Biking coast to coast across the States part 3:  Familiar territory

            With only one day left in Colorado, I decided that I needed to get to a library to send more messages, to who were now my long lost riding partners, and see if just maybe they had gotten around to responding back.  Upon opening my inbox I was shocked to see that they had!  They had gotten a ride and where now in Denver, only about 300 miles north of me!  I exclaimed something in a loud voice and had to apologize to the lady next to me.  I proceeded to explain the situation to her and then she offered me a place to stay the night so I might have a chance to reconnect with the ‘boys!’  Judy even went so far as to show me some of the historical sites in town.  First we went to the Koshare Indian Museum www.koshare.org where I was allowed to take a free tour of the largest self-supporting log roof Kiva in the country.  I wished that the other two could have gotten to see this, as this was truly a unique American experience!  We also went to Bent’s Old Fort, one of many forts built along what was at the time of construction, the Mexico/United States border.  At her house I got to meet her husband Joe and then was treated to a Mexican meal at a local restaurant.  Later that night they would put me up at a friend’s hotel where I could use internet to try to reach Simon and Shawn!  Once again God showered me with blessings through what had been complete strangers!

            Coming out of the spectacularly colorful American West, I was getting ready for the worst going into the Plains states.  It’s not that I think of this part of the country as ‘ugly’, but rather too familiar and perhaps a little boring.  In preparation for what I perceived as being a very long flat ride ahead of me, I stopped into a Wal-Mart and bought a small radio to listen to while riding.  Soon I was to find that there weren’t stations to listen to, or at least none that I could bear, but for at least two days I did get the news as the events between Israel and Lebanon were being broadcast on every station.  Crossing from Colorado into Kansas, the first thing I noticed was that it wasn’t flat.  I think the term rolling would be more appropriate and it was mostly uphill rolling!  This was actually rather nice riding and the fields of wheat where fully ripe and made a beautiful backdrop for the brilliant sunrises and sunsets!  Quite by accident I found myself following along the old Santa Fe Trail and was fully entertained by all the historical markers and monuments along the way.  This was a good thing seeing that I had to have ‘cool down’ breaks every couple hours with an unprecedented heat wave sweeping the States.  Riding by the bank signs I would feel woozy as I’d see 110 degrees flashing the current temperature!

            For five days I baked in the sun riding through the nearly treeless state of Kansas. I did enjoy mostly nice camping, but the first night in Kansas would be one of my more interesting camping experiences.  I was told that there was a county fairground that I could camp in but it might be a little busy as a national rodeo competition was going on.  This was the biggest event of the year and so YES it was busy!  I watched guys and girls alike being thrown from raging bulls for awhile then found what I believed to be a secluded area to drift away to the blaring loud speakers.  I had a thought go by about this also being a public golf course and tomorrow being Sunday, but I was asleep before any real thoughts could gel.  At 6:50 am I woke with a bad feeling.  I peeked my head out of the tent and surveyed my now fully lit surroundings.  I was in the middle of a driving range, right about where the average golfer could hit a ball to.  And being Sunday morning, there was a crowd of people waiting to get started!  There was nothing I could do but jump out in my briefs, throw on shorts and shirt with wide eyes watching, and proceed to break down camp as quick as possible.  As I pushed my bike with camp gear hanging everywhere, balls began flying in my general direction to show disapproval for my choice of camp location.  This wouldn’t be a mistake to make again!

            The rolling plains turned into hills and soon I was riding into Missouri.  I was starting to feel the effects of not having any kind of front suspension and decided that some modification was in order.  I stopped at a Lowe’s Home Supply and came out with a long tube of pipe insulation.  Soon I had what felt like a new pair of handle bars, cushed-out in foam.  Happy with my 110 miles for the day and my new found comfort, I found a quiet place behind Wal-Mart and sweated myself to sleep.  I couldn’t believe it when I woke the next morning and found that I was cold.  What had happened?  After more then a week of sweltering heat, cooler temperatures had come and with them thunderstorms.  It might be wet, but at least I wouldn’t have to worry about the heat riding through the Ozark Mountains!  Thinking that I might enjoy some of the back roads into St. Louis, I got on the old Lewis and Clark Trail.  What a challenge, all hills and all steep!  After a long day of this I was ready for the main road again and happily followed the flow of cars on Hwy. 100 into St. Louis.  Finding a place to camp in a city is always a little hard and so also was the case in St. Louis.  After asking around I did find a public park that had enough of a forest in it to afford me a dark, if not exactly quiet, place to sleep.  The next day I made my way through the labyrinth of road construction by keeping my eyes on the Gateway Arch and continuing towards it not paying much attention to what road I was on.  Soon I was under the monument that this city is famous for and looking across the Mississippi River at the next state – Illinois.

