Strawberries!

Andrew and I rode from Santa Cruz to Monterey today.  45 miles.  On the way we rode through endless strawberry fields covering the coast, they smelled and looked delicous!  We couldn’t find a place to purchase some so we settle for the next best option:  in a ditch not to far away, were some fresh strawberries that appeared to have freshly fallen off a truck on the way to the grocer.   So we filled a gallon sized ziplock bag, rescuing them from the deadly sun and eventual rot.

I have never been so full of strawberries!  We just got done making a couple manly sized strawberry milkshakes.  Time for bed.  Maybe I’ll have dreams of skyscraper sized strawberries chasing me down the streets of Los Angeles, the side of the strawberry facing the smoggy sun rotting off….

Monterey is very pretty.

Oh yeah, we had really good tacos today!  YUM! 4 for 4 bucks!

Santa Cruz, Tacos and Brad Pitt

I finally left San Francisco!  I was almost ready to stay for the rest of my life!  I had so much fun, at lots of great food and met tons of very interesting people.  I could see myself living there…

Yesterday I covered 30 miles from Haight-Ashbury District to Half Moon Bay Beach State Park.  Had a nice evening, conversed with a couple guys cycling from San Fran to San Diego, where they live.  This was their first trip and they looked at me and my set-up and assumed I was a veteran with wisdom to share.  All I really had to share was my stories of rowdy raccoons and ice cream.  Speaking of ice cream, I’m on my second bowl of the evening.

I got a call from Andrew, the guy I started this trip with over a month ago in Vancouver, he invited me to come stay with his new friends he’s couchsurfing with.  I’m crashing in the back yard in my tent.  They have a sweet Jack Russel named Cloe.  Owners of nice dog- Dustin and Melissa – bakers of most excellent cookies and banana bread. 

Tonight we saw a movie called “Burn After Reading”, a Cohen brothers film with George Clooney, Frances McDormand, and Brad Pitt.  Amazingly funny!  Clever and I shoudn’t quit my day job to be a movie critic..

Andrew and I are going to book it all the way to Monterey Bay and tour around for the day.  Maybe start looking for a halloween costume..  Unfortunatly I won’t be in a large city for spooky festivities.  Probably in some little coastal town.  Maybe that could be quite fun too!

Andrew has decided to keep going after he reaches San Diego.  He might continue another 1000 miles.  Brave soul!  I wish I had more time.  Need to get back to life and the world of retail outdoors!  If you didn’t know I sell clothing at The US Outdoor Store, downtown portland (Shout out to my co workers!!!  Miss you!!)  I actually am looking forward to getting back to my life, I miss Portland and my bed.  I guess thats what you get with a vaction- a better appreciation of home.

Pictures!

Check out my flickr.com pictures- Click Here!

Hills Hills Hills!

So i’ve been travelling with Caleb and April for the last 7 days.  Pretty much since Arcata.  I’m so glad too.  I set out to do this trip alone, braving such a feat solo, being alone in my head to work out those “life questions’…  I’m really grateful for all the wonderful cyclists i’ve been in contact with.  I think I would have gone crazy or lost interest!  Speaking of losing interest, I was having serious thoughts of calling it quits once I got to San Francisco.  I was afraid of running low on money and returning to Portland broke.  But, hey, I’ll live and am very resourceful.  I could sell blood or teeth.  Just kidding…  I’m going on till the end!  Only 12 days of riding to San Diego, which would be 600 miles.

Back to Caleb and April-  They are awesome.  They really suprised me when I asked how old they were.  Caleb- 20, April- 22.  I though they were my age.  What I love about them is their views on life and their mess kit.  They value eating very much, an attitute I can really get along with.  From them I learned you can never have enough butter, carry lots of spices and you can mix Quinoa with just about anything!  I was astonished when Caleb was scooping dollops of peanut butter into the last bit of his Quinoa.  I have yet to try it.

They are from Madison, Wisconsin and started in Seattle, headed to southern California.  They are’nt sure where they are going to end up.  Might look for a diesel car or truck to convert to run of vegetable oil.  Among many of their interests, a very big one would be farming.  They were able to spot wild grapes and apple trees where I would have zoomed right on by.  Two days ago we were filling our bags with apples that were’nt pretty, but were very tasty.  I tended to ride a bit behind them and when I would catch up, sometimes they were stopped at a nice field or hill or cliff to have some lunch.

One day we saw from our lunch time spot several stingrays, a school of jelly fish and white pelicans.  The weather has been rediculous!  Nothing but sun and more sun!  In total for my trip I’ve had maybe 2 hours of rain(except nighttime showers).  I’m really lucky!

