Biketouring California To Arizona with Josh

We departed with a good-bye from Cathy and josh’s dad. We made our way to Gilroy along Santa Theresa Blvd.

The highlight of the day was a queen size mattress which we placed under the tent. We delighted in the luxuries of home – the comfort really was helping us ease into the trip. In the morning, we broke out the Bob Marley CD and laughed at ourselves sitting in the lawn chairs provided by josh’s parents – The trip was off to a good start. We pedaled down to HWY 25, which I STRONGLY recommend for cycling (or driving) it is a beautiful road with little traffic and variegated scenery.

Essentially, we spent two days in or around the Pinnacles. One of those days was dedicated to hiking We got our first bath in the muddy Bear Gulch Reservoir.

But at least we got to see some climbers in action.

The next night, with some trepidation, we camped next to some bee hives in some nice person’s farm.

That day, we had met a man parked along the side of the increasingly amazing HWY 25. He said “hello,” and we recognized him to be a cyclist when he referred to “B.O.B,” (josh’s trailer) by name. It turned out that he had crossed the United States several times by bike. We listened to his wonderful tales and too-fast route suggestions. A good guy – we must have talked for half an hour but never got his name. The next day, we ran across some strange creatures You are probably laughing, but these are not deer. Nether of us knew what these animals were… (update: they are Pronghorn Antelope)

That same day, we passed through King City, and on towards Jolon. We decided to ask at a nearby house if we could camp on their property. They agreed and let us set up camp in the back part of their house. The next morning, Dale and Gloria Terry came out to say good morning and have us over for a tasty egg-pancake breakfast.

Yum. Dale, now retired, builds beautiful birdhouses We spent the morning in desultory conversation.

Eventually, we had to leave and headed towards Mission San Antionio It was nice to walk around instead of riding our bikes… This day, I had found a “Nitty Gritty Dirt Band ” CD on the side of the road (the first CD of several – why do people toss these things out the window??) Anyway, we headed down to Lockwood to celebrate New Year’s eve in a hay-bale field.

This is becoming a tradition for us. Last year, we spent New Years at and Andrew Molera State Park listening to the subdued fireworks from afar. This was our coldest night yet. I woke to look at the digital thermometer, and at 2 A.M., it read “15F.” Shortly afterward, it read “–” Yeah, it was cold. Even the olive oil and the eggs froze.

The first day of the New Year, we worked our butts off getting to Paso Robles via the “easy way.” The woman at the Lockwood store (the only establishment in “town”) said, “Oh, you guys are going the ‘easy direction.'” Yeah right. josh and I got really good at reading signs from a distance. I can read this sign from about 1 mile away:

After relaxing in the hot tub at Paso Robles, we camped in an unused lot in town. The next day we headed off to San Luis Obispo. Thanks to Cal Trans, there is a well marked “bicycle detour” which allowed us to avoid traffic coming down the Cuesta Grade and explore some Cerro Alto trails. Nice. Josh determined, once we got to San Luis Obispo, that he would return his sleeping bag to get more down filling blown into it. The bag is simply inadequate for what we know we will be facing. He mailed it off on January 3rd after having tested whether or not all his clothing and my down jacket would provide sufficient warmth for sleeping outdoors while awaiting the return of the bag. He slept for 2 nights in freezing temperatures with just his clothes and a down jacket. Fortunately, my sister Mary has allowed us to stay in her apartment so josh doesn’t have to freeze.

This had become “dead time” for us… but we’ve had time to make some repairs and rearrangements. Also, I ran/hiked/climbed to the top of Bishop’s peak. We’ve done a lot of reading too.

We will be leaving on Wednesday, January 10th from Mary’s apartment to continue the progress of our trip. josh purchased a 0 degree sleeping bag because the other bag was taking too much time to return. (Mountian Hardwear said, “We’ll TRY to get on it today.”) We probably won’t be updating for another several days – so this concludes this particular journal entry.