            It was right about now that I began to get a long series of stories that made me a little less then comfortable biking through the following states.  It started with the report that a sniper had opened fire on a number of people in Kansas City where I had been days earlier, and was on the run and thought to be in the general vicinity that I was now heading!  The following day I found myself in a beautiful state park with only one other person in the whole park.  The man invited me to stay in his site and we talked a lot that night.  Right before going to bed, the man went on to tell me the “real” reason that he was camped out here.  Ok?  His friend was on trial for the brutal murder of her son, and he wasn’t allowed to take part in the trial so he was waiting around in event he could be of some assistance.  At 3 in the morning this wasn’t making much sense to me, and my wild imagination was filling in the blanks.  I went to bed thinking that the real killer may very well be in the tent next to me and that this place was, all-of-the-sudden, a little to secluded!  Well morning came and more information was given that helped make sense of the strange story.  He was actually doing his part, along with other friends of the mother, to clear her name.  Feel free to check out more of the story at his website: www.justiceforjulieandjoel.org.  The stories continued, as a few days later I came into the small town of Brownstown Indiana.  Around the courthouse there were news vans from at least ten different news stations including Fox, ABC and CBS.  What was going on?  I stopped the first person I saw, an older man in overalls, and asked for the scoop.  For the next 30 minutes he went on to tell me of all the “evil and veil” things going on around this town.  The 17 year old boy, who was just brought in for also going on a shooting spree, was one of many such occurrences in recent years, according to the man.  Really?  Well I knew where I wasn’t going to be sleeping that night!

            Luckily, I seemed to only hear stories of bad people and the ones that I actually interacted with where anything but.  In Bedford Indiana, after visiting a wild cave that I knew of from years before, I was running a bit behind schedule and doing some night riding to make up time.  About 10 pm I had enough for the day, but hadn’t seen anywhere that I could make camp.  Seeing a light on in the next farmhouse, I went to the door to ask if I might sleep out in the yard.  A very friendly man came to the door and said it would be no trouble and if I wanted I could even sleep inside.  And that was before I had even introduced myself!  Well I happily slept outside in the kids’ playhouse and didn’t worry a bit that I was so close to the road.  The next morning Chuck and his wife Judy made me an all American breakfast and let me use their phone to touch base with Shawn and Simon who where now at my parents home in Wisconsin!  After making plans to meet ‘the boys’ in New York, I was sent on my way, but not before I was asked if there was anything else that could be done for me!  This was hospitality to the n’th degree!  Later this same day I was to have bike troubles and I had to find a shop to get a new inner tube.  Upon asking the price of the tube, the young owner told me to just send him a picture that would make him laugh!  And then later that night, after being caught riding late at night again but this time in the rain, I was offered a special campsite that would cost only $2 instead of the normal $30.  A ranger had even gone out of his way to pick me up in his truck and bring me back to Versailles State Park, after I had decided it was to rich for my blood.  On the way to the special use site, the ranger stopped to pick up leftovers from the company dinner that had just finished!  The weather may not have been so good, but the people who God placed in my path, more then made up for that!

