Happy New Year!

(Bloggers note: I guess I forgot to push post last night, but here is my post from yesterday...) I pulled into my motel in Wellington, UT at 7:21, precicely the time that my phone said sunset would occur there. That's significant because on the Jewish calendar the day starts at sundown meaning I ended my ride at exactly new years! While there was no ball dropping or big Rosh Hashana parade (probably because I'm the only Jewish person in Wellington tonight), it was definitely a cool way to close out the year 5768.

It was a day in which I went almost 90 miles - 25 of which were in a pickup truck run on biodiesel. That was actually a really lucky story. I had intended to be climbing a huge hill most of the day on US-6 which I guess is the third deadliest stretch of highway in America. I stopped off at the last bit of civilization to grab some provisions, fix a spoke and make some bike adjustments for the big climb. While there, the owners of the convenience store fell in love with Stanley and kept feeding him fried chicken and dog biscuits. The woman even gave him a free bag of treats for the ride. Evidently they were pretty concerned for our safety because they decided to ask some of their regular customers with pickup trucks to give us a ride to the summit. One of the first people they asked happened to be an electrician that was running his truck on bio so we threw our stuff in the back and enjoyed a nice ride up the hill with David. He turned out to be a big environmentalist and I learned a lot about the wind power projects in the area, natural gas conversions for cars and more.

The rest of the day was spent riding through beautiful mountains and rock formations in the Uinta National Forest, which looked familiar from my past west coast road trips, but seemed totally different on bike. It made me remember how nice it was to feel so close to nature a la Labor Day Weekend.

Since we got a ride for part of the day and also went downhill for 8 miles, we had plenty of time to enjoy the Utah nature, learn about historical facts and get my bike mended. Since I ended up getting the ride, I hadn't had a chance to take care of my bike repairs. The biggest problem was that the wheel was getting looser from a missing spoke. I had actually forgotten about it until I ran over a big rock and got a flat 8 miles from Price in a town called Helper.I figured I'd knock off two birds with one stone and fix the flat and spokes. Unfortunately, since I'm a pretty novice cyclist and bike mechanic, I didn't have the proper tool to get the cartridge off the wheel. I fixed the flat and went to visit Fuzzy's Bike Shop about 10 miles south in Price. He didn't have time to fix it himself, but hooked me up with a good deal on a bunch of spokes and a tool to do the work myself. I set off for my uneventful ride into Wellington, where I now sit and blog.

I shall do my repairs and set off for Green River or points east further tomorrow. Then... Colorado!!!! Certainly, one of, if not my actual, favorite state that I've been to. For those of you that don't know me well, that would be all states but Hawaii, Alaska and North Dakota. Please let me know if you have any friends in Colorado to hang out with and possibly even stay with. I already have friends in Denver and Summit County, but not many west of there.
Until next time...

Salt Lake City

Just a short post tonight and I'll try to use paragraphs. I guess it doesn't do it automatically and people are finding it difficult to read. I got back on the road today after a weekend w/ the ever adorable Caron who is the newly crowned valedictorian of the Baruch College Education Administration program.

The short but sweet weekend was the culmination of a fun week in Salt Lake City in which Jessica was a great host. She and I once argued about whether or not we'd be good partners on the amazing race - I took the side in which I thought we wouldn't be good partners since we'd both try to lead to much. This led to us being "mortal enemies" for a week or so in the summer of 2005. I think the whole thing was just me being a jerk because the argument took place as I was quitting a fairly impressive cigarette habit. I'm pretty sure I lost many friends during that time. In any event, we've decided that we're going to apply to the show and give it a try. We figure that "mortal enemies" have never been cast, so maybe cbs is ready for us.

Time for sleep since I've got a hellish climb up Soldier Summit tomorrow. I should be way up in the Wasatch Mountains at sundown celebrating the Jewish New Year. Although B'Nai Jacob was a decent synagogue, I think it will probably be the coolest place I've ever wrung in the new year.

Thanks to all my new SLC friends for making the week so pleasurable! Bryce, Jessie, et al. And, Stanley thanks George for showing him such a good time.

