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Bike Trip now Western Tour

Ogos - Oktober 2024
  • Myron Bontrager
  • Dana Bontrager
Pengembaraan 41hari oleh Myron & Dana Baca lagi
  • Myron Bontrager
  • Dana Bontrager

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  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    On the Road Again

    7 September 2024, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ 🌙 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.    Baca lagi

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  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    Ventura Highway

    8 September 2024, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ 🌙 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.    Baca lagi

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  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    The Golden Gate to the north.

    9 September 2024, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Baca lagi

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  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    Day #2 in Napa

    11 September 2024, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Baca lagi

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  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    Day #3 in Napa

    11 September 2024, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ 🌬 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    Baca lagi

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  • Bike Trip now Western Tour
    1

    Beside the Golden Ditch

    12 September 2024, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Baca lagi

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  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    Lazy Day at the Ditch

    12 September 2024, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☀️ 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!    Baca lagi

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  • Bike Trip now Western Tour

    I've been everywhere...been to Reno

    14 September 2024, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☁️ 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.    Baca lagi

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