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Bike Trip now Western Tour
  • Myron Bontrager
  • Dana Bontrager
Aug – Oct 2024

Bike Trip now Western Tour

A 41-day adventure by Myron & Dana Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 30, 2024
  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    Eureka, MO

    September 1, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Prologue - Day One
    September 1, 2024
    Springfield, Ohio to Eureka, Mo.

    Well the adventure has begun.

    After several days with Dana's family we were about ready to get started on this hairbrained adventure. However, we needed to complete one last bike ride with her family before heading out. We met at her sisters place at 8:00 am and nine of us headed north to The Depot, a coffee shop about eleven miles from their place. We met the non-riders and ate breakfast and shared about our lives before heading back south. We completed the ride shortly after 11:00 am and after showering, we finished loading our vehicles, said our good byes, heard them all wish us the best, and we headed out. Of course, now we can't be totally sure what they might be saying about us after our departure, but we are who we are.

    Since we left around noon, we both soon started to feel tired and we found a truck stop, located a quiet corner and took power naps. We used the restrooms and we continued our journey west. Our day's target destination was somewhere west of St. Louis. We passed the Gateway Arch as we crossed the great Mississippi River. Two years and two days ago we passed through St. Louis as we headed down the great river. Who would have thought that two years later we would be on the new adventure.

    We located a Super Walmart as our camping spot for the night. I mean why not, we are pretty much self contained so we just pulled in and parked at the outer edge of the parking lot and made our selves at home. For all the money we have spent at Walmarts over the years, it's time for payback. :-).

    After rearranging our stuff, we found a BBQ joint right next to the parking lot and enjoyed a meal of great food.

    Currently we are sitting on our lawn chairs, in our trailer and honestly it feels a bit weird knowing we are within a stones throw of Walmart.

    Tomorrow we will find Route 66 and plan to follow it most of the way to California before landing in San Diego, where the real work begins. I plan to write a summary of the days activities and let you know where we are and some of the things we have done.

    We prepped our “hotel” for the night around 9:30 central time and lay down. The temps were still a bit high and we were hot and wondered if we would even need a sheet. Half way through the night I woke up and it was chilly so I grabbed a light blanket and covered us. I should have grabbed a heavier. However we weren’t complaining as it felt so much better than it had when we lay down.

    Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.    Read more

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    Prologue - Day two

    September 2, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Prologue - Day Two
    September 2, 2024
    Eureka, Mo. to El Reno, Ok.

    We woke around 5:30 and We lay on our bed a while before slowly rolling out of, actually more accurately rising from, our bed and began to think all things coffee. The camp stove was set up and a pot of water was prepped for heating. Before too long we were enjoying a cup of freshly brewed Brew coffee. We are more than willing to rough it, but we have limits and a fresh cup of coffee pushes the limit. Public restrooms at Walmart were greatly appreciated before we began to strap things in before heading out for the day's drive.

    We were basically on the US Route 66. It is a route developed in the early 1900s for those traveling from Chicago to Los Angeles. It heads south out of Chicago and begins its turn towards the west in St. Louis, Mo. It continues a southwest route until around Oklahoma City, Ok where it travels mostly west. The great novelist John Steinbeck based his novel "The Grapes of Wrath" on a family's trip west as they traveled on Route 66 here in this part of the US. It is historic and quite interesting. We traveled part of the old route but also knew that it would take us quite a while to travel the old winding road before arriving on the West Coast. Instead, we opted for US 44 and stopped in at several of the small towns to drive through and see some of its charm.

    In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. This Act removed Indians from their native lands and moved them to the northern regions of Oklahoma. Included in those removals were Indians from what is now known as Northern Indiana. In 1843, one of my ancestors emigrated to Indiana. The land became available largely due to the removal of the Indians from the lands they called home. Today, my family enjoys living on land stolen from the Indians that settled just north of where we settled for the night. I am not sure how to deal with the internal conflict raging as I consider how much my family and those living around us, at their expense. It was costly for them physically, emotionally, and economically. We (I am not sure who all to include) tried to make it up by giving them worthless goods and empty promises. The debt is still outstanding!