Not so stucka in Winnemucca

What a crazy week! Tons of ups and downs, and at certain times, my trip felt like more of an adventure than a gasoline free adventure. When I left Tahoe on Monday morning, I was feeling great and somehow not hungover after a whole day of watching football Tahoe style which, as far as I can tell, is finishing all the alcohol in the house before the daytime games are over, then buy some more for Sunday Night Football. Even though I was leaving Lake Tahoe, a place that embodies everything I love in life - beautiful scenery, refreshing water and friendly people, it felt great to be back on the open road. With the lake at our backs, Stanley and I took off for Reno along a bike path winding its way along the Truckee River. Stan ran and swam and I pedaled until it started getting a bit warmer and I had to throw him in the trailer for the last 6 or 7 miles into Truckee.
While preparing for this leg of our journey, I discovered the section of Google Maps that gives the walking route to a specific location, which I figured would be a good biking route too. It looked awesome! We'd be traveling by two large lakes and through a nature reserve while adding only 3 miles to the overall trip. This meant that Truckee would be the last dose of civilization until just outside of Reno (about 25 miles), so I had to fill up the water jugs and pick up enough food for my next two meals. I followed the directions north towards Prosser Dam Reservoir and, about 10 miles outside of Truckee, found myself on a dirt road with beautiful natural surroundings. Since I opted for the "Hybrid" style bike (part road, part mountain, but best at neither), I was able to continue on without much distraction. Stan was in heaven, constantly darting ahead, then coming back to show me the stick he'd found, an area of the lake he wanted to swim in or the deer that were playing in the woods. It was good that he loved it so much since the dirt road would have made it difficult to pull him in the trailer. The only bad part was that we were using way more water than I had prepared for when I thought we'd be on mostly paved roads. On paved roads, Stan would be in the trailer more using less water so I only brought us each a gallon. As the dirt road continued, we were getting lower and lower on water, but I figured it wouldn't be a big problem since the second reservoir was only 10+ miles ahead and someone told me that paved roads started again ahead. Unfortunately, the water wasn't very clean and the paved roads only lasted for a few miles. We came to the end of the pavement and were faced with a very rough gravel road that would go for 9 miles and over a summit before ending up at the bike path that would take me into Reno. Without enough clean water and, with the amount of running Stan had already done, I decided to flag down the next truck and ask for a ride to the bike path. The ended up meeting up with a prison Psychologist named Dave who was nice enough to give us a ride and provide me with a cold beer to boot. We went about 10 miles and I was telling him how it was the most gas I had used in almost a month. I was feeling a little bad about the situaton as it could have been avoided if I had done more research into the route, but I never would have thought that Google would send anyone down a dirt road.
Dave dropped me off at the bike path and we headed off towards Jess and Teddy's house in Reno. I didn't know Jess and Ted before staying at their house and was connected with them through The Couchsurfing Project. Couchsurfing is a global network of likeminded travelers that host people when they come through their hometown and are hosted by others while traveling. A Couchsufer can visit a website, find someone that fits their personality and connect with them through the website or e-mail. Some hosts show the visiters around town, give them a clean towel and/or cook a nice dinner. Jess and Ted hosted me and Sam, another traveler, on the same night and were amazing hosts. I should think that we will remain in touch and continue on as friends for a long time to come. We enjoyed great conversation and plenty of food and wine. It was a great first experience with the organization and I will definitely continue to meet couchsurfers along my trail to Connecticut and beyond.
Between Reno and Salt Lake City there are 520 miles and I would have 10 travel days to get there in time to meet up with my girlfriend, Caron, who would be there to visit me. I know that goes against what I'm trying to accomplish here, but it's been a long time since we've seen each other and I've always said that this trip is meant to inspire people to realize the impact they have on the environment and then do what you can to neutralize that impact. While we both still have a long way to go, Caron and I have both greatly reduced our carbon footprints and will be purchasing carbon offsets for the flight as well as the other gas I've used this week. Hopefully other people reading this blog are doing the same with their flights and other areas in which they are contributing to global warming. Not that carbon offsets are proven to be the answer to global warming, but it seems like it's the best plan that we currently have until other technology catches up. Hybrid cars and solar water heaters are already here and widely used and more cost effective versions of wind and solar power along with a fully electric car from Chevy are just around the corner and will also be a big help.
Back to the trip... the preferred method of biking through Nevada is along the highway which started off great for me, but bad for Stanley as it meant traveling in the trailer all day long. We had exits every couple hours and small towns to stop at each night. We were flying through the state, averaging over 10 miles per hour and feeling pretty safe on I-80 since the roads were smooth and the shoulders wide. Everything looked the same, so there's not much to comment on until we started having major issues. It seems as though the trailer's tires aren't tough enough for long, fast rides on the hot pavement and the thousands of little pieces of tractor trailer tires that had burst and ended up on the side of the road were no help. The tires have metal wires in them which had pierced the trailer tires and become a real problem. Fortunately, the tire popped at an exit, unfortunately, the exit had no services and no cell phone coverage. The tubes were shot and I had no extra tubes for the trailer, only the bike. Luckily, even though the only thing off the exit was an onion chopping plant, the sign said "Hot Springs," so a nice young couple from Columbus, Ohio was bamboozled into thinking that there was something cool and pulled off to have a look. They had both been repairing bikes in LA all summer and helped me rig something together with duct tape so I could move on to the next big town. As I started east again, it was getting dark and I realized I wouldn't make it to the next town in time, so once again I flagged down a pickup truck to assist.