Yesterday we decided to combine a full day with a half day to get to the Marin Headlands which are right at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, on the north side.  I called up the visitors center to reserve a campsite, they mentioned it was free and since free is an amazing phenomenon I love to enjoy, we decided to push it.  We rode a whopping 70 miles!  I have an awesome tan and really tired legs.  The difficult part was the last 20 miles of fancy, super rich suburbs.  On the way up to the campground over the Marin Headland hills we got the most amazing view of San Fran and the bridge.  Then down the hill to the campground.  I got there first and started to get freaked out.  There were warning signs of coyotes and big viscous cats and how if you run into one, just act crazy and be very loud and definatly don’t run.  That freaked me out and I decided I had had enough camping.  I called the hostel that was just down the street and reserved a bed.  I said goodby to Caleb and April and headed for what I though was going to be a quiet relaxing night…  Nope.  The hostel was almost at capacity with middle school kids from the city, on a field trip I guess.  I was one of them once….

If you are reading this and saying to yourself “Man, All Kellen talks about is food!”, well, too bad.  Also I’m very tired and have had too much sushi and sugar, so I might be blabbing on and on.  Again, oh well!

In fact I think I’m going to lay down.  I’ll continue this tomorrow- pictures and all!

San Francisco!!!

I’m in San Francisco right now at this very moment!!  I have been trying to find a library to update blog for last week!  My iPhone has had little to no reception and have on several occasions tried to update a little snippet here and there…  To no avail…

Tonight:  BIG UPDATE

I’ll tell you all about the space ships and 10 legged elephant when I get back from dinner!!

Humbolt County

Today has been a day of rest. Sort of. I went to an “Eco-friendly” laundromat and used friendly soap and stain removal goo too! Had a super burrito that was the size of a baby seal. Mailed of my sleeping pad for a hopeful warranty replacement. Bought a new one. Mailed post cards I bought 4 weeks ago in Canada. Ran into Caleb and April from Wisconsin, whom I met at last campsite. They are travelling the coast too. Ran into them at one of the many bike shops here in Arcata(forgot to mention what town I’m in), he was buying 40 new spokes to later rebuild his rear wheel. His bike is an old Raleigh touring bike, an amzimg find, wish I had one. His original spokes are old and with the weight of his gear was breaking spokes left and right. I asked him if he’d ever built a wheel, he said no… So I offered to show him how. We went to a nice park in the sun at the base of the redwoods and tore up the old wheel and started lacing up the new spokes. It was quite a feat. I had doubts we would succeed without the help of a trying stand and a pro bike mechanic, but after 2 hours we had a split wheel.
I’ll post pics soon… Then we went and celebrelated with pizza! Garlic lovers!

I finished the day at the community pool, the second of my trip, last one was in Victoria, BC. I got to soak in the hot tub and sweat in the sauna… I feel good!

I’m staying at my friend Amber’s house, whom I haven’t seen for almost 10 years! We knew each other back in my Alaska days. I drove the coast almost two years ago and visited Arcata, even stayed in her house, only she wasn’t here. So finally we meet again! Her roommates are super cool too! The live in “The Sunset House”, which is the grooviest house ever. I really dig arcata! They have Finnish Country cedar soaking tubs, lots of video stores and lots of bikes… Oh yeah, and Martin Short is doing a stand up routine at humboldt state. Yes!

Yesterdays 40 miles were slow and tiresome, probably because I knew I was going to have a place to rest. I didn’t get to see the ocean very much because of the heavy blanket of fog. Hopefully it clears up soon. I should be making it to San Fran by next Friday.

Oh yes, the maps…

From eh! To hola!

I am sitting at a cool cafe in Crescent City, CA, eating a huge scramble, preparing myself for 2-3 consecutive climbs. One has a summit of 1200 feet. I started in Brookings, OR which is 5 miles from the California border. I ran into Paul from Halifax at the brookings bike shop, he offered space on his motel floor, I accepted. We ate lots of food and worked on the bikes. I rotated my tires and Paul had to buy a new front wheel, which had a broken spoke. His bike is too fancy for small towns like these. His spokes are flat and probably won’t see them for another 400 miles. We started out riding together but I lagged behind and am taking a break.

My guide book said that Cali is foggy and just as we crossed the border it was like a big wet blanket!

I just passes 1000 miles! Halfway there!

The holes in by sleeping pad seem to have multiplied, I found 5 more last night when I dumped it in the bathtub. During the night it was still leaking, very slowly though. Aaaarrrggh!

Gotta go, still have 40 to go. Then 40 the next day to Arcata where I get to spend a day of rest!!!