            After changing my original route which would avoid all big cities, I had been going through about one per state.  The next one would be Cincinnati Ohio and it really had a big city feel to it!  Crossing over the Ohio River I was immediately met with the reality of big city traffic and was forced to take a detour through the downtown area.  Sorry if this offends anyone, but what a dive!  I’m sure there are pleasant places in Cincinnati, but I didn’t seem to find them as I spent half a day making my way through the back roads and suburbs of this seemingly very industrial city!  Once again finding myself on an off-limits road, I was helped off the freeway by a like minded biker with a bike rack on his vehicle.  I can’t seem to find trouble even if I try!  Upon riding out of the city the scenery improved greatly and I was met by hills, foretelling what was soon to come.  The next day the hills would continue along with a driving rain until nearly the West Virginia border.  After more tire repairs, I was caught on what couldn’t be a busier, darker, shoulder less road, hoping my back flasher was giving amble warning to the gravity defying drivers!  Stopping in at the first gas station to ask about parks, campgrounds or otherwise useable public lands in the area, I was invited by two customers to stay at their home in the next town.  I accepted and rode the last 5 miles with a new vigor!    Carrie Kness and her family lived in the small town of Londonderry and had an attached guest house.  I was completely spoiled, getting to sleep on a real bed with A/C in the room!  They also treated me to breakfast in the morning, insisting it was their pleasure to bestow hospitality on me!  I don’t know if it is true of everyone in the U.S., but the amount of kindness showed to me on this trip was almost overwhelming!

            Crossing back over the Ohio River on the other end of the state of Ohio, I entered into West Virginia knowing that things were about to get difficult!  I had driven through the state before and so I knew that West Virginia was ALL mountains.  And so it was of no surprise to me that the first night coming into W.V. was spent in a constant roller coaster ride up and down the amazing Blue Ridge Mountains.  I couldn’t see exactly what was around me, but a few times I stopped to drop rocks down what seemed like 1000 feet ravines on the sides of the road.  Thankfully I was riding on the best roads on the entire trip, and the chances of being hit or veering off into the unknown darkness, was fairly low with 6 feet shoulders!  At 11 pm I would finally make it to a park and enjoy a deep sleep with all sorts of animal sounds around me.  I woke to the sound of rain and quickly packed up and continued riding on, what was still a super expressway, until hunger set in and sent me looking for breakfast.  Trying to get a 1000 or more calories in a single meal can be a little hard, but I seemed to have no problems this morning!  As this would be probably the hardest riding on the whole trip, there was no doubt I could use as much energy as I could get!  Throughout the day I’d get the same report when I asked about the road ahead, “You got a big mountain ahead of you”.  I think I’d be better off not asking!  After what had been truly a hard day, I WASN’T pleased to find myself at 10 pm riding up what was turning out to be an endless mountain with no end in sight.  And to make matters worst, a storm rolled in and soaked me in ice cold rain.  Oh, and the beautiful road I had entering the state, had deteriorated to a double lane road with barely enough room for passing cars and absolutely no shoulder.  An hour later, after I cleared the top of the mountain and began the downward ride, I started thinking that up wasn’t so bad and hoped very much that I didn’t meet anyone on the road as I needed ALL of it to keep control!

            Near the bottom I rolled into a market of sorts and contemplated sleeping next to it.  I asked a group that was gathered there about places to sleep and what the road looked like ahead.  They said there really wasn’t any place to sleep and that the mountain ahead was higher and longer then the one I had just crossed!  Showing great distaste in their words, I mentioned that the large mud puddle between us looked like a good place to sleep.  At this time the ‘big brother’ of the group said that he did have a cousin right down the road, and I could probably sleep along the river on his property.  This was good news!  The catch was that there was a wild party going on and that it might be a little rowdy.  This concerned me very little and he led the way to the river.  Getting there, I saw a giant tent already up and a large pit that had been dug for cooking a pig.  Everyone seemed to be on the other side of a small stream flowing into the river, and I was happy to get dinner going despite the fact it was still raining.  The man said if anyone gave me trouble to tell them that Jimmy had gave me permission, and then gave me a watermelon before taking off.  A minute later, a voice across the stream yelled for me to join her, but this was the last thing that I wanted to do.  I yelled back that I needed to eat and set up camp because of the rain, so I didn’t have time right then to join the festivities.  I was told to forget about setting up camp and make myself comfortable in the big empty tent, but this wasn’t going to happen!  Just then a big truck pulled up and drove right down to me, purposely keeping the high beams pointed in my face.  The door opened and the curses began to roll.  I walked up and trying to sound as calm as possible, asked if he was Jim’s cousin.  “What?  Get out of here!  Do you think this is a campground?  It isn’t!”  I tried again, having no plans to ride up a mountain in the rain at 12 midnight.  This time he corrected me, “Do you mean Jimmy?”  ‘Yes!  Jimmy told me about this place.  Are you his cousin?’  “No, sorry but you’re going to have to go!”  Right then, the lady inside the truck asked me how I knew Jimmy and I told her I had just met him minutes before.  Then she introduced herself as the cousin (Donna) and said that sounded like Jimmy.  The man, Doc, changed heart and said not only could I stay on his property, but that he had a shelter I could sleep under to stay out of the rain and keep me away from the crazy people!  At 1 am, after 107 miles of West Virginia mountains, I was ready for sleep!  At 2 am I was woken by the voice I had heard earlier.  The lady was very distressed that her boyfriend was missing and probably had jumped in the river and died.  I tried to comfort her, but later on it would turn out to be apparently true, and I’d wake in the morning to the sound of the recovery efforts.  It was time to move on!