Chad, an archeological equipment salesman, pulled over and gave Stanley and I a ride to Winnemucca. He went above and beyond the call of duty and brought me to Wal-Mart for tubes and then dropped me at the Motel 6, but not before we stopped by a taco shop that his sister owned for some dinner. I had flashbacks to the Goleta, CA Motel 6 where Stanley had his digestion problems and hoped that he wouldn't have a repeat performance.
As I'm writing this, the US is closing in on their first Ryder Cup victory in nine years and the crowd Kentucky is electric! I feel really good for the entire team, especially Captain Paul Azinger, who is a cancer survivor. On the flip side, the Mets just blew a late lead against the Braves and have, for the second straight year, squandered a comfortable lead in the standings over the Phillies. Luckily, the Brewers are doing their best impression of last year's Mets, so the Mets might still make the playoffs as a wildcard.
Thankfully, there was no repeat Motel 6 perfomance by Stanley and his stomach, so we were able to leave the room without incident. As we started east once again, I noticed that the back wheel on my bike was wobbling and I stopped into Winnemucca's only bike shop to have it checked out. I figured that I could have a few other things looked at and adjusted at the same time as nothing was in tip top shape after so many miles and so much stress on the bike with the trailer and 80lbs dog. The knowledgable shop owner recommended a new wheel, brakes and several other repairs. He didn't have the right size hybrid wheel and thought it would take clear into next week to receive the part. He recommended getting the bike to Salt Lake City where there were many more shops and I'd have better luck. I checked into ways to get there and found out that there was a Greyhound that left from a convenience store parking lot at 10:10pm that night. I boxed up the bike, transferred everything I owned from bike paniers to a rucksack that I bought at Wal-Mart and still had a few hours to kill in Winnemucca before the bus. Stanley and I wandered around town trying to find like-minded individuals to hang out with. We patronized a few establishments, shooting the shit with miners and degenerate gamblers before settling into a small bar blasting 80's power ballads and offering shuffleboard and billiards. It turned out that the bar owner had just settled a divorce that morning and it was her first day owning the bar outright. We celebrated with shots and a few beers until it came time to get back to the convenience store bus stop. When the Greyhound pulled up, the driver decided that he didn't want to attempt to fit my boxed up bike in the luggage bins and said that I could only ride to SLC without my bike. He actually wanted me to leave the bike at the convenience store where, at some point, when someone could fit it in the luggage compartment, it would follow me to Salt Lake City. That wasn't acceptable to me, so Stanley and I went back to the bar to be with our new friends. All day, I had been joking that I was "stucka in Winnemucca" and now I really was.
As soon as I got back to the bar, Eileen, the bar owner, poured me a cold beer and I struck up a conversation with a miner named Kevin that was wearing a cycling shirt. It turns out that he was driving to Salt Lake City on Friday morning to visit his daughters and do some cycling and offered Stanley and I a ride. At the same time, Eileen offered me a room in the yet to be completed inn/boarding house above the bar. It was great and the people welcomed me with open arms. Over the next 36 hours, I came to appreciate the town and it's people and saw first hand how booming the area was. I felt as though I was part of the gold rush of the 1800s, except that, instead of arriving on horses, everyone was arriving in gas guzzling pickup trucks. The companies will hire almost anyone and people are earning so much money down in the mines that they'll actually fly in from their real homes as far away as the midwest to work for two weeks a month. It was cool for a few days, but I was ready to go when Kevin showed up Friday morning. One more thing I'll remember about my time in Winnemucca is that's where Stanley officially became well behaved and cool enough that he can walk around town without a leash.
When we arrived in Salt Lake City, Kevin dropped me at my friend, Jessica's house where I was to stay for a few days until I could get my bike fixed. I met Jess when she went to Yale Midwifery school and she just happened to move to from Portland, OR to SLC a few months ago for a new career opportunity. Evidently, the Mormons love for big families creates a lot of positions for Mid-Wifes in the area. She also has a dog named George. George and Stanley have developed an instant friendship.
Once I got settled in, I checked out Craigslist and found a bike repair guy named Ben who went to town on my bike and made it as good as new. In addition, Jess offered to let me stay with her until Caron comes in next weekend so now I'm on vacation in Salt Lake City. How ironic is it that I'd be on vacation in a town that serves beer with reduced alcohol and metered cocktails?
From here, I will be going southeast towards I-70 in Colorado and then will conquer the Rocky Mountains before getting into the Great Plains. I anticipate following the path of 70 most of the way back to the east, so if you know anyone, or anything, along the way that I might want to visit, please feel free to e-mail me at toddaltschuler at yahoo dot com.

