Tur Duck Hen at Deep River

Candy and I are currently at Kem Chism's home near Naselle, Wa. in a small community called Deep River. She is my daughter-in-law and we just finished a wonderful Christmas Day dinner prepared by her. The turkey was actually a creation that you may have heard of that can be purchased from www.cajungrocers.com, called a Turducken. It is a boned turkey inside of which is a boned duck, inside of which is a boned chicken. In between the layers of bird are two great stuffings, one of cornbread, the other a spicey wild rice. When I sliced into it, all the layers just kind of blended together into one plateful of delicious flavors. I highly recommend it.

The newspaper article I mentioned in an earlier post, http://candyhunterblood.blogspot.com/2005/12/sea-ranch-lodge.html has appeared in the online archives of http://www.smalltownpapers.com/images/ICO.gif/p01.gif. It is not actually an article, but a photo with caption on the front page.

Well, a wonderful Christmas and New Year to all of my family that are not with me, Mom, Dad, Julie and Debbie, Scott and Janet, Bill and Shirley, and Roger and Wendy, Cal and Denise, Claude and Millie, Katie and John, Dane and Jessica, and all the readers of the this blog. May fortune smile upon you in the coming year.
Ron.

Back Home at Silverlake

We are now back in our little trailer in Silverlake Washington. At the moment, I am enjoying my Christmas gift from my mother, her fruitcake made from fermented fruit. Honestly, it's really delicious. Our flight from Oakland went without incident. Except that we nearly missed it. We were sitting at gate 8A, and our plane was at gate 8. If I hadn't heard the last call announcement, we would have missed it for sure.

Had fun with my little Garmin GPS unit on the flight. Sitting next to the window, it was able to aquire satellites and I used it to identify exactly where we were over the ground, how fast we were flying, and our altitude. The GPS unit has been one of the good things we brought along that has earned it's keep. I frequently turn it on while we are pedaling just to see where we are in relation to the next town, or if we are in a town I can use it to find my way around to locate places to eat or sleep or shop. It proved to be very useful in Marin County when I was trying to locate the storage company, and again later the same day when our taxi driver could not find our motel in Oakland.

The weather at the moment in Southwest Washington is not the usual 40 or 50 degrees with rain. It is clear and cold, and has been that way for the last 10 days or so. Candy and I have had to work to keep the water pipes from freezing. These trailers are not made for cold weather living. When we first arrived, the house was frigid, but we were able to warm it up using a small electric heater and the propane stove top. However, I had not counted on the mattress still being frozen when I went to bed. That was a bit of shock.

I am going to use this time at home base to rest, think about how to improve the trike and some of our camp gear, and enjoy family and friends. I will continue to post during our vacation, but not as often. One post I want to do while home is an article on what has worked well and not so well with our camp gear and clothing, and what has worked well and not so well with our trike.

Ron.

Oakland Airport

Tonight we are in the Oakland Airport La Quinta that I booked on hotels.com from my laptop in Marin County, just a few hours from flying back to Washington for a Christmas holiday with family and friends. We are really looking forward to this. We got our Greenspeed, trailer, and most of our gear stowed in a rental unit in Corte Madera, then got a taxi over to Oakland. This is my first time to be in the Bay Area, and I am certainly glad I didn't have to do the driving from Marin County to Oakland. I must say that Marin County is one very wealthy community. Even more so than I first thought. Very understated, though. Every other car is a Volvo, a BMW, a Mercedes station wagon, or a Range Rover. It's amazing.

Ron

It was nice finding an REI here. I was able to fine tune some of our camping needs. I miss shopping.
A woman stopped to visit about the bike, she was quite the rider most of her life and was pleased to tell of her riding way before it was cool to ride. She quit when she was 50, I started at 56.
There are alot more bike riders in Marin county and alot more bike paths. Apparently Marin County has recieved a $25 million grant for bike paths.
There are alot of motorcycles on the road and I really want to get on the bike and finish the ride everytime one goes by us.
$10.00/day budget was a joke, especially here in California. Unlike Oregon State Parks Hiker/Biker $2.00/night, California's are twice as much and you must pay for showers. Private camp grounds are $25-50. Food is more expensive as we are shopping in small mom/pop stores and we can't carry large quanities. Every penny we have spent has been worth it as the coast scenery is beyond description.
Now we tell people our trip will last for 3 years or until the money runs out. Candy

