front of us spread over two days we hoped to divide it evenly… of course that didn’t happen. Our first day we got about 38 miles in but that included a pleseant stop at the Highway 1 Brewery to get a few beers, our first brewery stop of the trip. We love beer… we really love beer… and there will be lots of stops like this on the trail. Even with a deadline we will stop for beer.

We left the brewery with only a little sunlight left. We rode through some forests and a few hills before finding an open field on the side of the road. It may have been private property but it wasn’t labeled so we just claimed it as our own and we slept surprisingly well. Our bodies and minds are getting used to sleeping in random places without permission. It feels good… an adult life being lived doesn’t involve permission. Asking permission is for servents, not free people.

The next morning was more foggy grossness and hills. We pushed, we rode, we pushed, we rode, we pushed, we rode… but we made it back to the PCH where life got a little easier. We got our first tailwind of the trip and it was god damn amazing. It was incredible. It was like getting your ass licked while on ecstasy. I want it every day of my life.

That slight tailwind pushed us into Half Moon Bay where we stopped for coffee. Sometimes the only reason you need to stop in a town is because the name sounds like something out of an old RPG like ChronoTrigger, Final Fantasy III, or Dragon Warrior IV. We pushed on and finally found ourselves mentally close to San Francisco. There were beautiful sights that can’t be properly shown in pictures.

Taking pictures on a journey like this is an interesting task. We want to capture what we see but photos don’t do things a damn bit of justice. Maybe it is our lack of skill or the lack of quality of equipment but anytime we review the pictures we remember but they really don’t show what we saw. There is something to be said for just enjoying the moment and the memory. Afterall, we are sharing this journey with many friends and strangers but the audience is really ourselves. Sometimes when we rush to capture a moment we actually miss it. We are surrounded by nature porn all the time… mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, forests, badlands, swamps, and a thousand other environments but it serves as more of a trigger than actually showing what we see. These photos remind us of what we saw, they help the smells, feelings, sounds, and taste return to us, but they don’t really convey that to other people. I hope others will get out there, I hope maybe these photos show the beauty that our world has to offer, but unless you see it and experience it yourself all we are is a tv show. It is fiction in a way. Our reality is little more than a show for others… and that is kind of cool. Our reality belongs to us and no other.

Eventually the hills and burning legs ended and we drifted into that incredible city on the bay, a city that we felt we earned. The people we are staying with are friends of friends, but they are cool as hell. They live in two warehouses that remind me of places I lived in Los Angeles. There are over a dozen people living in this artistic community and it feels a lot like Burning Man. They are clearly used to nomads travelling through and have a guest room with four beds and keep track of guests with an excel document. It was so good to get a hot shower and to sleep in a bed. Anna and I even got some sexy time in the shower… intercourse wasn’t happening due to the layout but some assisted hand jibbers put a smile on each of our faces.

Note: We are driving back to LA to tie up some loose ends so there probably won’t be much to report for about a week. I will try to type up a summary of our days exploring San Francisco on Friday or Saturday but our itinerary is really fluid so that may not happen.

Post-Post 1: Also, we have set up a GoFundMe account for our ride. If you enjoy the adventure or just want to receive a post card, booty pic, or vegan meal check us out here

Post-Post 2: If you would like to see all our pictures you can check out our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/10legswilltravel.