Veggie power to the rescue!!!!!

Without any responses to my Craigslist ads or Facebook requests for alternative energy assistance, I left Molly's house on Thursday morning with Tahoe as my next goal. I took BART as far east as I could go and figured that all in all, the transit system had shuttled me over 60 miles. That's a lot of miles to go electrically and it was nice to see how much faster the train went than the thousands of cars sitting in traffic along the freeway. It also added some diversity to our adventure and went towards our goal of using as many gasoline free methods of transportation as possible.
Once we got out to the Pittsburg/Bay Point station, which is the end of the transit line, I was ready to get back to biking. There was a large police presence which I figured was a tribute to September 11 victims, but it turned out to be a funeral procession for a police officer that was slain while responding to a domestic violence call. Before being shot and killed himself, he was able to shoot the gunman and save the lives of two woman and three children. My heart goes out to his wife and children, who will at least grow up knowing their father was a hero.
Once I got back to riding, the flat roads allowed me to get my legs back after being a bit more sedentary for my few days in San Fran. I was able to cruise along at a pretty fast speed and enjoyed the views along whatever river I was following. That's the thing about this trip, I am moving from place to place, but I don't get to find out the interesting tidbits of information about the places that I see. Several elemantary school classrooms have expressed an interest in following along with my trip and I might ask that, if you are follwing along, please feel free to e-mail me with a history lesson about the places that I've been. My biggest climb of the day was to get to the top of the Antioch Bridge at 135 feet. Eventually, the ride led me into the small town of Isleton, where I was lured in by a bar that advertised crawfish, something I can't pass up being that I'm a huge fan of New Orleans and crawfish in general. My favorite boil is at Frankie and Johnny's - somehow, they have just the right spice. If you know of a better boil, please let me know and I will try it when I get down there for Jazz Fest this year.
Isleton proved a good time and I think I met most, if not all of the 923 citizens residing in the town. In fact, I think they all like to drink beer at the bar I was at. Thanks to a local resident, Art, the beer drinking turned into a late night fishing and whiskey drinking fest on a houseboat. There I was able to grab a hot shower and get a good night sleep before getting back on the road. Stanley enjoyed himself immensely and spent the night diving off the dock and swimming around the river.
Friday morning, I made a few minor repairs to my bike and set off for another day of flat riding. I made great time and could have gone more than the 50 miles that ended up riding, but the further I went, the closer the Sierras got and each town went up hundreds of feet in elevation. I set my sights on a small town called Ione, elevation 300, figuring I could stop there, find a campsite or hotel and get ready for my ascension into the mountains. Around 3pm, I ran into a PG&E worker that had a cooler of cold water and ice that he wanted to offer to me and Stanley since he was heading home for the night and had no use for it. We got to talking and he ended up hooking me up with a place to stay and a bright orange vest so I could be seen better while biking. That's the best part about being on the road, random encounters with awesome people, many of which are genuinely interested in my story, share their stories and offer to help in any way possible. Just yesterday, I met a woman named Pat that insisted on donating Stanley's next bag of dog food. I must say that the generosity and assistance of people in this country is amazing! These are all people that are charitable and helpful without even being asked.
That reminds me... about 5 miles from Ione, my Blackberry started vibrating. Once I stopped to check it, it revealed a message from a gentleman from the East Bay offering me a ride to Tahoe in his Mercedes converted to run on vegetable oil. This was uncanny timing as I was prepared to start my climb into the mountains early the next morning. Once I was able to reach Jags, he explained that he was eager to assist me in my adventure and would pick me up in Ione the next morning. As we climbed up to 3,000, 4,000 and 8,000 thousand feet, I felt so lucky as I was prepared for this leg to take up to a week and I was doing it in mere hours. As the veggie oil ran out, we switched to B100 for the rest of the drive to Tahoe City. I can't thank Jags enough for the ride and the experience and wish him luck in his move to Baltimore. By the way, he is looking for someone to ride with him and share the driving in from California to Baltimore in two weekends. If anyone is interested, get in touch with me and I will get you his contact info. Also, he is looking to sell the converted Mercedes in California so he can buy a diesel truck to convert once he arrives east. He's selling it at a very reasonable price if anyone's interested.
It's been great to be in Tahoe again and Stanley is loving the refreshing, crystal clear waters and surrounding mountains. It's gonna be tough to get him to leave tomorrow, but I think he'll be psyched to get on the road again. I have to thank Ryo and Bridget for letting me stay with them and Ryo for being one hell of a football partner even with a hangover from a wedding the night before.
By the way, I've really enjoyed receiving e-mails from people that are making small changes in their lives in order to help the environment. Remember, every little bit helps. One of the things that I thought about while riding is how so people work so hard to make money and provide for their children and grandchildren in order to make their lives easier, but continue on without any regard for the environment, thus possibly killing off the same people they are working so hard to protect. That might not make complete sense since it is so late and I'm a bit tired, but I hope it gets the point across. Tomorrow, Nevada! My second state as our gasoline (or almost gasoline) free adventure continues.