            More beautiful scenery and mountains came as W. Virginia briefly turned into the state of Maryland and then back to W. Virginia.  It was right here, after this quick jaunt into Maryland, that a large black bear crossed the road as I was taking a picture of the state sign.  As the bear jumped into the bushes lining the road, I wished that the camera was facing the other direction!  For the rest of the day I couldn’t keep my eyes in front of me as I made my way along the wild roads, looking instead at the dense bushes only a foot or so from me.  No more sighting though and another night would be spent camped along a beautiful river in the, now hills, of West Virginia.  The next day was the 1^st of August and I was more then a little excited as I crossed into the last state, Virginia.  I decided that I was going to push hard, and today would be the day I was going to make it to Washington D.C!  I called my friend Sunny, who I intended to meet in D.C., and told her that I would be there today.  Now I had the extra incentive I needed and I rode hard with fairly easy riding conditions.  As I rode along the traffic began to get noticeably heavier and I finally saw the first sign with Washington D.C. on it, I had a hard time pacing myself!  As the traffic and roads got crazier, I decided to stick to Hwy. 50 for as long as I could.  It had been good to me and I knew that it would get me into D.C.  By late afternoon I crossed over the Potomac River and without warning Hwy. 50 turned into Constitution Avenue and I was looking up at the Washington Monument.  After 38 days of pedaling 3200 miles (5200 km), I had made it to Washington D.C. and my goal!

Biking coast to coast across the States part 2:  Going solo

            Only a week into our trip together and I now found myself biking on my own doing what wasn’t ever planned to be a solo trip.  I was completely certain that we would reconnect soon though and decided I’d make the most of every day.  So day two on my own would be the 4^th of July and I watched fireworks from the nearby town as I sat in my campsite in Zion N.P.  As if the natural surroundings were not enough, the glow of the fireworks and the resulting echoing through the massive canyons around me, truly gave me an other-worldly feeling!  Arriving at dusk, I wouldn’t even know how beautiful Zion was until the next day.  Leaving my bike at the ranger station (along with a note to Shawn and Simon), I hoped on the free shuttle bus that would take me on the loop through the park.  The shuttle buses that run through the national parks were such a welcomed surprise.  Not having the time to ride through these massive parks on bike, I was thankful to be able to take in so much of the incredible scenery found at both Zion and Bryce Canyon a few days later using the shuttle buses!  After seeing the canyons and cliffs of Zion, it was time for the long climb out of the park through some of the most vividly colored rocks one can imagine as the road made its way through the eight different layers of strata that form Zion.  One of the key features of the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway is “the tunnel,” a very long, narrow and unlit tunnel cut through the mountain to continue to the other national parks to the East.  Because of previous accidents, no bikes are allowed to go through, and I had to wait for a truck that would be willing to give me a lift through.  This was about a 45 minute wait, in which time I got to know the park ranger on duty quite well! 

