Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 17:40:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Zander
Subject: RoadKill Report 16June98

RoadKill Report 16June98

Once again, hello everyone! Welcome to the newest recipients! Again, if you don't want this, tell me. If you know anyone who would want it, tell me. If you like it, tell me. If you hate it, keep it to yourself!

Thanks for all your support! Between emails and perfect strangers helping me, I've had lots of moral support and otherwise along this journey.

Now, Jezebel has been chafing at the handlebars to write one of these, she says I'm too verbose and she can do it better so, now I'll turn the keyboard over to her...

Welllll, helllooo there all you humans! You must all be wonderful people to be friends with Eric. You know he talks too much? He never shuts up. Even when it's just the two of us out on the road, miles from nowhere he talks to me or, worse, he sings! Have you ever heard him sing? You don't want to. It's a good thing I don't have ears! Now, just to let you all know, Eric's not quite the stud he may try to sound like. I'm ready to go, anytime of day, all day long. He only rides me like 80 miles. What a wimp. A REAL man would ride me from dawn to dusk, every day, nonstop! He even wants to stop to eat! I live on oil and WD-40, why can't he?

That's enough Jezebel! Today's a rest day and she gets crabby when I don't ride her a lot.

For those who don't like my Dickens-like style, here's an executive summary you can read. You don't even have to be an executive to read it. Although, I dumbed it down to the intellectual level of the average executive:

Started this leg from Parker and Laura's in Elk California. I zigged back east to Ukiah to visit Ajaan Pasanno at his new wat for a few days. I did a lot of meditation and dug a sewage ditch while there! :-) I loved being there and will return this fall for sure.
After the wat I zagged back to the coast and followed route 1 and 101 up to Crescent city - passed the Avenue of the Giants - tons of Redwoods!! and visited with Michelle Pirkl along the way. I finally crossed into Oregon on the 12th of June! And promptly headed east towards Crater Lake. Two full days later and I'd conquered crater lake and was decending to Diamond Lake. Today I'm resting up in Roseberg and will head out to the coast tomorrow. I hope to be in Seattle within 2 weeks.

And, here's the long version of what happened:

5June98 (Friday)
16th Day riding, 25th Day total
Stats: 73.51 miles, 1230 total miles, 8:45 ride time, 37.7mph max.,
13.30mph avg.
Route: From Parker & Laura's on Philo-Greenwood road went west to Cameron Road. Took that North to route 1 to Route 128 East. Turned onto Flynn Creek Road and at the end (town of Comptche) went east on Comptche-Ukiah Road which turned into Orr Springs Road. In Ukiah took North Valley Road (parallels 101) to West Road which took me to Redwood Valley town. From there took east road north to Tomki Road which took me to the wat (Buddhist Monastary).

Parker and Laura were great - they fed me very, very well! They are vegetarians and with Laura's cooking, she almost convinced me to become one. Almost.
Had my second flat today, took an interminable amount of time to fix it b/c somehow I bent my rear derailleur drop out (little doo-hickey attached to the frame) in the process and had to unbend it.
LOTS and LOTS of BIG trees here. Really cool - lots of moss and ferns among them. Really primordial.
Stopped for lunch in Comptche. The town consists of a post office and a small store. I really don't think it warrants the name "town".
Riding was nice up and down for a while then, at Orr Springs I had about 5 miles of serious uphill switchbacks. Feel the burn! It was nice, though 'cause each turn gave me a new and better view than the previous turn.
After the peak, I had about four miles of downhill into the northern end of Ukiah. I saw a Mexican restaurant but didn't stop - should have 'cause I ended up eating a veru expensive dinner in Redwood Valley. For those of you who don't know, at a Buddhist monastary they only eat one meal a day - after a hard day of riding, it would have been an even tougher night on an empty stomach!
I arrived at the wat about 7:30 - just in time to join evening meditation.