    Finally we drove through Greenwood Ave., the home of Black Wall Street. This was the home of an economically and culturally thriving community during the first part of the 20th Century. Since this was a black community, there was a lot of animosity and jealousy from the white community. In 1921, there was a white mob uprising against this community and after much looting, murders, and burning, the community was destroyed and has never fully recovered. I wonder how much more prosperous Tulsa would be today if they had seen them as assets to the community instead of adversaries? Today we passed through Indian and Black communities that were treated horrendously by our white forebears. So much to think about during our day’s travel!

    All in all, our day was uneventual, for which we are grateful. Sometimes, yes usually, uneventful travel days are a blessing.

    We are blessed, may we be a blessing to all we meet.

    Until tomorrow!    Read more

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    Prologue - Day three

    September 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Prologue - Day Two
    September 2, 2024
    El Reno, Ok. to Gallups, NM

    I haven't been sleeping very well and last night wasn't an exception. I woke at 3:00 am and it took me a while to get back to sleep. I finally fell asleep but the sleep was restless and seemed like it didn't do much good. So by 5:00 I was back awake and we began to rustle ourselves out of bed around 5:30. I leaned the mattress back against the back wall and fastened it so it wouldn't fall. If this was in your house, you might call it a Murphy bed, so we will pretend that's what it is in our trailer-turned camper. I fired up the stove and soon the coffee was ground and the water was just about ready to boil. The aroma of fresh brewing coffee hit our nostrils and soon our brains responded to the caffeine hitting our blood streams.

    Toilet duties at Walmart, brushing our teeth, fastening our crates so they wouldn't slide around too much during the day's ride and we were ready to hit the road. We gave up on seeing too much of Route 66 since we didn't have the time available to putz our way west to San Diego. So our plan was to hit I-40 West and rack up miles behind us. We had about 1300 miles yet and wanted to get at least half of them under our belts before calling it a day. Western Oklahoma and Texas were as you might expect, grassland, cattle, and some crops; lather, rinse, repeat. We finished off Texas and hit New Mexico and it was more of the same until we approached Albuquerque, when we began to hit some hills but then flattened out again as we left the city. The terrain did change a lot after the city and we saw flatlands, but with a lot of Mesas in the distance. They were beautiful, in a rugged sort of way.

    We filled up with gas and headed out for Gallup, NM. We passed through Navajo country and we began to get cravings for some fry bread. As we approached Gallup, Dana began to search online for some locally owned restaurants, preferably with some typical Navajo foods. We decided we would eat at Route 66 Railway Cafe. We arrived and it was an old diner first built in the 1940s. Originally, it was a diner, then at some point, Dunkin Donuts moved in, with several more changes before the current owner bought it a while back and turned it back into a diner. All their food is made fresh and only uses a freezer for his fries and zucchini. I ordered the Navajo Burger. It was an elongated burger topped with a green tomato, lettuce, cucumbers, pickles and, get this, instead of a bun, there was fry bread. It was big, it was delicious, and it was almost more than I could handle. Dana settled for chicken enchiladas. We had plenty to eat and waddled out to our vehicle and headed to our third consecutive Walmart parking lot overnighter.

    If all goes well, we will land in San Diego tomorrow evening and begin to prep for the trip east.

    Cheers all.    Read more

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    Prologue - Day four

    September 4, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Prologue - Day Two
    September 2, 2024
    Gallups, NM to San Diego

    Another morning awakened by the sounds of trucks and traffic from I-40. We both slept ok, but woke much earlier than necessary. We rolled out of bed and headed to use the restrooms at Walmart before brewing coffee and getting ready to head out.

    We headed west through Navajo country before we started our southward trek towards Phoenix. We passed through some rugged but beautiful countryside. This is the pure desert and other than a random animal, it was bare and desolate. We passed through Phoenix and headed west towards San Diego. Almost immediately we saw a road runner cross the road in front of us. It seems like there should be a cartoon dad joke there somewhere, but maybe next time. By now we were past noon and the temps were climbing rapidly. We woke this morning to crisp 49 degrees and by mid afternoon the thermometer topped out at a cool 116 degrees. To say the least, it was hot. We stopped for gas and snagged a few ice cream cones as well. We arrived in San Diego around 4;30 and wove our way through heavy traffic to the address we had plugged into the gps. However, when we arrived, it was a business building in the downtown and obviously not where we would lay our weary heads. We consulted google maps and sure enough we were not at our hotel. A new address was entered and seven miles later we found our hotel. I checked in, backed the trailer into a parking space, unhooked, and parked the truck. It didn’t take us long to find the shower and we washed off several days of grim and remnants of our travels.

