The Woodland camp ground/RV park I'm staying at has wifi, so I stayed up till about 1:30am blogging last night (and here I am today at 11pm, still blogging away!), so I enjoyed sleeping in until about 10:30am. I had a leisurely granola and nuts breakfast in camp, paid for my two nights stay (a "spendy" $16! Life is good), and went to town in search of a quiet internet and phone combo, a post office (I finished CS Lewis's book called The Four Loves I'd borrowed from my mom in Canada and was eager to mail it home and lighten my load), the restaurant I plan to have breakfast at tomorrow, and a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I was successful on all counts, meeting some lovely people along the way. For the Internet connection and phone line, I luckily chanced upon the Huckleberry House Bed and Breakfast--the only B&B in town! And it's only a few blocks from the library and post office, so it's perfect! Ellen and Keith were very kind and invited me right in when I knocked. I ended my day after dinner back on their porch while they enjoyed a glass of wine and we shared stories about Keith's time in the military and the history of their beautiful 1917 home and some of their stories of past guests and my stories from the road. I'm looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow. If you're passing through Libby, look them up! Huckleberry House B&B.
I also met a group of 11 cyclists touring a west bound loop and we swapped stories for a bit. I also offered my massage therapy services and connected with one woman riding with her 70 year old dad who I supported with some shoulder and neck release. That was a lot of fun! I love being of service. I'm not sure what happened to my campground client, but we hadn't set a time and I got home rather late (9pm) so maybe he gave up on me. I was hoping he would materialize at the fire pit again this evening while I was blogging, but no luck. I love my work and I was grateful to be able to support a fellow cyclist at the restaurant. This gives me hope that I may be able to connect with a cycling group heading cross country another year that will choose to hire me as their massage therapist. :)
Tomorrow, I will pack up and head out by 8am so I have time for breakfast, another hour of library Internet watching bio-optic holography sessions to prepare for my own, my session itself, a 30 minute massage for the judge who I met this afternoon (he's vegan! Very helpful with restaurant recommendations), and back on the road towards Kalispell. It's supposed to be 97 tomorrow--the peak of the week's heat wave. At least I'm not climbing over the Going to the Sun road in glacier in this heat! Though I doubt it gets this hot up at 6650' elevation!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Montana, day two
The ride from Bull River to Libby was 54 miles and 6 hours in the saddle (to the minute!) took me most of the day to ride. It has been HOT again out here. Not CA central valley 104+ hot, but respectable 94-97 degrees hot. Definitely hot enough to merit stopping at most available water crossings to swim or soak my shirt and sarong for evaporative cooling (thank you thermodynamics!). I'm not so good about getting out of bed before the sun is up, which means it's often 10ish before I've had breakfast, packed up camp, and started down the road. I miss the full face sunburn issue of east bound early morning riding this way, and it puts me smack in the mid-day sun for the prime of my ride when my body's warmed up but not yet fatigued. Fortunately, hwy 56 follows the Bull River most of its length, so I had ample dipping/cool-off opportunities and one primo swimming spot.
COLD water! Like pins and needles on my skin and losing feeling in my limbs after standing in it for about 30 seconds! I thought of my brother taking the plunge into the 42-48 degree water at the base of Burney Falls back in CA last month (has it been a month already?? Wow!) and I dove into the 6-8' deep thalwag at a section of river about 12' wide. I've never seen river water so clear. I saw a 10" trout swimming lazily along the bottom like he was just beneath the surface (before I dove in and disturbed his peace). I intended to swim across and play a bit, but the cold set in and half-way across (just about 6', remember!) I decided I was refreshed enough and swam back and clammered my way back out up the steep silty clay bank. Brrrrrrr and yummy! An excellent swim rest.
