Texas

Well, my first night spent in Texas and it's already living up to its reputation. I was camped out on BLM land just east of El Paso, a little ways back from the main highway. It seemed like a pretty good campsite, where I wouldn't hear the traffic as much, and where I wouldn't be bothered by anyone since it was public land.

Instead, about an hour after dark I woke up to several ATVs revving their engines, and then spent the next several hours listening to pretty continuous gunfire. I'm pretty sure they were't hunters, since it was well after dark, and they were firing off entire clips in a matter of seconds. I don't know how you can aim 12 shots in a matter of 15 or 20 seconds, but they didn't seem to care. Also, I don't know what they were firing at, since it was way to dark to actually see any targets, but they seemed boisterous and happy.

I guess that's what I get for camping to close to a major city in Texas on a Friday night.

Cops

How to make money from cops:

I was riding along the shoulder of I-10 in New Mexico when a cop pulled over in front of me. Since he didn't have his lights going I checked behind me to make sure no trucks were coming, and then just went around him. As I was going by he yelled for me to pull over, so I did, figuring he just wanted to make sure I was ok.

Instead, he started questioning me about what I was doing, where I was going, etc, so I explained the basis of my trip. After talking for a bit he told me that I wasn't allowed to ride on the interstate, and he would have to give me a ticket. Now the rules differ by state, some allow you to ride interstates only if there isn't a similar parallel route, others allow it as long as there isn't heavy traffic, etc. I wasn't sure of the NM rules, but I knew that all the on-ramps had signs saying that pedestrians and motor driven cycles aren't allowed, but that bicycles should use shoulder only.

Knowing this I told him I was pretty sure I was allowed to be there, and could show him signs proving that. He was pretty skeptical, so I ended up making a bet with him, unofficially of course. If I could prove that I was allowed to be there, he would pay me the fine for the ticket he had tried to give me. If I couldn't immediately prove that I was allowed to be there, I would have to take the ticket and pay the fine. Fair enough by me.

I ended up locking my bike to itself with the rear wheel locked up, then jumping in the back of the police car. We took a U-turn on the interstate and went back to the last exit/on-ramp to see if there was any signage. Sure enough, there was one of the little "bicycles use should only" signs. The cop was pretty surprised, and said he was going to look into the relevant laws later, but drove me back to my bike and paid for the bet. Not a bad way to make a few bucks, although it was pretty stressful to deal with any kind of cop in that situation.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn't even think about today being Thanksgiving until yesterday, when I heard some people talking about the holidays. I wasn't really hoping for much, since I didn't have anything really set up through warmshowers for a place to stay, so I was probably going to be on the side of the road camped out somewhere.

Until JB stopped me on the side of the road. It was getting a bit late, almost sunset, and he wanted to know if I had anywhere to go or someone to celebrate with. I told him I didn't, and ended up going back to his house, which I had pretty much just passed. JB didn't have anything really planned, and he would have been spending the holiday alone as well, so it worked out nicely for both of us. 

He ended up getting a prepared takeout meal from somewhere in town, and we talked for quite a while about a lot of outdoors type stuff. He works as a landscaper, but is really a naturalist at heart, and spends quite a bit of time outdoors. All in all, a good way to spend the holiday.

Chance encounters

Since I was basically in the middle of San Diego, I decided to stay in a hostel in the area, rather than trying to find an out of the way spot to camp for the night. I ended up at Banana Bungalow Hostel, right on the coast, with nice beach right out the front door.

It was pretty much a standard hostel from my experience, but the coolest part was in the morning as I was about to leave. As I was heading out the door another guy was coming in the door. As he passed by I thought his backpack looked familiar, so I called out to him. It turns out that he was the same guy that I met in Tehachapi, CA, who was hiking the PCT going southbound. We stopped and talked for a bit about what had transpired since we met, and how our trips were going. He had finished up the PCT by Campo, and was taking some time off at the hostel in San Diego to cool off. He also had some plans to buy a boat at one of the marinas, so that could be interesting.

Sails and Seals

After a couple of dreary days on the coast the weather has drastically improved. Clear skies, sunny, and no wind. Also, the terrain has leveled out, so I am one happy camper/biker.

With the change in weather I have seen more people out and about, including kite surfers, something I had always wanted to try. Basically surfing, but you have a giant kite that pulls you along.