    Food was the next item on our to-do list. We found a brewery with a roof top seating overlooking the ocean. We ate our burger and fish and chips, and devoured several drinks as we watched the sunset over the great pacific.

    It was time to get our weary selves back to the hotel and look forward to a good nights rest.

    The heat is causing me some pause and wondering what the relentless temps mean for my trip. Time to sleep over it.

    Until tomorrow.    Read more

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    Prologue - Day 5

    September 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Well it looks like we are forced to make some serious changes to the plans we had for this trip. I was hoping to head out in the morning for the beginning of our trip east. As we came through southern Arizona yesterday, we realized just how hot it really is. The weather forecast for the southwest is daily highs of up to 110 and nighttime lows of 79ish for the next two weeks and who knows how much longer. I just heard today that Arizona will likely break heat records again this year. I thought I could start early in the mornings and get my miles in by 11:00 and then call it a day. However, by 9:00 the temp will usually by up to 90. There is really no way to ride in that kind of heat. If I were 50, I might say I could plow through the heat. If I were 40, I would suck it up and head out. If I were 30, I would believe I was invincible. However, as I look in the mirror, I see a 68 year old man and realize that it is probably a bad idea to try anything like that now. So we are scrapping the cross country trip and trying to figure out how we can still have a good trip and create another meaningful experience. The problem is that it gets really hot when you get more than 20 miles inland. We are planning to head out tomorrow for another small coastal town about 3 hours north of San Diego. We may continue heading north and try to get out of the heat sometime.

    This change of plan leaves me 1. reminding myself to be happy with what we can do, instead of unhappy with what we can't do. I said, I was reminding myself, not that I am mastering it. 2. Scrambling to figure out what works and doesn't work in terms of seeing things in this part of the world. We would love to hit some National Parks, but they are all more than 20 miles inland and hence super hot. 3. I won't lie, I am disappointed. This trip has been on my mind for the last 5 years. In 2021, we rode the East Coast, which was somewhat of a compromise as there were more traveling and lodging options in comparison to the southwest. So, this is also a dream I need to let go. In reality, it is a small thing compared to dreams others have seen flit away, but it is what it is. 4. I have not been cheated, when it comes to bike touring. We have done more than most, so in this manner, I feel quite fortunate.

    I guess the prologue was not really a prologue. I am not sure what to call it but William Shakespeare said, "What's past is prologue." I will rephrase that to say, "What's prologue, is past."

    I will keep blogging each day, but it will not be a bike trip, but it will be another kind of trip.

    This morning we pulled our bikes out of the trailer and rode some of the trails in the city. We found a coffee shop and had some drinks and a delicious bacon burrito. After the pitstop, we headed back along the water front. We enjoyed the ride but were ready for the coolness of our hotel, showers and a nap.

    Thus ends to prologue to our past.    Read more

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    Pastlogue - Day 5 - Sunsets

    September 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 25 °C
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    On the North 101

    September 6, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    We certainly did enjoy our time in San Diego. Our hotel was about a block from dog beach, where I had planned to begin my trek east. Dog Beach is just what you might imagine. It is a beach where dog owners bring their dogs and let them run. We don’t have a dog, but if we did, this would be the place to bring him or her.

    We walked several blocks and found an outdoor coffee shop, or whatever you call it. It was a drive thru, walk up coffee place. It was pretty busy with most of the traffic being cars ordering in the drive through. Don’t imagine a normal drive through, but yes people drive through. Oh well…

    After our coffee, we walked several miles along the beach and returned ready for showers. We packed up and left around 10:00. Our plan today was basically to not have a plan. It is still pretty hot, so we decided to head north, just a little and meander along the coast. We followed the 101 along the ocean side. The traffic was pretty heavy as people seemed pretty anxious to get to the beach for their tanning rituals. We ended up in Carlsbad, about 40 miles north of San Diego. We found a Walmart and chilled most of the afternoon. We did not literally chill as the temps climbed to the upper 80s. We took naps and read books, went to Walmart to cool off.

    For lunch we ate tuna sandwiches and a ready made salad from the Walmart. For dinner we split a broasted chicken, again from Walmart. Then for dessert we went to Applebees for drinks and literally chilled. The drinks were good but the ice water and the AC were deliciously refreshing.