I hope to post photos soon--the canyon was beautiful. I rode by the Cabinet Montains today-home to just 15 grizzly bears according to the aging interpretive sign. The road grade was kind today, no major climbs and my knee was grateful. I came out onto hwy 2 and turned right toward Libby at about 6:30pm with 15 miles to go. What would be a 10 minute drive took me about 2 hours, and again, due to my late morning start, I found myself cycling through dusk in bear country. Hwy 2 had a fair amount of traffic- a half dozen cars a minute or so (*grin*). I saw an osprey carrying a trout a hundred feet over head, circling her nest before landing to feed her young. Also 2 bald eagles and several big nests, probably some osprey and some eagle. Way fun to see these majestic birds along the big powerful kootenai river near the 2.
One approx mile-long stretch of hwy 2 had 6-8 piles of bear scat, some fairly fresh! I retrieved my pepper spray and rode with it in my left hand hoping not to have to find out whether this stuff really makes any difference. I recalled a photo a friend of mine took while she was horse-packing in Montana: black bear scat is full of bery seeds and squirrel fur. Grizzley scat smells like cayenne pepper! I never truely feltunsafe on this stretch of road, and I was very happy to arrive in town intact. Being on the road offers many many opportunities to be grateful for basic survival needs being met and today I choose to celebrate the intricate web of life!
As I rode into Libby, there was a very funny billboard for the local hospital: "Big town technology, small town service. Neighbors healing neighbors." The picture showed a man in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat in an MRI machine. I hope to post a photo soon. I passed on a sketchy rv park outside town and selected a nice one with $8 tent sites and a community fire ring with a creek out back. I met two folks that expressed some interest in massage therapy tomorrow evening, so I decided to take a rest day and find Internet and a landline for my bio-optic holography session with Bob (Robert Twnnyson Stevens) tomorrow. Seems like a lot to prepare and I AM up for it!
COLD water! Like pins and needles on my skin and losing feeling in my limbs after standing in it for about 30 seconds! I thought of my brother taking the plunge into the 42-48 degree water at the base of Burney Falls back in CA last month (has it been a month already?? Wow!) and I dove into the 6-8' deep thalwag at a section of river about 12' wide. I've never seen river water so clear. I saw a 10" trout swimming lazily along the bottom like he was just beneath the surface (before I dove in and disturbed his peace). I intended to swim across and play a bit, but the cold set in and half-way across (just about 6', remember!) I decided I was refreshed enough and swam back and clammered my way back out up the steep silty clay bank. Brrrrrrr and yummy! An excellent swim rest.
I hope to post photos soon--the canyon was beautiful. I rode by the Cabinet Montains today-home to just 15 grizzly bears according to the aging interpretive sign. The road grade was kind today, no major climbs and my knee was grateful. I came out onto hwy 2 and turned right toward Libby at about 6:30pm with 15 miles to go. What would be a 10 minute drive took me about 2 hours, and again, due to my late morning start, I found myself cycling through dusk in bear country. Hwy 2 had a fair amount of traffic- a half dozen cars a minute or so (*grin*). I saw an osprey carrying a trout a hundred feet over head, circling her nest before landing to feed her young. Also 2 bald eagles and several big nests, probably some osprey and some eagle. Way fun to see these majestic birds along the big powerful kootenai river near the 2.
One approx mile-long stretch of hwy 2 had 6-8 piles of bear scat, some fairly fresh! I retrieved my pepper spray and rode with it in my left hand hoping not to have to find out whether this stuff really makes any difference. I recalled a photo a friend of mine took while she was horse-packing in Montana: black bear scat is full of bery seeds and squirrel fur. Grizzley scat smells like cayenne pepper! I never truely feltunsafe on this stretch of road, and I was very happy to arrive in town intact. Being on the road offers many many opportunities to be grateful for basic survival needs being met and today I choose to celebrate the intricate web of life!
As I rode into Libby, there was a very funny billboard for the local hospital: "Big town technology, small town service. Neighbors healing neighbors." The picture showed a man in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat in an MRI machine. I hope to post a photo soon. I passed on a sketchy rv park outside town and selected a nice one with $8 tent sites and a community fire ring with a creek out back. I met two folks that expressed some interest in massage therapy tomorrow evening, so I decided to take a rest day and find Internet and a landline for my bio-optic holography session with Bob (Robert Twnnyson Stevens) tomorrow. Seems like a lot to prepare and I AM up for it!
