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2003
Bicycle tour down USA West Coast
Vancouver, BC to San Diego, CA. Left cast iron spiral staircase in an Oregon coast lighthouse.
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2003
Bicycle tour down USA West Coast
Vancouver, BC to San Diego, CA. Left cast iron spiral staircase in an Oregon coast lighthouse.
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Summer wind, off the open ocean, is mostly out of the northwest.
Out on Oregon and California coasts, travel south.
My 2003 Bicycle Tour down the Pacific Coast First, a short trip up to Vancouver for starting in Canada. Wind was not a problem since this is inland from the open ocean. Winds were calm. Also their August Gay Parade Leaving Vancouver Then north Oregon coast. For some reason, no inspiring pictures came from Washington
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 Forest of arrows along the way from club rides in different areas.
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Excerpts from letters people have sent me Follow up from person at
visiter
center. Shared it with Momentum. I just went on the trip vicariously. How enjoyable! Thank you so much for sharing. I like your mix of cultural perspective. It is a diverse journal but one that has strong consistency. I will be sending the link to a friend or two, including the editor of Vancouver's Momentum magazine, who will enjoy reading it. March looked colorful. My wife and I were in British Columbia for Canada's performance in the Fire Over Water show. It was a bit too crowded for us, but we were amazed that we were able to bicycle the next day along the seawall. They did an excellent job of removing the debris, especially broken bottles, from the pathway. We missed the Gay Parade, but based on your photos it looks very colorful. I hope you enjoy the following: When I get a chance. Thanks for sending this. I put the trip in my "Open this when I get a few minutes to enjoy" box. I think we all envy the "freedom to enjoy the land and people" you had (not to mention the wind at your back). Met on the road. Hiya! I'm sorry I didn't write back last month when you first wrote, apres trip, and I very much enjoyed looking at your trip diary. What a nice relaxed way to document the trip. I envy you. Meanwhile I still haven't developed my film (not to mention the one instant camera that got sand in it -- grrr). Was at Yaquina too. Thanks for the wonderful photos and commentary. I really felt like I took the trip with you! Also, the commentary on the Yaquina Head Lighthouse was especially timely -- I was just there last Wednesday. My Dad did enjoy that. Do a presentation? Would you like to do your trip slide show for the club on February 9? I have set Jim LeGalley up for November 17, and I may have someone for January 19. I'm looking forward to seeing your adventure. Life has changed since my California days. I just looked at another of your pictures, this one looking like a bicycle path through a eucalyptus grove near Monterey. California really is a beautiful place! That picture takes me back to when I lived there. It is a wonderful place. If only there weren't quite so many people so that the cost of living is so prohibitive. But when I was younger, I could afford it because I didn't have any debt, didn't care what kind of neighborhood I lived in, and didn't yet have a "profession." Once you start to have those things, life becomes more complicated and you don't have the same flexibility. I don't necessarily regret the loss. It's a nice time to look back on, but I don't think I'd really want to go back. Or would I? I do think there are always gains and losses as our life changes and we grow in some ways. Thinking of buying a Giant bike. Hey! Thanks for the pictures. I notice you are riding a giant road bike. Do you like it? I have a Cannondale 400 hybrid but we just came back from a bike tour in Cape Cod and I noticed that most people had road bikes. I could see it was much easier on the hills for them then it was for me. So..... I am now thinking of buying another
bike. My guy
at the store said he is really impressed with the Giants right now.
But......
since I know nothing I was not sure what to do. Let me know what your
thoughts
are since you have done so much more travel then myself. Doing trip also. My train to Eugene leaves tomorrow. From there I hope I can connect to a bus and begin the bicycle tour in Florence. Home is Moss Landing. We've had sublime weather and I just hope it holds out a little longer. Fitness advice instead of advise. Your email sent me back to your site where I explored a bit further. Your bike troubles in Baker City (2001 trip) are right out of the recent Ken Burns documentary about Horatio Jackson’s first ever trans-continental car trip. Your fitness page reminded me of a quote I copied from an article in OUTSIDE magazine, about traveling alone: ‘I lie on my sleeping bag in the sun and muse on what a friend said to me before this trip, during a conversation about solo versus team sports. He said that his son would never succeed in America because he had no interest in playing on an organized team. I took offense. My sole team sport, football, ended just as it was beginning, with a compound-fractured arm. He pressed his point. Team sports inculcate necessary social values, channel competition, and prepare you for cooperative adult life. “Yeah,” I replied, “a happy life in the hive, like an insect, the drone as hero, or an interminable larval bliss and no metamorphosis to individuality..” He got the message.’ By the way, “Robert's personal fitness advise” should use the noun form “advice”, rather than the verb. Cliff makes the same mistake. I hope you won't mind my pointing this out. Your site is so fine, and, I suspect, read by so many, that I can't help but wanting to “help.” The commentary about going alone vs. in group is an excellent summary. Your site will inspire many. Traveled it summer of 53. Thanks for sending me the link; I enjoyed it. The coast is always good salve for itchy feet. I traveled it in summer of 53 (SF - Astoria) and January 78 (San Diego - Bremerton) Also got to explore the Big Sur area during a year at Presidio of Monterrey (DLI) There are redwoods in the canyons just inland from the shore line. The Bixby Creek Bridge is (was?) the world's highest concrete arch bridge. Thanks for writing, Robert! Those are
great pictures.
You make me want to Better than a guide book. I really appreciate your perspective. Experience is so hard to earn. I often refered to pages I had photocopied from "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" 3rd Ed., by Kirkendall and Spring (1998). I found a number of discrepancies. Small grocery stores that had closed, others that weren't supposed to exist appeared to have been around for some time. Mileage figures were off, sometimes way off. And there was a general lack of local information that would have been useful, and too much detail that was just clutter. Also, little admonishments like "PLEASE remember hiker biker sites are a privilage and not a right. The fee is modest, so pay it." And "mile 0.2, California fruit inspection. Cooperate, and help protect California agriculture." Yes dad. It made me want to write my own guide. Thanks for your input. Lost in your web. I'm lost in your web right now - awesome bike trip! |
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