Bell Pepper Salad

Tonight I blog from Molly Ney's bed. A very comfortable bed, but I'm very nervous about the red wine and white comforter. Molly's an old friend from my days in Tucson and is one of many old friends that I've been able to see while in the Bay Area. On the TV, is the video footage of Bob Dylan's Newport Folk Festival shows, which is ironic since hanging out in San Fran always makes me wish that I was born 30 earlier than I actually was.
Blogger's note: Amazingly enough, this site, which happens to be a blogging site, doesn't recognize "blog" as a word. In the top line, it has a red line under it as if it's misspelled. Now I'm realizing that the powers that be recognize it as a noun, but not a verb, which I still don't agree with.
Anyway, our little hiatus from traveling was nice, but Stanley's a little bored staying in one place, so I'd better get us out of here ASAP. I decided against the electric bike because the ones that I test drove didn't seem that they would help me at all. Both bikes were way too heavy and had too few gears so it seemed like they would be just as much a hindrance during the flats and downhills as they would help on the uphills. That means that I will leave the Bay Area just as I arrived last Friday, minus the safety improvements from Cambria. I had to get rid of the 48" yard stick (I know that's more than a yard, but I'm not sure what a 48" ruler is called) because travelling on BART was difficult with the extra appendage on The Stan Van. That's a name I'm toying with, but it's not official yet... I'm thinking that will going to be my mission this week, come up with a good and appropriate name for our rig. It was fun to ride BART since it's an electric train and a different method of transportation than I was used to with the bike/trailer combo.
While I mostly relaxed and planned the next leg of our adventure here, I definitely was able to see a lot of good music, eat my way around the city and see old friends like Molly, Russ and Bird. I also made a lot of new friends like Emilie and Stef. Emilie was the half of the hospitable hosts (Michelle and Emilie) that I hadn't known well before. I had a hysterical moment with her when I came back to the apartment and entered to an amazing aroma. It turns out that Emilie had a pot luck at work and was making an age old family recipe from her Algerian Grandmother. It had, among other things, Tomatoes, Red Bell Peppers and Garlic. By the time I arrived, it had been simmering for hours and the whole block, never mind just this apartment, smelled amazing. Emilie was nice enough to set some aside for me and told me that I could have it as soon as it cooled down as it was supposed to be a cold salad. After a hike to the top of the city, I came back and checked the fridge where I saw the Tupperware of the salad so I grabbed a fork and dug in. It was awesome and I just kept eating and eating when I went to grab a drink out of the fridge and saw a small jar of the same salad. It was then that I realized, to my horror, that I was eating out of the Tupperware that she was saving for the pot luck. Oh shit! I grabbed "my" little jar and dumped it into the Tupperware, frantically mixing it around trying to make it look like there was more salad left. I felt bad and hoped she wouldn't notice, but I got a call from Michelle half way through the next day that Emilie had called her and asked whether she had eaten the salad. That night, I wanted to stay out so I wouldn't have to fess up, so I drank beer after beer with Molly and Russ until I was pretty sure she was sleeping. So, I take this chance now, to fess up and apologize. Emilie, I'm very sorry for eating your pot luck entry!
Alright, that's it for now. The Bob Dylan footage has inspired us to watch I'm Not There and get a good night's sleep before starting the ascent into the Sierras.
By the way, thanks to everyone for helping me go over 300 members of the Todd and Stanley's Gasoline Free Adventure facebook group.
Also, happy anniversary to Uncle Peter and Eileen and go Mets and Jets!

Getting to the Bay Area

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been taking a few days off while visiting with a bunch of old friends in San Francisco. I think I'll be here for a few more days as I set my bike up with electric power for the trip over the Sierras and further east.

About my ride from Santa Cruz to the Bay Area... It was a beautiful ride along the Pacific Ocean, in which my main goal was to keep pedaling away in order to get to SF to see Warren play in Golden Gate Park. The ride was fairly uneventful and Stanley even fell asleep in the trailer. I know this because I had to pull over to see what this weird noise was, and it turned out to be him snoring. He had been running all morning since we had bike path and farmland, so his slacking off was warranted. We took the opportunity of the fairly easy ride to chill out at out of the way beaches and even found one spot where a guy with a dog was playing fiddle amongst huge waves crashing against the rock formations. It was a great way to end our trip up the coast as we will be turning inland in a few days.

One item of note for people that have been following this blog from the beginning, is that the majority of the bikers in Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties wave back at me instead of nodding. That's right, I took Ashley's advice and kept waving even as biker after biker nodded back or ignored me completely. Thank you NoCal, you're my kind of people!