North Bend

The weather has been amazing! But COLD!!! Last night it got down to 35 deg! My sleeping bag isn’t warm enough, but it sure is high tech and super lightweight.. Hehe. I have to sleep in almost all my clothes, reducing the amount I have available to stuff into my stuffsack/pillow. My sleeping pad had a little tiny hole in it, letting out enough air so that I wake up several times each night to re-inflate it. Everyone is like “Just submerge it under water”.. Hmm, let me just go to my bathtub… Last night I inflated it and dunked it in a lake and couldn’t find the hole. Today I took it to a Les Schwabe and asked to borrow a squirt bottle filled with soapy water. I found the hole!!! Its almost as if someone took a hypodermic needle and punctured it. It was quite invisible!! I got the hole patched up and will give the acid test tonight.

2 days ago I left Newport with Paul, but I only ended up about 22 miles further south.  Paul was really “feeling it” and I felt like taking it easy.  He kept on and I took my time to Beachside State Park.  On the way I got my second flat, luckily it had stopped raining and I was right in front of a park by a river.  I set up shop on a park bench, laid out the tool kit and got to work.  This perticular set of tires have had about 5 flats, 3 of which have been nails, the other two have been little peices of glass that have worked their way through the kevlar…  They have all been on the rear tire.  I might swap the tires, front to back.  Only two flats, I guess that’s pretty good!

I took a nice long walk down the beach and watched the clouds do the most amazing things.  The birds were playing and almost no one was around.  I had the whole beach to myself!  I cooked a great dinner and slept.  The next morning I awoke and rode about 35 miles finishing up in Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park.  I set up camp and headed to see the sand dunes.  They seemed to go on and on, leading out to the ocean.  I walked around and got bored of them real quick.  Maybe if I was on a dune buggy or a ATV it may be more fun.  My guide book says you can have fun with them for hours, have lunch on them, watch the sunset on them.  I don’t see it.  I set up camp in the Hiker/Biker section, which is terribly far from anything, especially the showers.  I thought I was the only cyclist but later realized that other cyclists were present.  They were camping in normal spots.  So I visited with them for a while and slept.  I still see eyes in the woods and hear noises.  I’m getting alittle less scared of the coons…

I got a real early start today and decided it was cold enough to warrant a nice breakfast.  I backtracked about 2 miles to a country restaurant and had 6 pieces of french toast and 2 eggs.  Today has been a nice cold ride.  I made it across the Coos Bay bridge.  Huge!  Windy!  and I’ve been forewarned that if you don’t walk your bike across the bridge, the locals will honk and yell at you.  I walked the bike.  Once on the other side I stopped at Moe’s Bike Shop and he said the cycling community prefers people to ride their bikes, walking the bikes just gets in the way of commuting cyclists.  I controversy!

I’m at the public library right now, still have 10 miles to go to camp.  2 more days to the California border!  Then I’ll be halfway done!

Oh, I almost forgot!  I’m giving a huge shout out to my Memphis family!  Miss you and love you!

Here’s some pictures!

Newport

Oh Newport, Oh Newport… A town with the most cycle tourist oriented setup I’ve ever seen! Bike Newport. They have a tourist lounge with Internet access, laundry, showers, comfy couch and cable tv! The staff are ridiculously friendly and helpful… Check them out if you ride through town!

The last two days have been amazing! Sunny with a soft of tailwind… I rode from nehalem state park, met Paul, who is riding from Calgary to San Fran. We rode the rest of the day stopping at the famous Tillamook cheese factory. Free samples lead to purchase of yummy cheese curds, sausage, and a double scoop of the best ice cream ever! Paul ended up taking a shortcut while I stayed in route, tackling some tough bit worth it hills around the Three Capes scenic route. I spent a few minutes at cape Meares and learned about history of lighthouses.

I made it to Cape Lookout state park, with hiker biker sites a stones throw from the ocean. There were a record number(for me) of cyclists staying here-9… A couple from Bellingham,WA riding on a tandem all the way down to Tierra Del Fuego… 12,000 miles! They will do it in one year. I’ll post pics soon…

Yesterday Paul and I hammered out 60 miles into Newport, sharing a tiny motel room with another cyclist, Eric. We crammed ourselves, bikes and gear and crashed. Today we had delicious breakfast burritos and are currently chilling at the bike shop staying dry trying to decide what to do next.

I’m trying not to thing about the economy.

Scary morning

My wonderful sis drove me back out yesterday. On way to hostel in Astoria I was informed by my friend andrew not to stay at this hostel. Said there were lots of children and families staying there. Sounded like a hassle, so I had Jen drop me off at Fort Stevens state park… A dream come true! They had actual “hiker/biker” campsites that cost $4 and free hot showers! In Washington they were charging $12-19 and showers, if they worked, took coins…

5:30 am pitch black:

I woke to scary scratching and snorting noises. There was a light on in the parking lot across the camp that was casting shadows of the little beasts scurrying around. After failed attemps of yelling them away, I finally mustered the courage to get outside the tent. My food bag had been pulled from under the vestibule! Then I looked around with my headlamp… In the bushes I saw about 6 sets of green eyes reflecting back at me, I yelled more and the wouldn’t go away. So packed up as fast as I could.