            That night I found a roadside RV park to camp in and was even able to get a shower in.  Although I didn’t have any riding partners to offend, I was starting to worry that I wouldn’t be allowed in grocery stores due to public health issues!  This would also be the night that I would find out how much work still needed to be done on my proto-type bivy tent.  The rain started right as the sun fell, and for the next 8 hours it would freely flow, right into my now bathtub of a tent!  What a wet miserable night!  After several hours trying to wring the water from my down sleeping bag, the camp host kindly offered to take my clothes and dry them.  I might have to spend the next couple nights damp, but at least I’d be hauling a lot less weight!  Bryce Canyon would be the next N.P. and its delicate and wildly carved “hoodoos” (pillars of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion), were quite a contrast to the sheer massiveness of the formations of Zion.  After leaving more notes for Simon and Shawn and taking the maximum number of pictures possible in two hours, I continued down (yes down!) the beautiful canyon roads leading out of Bryce Canyon, past the Pink Cliffs and through the Tropic Canyon continuing through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  After a whole day of incredible riding, I stopped to stock up on food and then found an isolated spot overlooking an unnamed canyon to set up camp and make a fire for dinner.  Yes, this was the kind of day I was hoping for!

            It’s amazing how worst case scenarios can follow best case scenarios!  The beautiful scenery would continue the following day and besides the insane number of hills to climb, the riding was great!  Well things would start to change with the decision to take the Burr Trail.  The Burr Trail was started by a rancher named John Burr as a way to bring cattle to greener grounds in the winter.  How it became a road, I can only but imagine, but I knew that I might be in trouble when I saw the first sign warning “Notice: Burr Trail not recommended for trailers.  Extreme grades, sharp curves.”  No problem, I was on a bike.  The second sign, “Dirt road 75 miles.  Travel at your own risk,” had me a little more worried.  A heavily loaded bike wasn’t the best thing to be taking off-roading!  The allure of taking this, very much a back road, besides the beautiful scenery promised by the local land owner who told me of it, was the prospect of cutting a day off my travel distance while still making it to Capitol Reef National Park.  I decided that it couldn’t be that bad and started the ride into what was truly an enchanting place.

            The rock formations looked almost as if they had faces and as I wound around the corners, the faces would shift!  I was truly enjoying the feel of the place, despite the roughness of the road.  Leave it to the weather to change this.  A couple hours into the canyon dark rain clouds turned to driving rain. Soon what had been a dry desert environment was now a raging river filled with snapping and popping trees and rocks.  As fast as it came, the river also left but where the river cut across the road there was now deep ravines and piles of debris to cross over.  Other then a couple flat tires, this was a situation I could deal with and continued forward until I finally made it to Capitol Reef N.P.  The gravel road now turned to sand and I soon found myself riding and wading through mud holes and small dirty streams still flowing from the rain.  As the mud got deeper, it started to stick to all parts of my bike and soon I found myself completely immobile, with the sandy clay infused mud locking up all moving parts!  This was the southern wilderness area of the park and so I wasn’t likely to see anyone on a day like this in a place like this, so I dragged my bike along sideways, making slow progress towards what I hoped to be a real road.

            A couple very long hours later I was getting very irritated and tired!  I was starting to think that the bike may be too messed up even if I could get it back to a real road and that a ride on a Greyhound bus might be something I’d have to start contemplating.  Coming over a dip to yet another stream to cross, after many hours of complete solitude, I couldn’t believe my eyes; people!  But as I got closer I wasn’t overly comforted.  The two trucks that I saw were both stuck at the bottom of a slick little hill and needed help to get out.  Well that’s what I was told initially.  Being very concerned for my own well being, when I was asked if I could help push, I had to laugh.  I think I said something about not thinking that the two 4X4s where really stuck and they should just drive them out and that there was no way that pushing was going to help.  I did say that I’d help after I had drug my bike to the top of the hill, being told that the normal road started there.  By the time I had gotten my heap of mud and aluminum to the top of the hill, one truck was out and the other was on the way.  The first truck took off and I was left to wonder if I should say something quickly to the remaining couple about how bad off I thought I was.  Before I could formulate a plea, they offered to give me a ride back to civilization.