    We have basically completed the day, and are in the trailer reading and slowing down before getting ready for Walmart parking lot night #4.

    Tomorrow will bring whatever tomorrow brings.

    Chillin in the heat.

    NEWS FLASH: about 9:30 we heard a fist beating on our trailer. I opened the door and a security man said “no overnight camping!” Well we secured our stuff and headed out. We found a hotel and here we are. I take it as a badge of honor to have been kicked off a Walmart parking lot. :).    Read more

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    On the Road Again

    September 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

    Dana had a hard time settling down last evening. I know that sounds like what a parent says about their child. That's not what I meant, but it is what she said. However, she then slept until around 7:00 this morning. We got up and made some very average and actually not so good hotel coffee as we began the day. We were pretty excited because we saw the hotel offered breakfast. We headed to the lobby and got our breakfast, which consisted of ripe to overripe bananas, cinnamon rolls, biscotti, and small biscuits. Sounds pretty good, right? I did fail to mention that the baked goods were all prepackaged and probably something you could get at a Dollar General. But it was food.

    We walked to a coffee shop called Ignite Coffee Company. We were treated to quite delicious mochas. Then we walked the .75 mile back to the hotel. We showered and headed out for the day.

    We were on our way. Of course, I missed a turn and immediately found ourselves at the gates of Camp Pendelton, a marine base located just north of Carlsbad, Ca. The courteous young man approached the truck, and I chuckled and said I took a wrong turn and simply wanted to turn around. He asked for my driver's license and told me to go ahead, turn around, and when I approached the gate, he returned my license to me.

    We headed north, following Routh 1 right on the coast. We saw tens of thousands of cars and beaches full of people as we drove along the coast. It was Saturday and there were vehicles and people all along the route. We were not in a hurry, and it certainly was good, because we traveled 147 miles, and it took us almost 6 hours. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and were amazed at the long lines of cars waiting to park along the beach lots. Crazy amount of people. We passed by Los Angeles, and it did take a while. However, we did enjoy the slow pace of travel today.

    After last night's expulsion from Walmart, we decided we should probably find motels along the way. I suspect that companies are pretty picky about overnight parking as their lots would likely be full of cheapos like us. We will get plenty of opportunities as we start heading west sometime in the future.

    Our plan is to keep heading north and hopefully make it to the Redwoods National Forest before we start heading east.

    Dana made some instant mashed potatoes and peanut butter sandwiches for dinner. It was quite delicious and filling. Later we headed for a local brewery, where I had an excellent IPA and we shared some shrimp tacos. It was a good ending to an enjoyable day.

    The temps have moderated a bit as we are several hundred miles north and the nights are cooling off a bit as well. Tomorrow we will continue our journey north.    Read more

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    Ventura Highway

    September 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Where to begin? I guess with the coffee, always! Of course, we had coffee, hotel coffee. It was average, but tolerable. Dana added creamer, which curdled, so she made a second cup. Of course, she did, it's what we do.

    We headed out with Cayucos, on our minds. It was a small town just off the US 1, which we have been following as much as possible. There have been times we needed to be on US 101, and a few miles on I-5, but a huge percentage of the time we have been on US 1. We had no idea what to expect from this small town, just that it seemed to have a cool coffee shop, at least according to the reviews and the pictures on google business. We headed out and looked forward to the goodies. We arrived and were really impressed with all the art plastered around the town. We found a "Free Little Art Library". It was patterned after the free little libraries you find smattered around the US. The idea was that you take art and leave art. I didn't have any art to leave but I took a photograph and will contact the artist thanking her for the art. There were murals on a lot of the local buildings. There must be a very active art scene in this small town. We got to the coffee house, and it was a really cool spot. The ambience was a lot like The Brew's, eclectic, old worn furniture, and lots of odd pieces decorating the place. The sandwiches, and the coffee were great as well.

    As we left, I was feeling a bit nostalgic, so I opened Spotify, and we listened to Ventura Highway (we were just south of Ventura at the time) by the band named America. Then we listened to the Beach Boys singing about surfing, California girls, and all things young and adventurous. The barista at the coffee shop said we needed to check out Cayucos, so we did. We found this small beach town full of people, extremely wide streets, cute shops and another really nice coffee shop. After downing a triple shot cortado, and a blueberry Danish, we headed out to finish the day. As I mentioned, I always default to the US 1, and again I did.

