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THE BIKE TRIP CONTINUED: |
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A pair of very happy travelers |
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Above: Taking a break along one of the numerous hills.
Left: In camp at the end of day three. |
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We had a wonderful time, discovered a new way to travel, and met a truly unique cluture of travelers doing some incredible things. A Swiss couple biking from Alaska to Costa Rica, a solo rider who also started in Alaska, a young Frenchman who started in Montreal and is on his way to Patagonia, along with many other great people.
In the end, we did not make it down the entire coast, stopping about 80 miles short of the California border, weather and time constraints conspiring against us. We will be back in 07 to pick up where we left off and extend the ride to San Francisco. |
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We had to walk our bikes across many long and narrow bridges due to wind gusts. Below: An even better reason to walk across. |
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AFTER THE RIDE |
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From Oregon we headed for Colorado stopping at Crater Lake to make the loop ride around the lake. A ride not to be missed but not one, we discovered, for folks who dislike climbing hills. During this period we were also checking our email at every possible chance as there were a couple of hurricanes bearing down on La Paz where ZUG is docked. We were kept well informed by our friends John and Tomas who live aboard their boats, next to ZUG. Hurricane John blew right through our marina with sustained winds of 85 knots (100mph) and torrential rains. We dodged the bullet, ZUG came through unscathed, having chosen a safe marina and even better dock mates. We also kept track of another La Paz friend, Lucy (the goose). Raul, her guardian, locked her up during the storms. She is safe and sound but very peeved with Raul. |
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We spent a week in Denver with Cheri's family, the anniversary party turning out well. From there, we headed south to see an old kayaking buddy who was working at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, about 150 miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is a wintering grounds for Sandhill Cranes and numerous othe bird species. It is also home to the annual Sandhill Crane Festival, which, unfortunatley, we were to early to attend. In fact, the stars of the show, the cranes, were yet to arrive. We leared later from our friend that they arrived just two days after we left.
On the way home from New Mexico, we stopped in to visit with our cruising friends, Dennis and Lou from S/V Milagro, who are currently landlocked in Tucson and Pat and Carrie Kinnison, of S/V Terra Firma, who came up from El Salvador, where their boat is, to spend a few weeks in Arizona visiting friends and family.
We had a wonderful six weeks, and did not want it to end, but commitments to jobs, albeit part-time, required our return. Back home in Escondido we are planning our next escape, which will probably be down to La Paz to get ZUG ready for cruising. |
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