Corte Madera

We stayed last night in the Samuel P Taylor state park, camped under giant redwoods. The racoons visited us about 6 am, and nearly got the bear box open where our food and kitchen stuff was stored. I got up and put a big rock against the doors, then went back to bed. No sooner was I back in bed than the damn thing started molesting the bag on the bike we keep our lunch and snacks in. The bag was empty but had an old candy wrapper in it. I got up again, the racoon left and didn't come back. Later that morning, Candy was dumping a bag of garbage in the dumpster a short distance away, and got a shock when she opened the lid and a racoon looked up at her. She called me over and told me to open it. I did and jumped a little when I saw the masked bandit. I found a piece of wood fencing behind the dumpster, stuck it in and the racoon climbed out. The park host, living just a few yards away, came out and told us she has to do the same thing just about every day. They can get in, but they can't get out, unless the dumpster is full.

We had a great ride from the park through the small towns of Fairfax, San Anselmo, Ross, and Kentfield. Lot's of looks, waves, smiles, honks, thumbs up. Every group of kids we passed stopped what they were doing to watch us go by, some shouting, "Cool bike!" Once, a couple of kids ran over to us and helped us up a hill by pushing on the trailer. Wish we could have had them every time we had a hill to climb.

Tomorrow, we are going to ride over to a nearby storage unit, store our trike and other gear, get a shuttle or maybe a limo to take us over to the Oakland airport, where we will get another room, so that we can board our flight early Friday morning.

Marin County. What can I say about Marin County? It certainly seems trendy and status concious. BMW's, Volvo's, Range Rovers, the occasional Porsche or Mercedes. So many of these brands on the street it would seem they would lose their snob appeal. But the community also seems to be involved and concerned around their enviroment, from what I can tell. Doing a little research on the internet, I found that Marin County is working hard to get people out of their cars and onto bicycles or walking. They already have a pretty good start, as there were good bike lanes most of the way from Samuel P Taylor State Park to our motel. Having good, marked bike routes, lanes, and shoulders is the key to enjoying riding and getting more people doing it. Marin County is on the right track.

Ron.

Olema

Dec 13.  It is morning and the sun is rising behind the partly cloudy sky.  We are in Olema at the Olema Ranch Campground, a nice enough place with all the amenities.  Last night we were treated to live music from the church grounds next to the campgrounds.  It was a Mexican celebration related to Christmas.  Is Dec 12th a part of the Mexican Christmas tradition?  I assume it is.  The sound of the live trumpet floating over the campground was wonderful.  I wandered over closer to have a look and saw something to envy.  What I saw was community, family, tradition, and joy.  When the entire group sang Felice Navidad I was back at our campsite listening with Candy, as she joined in quietly singing along with the English part of the song.  

We stopped at the public library in Point Reyes yesterday and used their free wireless to go online and buy airline tickets to go home for Christmas.  We will be leaving on the morning of Friday the 16th and returning on Sunday, January the 8th.  If anyone in the S.F. area can volunteer to store our trike and trailer while we are gone, it would be greatly appreciated.  If not, we will rent a storage space.  

The ride along Tomales Bay yesterday was great.  Traffic was light, the weather overcast and cool, but no rain.  The bay reminds me a little of Hoods Canal in Washington.  We stopped to eat lunch by the road at a spot overlooking some oyster beds and two platforms loaded with large seals.  I think they were seals.  Anyway they were fun to watch and listen to, as they seemingly quarreled with each other over space on the platform.

Ron.

