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Southward Bound
  • Holly and Karl

Southward Bound

A 264-day adventure by Holly Read more
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  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Shively Hospitality

    October 11, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Having left Eureka late and taken the ACA detour through the quaint town of Ferndale it was getting late by the time we started onto the Avenue of the Giants. We pulled off the road to look for a campsite on the Eel River just as Marc and Jessie floated into sight on the maiden voyage of their new kayaks. We didn't even know the ~50 house "town" of Shively existed but soon we had been invited to stay with them and we got to know what Shively hospitality was all about. On our way along Shively Flat Road, we met Marilyn Webb, the matriarch and one of the oldest residents of Shively - who told us some of the town's history, including the flood of 1964 which destroyed a good part of the town. Marc and Jessie are in the process of renovating Jessie's grandpa's old house so didn't have a kitchen but offered us craft and not-so-craft beer while telling us about their own family histories in the town. Jessie's grandpa had bought the land after viewing it from the train back in the 1950s and went on to cultivate acres of veggies using non-irrigation farming techniques, in addition to many varieties of fruit including over a dozen types of apples. Our first stop after beer was to the garden where Jessie and Marc grabbed bags of veggies for us to use in our dinner. After a shower, laundry and a comfy sleep in their RV/trailer we decided we would stay another day to take in more of the Shively goodness and get to hang out with Jessie, Marc, and the kids: 11-year old Troy and 1-year old Bear (named after his late great-grandfather).Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    A Bounty Without Watering...

    October 12, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Following Jessie's late grandfather Bear's techniques, Jessie, her son Troy and her parents grow a bounty of fruits and veggies without any irrigation (or rain since California's drought continues). The secret is a garden at the same elevation as the river and farming techniques that encourage plant roots to grow down to the water table while ensuring that soil moisture is not lost to the atmosphere. The results are amazing and delicious! One of the crops included a melon, now patented as the Shively melon that Bear created and Jessie's dad continues to grow and save seeds from.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Thanksgiving

    October 12, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After a day off wandering the river, picking blackberries and harvesting more apples we set to work making stuffed peppers and apple-berry crisp for a potluck dinner with Marc, Jessie and Jessie's parents to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. We forgot to get a picture of us all at the table but we did get a picture of Troy practicing his football moves and Bear double-fisting a tomato and a lemon cucumber from the aforementioned bountiful garden.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Avenue of the Giants

    October 13, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    After saying good-bye to our awesome hosts in Shively we continued down the Avenue of the Giants, marvelling at the massive trees that shoot up to the sky from the edge of the road. At the visitors center we learned about Charles Kellog and his "Travel-Log" (a hollowed out redwood set on a truck platform to raise awareness about the redwood forests way back in 1917). There are also many "world famous" things to see along this stretch of road including the Grandfather Tree, and the One-Log House - as diligent tourists we stopped to see them all, and Karl even found a friend to look up to!Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Another Campground Reunion

    October 13, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We put in a long, hot day gradually climbing for 65 miles through Garberville to get to the Standish Hickey State Park campground, which had an awesome hiker/biker area. We rolled in around 5:30pm and were pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of our cycle touring friends also camped there. We also met Austin and Janie and admired Austin's Xtracycle bike. We went on a "beer run" after dark to the convenience store across the street and Austin demonstrated the passenger option of his bike with Daniel surfing on the back. The next morning we laughed as Neda "smoked" her bike shorts over her biolite to prepare for the day's ride, and said goodbye to Aaron who was heading inland to visit friends while the rest of us headed back to the coast on highway 1.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Rollercoaster Ride Back to the Coast

    October 14, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The elevation profile on our map built up the big climb over the hill from Legget to the coast, which actually resulted in it feeling easier than expected. We got a relatively early start so we rode up through shady trees on a quiet winding road with a manageable grade, met Daniel with his surfing trailer and enjoyed the 2000ft descent back down to the coast together. The twisty turney downhill was a definite highlight of the trip so far! We stopped to soak up the coastal beauty at the bottom and met Don who was heading north to visit his son in Arcata and who gave us a bunch of tips for our trip south. It is understandable that everyone encourages us to stay on the coast with views like the ones we had on the sunny ride on highway 1 into Fort Bragg.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Fort Bragg Fog