I also stopped by a small cove, which looked like it had a bunch of bags washed up on the shore. It turned out they were all elephant seals. A lot of them looked pretty dead, but a few were moving around the shores and a bit more active.




I ended the day by Morro Bay, which has a giant rock sticking up out of it. I had set up a warmshowers host, which worked out quite nicely. Lately I have been having much better luck with warmshowers than I did in the beginning. It might be that I have a few more miles under my belt, which makes me seem much more like a biker than when I first started

Kings Canyon National Park

Today was a very cold morning so I didn't really get started until around ten. I got into the park pretty quick since I had camped just outside the border. I stopped by the visitor center and asked for recommendations and info.

My first stop was the Grant grove, which contains one of the largest trees, the largest by width. There was also a cool dead tree that had been hollowed out sown the middle and fallen over. Part of the trail actually went right down the middle of the tree and out the other side. A bit like the tree in yosemite that had the road going through the base of the trunk, which fell over years ago.

The second stop was a viewpoint called Panoramic Viewpoint. There was a two and a half mile road that gained a thousand feet, and then a short hike to get up to the viewpoint. The viewpoint looked out over all of the major peaks and canyons, and it was a nice preview of the park.

After doing the climb up to the viewpoint I decided that I didn't feel like doing any of the other climbing in the park which would have amounted to more than a mile and a half. Instead I decided to just leave my bike at the visitor center and hitch out and back, since it was a dead end road anyways.

I got a ride from a Russian family that I had met in Grants Grove and at the viewpoint. I had mentioned I was going to hitch when I talked with them but they already had four people in their car so I didn't ask them. Instead they made room for me and we sat three in the back seat.

Greg and Anastasia were a younger couple, and Greg's parents, Alex and Kate had come to visit them for a vacation. The younger couple had actually just finished hitching across Canada, which is why they were extra accommodating to help me.

We went down into the park together and stopped at most of the major attractions to see them and take pictures. There were a couple of nice waterfalls and a lot of good views. They were staying at the end of the park in a campground, so they left me at the roadside to try to hitch back to the top. They promised me that if they saw me on the way back the next day they would pick me up.

I wasn't waiting more than half an hour before an older British couple picked me up. They had spent the day going further into the park towards a backcountry waterfall, and had only seen one other person on their trip. They took me back up to the bike, and I had enough light left to make it out of the park and most of the way down the mountain into warmer areas to camp.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61247038@N02/sets/72157631808642826/

2000 Miles

Today I hit the 2000 mile mark, lost more than a mile in elevation, burned half my brake pads, and got invited into a strangers home.

The mile in elevation was mostly between Camp Nelson and Springville, where I basically fell out of the Sierras. Lots of steep hairpin turns and no should. I had to constantly brake to make it around the turns. It wore my brake pads down a lot, to the point where they were squawking horribly when I got to town.

I had previously sent a warmshowers request to a host in town, but I hadn't been able to check email since then. I found out he wasn't able to host, so I was sitting in the middle of town trying to figure out where I was going to sleep and where the closest bike shop was to get new brakes.

That was when Nancy drove by and asked me if I needed anything. I explained what was happening, and she offered to let me sleep at her house for the night. She and her husband had done a few bike tours, and were already having a guest over anyways. I ended up camping on their lawn, since the guest bed was already taken. I also got my bike fixed up, it turned out to be a few slivers of metal stuck in the pad that were doing the worst of the squeaking, so I didn't even need to go to the bike shop.

Good day

Today started out bad but definitely got a lot better. The first couple of miles were up a steep hill, and I was still feeling the miles from yesterday. After that though I was able to cost downhill all the way to Arizona and then somewhat to Mesquite, NV.

In Mesquite I stopped by the library to take care of things online. I was planning on spending the afternoon there to avoid the heat and sun in the middle of the day. Instead something even better happened, which made up for yesterday.

While I was outside the library two locals stopped by, Dan and Dennis, on bike. Dan was interested in my travels and invited me back to his house to shower and clean up. We biked back to his house, dropping Dennis off on the way. The offered shower actually turned out even better than advertised when I left my bike in the garage and Dan drove me to the local pool. I'm not sure when the last time I was in a pool was, but it was definitely a while ago.

After getting out and drying off Dan took me to the local casino for a good hearty lunch, which was very filling. After lunch we went back to his house where I took advantage of having a good place to work and fixed all of my tubes. I've lost count, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the 10-15 flats range so far. Utah is definitely where bikes go to die.