And, they really are my kind of people in a lot of different ways. Most of this community, one that has always been at the forefront of social and environmental change, are doing what they can to help out the environment. No matter what level of knowledge each person has, or what extent they go to, most share the same dedication to doing their part and helping to pass off the earth to the next generation in the same condition, or better, than it's in today. Remember that the main goal of this adventure is to inspire people that place little to no emphasis on helping the environment, to be cognisant about what they can do to help. Making small sacrifices in your daily life may help stop the bleeding and even repairing the damage that we have inadvertently done to the earth in the last 50 years. Just thinking about what you buy, riding your bike or taking one less vacation or business trip (or using carbon credits to offset) might make a big impact.

Back to the trip up here... the fairly flat and uneventful ride ended when I reached Devil's Slide. This is an area of Highway 1, south of Pacifica that is being altered with a tunnel through the mountain because the road has been gettting narrower each year due to rock slides and might be getting too dangerous for car traffic. The area is probably about two miles uphill, and the same distance downhill afterwards, and is curvy with no shoulder to speak of on either side. This area proved much tougher to negotiate than the parts of 1 that I had already passed, largely in part to the traffic. Every couple hundred feet, there would be a little turnout so I would wait for a line of cars to pass, then dodge and weave to my next "safety point." I felt like we were in a video game and, while never feeling in danger, it was no easy feat.
I made it through unscathed and stopped into a bar in Pacifica for a sandwich and a beer. During my time here, I was told that I might be able to make it to San Fran that night because the next BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit which runs electrically) was only about 6 miles up the road. I had a good hour before sunset so I left the bar in search of the station. Unfortunately, the directions I was given were for the highway and not bicycle friendly. Once I found out the bike friendly way, I was already a few miles up the road and I was told that I would have to climb a hill. The hill turned out to be almost two miles of a consistent 17% grade. With the sun setting fast, and not knowing the neighborhood, I ended up having to enlist a guy named Tom in a pickup truck to help out and get me up the hill. It was a tough choice, but I felt it was necessary to our safety as it was almost dark, I didn't know when the last train was and it could have taken hours to get to the top of the hill without help. I had gone over two weeks without using gasoline and will now have to start a new streak in which I will hopefully shatter two weeks and maybe even make it all the way back to CT!

In San Fran, Stanley visited the Haight and even got his picture taken in front of the famous 710 Ashbury where members of The Grateful Dead lived during the late 60's. He's also been to Golden Gate Park where he heard Warren's inspiring acoustic set, some reggae and met a whole bunch of really nice people. It was his first time seeing music in the park and my first time since driving from Tucson with Bill and Kronks for the 30th anniversary of the Summer of Love festival back in '97. Another cool thing about stores and bars in California, is that they allow dogs, so Stanley's been able to do almost everything that I do.

A big thanks to Michelle and Emilie for putting me up in San Francisco for the last few days! Their hospitality has been amazing.

Warren!

I made it to San Francisco in time to see my favorite guitar player, Warren Haynes, play for free in Golden Gate Park! I'll be able to fill you in on the last few days better later.

Labor Day Weekend on the California Coast

I had an amazing Labor Day Weekend. For those of you not too familiar with the coastal area from San Simeon to Big Sur, I will start by saying that it's a national treasure. Largely untouched and protected from development, traveling here makes you feel as though you are seeing the same views as the explorers that first came through on horseback hundreds of years ago. I will go into more detail as the blog continues so let me take you back to Friday afternoon and just after my last post which came in Cambria.
Cambria is a town that I enjoyed immensely. The slow pace and chill attitude made it seem like these people really led a more simple life and had it more together than the rest of the world. It turns out it's mostly retirees and they just couldn't move that fast, but I didn't know that at the time, so I decided to chill out there for a few hours eating a burger and drinking a couple of local beers. For those of you that don't know me, if someone told me that I could only do one activity for the rest of my life, eating a burger while drinking a beer just might be it. One caviat would be that it would have to be outside because that's where a burger and beer taste best. So there I was in Cambria, chatting it up with a few locals, each of whom were scaring me to death about navigating the steep, narrow and windy road between San Simeon and Monterey. "It can't be done," one said as he looked at my bike and trailer. "I've come close to killing 10 bikers on that road" another quipped. I decided to ask anyone and everyone their opinion and continually pondered my alternatives as one after another advised me against trying. Keeping in mind that I won't sacrifice the health or safety of myself or Stanley, I had to think about other viable options. I thought about everything from hitchhiking to asking someone with a pickup truck to take the bike and trailer north while Stanley and I walked the route. After a few hours, I finally found a few people that have biked the route (without the trailer, of course) and said that it's not impossible and you just need to be really careful. Thinking back to most of the people in Connecticut that thought this entire adventure was impossible and that we wouldn't make it more than a week, I decided that people will usually be negative if they haven't or wouldn't try something themselves. This led me to the decision to go for it. Staying with my theme of safety first for Stanley and I, I stopped by a local hardware store to make some modifications to our rig. There I found a highlighter yellow 48" ruler and an American Flag and used some Gorilla tape to secure it to the trailer.

