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-Keith Pelczarski
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Wrapping up the bike tour
Got myself packed up and made a reservation at Hertz. When I arrived with my rig at the airport the Hertz agent helpfully suggested that I might be able to get by with a smaller, cheaper SUV. He even took me out to check it out. Turns out that everything fit great in the Nissan Murano:
Went over to check out Cape Arago, which was indeed a fair distance out of town. It was beautiful in a windy, foggy way:
As it turns out, the road out of Cape Arago that shows on the map is a private, gated road. I would've had to double back quite a bit.
Once back on 101, I was struck by several things: very few signs of civilization, almost no phone coverage, and jaw-dropping scenery:
I pulled into Josh & Jodi's house in Eureka just in time to catch Ben before bedtime. He was sporting a sweet cape:
We had a nice evening playing cribbage and catching up. In the morning the three boys took a bike ride around Eureka. Ben has a great seat:
Ben fell asleep by the end of the ride:
So that's it. I'm headed home to Palo Alto. A few closing thoughts on the trip:
• Huge thanks to Kerah and her mom Brenda for taking care of the kids while I was away.
• I'm also quite grateful to all the friends and family who supported me from near and far. Particularly helpful on the journey were Mark, Eric, Kurt, and Jeff. Y'all were very gracious and I really appreciate all you did for me along the way.
• Thanks also to all the kind strangers along the way. There were so many super nice people along the way. The folks at Morning Glory Farm on Rte 126 were particularly great, and I'm very thankful to Ray and Cathy for reuniting me with my iPhone.
• Bike touring is a very fun way to explore. You have time to see the world around you as you move down the road, but you can also cover some decent distance.
• The road can get very lonely. I'd recommend having a buddy if you go for a tour longer than two weeks.
• Rest is important. Allow for downtime to give your body a chance to recover.
• Before attempting a long tour, take a couple short trips. I had never taken so much as an overnight tour before embarking on this trip, and there was a lot of learning on the fly.
• 500 miles is a long way to pedal. I feel good about what I was able to accomplish on my first time out. I learned a lot about touring, and really enjoyed my time in Washington and Oregon.
• Finally, thanks to everyone who has followed this adventure online. Your comments on FriendFeed and Facebook were very much appreciated.
Alright, time to get some more rest. Tomorrow I'm back home with the family!
:: Keith 01:34 [link] :: ::
