Back East

The West is now a thing of the past. After three days of zero productivity/activity in Archbold, I'm ready for my train ride (which leaves at 3:00am tonight/tomorrow morning), which will carry me out to my last chunk of cycling for the summer - a 5 day, 270 mile ride with MCC in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Beyond spending days on end in a house and not biking, it's strange here because it's green and it rains. Haven't gotten much of that this summer. It has been graciously cool, though, barely touching 80 F during the day.

Well, I leave Archbold in about 6 1/2 hours, I guess I should pack. Isn't really anything else to say. Here's a sunrise.

'Tis strange...

Ok, first, here's a link to the website of the body exhibit we saw in San Diego: http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html

And now on to the post...


Before leaving San Diego, I'm pretty sure I spent at least 95% of the previous two weeks within 10 or 15 yards of Nate (or certainly within sight, at least). After taking a few days to get used to traveling with someone upon arriving in Moab, it now feels equally strange (if not stranger) to travel alone. Food, where to sit, what schedule to follow - none of this is dependent upon anyone else at this point. When I chat with random people (as I did for quite some time on the train in the past two days), I no longer am able to split the conversation with Nate. I have to make my own breakfast, even. One of the biggest changes is not having someone to share my thoughts with. In Kansas, I got used to storing them and putting them into my journal, but through California I was able to share and compare thoughts and impressions, etc. with Nate right then and there, and get his perspective on whatever was going on. 'Tis strange, indeed.

So now I'm back to having only my own commentary to think about and my own self to converse with, and I'm sure things will feel strange again when I get back to Ohio and actually spend a while at home. I'm not exactly sure what to think of all of this, but I do know I have another 35 - 40 hrs of train ride (Sun and Mon) to spend with my journal, as well as in solo conversation with whomever happens to be conversational on the ride.

bodies, borders, and baseball

Ok, we arrived in San Diego by noon on Saturday, climbing a really steep hill to finish our trip to the apartment of Molly Moyer (someone we went to Goshen with, and apparently my 3rd cousin). That evening she and her two housemates had a housewarming party with a bunch of family and friends coming over - they only moved in about a month ago.

Sunday was much more relaxed - after a late lunch of egg, etc. scramble, we made our way to the San Diego Padres ballpark for a picnic lunch (amazing sandwiches provided by Karen, Molly's housemate's mom). We then watched the game - they played (or at least tried to play) against the Colorado Rockies (Padres lost 6-1). So, after only going to one major league baseball game in my entire life, I have been to two major league games and one minor league game this summer. Nate, Molly, and I finished the day by visiting a seaside park where we went on an old wooden roller coaster.

Today was even more relaxing. Nate and I went to the San Diego zoo, saw some pandas, etc., and then went to a Body Worlds exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Natural History. It was pretty incredible.

They had taken *real* bodies (donated for this purpose), dissected them, and presented them in different positions with different layers pulled off, different muscles pulled away, etc. It was all preserved by basically being plasticized somehow (they infused plastic into the entire cadaver, so you could see all the surfaces of the muscles and bones and organs, but it was perfectly preserved). I was a bit queasy at first, but it was really neat to see all the body laid out like that. There were even a few displays where they somehow preserved all the blood vessels and used chemicals to remove all the other tissue, leaving only the network of blood vessels. It was amazing - they had the blood vessel network (still in its 3-D orientation/positions) of the entire human hand and head, and then also the network for a rooster and a lamb. Another really neat part was a section talking about human development - they had preserved fetuses of almost every major step of development (4 wks, 4 1/2, 5, 6, 7... 20, 22, 25, 28). It's an incredible exhibit. I believe there are a few more locations for this installation. If you're interested in that stuff it's definitely worth looking it up to see if there's something anywhere close to where you are or may be anytime in the near future. It was even better because Nate was giving me a guided tour of every display (having just finished his first year of med school).

So, I believe Wednesday I get on the train and start my way back to the midwest, but for now, viva la California...

next, please!

So it turns out that LA isn't the worst place to have a rest day.