Tomales

Dec.11. We are staying at the Continental Inn in Tomales tonight. We ended up staying in Bodega Bay for 4 nights, two at the Bodega Harbor Inn, and two at the beautiful campgrounds at Doran Park. Doran Park is the spit of sand that forms the southern enclosure for Bodega Harbor. It's about a mile long and maybe a hundred yards wide, average. The weather was absolutely balmy for the two days we camped. This camping experience was different for us in that this time we had people all around us, but still it was not crowded. We could sit and watch the boats leave the Harbor to go out for crabs on one side of our campsite, and on the other side watch the ocean surf roll in. Way out beyond the jetty was a rocky island that was a haul out for hundreds of sea lions. At night we could hear them making their sea lion sounds. Walking on the beach we thought we came across a dead sea lion, not so. Park rangers had established a perimeter and had experts check it out. The sea lion was born in Santa Clara and was 'hauled up', or had beached itself to bulk up on blubber for the winter. The rangers named it Toutle Lou after visiting with us. Toutle Lou was gone the next morning. ch

Tomales is a real town. I haven't seen a single art gallery, massage studio, natural foods store, or boutique of any kind. Just the hotel where we are staying, a deli, a bakery, a general store that has been there for 128 years, and a bar slash restaurant. We have satellite tv and wireless in our room. I am a happy guy.

The countryside between Valley Ford and Tomales on Hiway 1 is beautiful rolling pastureland with cows and sheep, and Eucalyptus trees lining the road. Shoulders were hit and miss, but traffic was very light all the way between Bodega Bay and Tomales. We had lunch in a retro style diner in Valley Ford, where I had a beer with my burger and fries. A half hour later, I could hardly keep my eyes open. I pulled off the road and tried to snooze a bit, but could not. Then as we were climbing some short steep hills, it seemed like my leg muscles had just completely drained of energy. It was all I could do to keep pedaling, even with frequent rest stops. I didn't figure it out till a little later in Tomales, that the alchohol in that one beer had had caused my energy crash. I won't make that mistake again.

Ron.
We saw 4 wild turkeys and a heard of deer. ch

Bodega Bay, CA

Dec. 07. Tonight we are in Bodega Bay, the town that was the setting for Hitchcock’s “The Birds”, a movie that really scared me as a kid. The ride from Jenner was kind of cold and rainy, but nothing like we experienced back in Sept. in Oregon. It is cold and windy enough that we decided to go for a room rather than camp, though cheap State Park camping is available nearby. Also factoring into our decision to pay for a room is the nearby availability of a laundry, and a business office with internet. We haven’t had television, internet, or a cell phone signal since we left Manchester Beach KOA. We haven’t had all three at the same time for weeks.

Ron.
We ate lunch at the Sandpiper, it's located right next to the harbor. There were hundreds of birds at the waters edge. I figure the writer of the birds may have been eating at the Sandpiper, maybe smoking some of Mendocino's "cash crop" and came up with a great movie. Candy

Jenner, CA

Dec. 06.  After leaving the Sea Ranch Lodge several hundreds of dollars lighter in the wallet, we continued south on Highway 1.  By the way, it is also called “Shoreline Drive” in some areas.  California does that for some reason.  For instance, I-5 in the LA region is also named the “Santa Ana Freeway.”  I can’t think of a similar example in Oregon or Washington.  Our next overnight stop was at Salt Point State Park.  At last, some cheap lodging.  Six bucks for us to camp and six more for firewood.  I slept like a rock that night, even better than on the 5-Star Certa mattress in the Sea Ranch Lodge.  I tend to sleep better in my sleeping bag and tent than in most motels, no matter how nice they are.  It didn’t start out that way, but has come to be true for me.

Most of the Salt Point campground was closed for the season, but the hiker-biker section was still open, and as in most our previous state park stays, we were the only ones using it.  It just happened to be located right behind the modular building the park rangers were using for offices, and right behind a couple cords of dried and stacked firewood.  I paid one of the park rangers for kindling and firewood, and then when they had all gone home, we used as much as we wanted.  Now that I have come clean about that crime, I feel the need to fork over some more cash to the California State Parks.  I think I will the next time we purchase firewood in a State Park.  While I am on the subject of fires, let me say that the acquisition of firewood and getting a roaring fire going is always Candy’s first order of business when we camp.  She really gets into it, to the point that I have to remind her that it is getting dark and we need to put up the tent.  She can spend hours getting the fire lit, then tending to it, pushing it,  prodding it, rearranging it, and staring in to it.  While I enjoy the fires and the warmth, I could get by without them.  Since I am writing about campfires, I would like pass on that we have discovered an almost magical way to get damp firewood burning.  First you establish a small bed of burning wood and coals, and then put some of the larger pieces of damp wood around that.  Then you toss in an emergency road flare and step back.