    Soon we were following the coastline with some incredibly beautiful oceanscapes. I had forgotten how rugged the Pacific coast can be. We stopped to see some Elephant Seals playing in the water, took pictures of the ocean, the beach and the cliffs. I vaguely remember seeing something about a closed road, but being the observant male that I am, it promptly slipped my mind. To be fair, Dana was in the same state of ignorance as was I. After about 35 miles along this lovely ocean drive, we came to a sign that we both saw and will remember, telling us that the road was closed and we needed to turn around. So, we did. I guess the scenery was so beautiful we just needed to see it twice. We drove back the 35 miles and basically started over.

    The weather along the ocean was chilly, about 62 degrees with a stiff breeze coming from the water. When we reached the place where we could head to the US 101, we started heading away from the ocean and before too long (less than 10 miles) the temperature had soared to a blistering 100 plus degrees. We turned north on the 101 and the temps stayed steady between 92 and 96. As we headed away from the ocean we passed through a number of miles of vineyards and quite a few wineries. It would have been fun to stop and do some tastings, but it was Sunday late afternoon, and we had a few miles to cover before reaching our target destination, so we kept driving. By the time we arrived in Salinas, CA, the temperature had dropped down to the lower 60s.

    We finally arrived at our hotel. On the streets in front of our hotel were long lines of cars waiting to get into the In and Out hamburger joint just down the street. We opted for Los Altos, a Mexican restaurant just 3 blocks from our hotel. We shared a large portion of Fajitas. It was maybe the best fajitas either of us have ever had. The meat and the veggies were drenched with an absolutely spectacular mole. Google "Mexican mole" if you don't know what it is.

    We headed back to the hotel, and I am ready to call it a day. We enjoyed the day, but it was long enough and the winding curves along the beach can be a bit stressful.

    Until tomorrow.    Read more

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    The Golden Gate to the north.

    September 9, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    We headed north towards San Francisco this morning. We knew we didn’t have a long day but we wanted to get through the big city and assumed it would take longer than normal. We hit US 1 and before too long we were backed up with bumper to bumper traffic. I figured we could make better time on the 101. I told Dana to program google maps for a town I was sure was just north of the bridge. Well it was north of the bridge but north of a different bridge. I finally figured out we had taken the wrong route so we back tracked and crossed the bridge from the north. Then we plugged in the days destination and the route simply required a u-turn and required crossing the bridge again. Some things are just so beautiful you have to see them twice.

    A year after we were married, we took a hare-brained trip out west in our ‘74 VW Super Beetle. It was a sweet red car and I really should have kept that car. We meandered our way west and followed the western coast from the north to the south. The morning we were ready to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, the skies were overcast and the bridge was covered with a heavy fog. Dana was also feeling a bit carsick. In these cases she can usually ease the unruly stomach by eating something. The only thing we had in the car with us that she could easily grab was a bag of marshmallows. So she ate several before we crossed the bridge. It must have helped as she didn’t throw up. This morning as we turned around to cross the bridge the second time, we pulled over and found a place where we could use the restroom. She found a bag of marshmallows and we ate several as we crossed the bridge. 46 years between marshmallow flavored Golden Gate crossings. Sweet!

    After the bridge we headed towards Napa where we plan to spend the next several days. There is a Wine Bike Trail along the Napa River. We hope to ride it tomorrow and hopefully tour several wineries along the way.

    The weather today was awesome. It was a bit chilly sometimes but it felt great.

    Until tomorrow.    Read more

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    Day #2 in Napa

    September 11, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We arrived in Napa, Ca., not sure what to expect. We discovered it is a small city built around the wine industry. It is touristy, some upscale, some historic, some bohemian, and over all a nice place to land for several days.

    In the morning, we wanted to find a coffee shop and headed out to one that looked pretty good. On the way, as we were crossing the Napa River, we saw a bunch of vendor tents in a large parking lot down below to our left. We headed toward the tents and discovered Napa's weekly farmer's market. There was a coffee truck that turned out to be really good and we enjoyed our drinks as we sat and watched the people walking through the market making their purchase. Of course, we had to buy several chocolate croissants, and a baguette. We just had to!