6June98 to 7June98
rest days at the wat

Here, roughly and briefly is the schedule they keep at the wat: 5am wake up and morning meditation (I overslept on the 6th! ooopps!)
7am breakfast
after breakfast til about 10:30am - labor such as digging septic tanks up, clearing trails, etc. whatever needs to be done.
11am - the meal. Yum! I eat way too much at these things....
6pm - evening tea
7pm - evening meditation

Like I said, it's rough and brief. Ajaan Pasanno can probably correct me...

On the 6th it was discovered that the septic tank was leaking so, a septic tank person was called to come take a look at it. In the meantime, a few of us volunteered (yes, you read right, I volunteered for this) to dig it up. Well, it ended up that we had to uncover about 8 feet of the pipe leading to the field. The pipe is about a meter underground. This entailed lots of digging and, near the bottm, squishy mud made from dirt and... well, you don't want to know what....
Obviously this was a good experience to prepare me for employment this fall - digging ditches and wallowing in shit!

It took me until the evening of the 7th to really relax my mind and benefit from the meditation but by then I was "into" it.
Unfortunately, had to leave on the 8th.

8June98 (Monday)
17th Day riding, 28th Day total
Stats: 61.34 miles, 1292 total miles, 8 hours ride time, 36.7mph
max., 15.03mph avg.
Route:From Tomki Road (the wat) went south to West Road to 101 North. At Willits took route 20 west to route 1. About three miles north of Fort Bragg stopped at Mackerricher State Park.

Although my day began quite early (5am meditation), I didn't get on the road until about 10am b/c I was talking to Ajaan Pasanno, trued Jezebel's rear wheel and just generally dallied!

Nothing much happened - just a nice day! I wanted to do laundry b/c I'd forgotten to do it at the wat so, when I arrived in Fort Bragg I was looking for a laundromat. I hit the goldmine! A laundromat next to a pizzeria! One large pizza to go and a few quarters later and I was full and my clothes clean!
Called dad while gorging myself, Carl, my brother, graduated from college a few days ago!! Great job Carl! Wish I could have been at his graduation. Anyone want to offer him a job? He's an awesome landscape architect.

Rolled into the campground around 7:45pm - quite an early day for me with all I did!

9June98 (Tuesday)
18th Day riding, 29th Day total
Stats: 89.05 miles, 1381 total miles, 11:29 ride time, 37.7mph max.,
14.39mph avg.
Route: From Mackerricher State Park (north of Fort Bragg) too route 1 north which merged with 101 at the "town" or Leggett. Followed 101 north to Garberville, took the old road through Garberville, then got back onto 101 north and exited on the "Avenue of the Giants" which took me to my campground of the evening - "Burlington Campground" in Humboldt Redwood State Park.

Woke early (again!) and packed up - everything was damp from morning fog. That's the biggest disadvantage to riding along the coast. morning dew and fog - then I pack before everything is dry and, it never quite dries....

Although I prefer inland to the coast, the coast is quite spectacular - cliffs, rocks, surf, etc. I was along the coast until Rockport then 1 turns inland there. I also began to encounter lots of log trucks here. Log trucks are usually very reckless, fast and just bad for bikers! Parker said it well when he said log trucks and bikers don't mix.
Good thing I was a courier - I'm experienced at having huge trucks whizz by me at 60mph with 6 inches clearance! But, gotta love the draft you get!
Like I said, most are just plain jerks but a minority are really, really nice. They wait to pass and give me plenty of room (but no draft).
Near 101 I passed two guys who were also headed north - didn't get much time to talk to them b/c they were moving slower. when I stopped to adjust my brakes I looked back and didn't see them. Maybe a log truck ate them for lunch??
Stopped to see the beautiful and mysterious Michelle Pirkl in Garberville. Rumor has it she is the topic of discussion at many of the Central Men's Club of Thailand meetings.
Now, we can neither acknowledge or deny the existence of such a club but, if it did exist, she would be the topic of conversation. Rumor has it that there will be a meeting of this very secretive club later this summer in Missouri but, we can neither confirm or deny this rumor.
Do you want to join the CMCT? If you are male (yes, we are very, very sexist) and lived in central Thailand at some point, you MAY qualify. Let me know you wish to join and I'll pass this information along to the proper channels.
So Michelle and I had luch at the Calico Cafe. Michelle is studying massage at the Heartwood Institute there - I was just there to eat and catch up with an old PC (Peace Corps) friend. Michelle will attest, I ate a lot.
Redwoods along Avenue of the Giants average about 3 meters in diameter. Spectacular!
The bluejays in the campground were VERY aggressive - one pecked at my dinner while I was only about 2 meters away!