We got our usual late morning start out of the Salt Point campground around 11 am then stopped for lunch around 1pm at the historic Ft. Ross State Park.  While there, a group of three with English (I thought) accents started admiring our trike.  Turns out they are from New Zealand, living and working in the States.  We had a nice conversation with them, mostly centered around the trike.  After that, we started down the road again, figuring that we might need to bush camp, as the next town, Jenner looked out of reach for the day, and no camping symbols listed on the map, either.  Little did we know that one of the most arduous sections of Highway 1 was directly ahead of us. The elevation profile on our map showed a sharp climb up to about 600 feet, then a mostly downhill ride to Jenner.  It turned out to be a sharp climb to 600 feet, then back down to 400 feet, then back up to 600 feet, then meandering along around 500 feet for several miles with mostly no shoulders and a straight down plunge into the ocean on the right.  I remembered driving this section of Highway 1 years ago in a rented motor home, going to visit the brother-in-law. It was another of those situations where you either keep going, trying to make it to a motel room or campsite before dark, or find a spot to pitch the tent alongside the road.  At about 3pm I wanted to stop and pitch camp behind a pile of rocks where there was just enough room for the tent.  It was off the road a ways, and there was water nearby in a stream.  Only one problem, it was right next to a 500 foot plunge down to the ocean.  Candy wouldn’t do it, as she is a little shaky around high places.  So that left us with no option but to try to make it to Jenner for the night, which were able to do, but just barely.  The sun had set, it was getting cold, and I was as exhausted as I have ever been by the time we had checked in to the only lodging in town.  Another pricey affair, a cottage with no tv, no internet, no phone.  Candy and I have come to the conclusion that since these places mostly have no nearby competition, they can save money by not offering the standard amenities of a cheap motel, then jack the price up, all in the name of “ambiance” or the concept of “getting away from it all”.  I call bullshit.  It’s a cover for extracting more money out of tourists.  

The weather has been sunny and warm for us since leaving Manchester Beach several days ago.  The California Mendocino-Sonoma coast is quite beautiful, even in December.  My over-arching impression of the area is that you have to be wealthy to live there, and if you do live there, you put up NO TRESSPASSING signs everywhere.  

Ron.

Sea Ranch Lodge

Top left-inside a hundred year old barn that is rented for weddings at Sea Ranch Lodge. $10,000 will reserve it for you.
Second from top left-Candy at the bus stop in Anchor Bay.
Bottom-Candy and I on the beach at the Anchor Bay Campground and sunset at the same.

Dec. 04. After leaving Manchester Beach KOA, we landed in Anchor Bay Campground on Dec.
02. It is a very pretty little spot set back in a forested glen that opens up onto the beach. We scored a tent site right up near the ocean, in the sun, where it sounded like the surf was going to come into the tent from time to time. The fee, 25$ per night was high by our standards, but probably within the range of normal for the California coast. The great folks that were running the campground are from South Carolina, Dale and Bernard Roberts, I think it was. Very nice people, with that easy going southern way of befriending folks. Dale was a cardiac nurse when she started her career, so Candy and she had a good conversation just before we left. I am sorry that I don’t recall what Bernard’s profession was in his former life. We swapped email addresses and I hope to stay in contact with them. The weather was so nice that we decided purchase another night to hang around and enjoy the sunshine and beach on Saturday the 3rd.

After leaving Anchor Bay Campground today about 11:00 or so, we entered Gualala about 4 miles down the road and stopped at a supermarket to pick up a few things. As we passed through town, I saw the offices of the ICO, the Independent Coast Observer, a weekly newspaper that others had told us would probably write an article about us. But since it was Sunday, the offices were closed and I was debating whether or not to stay in town until the next day, so we could get the article written. I had made up my mind that it wasn’t worth it when we pulled into a parking slot in front of a local supermarket. Well, as Candy would say, what happened next was a Godshot. I call it luck. The owner or editor, I’m not sure which, of the paper just happened to be parked right next to us. He jumped out of his car with his camera and started taking pictures, then did a short interview. I guess the article will probably be in next weeks’ edition, but I’m not sure. He also said that we could find it at www.smalltownpapers.com on the internet, if we did not get a paper copy.