            In truth I didn’t know how bad off I really was until after a very long ride through completely arid dry desert, back at Terry and Al’s camp, I gave cleaning my bike a go.  Without water I couldn’t get anything but the most exterior of what had now become a hardened shell of grit.  Now, being on the shore of Lake Powell, there was a high pressure water gun used to clean boats that I could use to eat away at my mess.  After 30 minutes I could see light at the end of the tunnel and I had a bike that might actually be fit to ride!  There was nothing I could do but thank God for making this, all but hopeless situation, work out!  Later Terry and Al didn’t just offer me a place to stay at their camp but also a great dinner and breakfast!  I had such a sense of relief that the next day I had no problem spending half a day working on getting my gear back together and just enjoying the day on the shore of this most unusual national recreational area.  Later, after crossing Lake Powell by ferry and finding myself riding through the barren land of the Red Rock Plateau, I couldn’t help but shake my head thinking about making this monster of a lake in the middle of the desert, but how beautiful it looked from a distance – a sapphire set amongst a crown of rubies!

            I spent almost the whole afternoon riding through the desolation of the Red Rock Plateau and then a rainbow in the distance and the green brush lands of the Natural Bridges National Monument.  Instant contrast!  With nightfall quickly approaching I decided this would make a good camp spot, even though I had hoped for a few more miles for the day.  I was very glad for this change of plans upon arriving at the campgrounds to find that there were other bikers there.  As hard to believe as it may sound, these were the first bikers that I had met!  Jim and his daughter Esther were also Christians and so it was nice to be encouraged by their trip.  They were biking across the States to raise money for the children of Uganda (www.pedalingforthepearl.org) and just “breaking into the touring thing”.  Also with them was a Japanese lady, Misato, who as Jim put it, was commuting from her college on the West coast to a new one on the East coast!  She was following the same route and so they would occasionally bump into each other along the ride.  Although short, it was nice to converse with these three like minded folks before continuing on what was looking to remain a solo trip.

            The next morning would start early as I was woken at 4am with a light rain and decided it would be nice to ride into the park to see some of the rock formations that give the park its name.  Later the beautiful Utah scenery would continue as I made my way up a number of steep grades on the way to the Colorado boarder.  Still hoping that I will find the other two riders, I stop in the town of Monticello to call home to give an update of my location to relay to Simon and Shawn if they would call.  Now nearly a week has gone by without sight of them, and as I take a picture at the Colorado welcome sign - alone, it’s pretty clear to me that I’d better get used to this feeling.  Amazingly the ride was completely flat and boring, not what I was expecting for this part of Colorado!  Of course if I had taken a better look at a topo-map I would have known that Colorado is a rectangle shaped state that is mostly flat except for the Rocky Mountains that cut right through the middle.  This division, the Continental Divide, besides being the highest mountains that I’d have to cross on my trip, is the physical division between West and East in the United States.  And so it was with great anticipation that I rode into Colorado.  The second day in Colorado I’d made it to Mesa Verde National Park.  This park is the home of more then 4000 archeological sites, about 600 of which are the cliff dwellings that have made the park world famous.  And so it was with great regret that I found out that it would take a whole day to get to and see the area where the cliff dwellings were and so I would have to take a miss at seeing them.  No shuttle bus to help me out here!

            Continuing on a steady climb up to about 9000 feet, I find myself in Durango, the first bigger town I’ve gotten to since leaving San Francisco.   Unfortunately with evening creeping in and no campgrounds available, I would have to resort to sleeping under an overhang to a RV park bathroom.  Lovely!  It didn’t even keep off the spray from the rain storm that had set in and it would be a very short night of sleep.  I needed to find a bike shop to change my now ailing tires.  So after having breakfast with a local biker next to what was probably the best shop to be found for a very long time, I waited patiently for it to open.  An hour later I was rolling on a new set of wheels and looking forward to testing them out on the steep roads ahead leading me into the Rockies.  I would spend the night outside the beautiful tourist town of Pogosa Springs at the Pogosa Riverside Campground, after being offered a free place at a lakeside campsite!  With the silhouette of the Rockies ahead of me and the glow of the sunset reflected in the clear lake next to me, I slipped into sleep thinking of the mountain pass I’d cross the following day.  It was good that I had a good nights sleep because it would be all uphill from there until I had crossed the Wolf Creek Pass at 10,850 feet.  Four hours of hard uphill and then 30 minutes of very fast downhill and I was on my way out of the Rockies!