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So josh finally got a new sleeping bag. A warm, water resistant bag rated at 0 degrees. Hopefully, that will get us through J-Tree, Arizona, and New Mexico. We sadly headed off from Mary and Brooke’s place into the driving rain (we missed them). By “driving rain,” we mean the kind of rain driven by interminable winds that feels like tacks piercing bare skin. Fortunately, there wasn’t much bare skin that day, and we stayed surprisingly dry. We took a break in Pismo Beach underneath a shelter.

We were fortunate enough to be allowed to sleep under another shelter just out of Guadalupe, thanks to some workers in a Spa (yes, HOT TUBS) manufacturing plant. Unfortunately, none of these tubs were functioning, but inside we could appreciate the work that these guys do for the world. The next day, we battled strong headwinds, and made our way to Lompoc. We got permission from the local police and the brothers at a Lutheran Church to spend the night under their doorway. Anyway, the camera remained tucked away because of the rain, and didn’t come out until the sunshine in Goleta.

We camped in town at an Episcopal Church this time. We had a glimpse of a great sunset before the light vanished. The next day, we were off to Santa Barbara, where we ditched the bikes, and hiked up to the Botanic Gardens. Along the way, we saw More strange creatures.

We passed by Mission Santa Barbara.

Afterwards, this glorious day took us to Easter Island … no Carpenteria where we gorged on mediocre burritos.

Still enjoying the day, however, we made our way to Oxnard, seeing people sailing in the sky. \

After waking in a school yard, we headed towards LA, barely being missed by a Top Gun plane.

When we finally got to Santa Monica, we were at a loss as to where to stay. We headed up Sunset Blvd, in search of a more secluded spot. We found a ritzy private school, but unfortunately, the nice security man wouldn’t let us stay. He directed us to our new spot, and we managed to camp comfortably behind a wall in Pacific Pallisades. Feeling grungy, the next day, we delighted in showers at Venice Beach.

Later, We observed some beautiful Street Murals.

Now, we are at Loyola of Marymount, and are looking to camp near Palos Verdes. After leaving L.A. we headed along hwy 74 East. Part way along the hwy, we met Jim Dunn. He is a highway patrol officer and he suggested that we NOT ride our bikes over the pass. Considering the lack of shoulder and heavy traffic, we pondered our alternatives. He suggested driving us over the hill, so we clambered on top of his truck, tying our bikes down precariously. He took us to a scenic look out – after all, we are here to SEE the sights, right!? We were a little sad to give up the concept of riding ALL the way, but we were happy to have the opportunity to meet a new cool person. Jim let us stay at his home and provided us with food and immaculate sleeping quarters. He’s got an amazing entertainment system, and an equally amazing knack for the home. He had tons of “projects.” Anyway, we met his sons, and watched a movie (Men in Black).

After that, we rode East, taking to the dirt roads when possible. We rode up Bautista Canyon road – a small dirt road that goes to Anza.

There, we descended the 4,500 feet that we had climbed on the Pines to Palms highway. You see some shots on the photo page.

In Palm Desert, we were met with the most AMAZING hospitality. Everyone wanted to know where we were from, going, etc. One man even bought us a bottle of Merlot wine… “It’s the best Merlot I’ve ever had… and it’s only $2.99!” Another lady said, “You’re such nice boys,” and handed josh some Hershey’s kisses. Wow. Later, we met Lacey and Alex and enjoyed a hotel stay and some good times with them. Good times included Cold Stone ice cream (there is one on El Camino Real, bay area folks – you MUST go) and watching the movie Cast Away. We also went to the Living Desert, where we saw some more Strange Creatures.

The Living Desert is a park that houses amazing animals and plant life from around the world’s deserts. We realized that the $8.50 entry fee would be too much for our $7.00/day budget. We were preparing to leave, when a docent named Juanita stopped us and asked why we didn’t enter. Upon hearing that it was out of our price range, she hurried to get us some half-off coupons. Upon further consideration, she decided to let all four of us in for free! We were very appreciative, because otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to see the place. I’d heartily recommend it. Eventually, Lacey and Alex had to head back.

We were sad to leave them… From there, we went to joshua Tree, enjoying free camping amongst the boulders.

Spending 2 1/2 days there, we had our first campfire We bouldered and explored a little.