After leaving Gualala, we crossed into Sonoma County, and into a ten mile stretch of million dollar plus homes called Sea Ranch. This is a planned community in existence since 1964. To look at a map, Sea Ranch would appear to be just another small town on the coast, but it is far from that. The houses all have the same basic weathered look and architectural style, blending into the coastal scenery, from the oceanfront to high up on the hillsides on the east side of the road. There must have been a thousand or so of them. One thing that struck us immediately was how much more roadside litter there was, compared to what we noticed in Mendocino County. Believe me, traveling as slow and low as we do, we notice this stuff. I should think the Sea Ranch homeowners are wealthy enough to get the litter picked up that is practically on their doorstep.

Well, having fooled around in Anchor Bay and Gualala for too long, we put ourselves in the position of not being able to reach the next state park, which would be Salt Point State Park, before dark. So, we decided to splurge on the Sea Ranch Lodge. It is a very nice place. We a had a 3 course dinner with a different wine at each course. It was one of those meals that working class folks like us don’t indulge in very often. Our room is a two bedroom suite with an ocean view, though the ocean view doesn’t necessarily thrill me that much. It pretty much looks like the same ocean I’ve been seeing all the way from Seaside Oregon. Candy scheduled a massage for herself tomorrow morning at 11. So it should be interesting to see if she feels like riding again after a one hour massage.

Ron.

Leaving Manchester Beach

The day dawns beautifully, and we are slowly getting packed to get back on the road. This Manchester Beach KOA is really a great place. Management is friendly, and the landscaping and setting among the big Monterey Pine trees is a childs delight. If I were a kid, you couldn't keep me from climbing in them. I haven't looked at a map yet today to see where we may land this evening, that is part of the fun, never knowing for sure where you are going to be at the end of the day. Ron.

A Very Rainy Day at Manchester Beach

Tonight will be our second night at the Manchester Beach KOA cabin, as the rain has been heavy most of the day. Not a day to be on the highway, if it can be avoided. I have been thinking lately about how our trip is not exactly what we thought it would be. It is certainly costing a lot more than I anticipated. The ten dollars a day we thought we could get by on was totally unrealistic. True, we do have days when we don't spend more than ten dollars, but many more days when we do. We are spending more time in motels than I thought we would. That might a little different if we were doing this in drier weather. There seems to be no such thing as a cheap (Motel 6 or Super 8) on the California coast, at least not in Mendocino County. Most of the lodging we have passed has been the B&B or small, exclusive inns overlooking the ocean type. Too expensive for our budget. We are spending more on food than I thought we would. We usually have to restock in the expensive small country markets, since we only carry 2 or 3 days worth of food. Even the camping is expensive if we use private campgrounds, and usually we have no choice, unless we want to free (usually illegal) camp. I would try to do more of the free camping if we had a lower profile, that is a smaller tent or even bivy bags, and regular 2 wheel bikes.

How are we doing physically? I can't speak for Candy, only myself. My belly is definately getting smaller. Candy told me the other day that my "ass is getting cuter". My legs and lungs are much better than when we started. Now at the end of the day, I don't feel like I am about ready to collapse. I can pedal at a steady rate for 4 or 5 hours without pushing myself too hard. When I am off the bike just walking around, I feel stronger, more energetic, lighter on my feet. I like that feeling. I am sleeping better at night than when we started. My lower back has stopped aching throughout the night. I still feel really stiff and creaky when I get up in the morning. It takes about an hour for me to limber up and start moving around.

The mental part is the part that concerns me most right now. It would be really easy for both of us to stop right now, go home and resume a normal life. Life constantly on the move is getting a little old. Living out of plastic bags is getting a little old. Camping is getting old. Motels are getting old. Watching the traffic in my mirrors, wondering if the next truck is going to see us and move over is getting old. Seeing new country every day is great. Meeting new people, striking up conversations with the curious we meet is usually fun. Knowing that every day we move farther south, we are moving towards a warmer and sunnier climate is a motivater for me. Knowing that every mile pedaled is helping us lose a little weight feels good. Knowing that there are many people following our trek, and rooting for us, is uplifting. I suppose nearly all who tour by cycle go through these emotional ups and downs. Days when you just don't want to go forward anymore, then days when there isn't anything else you would rather be doing.

Ron.