    Our plan was to ride the Wine Bike Trail today, but it was overcast and chilly, so we decided to drive around and see the valley. There were miles of vineyards, and it was quite beautiful as we drove along and stopped in at the little towns along the way.

    Calistoga is located at the end of the route and has some historic buildings mixed with newer and more trendy shops. We discovered an art gallery with a lot of really cool and creative scuptures, many covered with crystals. It felt like items discovered on the Titanic. The town was first settled because of its hot springs and then grew when someone discovered gold. However, over the years it has become a touristy destination. It is another place we could easily land for some downtown.

    For some reason, I was dragging and tired. When we returned from our excursion, we took naps before heading out for a bit to eat.

    All in all, it was good day with some time exploring and sometime detoxing.    Read more

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    Day #3 in Napa

    September 11, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Another day in wine country. This is a very beautiful part of our country. We have enjoyed the peace and quietness of the valley.

    We prepped this morning for our bike ride. We targeted Gott's Roadside as our lunch spot. This is a local burger joint, and we saw long lines when we drove past it yesterday, and we simply had to try it out. It was 21 miles out and it seemed like a worthwhile ride. It was pretty chilly this morning and we put on extra layers knowing we would at some point get hot, but at least in the beginning we would try to mitigate some of the colder temps. The ride was quite beautiful and for the most part peaceful. The first eight miles were on bike paths with the remaining miles on a somewhat busy rode, but we had wide shoulders away from the traffic. The added perk was that we had great scenery with vineyards on both sides of the road. As we entered St. Helens, I smelled grapes and as we turned the corner, we saw a grape crushing and processing plant. It was fascinating to see the process in action.

    We arrived at Gott's just about the time they opened up for the day. We ordered a burger and split it before heading back to Napa.

    We were about 7 miles out, on the bike path again, when all of a sudden, I felt a bee fly into my mouth and simultaneously felt a sting on the inside of my cheek. I instantly inserted my finger to remove the bee, but the damage had been done. I stopped and tried ease some of the pain, but what was there to be done? I drank some water while my cheek began to throb and burn. I could feel the stinger in my cheek, so I kept picking at it until I finally was able to remove it. We continued our ride, and my cheek kept feeling worse and felt like it was swelling. However, after a while it did seem to ease a bit, and the pain leveled off a bit. Now a number of hours later, it is much better, but still a bit painful, but mostly an inconvenience at this point.

    We will be heading out tomorrow for El Dorado National Forest and spend several days there. It is on our way and thought it might a great place chill for a bit.

    Until later    Read more

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    Beside the Golden Ditch

    September 12, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We certainly did enjoy our time in Napa. There were plenty of things to walk to; restaurants, breweries, parks, coffee shops and other relaxing and fun things to do.

    However, this morning we packed up and headed to El Dorado National Forest. There really isn’t much to do here, but we are ok with that as well. It is located about 140 miles from Napa, so we took our time and still arrived around noon. On our way, we needed to stop for gas, and there just happened to be a Dutch Bros Coffee Shop nearby so we couldn’t help ourselves. We stopped for a mid-morning pick me up. Dutch Bros is a north western coffee company that, I believe, only has drive throughs and walk ups. We walked up. It was good and we were on our way.

    The campground is small and primitive, but we have water and pit toilets. But who cares.

    Since there isn’t much to do here, I found myself getting a bit restless as if I need to find something to do. Before we left, Dana asked several friends for book recommendations and ended with a stack of books she will not be able to finish on this trip. For myself, I listen to books, podcasts, and occasionally music. I don’t often take the time to read a paper book. I grabbed a book she had already finished and began reading. There is something about a physical book that forces you to slow down. Who knows, this might actually be good for me.

    The sun is starting to sink over the tall pine trees of the mountains and the temperature is starting to drop as well. There will be no need for fans nor AC tonight. The fresh brewed coffee in the morning will certainly be a pleasant wake up for us.

    Until tomorrow.    Read more

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    Lazy Day at the Ditch

    September 12, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I woke during the night feeling the nip of the air on my bald head. I pulled the covers over my head and felt my breath warming the space in the safety of the darkness. It was dark and it was cold. We both slept relatively well but also thought we felt the cold during all night. In reality, the temps only dipped to 48 degrees but that was cold enough. I woke around 5:15 and lay there for about an hour and half knowing I should use the restroom but, there was the cold. Finally, I heard Dana rustling so I hurried out of bed and took care of business.