After I was all fixed up Dan showed me a couple different routes on a map, basically trying to avoid highways and stay out of the 100+ heat for the next three days or so. He also showed me pictures of a bike trip of his own in New Zealand. Definitely on my todo list, and has been for a while now. Still not sure if I'll bike it or backpack, but at some point I'll be in New Zealand.

Hitchhiker

So far this trip I have seen the same hitchhiker four different times. The first time I met him was at the Bryce Canyon visitor center. I stopped by to up water bottles and he was filling out a job application. The second time was at the bottom of the Red Canyon, which is just west of the park. He was at an intersection with his thumb out towards Zion. The third time was when I was in the back of a pickup to get through the tunnels in Zion, where bikes aren't allowed. He had his thumb out so the driver stopped for him as well. We talked a bit about where we were both headed, and how we had seen each other before. He continued on in the pickup while I got out after the tunnels. The last time I saw him was at the visitor center in Zion. Apparently he had left his phone in a bathroom to charge and someone turned it in to lost and found. I don't think I'll be seeing him again, since his plan was to head towards the Grand Canyon next, while I'm headed west again.

Another day, another flat

Today was mostly downhill, so I spent a good part of the afternoon in a town park charging electronics and sorting through a bunch of pictures to upload. That way I can make good use of the time without overshooting my planned destination for the night.

Once I got started again I got to another little town where I saw a in biking gear with a loaded bike around the side of the building. I stopped over to say hi, but she didn't speak much English so the conversation was pretty short. I mostly got that she had come from the Grand Canyon and was headed to Zion the next day, and then east along the way I came.

After leaving her I started uphill towards Zion, when I immediately got a flat front tire. Again this one was due to the same sharp spiky plant as the other three flats. I was in the process of changing it when a couple that was touring headed the other way stopped to see if I needed help. They were also European and were also planning on taking the same route that I just took. It's most interesting because it is not one of the official Adventure Cycling routes, just one that I put together to hit a bunch of National Parks.

After getting the tire changed I started on my way again, when it started to rain. I'm just glad I got the tire changed quickly to avoid the rain.

Just Starting Out

I met another cyclist who also just started. We were pedaling down side streets in Gunnison in opposite directions when we both waved and pulled over to the side to talk to each other. It turns out that Chase started in Boulder, CO, several days after I did, so we have been doing about the same average per day.  He tends to do more miles per day, but then takes a lot of time off, so it all averages about the same.

Chase's big problem was that he sleeps in a hammock, same as I do, but he doesn't have a pad underneath him, so it can get pretty cold. He had suffered through the last week or so, but was looking around in town for some type of camping store to get better equipment.

He had recently quit his job and sold everything to take off by bike, but at least he had a lot of previous biking experience. His biggest day was 60 miles so far, but I am working my way up to that kind of mileage. I am in no real rush, so I can take as much time as I want. Chase doesn't have any deadlines either, since he quite his job, but he still wants to get out west as quickly as possible.

Second meeting

I met another long distance cycler today, again at the top of a pass. This time we were headed in opposite directions when I met Wayne. He had pulled off at the small store at the top of the pass, marking the Continental Divide. Wayne had started on the west coast, and was headed for NY. He had gone to school at RPI, and was headed back in that direction before embarking on a multi-year backpacking stint in some third world country.

Wayne had several horror stories about the upcoming desert for me. He broke 4 spokes (I had already gotten 6 extras) as well as worn off two pairs of tires due to the heat of the desert. He mentioned it getting up to 107 degrees, which didn't seem that bad, but apparently most tires aren't made to withstand that type of heat. Fortunately he met three other bikers, who were with a SAG van, so they had extras they donated to his cause. He also mentioned several 80+ mile stretches along Utah, where he went through 8+ liters of water between stops. Sounds like I will have to get extra tires as well as more water bottles (I currently have 4 liter capacity). Good to know

First meeting

I met my first long distance biker yesterday. We met near Climax, CO, at the top of a pass around 11,300 ft. I was taking a break and eating lunch when he came rolling up. Its pretty obvious who is touring and who is just out for the day, given all the gear bags on the bike and the type of clothing. It turns out that Sam had left New Hampshire about 6 weeks ago, and he is also headed west. He was in a bit of a hurry though, since he was trying to spend the night with a friend in Aspen, so he still had quite a few miles left to go. Its just nice to meet other people on similar trips, even if you can only talk to them for five or ten minutes.