And now Montana!
Idaho went by too quickly--what a lovely state! At least the northern panhandle, and I hope one day to discover whether it's representative of the whole state. For now, I have entered Montana and camped here 3 nights. The first, just over the boarder (I am following a trend here) at Big Eddy was a fun little discovery. I was offered water by a very kind woman who happened to see me as she was carrying apples from her garden to her car. I accepted and rode down her driveway to meet her. We walked together towards the house and I saw she had well loved and very faded prayer flags hanging over her wood shed. She and her mom had both grown up on the land there and she told me about battling the bears and squirrels and bees for the apples...I wondered how bees would get into apples but didn't ask. She filled my water bottles and recommended a camp ground 10 miles down the road. I asked her to repeat the name, but I forgot it 2 miles down the road anyway.
As I pedaled on into the dusky evening, I began to create my ideal campground: a small place with fire rings and bear boxes near a body of water with pit toilets so I wouldn't have to waste water and there would be less required maintenance and maybe it would be free. I rode by Big Eddy Recreation Area about 5 miles from my water connection, but my heart said to go back and take a second look. The sign at the entry said "camping limit 14 days" but nothing about being full or any fees, so I rode down to check it out.
I had a small twinge of trepidation when the road turned to gravel/dirt with potholes and seemed to stretch on a ways downhill...this breaks my no dirt road rule formed while riding google maps's recomended forest roads and challenging my right knee considerably. I also figured climbing up the gravel in the am would not be a fun start to the day. Intuition kept me going and I found the campground exactly to my created specifications! 6 sites, a central pit toilet, bear boxes, picnic benches, and fire rings at each site, and just down the road a little farther was the day use area: a boat ramp into a beautiful lake! Or maybe it was a river, but it was big and beautiful. I set up camp and went down to the water with my no-see-um headnet (thank you Aspen!) to meditate. Beautiful place to practice metta!
As the sun set, I returned to camp and began to feel fear intensifying in my field again (this fear began as I rode across the ID-MT boarder). All my scented stuff was safely stored in the steel bear box provided by the site. I heard several gunshots at dusk and took solace that I was in an established camp ground, and I felt nervous that I was alone and being very quiet and without a sizable vehicle in said campsite.
I used all my tools: ho'oponopono, metta, reiki, the freedom process...not much effect. After laying in my sleeping bag for about 20 minutes on the picnic table (I decided to sleep on the table because I felt safer off the ground at this particular site--a little less vulnerable) almost sweating from fear, I remembered the latihan! I invited this sacred energy to flow in me and I felt immediately cleared, centered, and protected by the love of God. I am SO grateful for this divine connection in my life. Thank you, Subud spiritual community! When the latihan completed after about another 20 or 30 minutes, the energy within and around me felt totally transformed and I slept more soundly than I have in weeks! What a wonderful night!
The next morning I packed up after my sleeping bag dried in the sun and ride on into Bull River (that was the town my water bearer friend had recommended I camp at) and found a little convenience store with bulk foods and some organic produce! Wonderful. I enjoyed breakfast in front of this store (the Big Sky Panty) while my receptionless phone charged.
As I pedaled on into the dusky evening, I began to create my ideal campground: a small place with fire rings and bear boxes near a body of water with pit toilets so I wouldn't have to waste water and there would be less required maintenance and maybe it would be free. I rode by Big Eddy Recreation Area about 5 miles from my water connection, but my heart said to go back and take a second look. The sign at the entry said "camping limit 14 days" but nothing about being full or any fees, so I rode down to check it out.
I had a small twinge of trepidation when the road turned to gravel/dirt with potholes and seemed to stretch on a ways downhill...this breaks my no dirt road rule formed while riding google maps's recomended forest roads and challenging my right knee considerably. I also figured climbing up the gravel in the am would not be a fun start to the day. Intuition kept me going and I found the campground exactly to my created specifications! 6 sites, a central pit toilet, bear boxes, picnic benches, and fire rings at each site, and just down the road a little farther was the day use area: a boat ramp into a beautiful lake! Or maybe it was a river, but it was big and beautiful. I set up camp and went down to the water with my no-see-um headnet (thank you Aspen!) to meditate. Beautiful place to practice metta!