    I hustled to get the stove fired up and before too long the water was boiling and the coffee was brewing. I got a fire going and soon we were sitting by the fire sipping our quickly cooling coffee. For breakfast we ate some oatmeal bars and later granola and pears. We sat in our lawn chairs until we got restless and decided to follow the gravel road heading from our campground to the hill/mountain behind us. After about a mile and quarter we reached what we thought was the crest. We rested a bit and headed back down. It was a rather strenuous climb but we were no longer cold.

    We returned, read some more and then took naps. After our naps we ate lunch and parked ourselves in our chairs and I read while Dana did some painting.

    Fun little story: when I checked yesterday, the camp host asked where we were from.

    Me: Indiana
    Her: I was born in Indiana
    Me: where?
    Her: Elkhart
    Me: We’re from Goshen
    Her: I don’t know where that is.
    Me: About 10 miles from Elkhart.
    Her: No, I mean I don’t know where Elkhart is. My parents were hippies and we just kept moving around and I was born in Elkhart and then we left and I have never been there since.

    So if any of you know a hippy couple that had a baby in Elkhart about 40 years ago, let me know, I found the baby. :).

    It was a rather lazy day but enjoyable and restful.

    Hasta manana!    Read more

  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    I've been everywhere...been to Reno

    September 14, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Another chilly night but this time we were prepared for it. We slept with heavier clothes and at one point, Dana got hot and took her socks off. But by the time we were ready to get up it was right chilly. I talked myself into getting up and I quickly got up and got my coat on and headed outside to get the water heating for the coffee. I threw some wood in the fire pit and soon we were sitting beside the fire, drinking coffee. Our souls and bodies were warming. Life was looking good.

    Shortly after 9:00 we were ready to roll, and we headed out. We had already scouted out a coffee shop in South Lake Tahoe and we were zoned in for the mid-morning caffeine hit.

    We arrived at Bear Roots Coffee House, a small place, with several stacks of bags of green coffee to the left of the shop. The coffee roaster was busy roasting in the room just off the small dining area. I checked out the coffee bags and saw that they were from Covoya Coffee Importers. I buy coffee from them as well. Small world. South Lake Tahoe was definitely a tourist town, but it was pleasant and seemed pretty laid back.

    We left the coffee shop and headed north along Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful but the lake was to our left and we couldn't stop and take pictures, so you will just have to take our word for it. The first 25 miles of the day were through mountains and at one point we passed the 7000 ft elevation mark, but then shortly after we started dropping and soon, we were out of the mountains and the terrain had completely changed. The mountains were barer and were ruggedly beautiful all the same. We passed near by the Davis Fire, a forest fire just west of our path of travel. We didn't see any evidence of the fire, but heard it is currently 76% contained. California is suffering from a number of serious forest fires. We did pass some forests that must have had some fires last year as most of the trees were scorched and many were burned to the ground. We don't understand how it must feel to be constantly worried about potential fires like this.

    We arrived in Reno around noon, and it took us a while to find a hotel. The problem was most of the hotels were in casinos and only provided parking garages and our trailer was too tall to enter, plus how do you park a trailer in a parking garage? We did find a hotel/casino that did have open/self-parking which was awesome. We are on the 11th floor of a casino/hotel. It is nice and also feels good to get a shower after several days of camping.

    We found a laundromat and got our clothes washed. We then walked to the downtown and found a Hispanic Festival in progress. It covered 5-6 blocks with several live music stages, food, drinks, jewelry and other types of vendors. We targeted a place to eat and devoured a Mexican pizza and a quesadilla. Later we went to Brew Brothers Brewery and had drinks to finish the day.

    We will be here two nights before heading east towards Salt Lake City.    Read more

  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    The Biggest Little City in the World

    September 15, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    Reno calls itself "The Biggest Little City in the World". I am not sure why this might be true or how you could prove it to be true. They claim to offer all the great events and advantages of large cities, just in a small city. It is a city of 264,000, so it isn't necessarily all that small, but I guess it is all about perspective.

    We are located just a few blocks from the downtown and have enjoyed walking around and seeing all the things this Biggest Little city has to offer. Casinos are the main attraction, but it is very different than Las Vegas. I would say this is a few notches below the Vegas scene, but we aren't big Vegas fans, so we might not be the ones to make the assessments.