            100 miles later I had made it to the San Louis Lake State Park in what looked like the only place around that had any water.  In the distance where the massive dunes of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and all around me were the sounds from the nightlife that had congregated at this rare watering hole.  It was a good night to sleep out under the stars and take in the show!  Wake early to the sun rising over the dunes and decide that would make a good place for breakfast so do a quick pack-up and ride the 20+ miles with 1000 vertical feet gain to the park headquarters.  Waiting here for things to open so I can fill up on water, I get to talk with a family who’s interested in travel and in the happenings of China.  So many people seem to have a real interest in China now and I’m more then happy to give my two cents on the matter!  Being situated in the middle of the U.S., one would not think that there would be this huge dune field with the green mountains all around.  Not only are there sand dunes, but the biggest ones to be found in North America.  It seems that just the right conditions of wind, water and mountains have all helped to make this natural wonder.  I spent a couple hours taking them in, then having the 40 day schedule and the prospect of seeing family again pushing me onward, ride on to the last mountain pass before the flatlands.  Another 100 miles and I’m sleeping under the stars in a ranchers’ field wishing that mosquitoes weren’t so good at finding me!  Midwest, here I come!

Biking coast to coast across the States part 1:  A rough start

            After two months training, more then a month preparing gear, and a long flight from Beijing to San Francisco, Shawn, Simon and I were finally beginning our “Across the States in 40 days challenge!”  From just an idea between friends to the reality of the three of us now in the U.S. together, it was quite a collaboration of efforts to make it to this point.  The whole planning and group effort thing is something a bit new for me, but a good learning lesson for sure.  I still think that I prefer the spur of the moment approach, but I doubt that would go over well for two Chinese men going on a summer long trip for the first time in the U.S!

            After a lay-over in Tokyo and the whole customs entry procedure, just a “welcome back” for me but harder for Shawn and Simon, we assembled our bikes outside the San Francisco International Airport and were ready to go.  But where to?  We needed to spend a couple days to get a few last supplies, find a cell service that would allow us to stay in contact with each other and friends in China, and of course see the city.  Because I wanted to do a coast to coast trip, we biked over the Black Mountain to a beach campsite on the Pacific Ocean.  As this is quite a pass to cross and we ended up doing most of it in the dark with California traffic whizzing by, this beginning was received with some hostility from my two friends.   It was a beautiful spot but the fact that we had to go back over the mountain the next day because of a closed road; this was truly a tough start to our trip.  It would get worst the next day as I was first rudely taken off Hwy 101 by the California highway patrol (got frisked and all), then a 6 hour wait for the other two at REI because of misdirection.  When we were all back together, things started going our way as we were invited to stay the night at a local biker (Louie) who we had meet at REI.  With a lot of kindness and hospitality, this would be the first of many such experiences that would define our trip.  The next day Louie went so far as to drive us around so we could do our last chores and got us on our way using the BART public transportation back to San Fran central.  We could finally start our trip!  We would spend the afternoon riding around the Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz Island, and of course riding out to the Golden Gate Bridge.  The heavy fog kept us from having a view of the entire bridge but was still an incredible place for us to start our trip!  Late that night, we pitched camp under the stars and enjoyed a deep sleep after what had been a long first day of our ride. 