10June98 (Wednesday)
19th Day riding, 30th Day total
Stats: 77.59 miles, 1459 total miles, 9:04 ride time, 33.0mph max.,
13.14mph avg.
Route: From the Avenue of the Giants, headed north til it ended and jumped back on 101. Took 101 to about 5 miles north of Trinidad (which is north of Eureka) and exited onto Patrck's Point Road which took me to Patrick's Point State Park.

This morning before leaving I talked to 2 German tourists who had been in the Sequoias last week - they told me the General's Highway is now open but all the campgrounds are still closed due to snow! BRRRRR! Had a headwind all day but it didn't slow me down too much until I came out of the hills just south of Eureka - then it hit me like a gale! Then it got very foggy (with the wind) and then it started to rain (with the fog and wind).
YUK!
I rode the 1/2 mile to an underpass and the driest point was actually a few meters downwind of the overpass! Just as I got my pannier bags on and trash bags over my tent and sleeping bag it stopped raining...
figures.
Although the rain and fog went away, the wind didn't. It was a hard fight into Eureka. I stopped for lunch and met "CJ" - a nice old guy who told me all about the many, many tourist attractions in Eureka. He used to be a logger but now is retired. He still wears suspenders, though.
Hey, Parker, why do loggers wear suspenders?
After lunch I had to fight the wind all the way to Trinidad. I stopped in Trinidad for dinner then headed to the park - mercifully the wind died a little (but not much). I fell asleep quickly!

11June98 (Thursday)
20th Day riding, 31th Day total
Stats: 66.65 miles, 1526 total miles, 7:52 ride time, 40.9mph max.,
13.69mph avg.
Route: From Patrick's Point State Park took 101 North to Crescent City to 199 East for about 5 miles to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Last night I left an apple in one of my pannier bags and left the bag open by accident - a raccoon (Maybe a bear!) got it. Oh well. I heard it during the night but didn't think much about it.
The wind wasn't a problem today - fortunately. It drives me crazy after a while....
Just before Orick I stopped for breakfast (bowl of cereal and a tuna fish sandwich! yummy!). The lady at the counter looked pretty mean but was really, really nice. She told me of a "short-cut" to Klamath. It ended up being another stretch of great old-growth redwood. I'm gonna miss these huge trees!!!
About 10 miles north of Klamath I started going uphill - for a few miles! But, every uphill has a good downhill and on this one I hit 40.9 mph!! I was only going about 38 but caught the draft off a truck and popped up to 40.9!

12June98 (Friday)
21 Days riding, 32nd Day total
Stats: 91.87 miles, 1618 total miles, 10:37 ride time, 40.5mph max.,
15.06mph avg.
Route: From Jedediah Smith State Park took 199 East til it ended at Grants Pass then took 99 South (east) to Rogue River.

This morning while packing up I managed to catch 2 chipmunks (at seperate times) in a paper bag! There was some garbage in the bag which they were rooting after. I told them they shouldn't eat garbage and let them go.

I stopped to eat at a small little place which serves HUGE pancakes - 2 of them are about the size of 4 normal ones.
The canyon I was riding along on 199 was really beautiful! Words can't describe how beautiful! The water was so clear it looked green! Just before the Oregon border I passed through Collier tunnel - it was quite cold inside!
FINALLY I hit Oregon!!
Valley of the Rogue State Park was nice - Hiker/Biker was $4 but showers are free - unlike in California where they are 25 cents per 2.5 minutes so it evens out.

