BALLE On! The 2007 West Coast Tour

On day 14 we lengthened the ride to make it to a cute little hippie university town called Arcata. Bryan had a friend-of-a-friend, who lives in a co-op house in farmland right outside Arcata. We called ahead and were able to set up our tents in their yard and use their kitchen and bathroom.

Arcata was great. It was a welcome opportunity to shop at the farmer's market. The town was abound with people walking, conversations, children, community, and herbal smoke wafting from cars. We were ready for our daily ride precisely when the Arcata to Ferndale World Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race was beginning.

Derek is back on the road - finally! Bryan, Lisa, and Derek saw about half of the parade out of the town square, and then followed them through Eureka and some Californian farmland.

We have been blessed with several days both before and after Arcata on our bikes taking in the views of the giant redwoods. These massive ancient trees are quite a treat to ride through on the Avenue of the Giants and other side roads off of highway 101.

On our 15th day the weather improved markedly, with sunshine, warmer weather, and drier nights. We were in the right place at the right time when we scored the last camping spot in the beautiful state park! We finally caught up with the Memorial Day campers. We were up at 1000 feet in this beautiful state park and enjoyed hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps for the evening. The girls even went for a morning swim in the clean, not that cold, shallow mountain river, Eel River. A lot of climbing ensued but we got to enjoy the fast curving downhills.

And then it is back to the rugged California coastline and on the tiny Highway 1.

When the rain subsided Southern Oregon was covered in a cool fog for most of it. We were glad the rain was gone but missed the sun shining on the rugged coastline.

On Day 10 we splurged on indoor accommodation (a yurt at a state park for $27) near Bandon. Oregon state parks are awesome and cheap, with friendly hosts and hot showers. Bandon itself was an incredibly cute town with everything anyone would need within a couple block walk. There were at least three cafes, natural food store, supermarket, pharmacy, bakery, etc.

On Day 11 we camped for free in some fairgrounds near the ocean that seemed to be closed for camping but did trick.

Our food has been 80-90% organic, local food. Everyone in the group does a great job cooking delicious vegetarian meals, such as Thai green curry, grilled vegetables with miso-tahini dressing. This is a blessing to be eating so well.

We passed through North Bend, OR, which was an absolute downer. The entire town is completely car-centric and sprawled. Laura and Derek only saw two pedestrians. The street-side parking was completely empty.

The next day we crossed into California which was almost immediately very different from the Southern Oregon Coast. This whole section of the trip has been much more remote and wild. Coastal Oregon is absolutely beautiful.

On day 12 after Lisa and Laura did their first major ascent into the redwoods we stayed at the beautiful family-owned River Front Chinook RV Resort in Klamath, CA, with a spectacular view over a river. We met several people from San Luis Obispo who were family and friends of the owner. They were helping to build a dock for fishing wild salmon and other fish from the river.

We are actually ahead of schedule at this point, which gives us some flexibility to go from here.

We left Astoria on Day 7 in high spirits, ready to tackle tunnels and hills. What we found were dramatic beaches and delightfully quaint towns by the seaside.

As the day continued, however, the wind picked up and a cold rain seeped into our aching muscles. It was no picnic - nor was there a picnic as crossed wires resulted in a failed meet-up with Derek for lunch.

It was on this seemingly endless afternoon that we had our first flat tire of the trip. None of us could feel our fingers by the end of that fix. We rolled into Bay City Community Park campground as darkness was falling and spent a damp night by the creek.

On Day 8, Lisa, Bryan and Laura headed back out on the road hoping for a drier day, but instead were hammered with drizzle, cold wind and some serious hills.

We once again took the hotel option in Lincoln City (how could we resist the offer of a hottub?). We enjoyed the sound of the rain failing outside.

Laura joined Derek in the car on Day 9 after five days of steady riding, deciding to give her knees a rest from climbing hills in her retro roadbike. Much to everyone's surprise (including her own), she had a new bike with a much lower low-gear by the end of the day.

In the meantime, Derek has been suffering from his crash wounds and picking up the endless administrative tasks of grocery shopping, accommodation hunting, lunch-making, etc. We hope that he will be joining the riders out on the trail again soon!

Well, we have finally hit Oregon and, to be exact, the Oregon Trail. Two explorers, Lewis and Clark, followed the Columbia River in search of the ocean and found it here. They are quite popular figures around here. Lots of things are named after the two of them. Day 6 was a long but doable 82 miles of cycling. Lisa missed about 10 miles during route planning so we grinned and beared it. It actually wasn't too bad. Today will be the test of sore muscles.

It's nice to see the ocean again. We have also returned to the land of fresh local and organic food. Astoria is an interesting town with a couple of worker owned co-ops, some buy local stickers in windows and other progressive stores. It seems to be waking up from a long period of difficult economic times.

We treated ourselves to a hostel for the night and a meal at the Brew Pub. After this there will be a number of state park options for camping along the coast. If the weather holds out and we don't get very much rain we'll be content to camp by the sea.

It was all going so well. Perhaps too good to be true. Derek, while riding to Elma, WA for our 4th night of camping, had a wee accident on the bike. It happened suddenly; Bryan and Laura witnessed it first-hand. The damage? One deep gash and big time road rash, torn cycling shorts, torn t-shirt, a bent rear derrailer, and one sad cyclist drooling at the prospect of others enjoying beautiful Western Washington.

The others enjoyed the riding that day and had the good luck that our route took us into Oakville, WA home to Wild Thyme Farm. Bryan had visited the farm last year for one of the free monthly workshops they give on subjects like sustainable forestry, riparian restoration, food forests, and berry orcharding, and suggested we all check it out.

We took a short detour from our route, dodged five or six farm dogs and rode into the farm. One of the several brothers who own the farm, John Henrikson, stepped away from work at a portable saw mill to greet us, and ended up explaining his sustainable forestry (Forest Steward Council-certified) practice and giving us a tour of the farm. Wild Thyme is 150 acres of mixed conifer and deciduous forest, household gardens and riparian zone, managed for the long term by John and his brothers.

We watched his crew mill parts of a huge old alder that would normally be thrown away or chipped. Some of the boards drying in the old barn had beautiful and distinct patterning--where other timber operations see problem wood, John has seen resources and high-value specialty timber. Business is ramping up at Wild Thyme.

Given the beauty we saw (food everywhere, and a healthy managed forest), John's enthusiasm for his work, and the profitability of their operation, it's not hard to imagine that the other local timber managers and foresters who attend his workshops would see a new way forward for sustainable forestry...and our route certainly took us by enough clear cuts to demonstrate the prevailing "alternative".