    October 15, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    The sunny good times ended when we rolled into Fort Bragg in the fog so we didn't see much on the coastal trail into town as we felt like we were swimming through pea soup. We enjoyed a nice dinner and evening of chatting with our Warmshowers host Tamra, who has recently taken up cycle touring, among many other post retirement activities, and is preparing for an upcoming trip - a very inspiring lady! Unfortunately, Holly had a mysterious stomach bug that kept her up all night so we decided we would take a down day in Fort Bragg, and Tamra let us stay another night to recharge. We wandered around some local shops and went to a theatre and saw The Martian (complete with free popcorn refills for Karl). Karl even managed to find a new front rack and say goodbye to his crippled old rack.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Art Central in Mendocino

    October 16, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We continued pedaling down the coast, and stopped in the small town of Mendocino, which we had heard was very touristy and artsy. As if on cue we saw painter after painter set up on the bluffs painting the coastal vista. We stopped to talk to one of the artists and found out that it was in fact a workshop, and perhaps the Mendocino arts scene isn't quite as active on a normal day. We rode along Main Street, and looked up to the balcony of the Medocino Hotel as we heard someone playing music, only to discover it was our cycle touring friend Austin rocking out on his ukulele. After perusing some of the shops and a pastry or two later we carried on south.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Winding Road to KOA Luxury

    October 16, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Tamra, our host in Fort Bragg, had warned us about a steep hill on our day's ride, and given Holly was still recovering from the mysterious flu and a general lack of sleep, she was anticipating the hill for quite some time, only to discover that it was south of the next town... or the next? We were pretty sure when we got there it was indeed the hill Tamra had spoken of, as the steep switchbacks were unmistakable and quite a grunt. Like the rest of the coastal road, however, the hill was shortlived and we pedaled the whole way up. We continued on the winding road to Manchester where we stayed in a KOA campground for a change since the state park was closed - one of the many perks at the campsite was a hot tub!Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Point Arena

    October 17, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We got a slow start cooking breakfast in a covered kitchen at the KOA as the morning drizzle died down. We rode to the beach just past our campground, which is where the fiber optics cable connects to Hawaii from the mainland - this being the location in the US closest to the tropical state. It only took an hour of riding to get out of the fog and meet a solo Polish cyclist who joined us to detour to the Point Arena lighthouse. We decided we had done enough lighthouse tours so didn't pay to go into the fenced off area around the lighthouse and settled for a walk along the cliffs to see some pelicans.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Stillwater Cove

    October 17, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Several people had raved about Stillwater Cove Regional Park to us, so we decided to make it our camping destination for the night and enjoyed a beautiful sunset in the cove with other weekend campers.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Glorious Ride to Bodega Bay

    October 18, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We've seen a lot of beautiful coastline on this trip, through Washington, Oregon and California, and sometimes we feel a bit desensitized to the beauty - "Oh look another stunning seastack". That said, the ride between Fort Ross and Bodega Bay on a beautiful sunny day presented gorgeous vista after gorgeous vista as the road climbed up to 500 ft and then hairpined back down to the ocean. We met a bunch of road bikers out for a Sunday ride in Jenner, then stopped in multiple turnouts to enjoy more ocean views before arriving at our destination of Bodega Bay.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Wonderful Hosts in Bodega Bay

