Home Sweet Home

Well, it's been a month since I arrived home and it's high time I admit the adventure's over.  The worst part about a trip like this is the end - going back to the routine of life.  I have to admit, I expected something dramatic at the end - to get to the ocean and feel a sudden sense of accomplishment, to know that I was done.  That didn't really happen.  It took a couple of weeks of reflection before I was really happy with coming home.  I think that feeling means this won't be my last adventure (sorry, Mom).

Anyhow, here's some pictures from California!  I'll be putting up all of my pictures on Facebook sometime this week, so you can look for me there to see the rest.  There's also a couple of PDF files of articles about the trip which newspapers sent to my folks along the way which I don't know how to post here... if anyone has an idea, let me know.

After heading through a tunnel and along some precarious mountain passes, I found myself close to the coast, heading through some of the most beautiful terrain in the world.  Yes, I'd found myself in the Redwoods:

Stout Grove, to be specific.  It's one of the most beautiful old growth forests in the world, and certainly one of the most amazing places I've ever seen.  For the past couple of months, ending in the Redwoods had been my goal - and I was finally here.  Just like at the Badlands, I was walking around with a big dumb grin on my face, eyes on the treetops.  All the other tourists were hopping in and out of cars to snap a couple of photos, while I spent hours wandering in the woods.

Ewoks?

There's lots of cool stuff about these trees - the roots mingle and hold each other to act as a wider brace for storms.  The bark can be over a foot thick, and is very fire-resistant, but even if the tree's heartwood gets burnt out it can survive and continue to grow.  These massive, 300+ ft tall trees from from pine cones this big:

And so on.  I just couldn't get enough.

Be sure to click on this one.  Because the trees are so tall, I had to take 3 pictures to see the top, middle, and bottom of the same tree, and then stitch them together.  I have some more pictures like this that'll get put up soon.

So then, one day, I came down out of the hills where the redwoods are found, and cruised right on down to the beautiful, sunny, California coast.  There were beach babes everywhere!

Not.

About this time I found out that the Illini 4000 (remember them?  from back in Wyoming?) were about a day north of me, and heading south.  I turned north from Crescent City and headed up to meet them at the CA/OR border.

I can't tell you how great it was to have some two-wheeled companionship.  Between the Oregon border and San Francisco, I tagged along with them and had a fantastic time.  It took me a while to get re-socialized.... For a while there my mouth couldn't keep up with my brain and I'd talk slower than my brain was pushing words out, so I sounded like I couldn't speak!  Fortunately, they're sorta friendly folks.

After a few days, they paid me the biggest respect I could ask for - they gave me an I4K jersey!  That's the jersey I wore into San Francisco, on our last day of riding.

Just on the other side of that bridge, in the Presidio of SF, is where I got off the bike.  Fortunately, I had a childhood friend and former neighboor in town, Andrea.

the Seals

Lombard St

Alcatraz