Yesterday was overall pretty good. Nate and I got on the metro and rode down to Universal Studios where we waited on the sidewalk for an hour and a half to get standby tickets for the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. We got the tickets (they give out 100, numbered 1 - 100, and we had #'s  38 and 39), and then went up the hill to the more touristy part with lots of overpriced stores and restaurants (mostly franchises). We caught the 11:15 showing of Harry Potter 6 (the tickets were only $6 each!!), were somewhat disappointed, and then by 3:30 we were waiting on the sidewalk again to see if we could get into the Tonight Show. They ended up letting the first 45 or so standby people in, so we got to wait even MORE, but that time on the side of the barrier tape that we wanted to be on. They started taping the show at 5pm, we made a lot of noise (sitting in the back row. in the corner), and left the studio after they finished. Venus Williams is super tall.

After leaving, we got on the metro, got off, saw the road that has all the stars in the sidewalk with names, looked at the Michael Jackson's tile (with it's pile of flowers and memorabilia laid around it), and avoided all the people dressed up in rather bad hallowe'en costumes to look like people whose tiles they would stand by to have people take pictures with them and give them money. We got back on the metro, got off in Chinatown, had a really good, inexpensive supper, and got home by almost 11pm. Bedtime. And now we're going to get ready to load the bikes, get back on the metro, and crank out 75 miles before dusk (between Long Beach and Cardiff by the Sea). Then, San Diego by tomorrow afternoon, and that's that. A quick trip to Tijuana, then the slow boat (train) home.

...moving down the Cali coast

Ok, so there aren't a whole lot of places to grab internet on the California coast (and Nate has internet access on his phone so he wasn't pushing for a stop at a library so I just let it go and waited until now to get at the internet). We are now in Pasadena, on the east side of Los Angeles, at the end of Day 9.

So, let's see: highlights...


...the coastline, near Big Sur (far enough south that it's outside the San Francisco Bay area). At this point we were probably 500 - 600 ft above sea level. There were several hills that forced us to climb up to 1,000 ft. The descents were fun, though. Except one was kind of scary, too - we were coasting at around 30 - 35 mph, sometimes slowing down for the sharp curves, with a 25 - 30 mph tailwind that, at some of the corners as the road was snaking down the hillside, would gust somewhat to one side or the other, making it feel like it was going to blow us off the road or into oncoming traffic (there was frequently no guardrail or shoulder beside the road, just view point turn-offs every mile or two).


...elephant seals, pretty much just chilling on the beach in the evening. We stopped at a beach that had a viewing area towards the end of a 75 mile day that ended in San Simeon State Park, where we spent a while chatting with a German man (Manfred) who is traveling north up the coast on his Vespa for vacation (he lives in LA). The next day, he accompanied us to the next town, where we all had brunch at a little deli/bakery.


...crazy old Bill, the 84-yr-old eco-activist, ex-biology teacher who now calls his house "Bill's Farm Hostel" where you can pay a few bucks and do a couple chores to spend the night (he biked with us for our first couple miles when we left in the morning) - near Nipomo, CA. Roosters still are not my favorite animal, even after SST and that night - he had probably half a dozen of them, and through the morning they would go on a crowing stint for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. The *third* time they did that, it was 5:30am.


...the daily view. What more can I say? (Nate goes in front with the map, I go in back to watch for traffic with my mirror)


...sunrise on the beach (well, it rose behind the beach, since all the beaches here are west-facing) - Carpinteria State Beach Park (Carpinteria, CA). The night we stayed there, there was a middle-aged Swiss couple also staying in the hiker/biker area who we chatted with for several hours through the evening.

We will spend tomorrow hanging around LA - trying to get tickets for the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, watching Harry Potter, and just seeing the city. Friday we will hit the road again, hopefully doing about 65 miles Friday, and then about 85 miles Saturday to finish the trip (hopefully with an early start we can do it; it's not quite long enough to break into 3 days). We should have a couple days hanging around San Diego, spend just a little time in Tijuana right over the border, then Nate will fly home and I will catch the train to begin my journey back to the Midwest. No cycling involved.