Being that it was almost 5 and I had already had a few beers, I decided to set up camp a few miles up the road at the San Simeon State Park. It turned out to be a nice location with beach access and, for the first time on this adventure, no cell phone coverage. For the next three days, I would be out of touch with the rest of the world... no internet, no blogging, no phone calls and no Mets scores. There I met a biker heading south named Tom that helped me prepare for what the next few days might be like by sharing maps and other useful information. He also made me promise to reach the Kirk Creek campsite 40 miles away no matter how hard it might be because it was one of the more beautiful spots around. I accepted the challenge and headed back into town for a few more beers with the local retirees. Here I met Mike, a guy that owns 900 acres and who's family has been in the area since the 1850's . He manages vineyards in the Paso Robles area and he told me about the wine region, the Hearsts and the town festival which was happening that same weekend. Since he was a land owner, I inquired as to why so many people are trying their luck at grapes and not wind power these days. He said that wine is very accepted among the people in the area and that any kind of building that "ruins" the landscape of their pristine area would be met with serious oppossiton and not worth the hassle. He also mentioned that, because of proposition 13, Californians don't pay a lot to keep their property (he pays less than $2,000 a year in property taxes) so there's no real need to go for wind power for the land owners.
Saturday morning I started up highway 1, grabbed a sandwich, enough canned food to last me 3 days and bottle of whiskey which I figured I could drink and/or trade for favors along the way. I was right by a hotel at 10am and thought about stopping off to draft my first pick of my fantasy football team, but decided that it might rope me in for hours, which I didn't have if I was to go 40 miles that day. As I got into the Los Padres National Forest, the road got windy and started heading uphill, the shoulders became non-existent and the views became breathtaking.
This day turned out to be the one of the most challenging and most beautiful days in my entire life. Around every turn was a surprise... would it be more uphill? could the view be any more beautiful? would mine or Stanley's legs make it to the next turn? We just kept going with serious determination and I was impressing myself as we climbed up 1,100 feet, then down a bit, then back up another 700 feet. This went on for hours. As it started to get cooler and evening was setting in, there was no traffic and we were both pretty beat. It was only about 10 miles to Kirk Creek and we were going to make it come hell or high water. It was then that I experienced something that could have only happened on a bike. Around 6pm, when there was no one on the road except for me and Stanley, we encountered a slight downhill and started to coast freely. All I could hear was the wind, the waves crashing against the cliffs hundreds of feet below and a few sea lions doing whatever it is they do. As I gained speed, a large bird swooped down about 15 feet from us as if to check us out and see what we were doing. It proceeded to coast with us at our exact speed for about 30 seconds before letting out a noise (which I assume meant "cool cruising with y'all, I'm out") and took off over the ocean. It was awesome and made me feel as close to nature and to flying as I ever had.
The last bit to get to Kirk Creek was uphill and I was determined to make it before sunset so I pedaled my heart out and made it with a few minutes to spare. I set up camp with a cool group from San Diego that accepted me and Stanley as part of their group and offered me a beer. The beer was very refreshing as I watched the most satisfying sunset of my life from the cliffs over the pacific ocean. Tom was right about this campground, it was beautiful and worth the extra few miles.