13June98 (Saturday)
22nd Day riding, 33rd Day total
Stats: 42.22 miles, 1660 total miles, 5:15 ride time, 35.4mph max.,
16.03mph avg.
Route:From Valley of the Rogue Campground took 99 south (east) to Gold Hill. From there took 234 East to Route 62 north which took me to "Joseph Stewart State Park"

Weather has been wonderful last few days - sunny, warm and little wind. Stopped in Gold Hill for breakfast and met two bikers, Lew and his wife (apologies if I get your name wrong) Theresa as well as Java Joe who's starting his own coffee stand there. Lew and Theresa and I kind of played leapfrog all day - they are riding all around Oregon from Tillamook to Bend. They just moved to bend and are jobless at the moment so they figured they'd see Oregon (or something like that - guys, you can correct me!)
Got screwed at the state park - they said b/c they had no designated hiker/biker sites I had to pay the standard $14 fee for a tent site.
Never had that problem in California! Jerks!

Todays ride was real short - kind of like a pseudo-rest day b/c of the logistics of getting to crater lake...

14June98 (Sunday)
23rd Day riding, 34th Day total
Stats: 70.33 miles, 1731 total miles, 8:30 ride time, 33.5mph max.,
12.48mph avg.
Route: From Stewart State Park took 62 north east to Union Creek then South east to crater lake's south entrance. exited through the north entrance and took 138 north to Diamond Lake.

Today was a very interesting day! Got up at 6, left at about 8 and then it was a real climb up to crater lake. I was hit twice (not by cars)- the slow, steady uphill and the altitude. I was hurting by the time I hit Crater lake. My wallet was hurting too when they charged me $5 just to ride up and take a few pictures. Gotta love our National Parks.
I stopped for breakfast at Union, everyone from as far away as Grants Pass told me they had good pie - I didn't get any b/c it was breakfast! I'd heard the northern access road was not open yet - snow. But I'd also heard it was. If it was, it would save me about 40 miles of riding so I was hoping!!!
Again, slow steady climb up to the 7,000 foot rim. When I got there, there was quite a lot of snow - banks of 12 to 15 feet! Rangers told me the northern access road is closed but, if I don't mind walking my bike about three miles through foot deep snow, I could get through. Deciding three miles of foot deep snow was far better that a 40 mile ride, I risked it.
As I passed the signs telling cars to stop (Road Closed) a group of German tourists applauded me - I guess for climbing to the top on my bike? Certainly wasn't for my good looks!
The first few miles were cool - rocks in the road that hadn't been cleared and more really high snow banks. They get huge amounts of snow up here!
I was a little nervous as I started the descent - if the road was too bad, what would I do? Screw it! I'd just keep plugging. At worst I'd freeze to death...
When I hit the Pumice Desert (or is it dessert? I forget again!) It was really warm - it was like standing in the middle of a parking lot. neat! The Pumice Desert is ash from the last eruption of the mountain from crater lake about 7,000 years ago. Well, I kept going downhill and hoping.
Finally I got to the snowblowers (not plows!). Girding myself for a long walk through the snow I got off Jezebel and headed off.
First surprise was that I could walk on top of the snow with Jezebel.
That was a relief and made the going much faster. Second surprise was that the unplowed stretch of road is only 1/2 mile long. I was styling!!!
About 1/2 hour later I was in Diamond Lake and chowing down! Then, while setting up my tent, the mosquitos chowed down on me. :-(

15June98 (Monday)
24th Day riding, 35th Day total
Stats: 89.16 miles, 1820 total miles, 10:01 ride time, 33.9mph max.,
17.00mph avg.
Route: From Diamond Lake took 138 west to Roseberg and turned north on old 99 which brought me to Amacher County Park.

Phew! I'm at the end (for now!)

I think all the mosquitos last night told their friends about me - there were even more, swarms of them, this morning!!!
Today was essentially all downhill!! That explains the awesome average. I was around 20mph for the first 15 and above 18 until just before Roseberg.
Really beautiful river valley the whole way - cool cliffs, lots of whitewater (and a few rafters)...
Since I made such good time I stopped in town to have my rims trued - they were getting pretty bad and that's how you break spokes. The store didn't give me a discount but their regular price was pretty cheap - $10 for both wheels so I was happy.

And, today, the 16th is a rest day. Tomorrow I'll head out to the coast and then north to Seattle!

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