Picture time! (...again)

Ok, so a bit more on the happenings since leaving Denver:

Hotchkiss is a beautiful area about 55 miles southeast of Grand Junction, CO. Jonathan, Matthew, and Colin live outside of town up on Redlands Mesa (at about 6,000 ft. - a good 1,000 ft. above the surrounding valley floor). That area is semi-arid desert, getting drier as you move west from there. The mesas in the area (there are many) are fairly well-watered, so there are a good number of smaller farming operations, many of them organic (including the vineyard that Jonathan, Matthew, and Colin all live and work at). While they were working, I spent my time hanging out, doing some maintenance on the bike, baking a little, reading, and enjoying the area. Friday night, though, we drove north to Grand Mesa - the world's largest flattop mountain, stretching all the way up to Grand Junction, much of it at 10,000 ft. or above. We hiked in just a couple miles and camped Friday night, enjoying our spaghetti inside the tent is rain came as soon as we finished cooking. Google (Colin's 6 month old puppy - half lab, half blue heeler) came, too, of course. Saturday we then hiked about 8 1/2 more miles total, following a ridge up to an 11,200 ft. peak, where we enjoyed lunch before taking the ridge the rest of the way back to the trailhead. The ridge trail was often no more than 3 or 4 ft. wide, with the sides going down with at least and 80 degree angle on either side about 1,000 ft. to the valley below. It was kind of nerve-wracking at times. It felt good to get down from there.

*The trail along the ridge

I got on my bicycle last Sunday around 10:00AM and rode about 75 miles until I found a decent camp spot along the road in what looks like an old, abandoned RV campground. I was smart enough to forget my tent poles in Denver (though they got shipped to Nate in Salt Lake City, so I have them again), so I got to rig my tent up by tying together a few sticks into a frame at either end, using guy-lines to keep them upright, and clipping my tent onto a central rope with carabiners. It took an hour, but it worked (kept the tent and bugs out of my face). The last town (until reaching Moab!) before that was Fruita, CO -10 miles back- so I loaded up about 3 gallons of water in preparation for Monday's ride (which would take me the final 90 miles to Moab).

*This is what a tent looks like when you don't have any poles for it. Luckily it didn't rain so I didn't need the fly.

Monday, I arranged with Nate to be picked up right around where Utah state highway 128 hits I-70 - about half the of that day's distance to Moab - so I wouldn't have to bike a 90 mile day in 100 - 105 degree heat. I did a 25 mile stint on the interstate (it's allowed there because it's the ONLY road anywhere nearby), got off, and found a dry creek bed that had fairly vertical walls, maybe 8 feet across, and was about 5 feet deep. By then it was 1:00PM and I was tired, hungry, and hot. I got out the tent fly and tied it up to bushes on either side of the creek bed to give me a nice patch of shade I could rest in (tall enough to sit up in, long enough to lay down in).

I hung out until about 4:00, and then climbed a hill so I could get service to call Nate to see if they were getting close. After a late start, they were just getting close to Moab to find a campsite before meeting me. I decided to go ahead and start biking towards Moab to cut off some time. 128 is a beautiful, winding road, following the Colorado River through a deep canyon, and I made it about 15 miles before I got picked up. It was a nice ride. Hot as hell on a bad day, but nice. I had about a cup of water left when I got picked up. I had been getting nervous about that.

After a supper of sandy hot dogs prepared by Mitch and Amber (they had stayed at camp to set up), we did a modest hike to a nearby cliff face, and we ended up kind of losing our way in the dark on the walk back to the campsite - had to find the "road" and work our way from there. No worries, though, we found it easily enough. About the campsite - we were camping (for free) on Bureau of Land Management land about halfway between Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, some distance west of Moab. To get there, you turned off the state highway onto a tiny dirt road, drove 3 miles, and turned onto an even tinier dirt road. Needless to say, nobody else was around. At night, when we weren't talking, the loudest noise was the campfire; it was incredible.