Extremely forceful winds picked up on our second day and continued a bit into the night. Fortunately, we were pretty well sheltered by large rocks. Leaving the park, we saw the Cholla gardens. These cacti are also known as “Teddy Bear Cacti.” josh touched one and yelped.

After J-Tree, we headed through Box Canyon to Mecca… For the next three days, we were camping in desolate places like this I enjoyed the serenity and austere land scape.

Once we started heading East again, we encountered sand dunes This is near an off highway vehicle recreation area.

Finally, we arrived in Yuma, Arizona, after making some zany videos. Yuma, purportedly a town of 60,000 swells to 150,000 during the winter with all of the “snowbirds” as they call themselves. I can’t assure that these statistics are correct in any way – but that’s the word on the street. We’ve met a lot of people seeking the sunshine, and so far we too have been lucky – only 2 days of rain during the entire trip. We are heading North towards the Grand Canyon now, and expect more precipitation soon…

After internet use in Yuma, we were excited to hit the road again. Unfortunately, the 81 mile stretch ahead was going to be tough. The first day we battled headwinds until we had covered 20 miles and decided that our efforts were being wasted. The next day, the winds pursued their relentless efforts; the wind kept trying to blow us back towards Mexico. A third day of the same drew us to take a well deserved rest in a town called Quartzsite.

During the course of these 3 days, I stopped to photograph this chapel. The sign on the side of the road said, “Rest, Relax, and Pray.” I said, “SURE!” and went off the road for a ways to take shelter from the wind. Someone had built this tiny chapel for people to stop by… and perhaps take refuge from the wind. There were six quaint pews a little lectern, and a register, which I signed.

Later, we caught some beautiful scenery while camped in the low desert. Finally, we arrived in Quartzsite… a HUGE RV’ers flea market. The city is full of RV’s during the winter and they sell their goods (or just live for free, cruising the 14 day sites.) *A 14 day site, for those who are unfamiliar, is a primitive camp (no water) where you can truck in all the amenities of home (using your RV or bicycle) and stay free for 14 days. This, all thanks to the Bureau of Land Management… I happened to catch a photo of a business man’s truck with low overhead costs.

The battery charging system which I had made back home, had prematurely worn out. The bushing on the generator couldn’t take our excessive speeds of 12 mph…

Anyway, as Quartzsite is RV capital of the world, I was able to find a $30 solar cell to charge our CD player/flashlight batteries. The solar cell works well (12V 1.75W) and it A LOT easier on me! So, after waiting out the wind in Quartzsite, we were rewarded with easy riding and abundant WATER (finally) in Parker. Here, I took a photo of josh in the reeds.

The water was so refreshing. Ahh.. We pushed on to Lake Havasu City, where I emulated a photo I had seen in a gallery in Palm Springs.

Also, I played some camera games.

From here, we took an “any which way the wind blows” policy, and ended up going towards Kingman on the highway (40) instead of pursuing Bullhead City. Had we taken such a policy sooner, we would have been crunching the salt from our margaritas, sitting at some fish taco stand , flipping pennies into the Sea of Cortez. On Thursday, I noticed some touring bicycles outside the library. I decided to leave a note just in case they wanted to hang out with us, signed with a “bon voyage!” (in case they didn’t want to meet us) Sure enough, we soon met Luic and Pascal, two zany guys from North Eastern France. We had two fun-filled dinners with them which included statements like, “You want ‘for-girls?'” He held in his hand some latte coffee. I just assumed that Luic believed that his latte was girly coffee (compared to josh’s robust MJB… refered to by josh as SH** coffee) Only a day later did I learn that “for-girls” is the French way of saying “Folgers!” When Luic found an Arizona state starter jacket on the ground, he says, “now it is for me!” We had a great time dancing, playing cards, exchanging tales, and just being silly.

After leaving Kingman, we rode the wind North East along historic Route 66. Eventually, we headed North along Indian hwy 18 – on to the Hualapai Indian Reservation. A few miles down the road, we saw a sign indicating that one must get a permit to be on the land – back a few miles! Not wanting to fight a headwind, we decided to take our chances – our time here would be short anyway. We came to Frasier Wells. This ‘town’ consists of two abandoned cabins. We set up camp near the cabins, and met a man in his truck. He said, “Can I give you some wood?” We said, “Thank you.” He climbed out of his truck and said, “Can I split it for you?” We agreed and he proceeded to split wood, scathing his boot with each well aimed stroke – he was quite a fearless professional – and kind too! The next morning, I entered the cabin and threw a log in the wood burning stove to cook some breakfast and melt snow.