    October 18, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We were lucky to be hosted in Bodega Bay by Brook and Orion, friends of Claudia and Sofie who we had stayed with in Squamish. After lunching at the Fishetarian (yummy chowder in a breadbowl!), we headed up to their place. We immediately started talking excitedly with them about adventuring and life on the road, including their past trip through-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and spending over five years travelling around the western states in their van exploring, hiking and living a minimalist life - which they still do even back at home. Brook is a very keen birder, and she told us about all the different rare birds that pass through Bodega Bay. Before we knew it, it was super late, so we decided to stay another day to chat more with them, and catch the Canadian election results the next evening in a place with internet. The next morning we poured over maps with Orion, planning a route from the coast to Yosemite, where we hope to go after San Francisco. We got a tour of Sonoma county that afternoon (documented in the post 'Sonoma County Tour') and were thrilled with the resulting fruit and veggie 'harvest'. We made sure to get a photo of the four of us off their deck with the beauitful view of Bodega Bay behind us before hitting the road again.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Sonoma County Tour

    October 19, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Orion and Brook took us on a Prius-assisted tour of Sonoma County, and it was great to see the different communities and landscape in the hilly country without sweat and granny gears. We stopped at a bakery in Freestone to sample delicous bread including an Egyptian Fig and Pear loaf, yum! We visited Brook's mother's place and oogled over the grapefruit, persimmon and kumquat trees growing in the yard. In Sebastopol we stopped to view the great sculptures, created from garbage, that line one of the streets. We also saw lots of vineyards and small funky towns. After groceries and a movie we returned home to follow the election coverage and breathe a sigh of relief in the results, hoping that real change is truly on the way for Canada.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Time to Try Shucking Oysters

    October 20, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We've seen and heard of many oyster farms along the West Coast, but had yet to try some fresh oysters. When we rolled by Hog Island Oyster Co. and they had a picnic area, we decided stop and try our hand at shucking some oysters. Despite our rookie skills we managed to open and chow down on 2 varieties of oysters, and enjoy them as well!Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Bodega to Bolinas

    October 20, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We rode through dry dairy farmland away from the ocean out of Bodega Bay. In Tomales we chatted with some cyclists from Petaluma as we enjoyed our usual treat of ice cream. The road took us back to the coast toward Point Reyes Station, and after a fun ride through a eucalyptus forest we turned toward Bolinas, as we had heard it was an interesting town off the beaten path - they don't even have a sign on the road to the town since locals kept taking it down. On the main street we chatted with colourful locals, and a past trans-USA bike tourer named Ethan even bought us a beer for having come so far on our bikes. We camped close to town, so we were able to catch both a beautiful sunset and the calm morning sea in this town fiercely protected by liberal environmentally-concious citizens.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Panoramic Highway over Mt Tamalpais

    October 21, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    After leaving Bolinas we debated whether we would prefer many small ups and downs with a smaller pass over to San Francisco, or one larger hill - we settled on the latter, and were not disappointed with the views on the aptly named Panoramic Highway. Ethan in Bolinas had mentioned some alternate routes from the Pan Toll 'summit' on the road, so we climbed some more up an old coach road to the historic West Point Inn and were blown away by the incredible vistas of San Francisco and the Bay Area. The way down was a bit rough, but well worth the effort and the flat Karl got from the non-stop braking as we descended 1500 ft down rocky double track and through steep narrow streets to Mill Valley.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge

    October 21, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    It felt like a major milestone to pedal over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco - we've pedaled 5300 kms to get here! Unfortunately, after beautiful sunny vistas on Mt. Tamalpais and in Salsalito, it was foggy as we crossed the bridge... And then really steep as we pedalled up and over Steiner Street. Time to get used to the hills in SF, and play tourist while we are here.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Touring San Fran - Part I

    October 22, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    After the mandatory trip to REI, we spent our first day in San Francisco trying to see the many sights in the North Beach area without spending money at all the tourist traps. We decided to skip the tour to Alcatraz and settle for pictures from the pier, while also hitting up Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Karl had found an all you can eat sushi bar in a restaurant index but it turns out they were closed to go fishing for the month - they must have heard we were coming... So we walked Grant Street through Chinatown, which was a cool experience at dusk, and settled for rotating sushi in Japantown with our excellent host Chad.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Touring San Fran - Part II