The next day, we packed the bikes (everyone brought theirs!) into the car, loaded up the water bottles and some food, and drove to Arches National Park. We biked the 12 miles or so to the opposite end of the park and spent probably 3 hours (noon - 3) just sitting in the shade at "Sand Dune Arch" where it was only a chilly 85 degrees in the shade on the sand and rock. We did a couple short hikes out to various arches/viewpoints along the way, having started biking by 7:30AM or so to avoid some of the heat. We then biked back to the car, roasting in the sun, but luckily coasting for pretty much the second half of the way back (we had a couple serious climbs in both directions). We finished the day jumping into a several-acre reservoir ("Ken's Lake") a ways south of town. It was cold and amazing and refreshing (though I still smelled bad after three days of biking in intense heat with no shower). 

The next day we drove through Canyonlands National Park (no bikes this time), did several easy-ish hikes off the road to certain viewpoints, and proceeded to spend the hottest part of the day hanging out on the shore of Ken's Lake. Schedule at lake: jump in, swim briefly, get out and wait the 15 mins. it took to dry, apply sunscreen, sit until you were too hot and had to jump in again, repeat (5 - 6x... we were there almost 6 hrs). Didn't even get sunburned. That evening, as the sun was lowering (but not the temperature by much), we drove back into Arches and went and hiked into a couple more viewpoints to get some neat pictures as the sun went down and we were out of the park just after it got dark.

Thursday we ended up packing up and driving up to Salt Lake City (where Mitch and Amber and Nate had met up before coming to Moab), and we have basically just been hanging out and doing a couple short hikes since then. Yesterday was a bit different though.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we went to a baseball game last night - the Salt Lake Bees against whatever Tacoma's minor league team is. The game started at 7:00PM. At 10:00, the 10th inning started. It was finally over after the 12th inning at 11:45. We stayed for the 30 min fireworks show afterwards, which was accompanied by a fairly cliché medley of America-praising/mentioning songs (ROCK in the USA, etc.). It started with the William Tell Overture, which was soon followed by the country song "Proud to be an American." Okay. That made sense, sure. What did *not* make sense, though, was the short segment in between those two songs of Lenny Kravitz' cover of "American Woman." Wasn't that a protest song? Hm. Whatever. I guess it says something about something American, so it must be patriotic, right?

Anyhow, now here I am, hanging out at Nate's sister's house. Our train leaves at 11:30 tonight (assuming it's not late... right...), so we should be starting on our bicycles by Tuesday morning along the California coast. It looks like it will be a lot busier than the ride in Kansas (...duh...?), but we still pass through some very small quaint-looking towns. And San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

And now, just a few more pictures to incite jealousy:

*The view from our lunch break on Grand Mesa at the peak along the ridge (the lake below is about 1,000 ft. almost straight down)

*Group picture! (at the end of the first evening hike from our campsite)

*A view in Canyonlands Nat'l Park (framed by some arch across the top)

*Sun going down Weds eve in Arches Nat'l Park

*One of three of these little guys we found in our campsite Weds night/Thurs morning. Cute, huh?

Through the desert, soon to the coast

Well, I got to Moab with no incident on Monday evening (after two very hot days of biking - went through more than 2 gallons of water each day), and spent the next few days baking in the desert sun along with Mitch, Amber, and Nate. Thursday, we came to Salt Lake City, where we are now. We've done some short hikes, a little bouldering, and had some time hanging out, but haven't done anything hugely impressive.

Last night we went to see the movie "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. It wasn't very good/enjoyable, I didn't think; fairly disappointing.

We're spending the 4th with Nate's sister and brother-in-law and their two beautiful dogs (huskies). Later this evening - after some grilling, etc. - we will go to a minor league baseball game, and then finish the night out watching fireworks somewhere. It looks like tomorrow we'll just hang out after Mitch and Amber head out in the morning until our train leaves at 11:30pm. Nate and I are supposed to arrive in San Francisco then Monday evening around 6:00-ish, so it looks like we should be able to start our biking on Tuesday, wending our way down the coast to San Diego.

Ummm, yeah. Not a whole lot more to say. I might do some actual reflecting tomorrow, we'll see.