    We got up this morning and drank some crappy hotel coffee before heading out to find the real thing. Dana found a coffee shop about half a mile from the hotel, so we dressed and headed out. The weather was a bit cool, and it felt great as we walked along the riverwalk. We found Hub Coffee, and it was all we expected it to be. It was a rustic and eclectic type of place, and the drinks were stellar. We enjoyed drinking in the sunshine and watching the people drifting in for their share of the day's pleasure.

    We left and kept walking along the riverwalk. As we walked we saw some activity across the street and crossed over and inquired about what might be happening. We were told that at noon a festival would begin and last till 2:00. She also told us that we should check out the farmers market just down the road at the park. It sounded like a great idea, and we kept walking.

    We arrived at the park and were really impressed at the market. There were food/drink trucks, small tents selling anything from artisan bread, jewelry, books, produce, and so much more. There were at least three musicians playing along the way and their soft music was a great addition to the market experience. We finally settled on a breakfast crepe which we ate on the curb as we watched people walking by.

    We left the market and walked back towards the city center. After three plus miles we returned to our hotel. We were both tired and tried to nap, but didn't have a lot of luck. We got up and had an early afternoon cortado and tea.

    Aside from our walks it has been a relatively relaxing day. We hope to head out and get some food and drinks to close out the day.

    Later and happy Sunday.    Read more

  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    One time One east

    September 16, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    It was another chilly Nevada morning. We shared a cup of lousy hotel coffee, but it was coffee albeit not delicious. We packed our bags and headed out the door. We left our bags in the truck and then walked several blocks and bought several good cups of coffee at nice little coffee shop before heading out.

    The route was simple; get on I-80 and head east. We were soon out of Reno and headed through some mountain climbs and then found ourselves in relatively flat terrain for the rest of the day. We passed rugged hills, then grasslands, and more hills in the distance. Eventually we saw cattle grazing in the hills.

    We are currently west of Salt Lake City and will arrive there tomorrow and will spend several days with my niece.

    We had our first rain on this trip. It never rained long, sometimes hard, sometimes barely a sprinkle, and then sunshine. The temperature climbed to 68 degrees and then dropped to 42 and then back up. There was a fairly strong crosswind most of the day. Welcome to the Wild, Wild West.

    Interstate travel is boring as reflected in this entry.    Read more

  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    Salty City

    September 17, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We spent the night several hours west of Salt Lake City so we were in no hurry to head out in the morning. But we drank our coffee and had some breakfast at the hotel and were on our way by 9:00.

    We got back on I-80 and headed east and soon the terrain got flatter and flatter and we found ourselves driving along the Salt Flats of Utah. Neither of us had ever seen them before and it was quite interesting to see them. It had rained some in the morning so there was a fine layer of water on the flats making it appear as if it were a very large lake. After about 10-12 miles the flats began to disappear and all of a sudden the flats were grassy and green. We have both been amazed at how quickly the scenery changes in this part of the country.

    By the time we arrived at the Salt Lake State Park, the sky was overcast and the wind was blowing. We entered the park and looked at the lake. I climbed over the rocks, dipped my finger in water and then licked my finger. Yes the water is salty!

    We left and arrived in the city around noon, just in time for a good cup of coffee at Coffee Garden. The coffee shop was located in a non-descriptive store front and we thought “meh”. But we were totally surprised when we opened the door and entered. The ambience was great and nearly every seat was filled in the spacious dining area. We enjoyed our time at this unique place.

    We have heard a number times about this awesome burger joint called “In-and-Out”. We saw that there aren’t many east of the city so we drove six plus miles to snag some of this mythical food. We waited for our order number to be called and when our food arrived we sensed we were on the edge of a brand new life experience. To be fair, they were really good. The burger was hot, the bun was just a bit toasted, but at the same time the lettuce and pickles were cold and crisp. The fries were not soggy and cold as many fries in fast food burger joints. Not these! These were crisp, hot and really delicious. All in all it was a good food experience. Life is good once again.

    We drove through the city just seeing what there was to see and finally arrived at my niece’s place around 4:15. We chatted a while and then headed out to eat. It was a lovely evening catching up and we throughly enjoyed Oliver’s humor. He is twelve and we enjoyed getting to know him better.

    At this time it is time to hit the sack and get some rest.    Read more

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