    October 23, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We continued our bike-assisted tour of San Francisco by heading to Mission and enjoying the view from Dolores Park. We then headed to the Castro, and got on the Wiggle bike route - the wiggle is a term used by bikers in SF to denote the route with the least amount of elevation gain required to cross the city, and we were excited when we stumbled upon the actual Wiggle bike route. This took us past some character homes and eventually through Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach. 40-some kms later, on our 'rest day', we headed back to Chad's and out with him for some hilarious live comedy at the Shelton Theatre. All in all it was a great day in SF!Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Bye Bye SF

    October 24, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We really enjoyed our few days in San Francisco. It was fun to catch up with Chad and get a little taste of the entrepreneur gene that runs strong in him. With his bike touring background it was also fun to compare gear, talk about routes and be stoked about bike touring. And we appreciated his suggestions of great food and sight seeing in the city. We left his house in the morning and made a quick detour to the Ferry Terminal building since we had missed it on our previous rounds. We weren't disappointed - we biked along California Ave and got a great sense of downtown SF, hills and all, and then got to eat delicious marketfare at the Farmers Market. After riding down Market Street and through Golden Gate Park, we were again at Ocean Beach, and this time, headed southward once more.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    The Road to Halfmoon Bay

    October 24, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We rode down the coast through Pacifica and on to Halfmoon Bay. There was no shortage of waves and surfers riding said waves. After Pacifica we got to avoid a tunnel by biking on the old highway - old as in 2013 - enjoying views and whale watching along the way. Out of Halfmoon Bay we jumped on highway 92 to climb up and over the coastal mountains back to Emerald City on the bay side, since Karl's friend Ellen and her family had invited us to come visit them. As we had been warned, 92 was gridlock hell, which resulted in a fun ride for us, passing hundreds of cars as we climbed away from the coast. A sweaty 500 m later we reach the top and dropped down to Redwood City, having successfully made it 'the long way' in time (ish) for a delicous dinner cooked by Ellen.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Emerald Hills and ghouls in Palo Alto

    October 25, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We had a lovely stay with Ellen, Taras, Zori and Dan in Emerald Hills. After a delicous dinner the first night, we toured the block, enjoying the views of the bay below us. The next day, with Zori dressed up as a monarch, we headed down to Palo Alto for a kids Hallowe'en event and the farmers market. These guys really are a dedicated bike family, and we enjoyed seeing their Yuba Mundo in action - they have added an electric assist so they can pedal this tank of a bicycle with Zori on the back all over the hills. And when not pedalling, they drive emission-free in their Nissan Leaf - very inspiring!Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    A Familiar Face in Stanford!

    October 25, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We had tried to connect with Alex Mischler, who flew into SF on Saturday and was planing to head north to meet up with our fellow Yukon bike tourers Nelly, Jerome and Josephine, but failed the day we left SF due to a lack of time. What a great surprise to get a text from him on Sunday asking if we were near Palo Alto, when indeed we were only a few kms away. We met up at his friend Kim's place and she gave us a tour of Stanford, where she is doing her PhD. We felt smarter just cycling through the stunning campus :PRead more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Skyline Boulevard

    October 26, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We left Emerald Hills in the fog, but very quickly the fog cleared into another beautiful sunny day. One of the many cycling groups we passed as we rode out of Redwood City recommended riding up the Old La Honda Road to climb back up to the Skyline Boulevard, which we had passed a few days earlier on our way inland from the coast. It was going to be a big climb no matter which road we took but the Old La Honda Road was very nice in that it was well shaded from the sun, and had very few cars on it. It even had an apltly named street as we neared the junction with highway 35. A few more gradual hills got us some great views back over Silicon Valley and over a cloud covered ocean to the west. We got some water at a fire station and rolled over the 800m summit before descending on highway 9 which was a great road to ride, except for a few impatient drivers.Read more

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