Presently, a man showed up and entered. He said, “You are trespassing. You owe me $40.00.” We said that we didn’t have $40.00 cash, asking if he would take a credit card. He replied, “You owe me $40.00. How are we going to settle this?” After much litigation, we finally settled on $3.00 each, which I feel was worth the warmth in the cabin. It involved some mendaciousness on our parts, but hey, we’re on a $7.00 / day budget! From there, we decided to take a dirt road along the plateau towards the Grand Canyon. We had food and figured we could find water somehow along the way. 7 miles down this unsigned dirt road, we felt quite lost – a myriad of roads went in every direction – and all we had was an Arizona state map!

Wayman, our guardian angel for the next two days, happened to pull up and speak with us, “you boys tough! Ya see der? Ov’r by dem trees? Well that’s my camp. You jus go right der en go down en tern left at de big tire and den you go down o 6 o 7 o 8 miles pass the water tank en den you pass the second water tank… and den you tern right an o boys, it’s a LONG way, boys – you boys tough! I can’t wait – one day I gonna tern on my TV and you knows what?! I’m gonna see you boys on TV! Well, anyhow, bla bla bla.. en den you hit de gravel road, en den you hit the highway. I ain’t never been there, but it’s SMOOTH SAILIN’ from der!” Of course, this isn’t exactly what he said – but his directions were quite prolix. We decided to take our chances with our map. That night, we stayed at his camp – a nice, unfurnished guesthouse. Next morning, however, we were greeted with a STRONG headwind and weather on the horizon. This wasn’t helped by the mud and sand . We managed 16 miles in the arduous conditions – before the snow flurry picked up. We became worried when the radio announced a “winter storm warning” for our area – up to one foot of snow. We counted our food and the days.

At night, we saw Wayman way off in the distance – maybe searching for us. Unfortunately, the snow had covered our tracks, and my red flashing light and flashlight weren’t able to attract his attention. During the night, we were blessed by a respite in the clouds. I was able to see the north star and the lights of Grand Canyon village reflected on the clouds. Using these points, and other day time points, I was able to accurately determine our position. We had only made 7 miles South East (our goal direction – to circumnavigate Cataract Canyon), even though we had trudged 16 miles on land!

The next day, we fixed ourselves on finding Anita. We were blessed with a mere 2-3 inches of snow during the night. This allowed a speed of 3 to 4 mph. After a navigational miracle and 9 hours of trudging, we came to Anita! Here is a picture of Anita:

At least we were no longer lost! The next day, we made the final push for the highway! Once in the Grand Canyon, we were met with great hospitality. We established a symbiotic relationship with our R.V. neighbors – we used the “land ” part of their camp and in exchange, we gave them explicit details of the terrain we had just covered – they were interested in going to the reservation. Later, we were to meet the most generous person of our whole trip – AJ. He works at the back country permit area. After debating whether or not we wanted to pay the costly fees for a permit, we headed over to the back country office. There we met AJ, who, upon discovering that we were cyclists, invited us over for a pizza dinner.

We accepted with alacrity and met him later that night. Great pizza was and good times were had – we watched “Dogma,” a hilarious movie. AJ also offered to store our bikes for us. What a guy. The next morning, he hiked with us down the canyon as a semi-guide, pointing out fun things.

That evening, we camped at Bright Angel campground, relishing the warmth! Upon our return, AJ said, “Well, we’re having steak for dinner and We’re going bowling!” We said, “OK!” We had a great time that evening too. AJ really made our stay at the Grand Canyon Amazing! Before we departed, we took a quick photo. From here, josh and I headed towards Flagstaff to pursue our separate goals. josh is going to seek a job here in Flagstaff, and after spending some time with my girlfriend in Arizona, I intend to continue Eastward. Thank you for following our journey for the past two months!!! We definitely appreciate your interest!