Racoons! They ruined my bananas and some other goodies. I was talking to a park ranger and he said campers in the summer feed them, then they are super aggressive in the winter. Now I’m very jumpy in my new campgrounds.

Today I rode through Seaside and Cannon Beach, having lunch in seaside. I met a couple, Spencer and Allison who are cycling the Oregon coast. We continued on together to Nehalem Bay state park, battling some amazing winds, bridges, tunnels
and hills. They invited me to dinner- cheesy Alfredo and vegetables… They are river guides and live in tents every summer. They are ski bums in the winter.

Right now it’s raining hard. I spoke to Olivier, who spent last 3 days stuck in his tent. He’s a day ahead of me.

Maps attached….

Back on the road…

After a nice 3 day rest in my apartment, in my bed, in my town, I’m finally headed back out.  My sister is going to drive me back out there!  What a sis!  

Yesterday I rode 30 miles round trip to pick up replacement poles for my tent.  I left them at a campsite in Washington.  I also got to sing some Karaoke!

OK Bye now

Changed my mind,..

I just arrived in Portland and will rest. Movie madness and lots of naps. Will make some changes to my gear and re-up on supplies.

Storm’s a comin’

It looks like a major storm is coming to visit the coast. Wind around 60 mph, lots of rain too. Expected to last for next 4 days… Olivier and I are planning on heading down the coast in morning, packing extra food and supplies, just in case we have to wait out the storm in out tents… If it’s too tough, maybe I’ll come back to Portland for a couple days to wait it out, as my sister Jen might come out to visit.

Wish me luck, eh?

Astoria!!! The Goonies!

Last January on a business trip turned pleasure I drove from Portland up to Seattle and then down the coast to Los Angeles, photographing a wedding in Carmel-By-The-Sea.  I got to see Astoria in nasty, cold weather.  I even saw the Goonies house from the movie.  Now I’m here in a motel.  Well, actually in a tanning salon with a computer for rent.  Tomorrow I’m taking a full rest day.  My sister is coming to visit for a couple hours and bring me stuff and pick up things I don’t need- like my spare helmet and the Thermarest camping pad I found on the side of the road.

This post is going to be short, I’m mostly dumping some pictures on you… Hoorraay!

Electronics are a hassle

Being able to pinpoint my location on this planet with my phone, google an odd fact to win an argument, show people my photography, listen to music, and of course add entries to this blog is an amazing tool for this trip. However, I left my charger in Canada. I purchased a new no-name, 3rd party charger at a drug store and have been trying to charge my phone fully for the past week. I have become very good at spotting free electricity. So far I have charged the phone in tthree or four state park bathrooms(sometimes overnight), on the side of small town food markets- while eating delicious cream, and even in the laundry room of a KOA campgrounds. That brings us to right now, this very moment. I might actually get a full charge. I have only been able to get a couple minutes of electricity at a time.

Olivier and I have been traveling together for 6 days now. We are trying to decide what happens next, do we go our seperate ways or keep on together.

I started this trip with the intentions of riding alone and meeting lots of people along the way… Hoping to answer some of those questions floating around in my head, becoming ok with me, and other esoteric stuff. Here comes Olivier who set out to accomplish the same and after 4 months of solitary touring, finds himself still having questions unanswered, even though he has learned a tremendous amount.

We have a great time riding together, I make lots of jokes and he talks about whiney Americans and food. We talk about geeky camera/photography stuff, what crazy adventures we are planning, equipment and gear and of course: where the next place to buy food.

Right now we are in Bay Center, on Willapa Bay, just north of Astoria. I’ve done some laundry, eaten a huge dinner, have an electrical outlet all to myself and a strong wireless signal. What more could I ask for?

We spy birds if all kinds, snakes on shoulder of road, lots and lots of garbage, smashed cell phones, silverware, deer, tourists, Obama signs, McCain ones too(boo), huge RVs, logging trucks with and without a load, clearcut, new growth, dilapidated homes, mountains of oyster shells, chainsaw wood carvings of fishermen, did I mention RVs?

We have been so lucky with the weather! I expected to endure through torrential rains through Washington… Let’s hope for the same luck in Oregon!
It’s also been very nice to have all the campgrounds mostly to ourselves, but late at night it’s scary when walking to the bathroom.

My longest day- 72 miles, shortest- 18. Started tour 12 days ago. Have 1400 miles left. Becoming a cycling machine!

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