The next day seemed like child's play as it was "only" 30 miles, mostly uphill again, but with only 1 huge climb. I saw amazing views and met awesome people along the way and have even received some great encouraging e-mails from them. I would like to single out Corey, who sent details of my adventure to his entire contact list urging them to look at their lives and see how they could help the environment a bit. That sort of thing makes me realize that this whole adventure might actually make a small difference in this world. Thanks Corey! Then there was a large, extended family of vacationers that I met while having lunch at a state park. They were having a great time and it turned out that we were staying at the same campground, so they told me to stop by their campsite later on for a beer. It took me a few hours longer than them to get there, but I made it and was pleased to find the biker section set among large redwoods. It felt good to back in Northern California!
I ate some dinner and headed over to the family's campsite where there was some sort of mission to finish a bottle of tequila and lots of beer, so I helped as much as I could. We laughed and told stories around the campfire until late into the night. The next day, they all passed by me on their way home and I have to thank Gloria for not throwing water balloons at me. She had joked the night before that she would be doing so. But then again, she also danced like Ellen and nicknamed her grown kid Cupcake, so it may have been the alcohol talking.
Monday was a nice ride and a beautiful day all-around. This is a day when I knew that I would end up in a home with dinner and a comfortable bed. I just had to get to Seaside where Cath Tendler and her husband Jan, would be welcoming me into their home. Cath is a very close friend's aunt and grew up with my mom. She was also on Jeopardy once which I think is pretty cool. Monday's views weren't as great and the fires had decimated a lot of the area so I had to find other ways of amusing myself. That's when I found out that farting while going really fast on a bicycle is awesome and that you can tell a person's personality by the car they drive. Camry and Impala drivers are by far my favorite people and BMW 5 series and Toyota Land Cruiser drivers my most hated. Later that day, I got pulled over for the second time on this journey. This time it was for holding up traffic on Highway One in Carmel. I suggested that they speak to Mayor Eastwood about getting better bike lanes. I guess he's not the Mayor anymore and my sarcasm wasn't funny because the cop was very unamused. Once we agreed that this little exercise in power was actually holding up traffic even more, he just asked me to get off the main road at the next opportunity and took off down the road. Once I got to Seaside, I was met with great hospitality and found that Jan and I share a fondness for IPA's and local beers, which we proceeded to drink a few of.
Tuesday turned out to be a quick and easy ride through farmland and Stanley ran leashless for miles at a time. He was loving life... racing tractors, barking at cows and rolling around in dirt. It's amazing how much he's exbraced this adventure. Everywhere we go, he finds some way to amuse himself and when he wants to rest, he just jumps in his trailer and asks me to pedal on. We met some nice people on the road who invited us over for cold water and to meet their dogs and Alpacas and then went on to visit my good friend and cousin, Lauren Fein and her boyfriend Ike in La Selva Beach. They just moved onto a farm where Stanley can play with goats, horses and a whole bunch of other dogs. I also saw four humpback whales swimming and jumping in the bay about 200 yards offshore. What a sight! It was great to hang out with a friend for the first time in weeks and it inspired me to take a day off and stay with them one more night before heading up to the bay area.

So that's about all that's happening around here. You can find more pictures in our Facebook group which now has over 250 members! I love hearing the stories from people that are working to reduce their carbon footprint and hand over a better earth to the next generation. Please keep the stories coming.

Short Post

This will be a short post since I'm exhausted and need some sleep. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm ok and was out of cell coverage the last few days while travelling the coast from San Simeon to Monterey. It was nice to have so many phone and e-mail messages when I emerged from the forest and I will get back to each and every one of you in the days ahead. I promise!
-That reminds me that my old phone, the one with all the numbers and e-mail addresses, is still broken so I can't call anyone back unless you leave a number in your message-
All I will say tonight is that biking that stretch of road is one of the most amazing experiences of my life. But for now I will sleep in Seaside Cali in a comfortable bed, well fed and very clean thanks Brett's aunt and uncle, Cath and Jan.

white lines

Blogger's note: This post was supposed to be here on friday, but got lost somehere on the internet for a few days. I hear that happens sometimes...
I can ride with my front tire on the white line marking the side of the road for 15 seconds. My best time was coming off a downhill with minimal peddling and a very slight tail wind. I think it's a pretty good time since I've got 30 lbs of gear and I'm pulling a trailer with an 80 lb dog. On a side note, what is an lb? And why the hell does it mean pound? Today I learned that headwinds suck for bikers and I am not aerodynmaic at all. I rode against the wind (yes I sang the Steve Winwood song, which coincidently played during the running scene in Forrest Gump, in my head) for about 5 miles. During this time, I rode by countless farms and ranches that seem to have enough extra space on their land for tons of windmills. It would seem that someone with a few hundred acres wouldn't really notice said windmills and might be able to cash in a bit by selling their wind power back to the utilities. Hopefully I'll meet a rancher or farmer tomorrow and ask them if its viable. While we're on that topic... RVs should be harnessing the wind that they get by driving. You would think that would be really easy and then they could then power their big screen TVs and stuff that way. There's something for my bike that I'd like to get that harnesses wind energy and you can charge your cell phone and ipod with it. I need to get myself one of those. Something that I am impressed with in CA, is that a lot of the road signs that need power have solar panels. By the way, the reason that I haven't put any pictures up on this blog in a while is because it doesn't offer that feature on the mobile version of blogspot. That's right there's finally something that my awesome phone can't do. You can check out some pitures of Stan and I (they're actually mostly of him because he doesn't like to hold the camera) on Facebook if you're a member, or you can just become a member. That's the only place that I can upload the pictures to from the phone. If you're not a member, you can join for free. Tonight I'm on Morro Strand Beach, camping on the sand with the only sounds being waves of the Pacific. There are 235 miles to San Francisco on the 1. For the next part of our adventure, I will be looking for a ride to Tahoe in an alternative energy vehicle. I'm talking golf cart, hydrogen fuel cells or anything else not involving gasoline. I'll post an ad on craigslist in the bay area, but if any of you blog readers know anyone that might be able to help out, please have them contact me. Thanks to everyone that commented today on their efforts to lessen their impact on the environment. Its really not that hard, you just have to care a little bit!