            Our next ‘destination’ was to be Yosemite National Park and I was excited to be getting some time in the mountains so soon in our trip.  What I wasn’t so excited about was the price for this time; high elevations and steep grades with a heavily loaded bike.  We would get conditioned in a hurry and have some of the most beautiful scenery to be found in America, what a deal!  On the way we would have some problems as we lost touch with Shawn due to bike problems, but once again we were helped by a fellow biker (Andy) who treated us to the “full Monte” as he put it, not only helping to fix the bike, find us a beautiful camp spot, but also buy us dinner!  We would lose Shawn again on the steep grade known as “Priest Grade” and would end up spending the day riding down into the Yosemite Valley without him.   After leaving a note for Shawn to be able to find us, we dropped off our gear in the large bear boxes at camp and enjoyed the long downhill ride into the valley.  Being a Tuesday there were relatively very few people and all the waterfalls were flowing full bore after a brief but hard rain.  What an incredible place to be on an unloaded bike!  Of course there was the long ride back out that night, but even in the fading light, Yosemite is a beautiful place.  Back at camp we were met by Shawn, who after spending the night before on his own, was as equally happy to see us.  The next day would find the three of us riding through the Cathedral Mountain Range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and through the Tioga Pass at 9945 feet.   It was here that we got our first inclement weather as blue skies turned to a hail storm.  The stinging hail let us know that we where in the mountains where the weather could change at a drop of a hat.  How amazing to be surrounded by snow capped peaks and ride by the piles of snow cleared only a week or so prior, when it had been so hot the day before!  Equally amazing would be the change in climate as we came off the mountain to the high plateau deserts of eastern California and Nevada.  For the next two weeks we would be at about 7000 ft. as we made our way across the first four states.

            Meeting up with ‘fire maker Mike’, a biker from Nevada who was in the area doing some R and R, we camped among the Giant Sequoias and he treated us to our first real campfire.  This would be the last forest we’d have for a long time as we would be entering the Great Basin Desert and doing our first border crossing, going from California to Nevada.  This was the part of the ride that I had been worrying about due to the summer heat combined with the lack of water to be found on the back roads that we’d be taking.  Unfortunately the desert would prove me right as it would only be our second day since leaving Yosemite when Simon would get a case of heat sickness and we would have to take time to rest in a hotel in the town of Tonopah.  Amazingly I couldn’t find any dehydration salts and it would end up being a long uncomfortable night for Simon.  Shawn and I had a bit better of a time eating some great Mexican fare and then taking in this real outpost mining town.  The following day would be the “Extraterrestrial Highway” and some of the loneliest roads to be found in the U.S.A.  Here, as in an answer to prayer, a driving rain and cloud coverage would lower the temps and fend off what could be a brutal landscape.  And after 115 miles of riding around the Nellis Air Force Bombing and Gunnery Range that has given this area much of it’s famed alien sightings, we would find ourselves in a town strange enough to be worthy of this area; Rachel.  In the self proclaimed “Alien Capital”, the sign reads “Welcome to Rachel Nev. - Population 98, aliens?”  And so in the parking lot behind the Alien Bar, with night long since come, I set up my tent and hoped that the other two were doing well staying safe of the open range cattle, crazy jackrabbits and other unidentified creatures.

            The next morning after packing up and getting ready to face the fact that the others may have gotten behind due to the strong wind and rain the following day, I hear someone call my name.  Shawn!  They had made it with a lot of determination and a very late night of riding!  We would continue on together to the beautiful and almost green town of Caliente.  All day I watched the black smoke coming from the massive forest fires that were raging in the surrounding mountains.  What I didn’t know is that some of the clouds were actual real ones from the storm that was moving in.  Right after eating dinner and drinking water like a camel, the rain starting falling in sheets.  In the process of trying to find a camp while trying to avoid the now rivers that were flowing down the streets, I temporarily lose the guys behind me.  When they show up at the campground, they were being followed by a man in a car.  Daniel saw the two lost souls wandering in the downpour and offered a dry place to stay the night!  And so with much relief, we would sleep out one of our wettest nights dry and cozy at Daniel and his sons’ home.  Again, ‘thank you Lord!’  The following day we would make our next border crossing into Utah, ah, progress!  As we took our border pictures, two men show up on Harleys and humor us with some more pictures together.  Little did I know that this would be our last time together!  That night, after changing campsites and leaving many signs and arrows to the lake where I set up camp, I’d go to bed by myself.  Even after spending the entire next day trying to backtrack and waiting for Shawn and Simon, it was clear that it was going to take awhile to get back together.  I would have to go on to our next ‘destination’, Zion National Park, and spend the 4^th of July on my own…………