As the sun set, I returned to camp and began to feel fear intensifying in my field again (this fear began as I rode across the ID-MT boarder). All my scented stuff was safely stored in the steel bear box provided by the site. I heard several gunshots at dusk and took solace that I was in an established camp ground, and I felt nervous that I was alone and being very quiet and without a sizable vehicle in said campsite.
I used all my tools: ho'oponopono, metta, reiki, the freedom process...not much effect. After laying in my sleeping bag for about 20 minutes on the picnic table (I decided to sleep on the table because I felt safer off the ground at this particular site--a little less vulnerable) almost sweating from fear, I remembered the latihan! I invited this sacred energy to flow in me and I felt immediately cleared, centered, and protected by the love of God. I am SO grateful for this divine connection in my life. Thank you, Subud spiritual community! When the latihan completed after about another 20 or 30 minutes, the energy within and around me felt totally transformed and I slept more soundly than I have in weeks! What a wonderful night!
The next morning I packed up after my sleeping bag dried in the sun and ride on into Bull River (that was the town my water bearer friend had recommended I camp at) and found a little convenience store with bulk foods and some organic produce! Wonderful. I enjoyed breakfast in front of this store (the Big Sky Panty) while my receptionless phone charged.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Into Idaho!
It's been a while since I've had interneto, so I'm just going to jump into the narrative where I am and fill in the gaps later (hopefully!). I took a side trip to Canada with my mom last week (in a car!) and resumed my bike ride in Republic, WA 3 days ago. I've been making 45-57 mile days thanks to a fairly heavy load and a grumpy right knee. I met some wonderful people at the Blue Slide Resort/rv park on the Pend Oreille river in north-eastern WA. I rolled in hoping to find someone to share a campsite with and just as I entered the driveway, Gina shook my hand and invited me to camp in the front yard of her family's rented cabin. They fed me dinner and invited me to listen to some live bluegrass! I felt so immediately and warmly welcomed! Turns out I arrived during the Blue Slide annual bluegrass festival. The music was so sweet I cried twice. Especially during Let the Circle Be Unbroken about someone who was burying their mom. My former partner Christopher lost his mom in June this year and the sadness is still very fresh. My heart goes out to Chris and Dale and Nick and Lynn and Jan's whole family. :(
I also met Dan and his wonderful family who were my camping neighbors. Dan's dad has had ALS for 15 years now! I have been amazed on this journey how many people I've met who have been touched by ALS. Seems like about half the people who ask me why I'm doing this ride have a relative or know someone who has or had ALS. I trust that the universe is connecting me with exactly the people I need to meet. I empower all I meet with inspiration and hope. Dan and his family invited me to pray with them before I set out on the road yesterday and I joyfully accepted. We circled up and placed arms around each other's shoulders and Dan led us in a beautiful spontaneous prayer of gratitude, celebration, and blessing. A beautiful start to a beautiful day.
One of my greatest joys spending 5-6 or more hours a day on my bicycle is the time I have to dedicate to prayer, gratitude, and meditation. Wonderful practice! Later that morning, I was saying my morning gathas from thich nhat hahn's tradition and an especially large group of grasshoppers flew along side me to accent my thoughts. It was a magical moment.
Yesterday, I rode across the WA-ID boarder on hwy 2 and I plan to arrive in Montana tomorrow eve or wednesday. I figure at 45-55 miles a day, I'll be in Glacier in about 7 days. Met a westbound cyclist who'd started in NY! Very cool to chat about the road ahead and receive a bit of encouragement from a fellow on the road. Only two other westbound guys (cousins!) have crossed my path since I started riding in WA. Haven't been passed by anyone eastbound yet. I average 8-9 mph (6-7 if there's a lot of climbing!) so I'm doubtful I'm going to pass anyone else!
I also met Dan and his wonderful family who were my camping neighbors. Dan's dad has had ALS for 15 years now! I have been amazed on this journey how many people I've met who have been touched by ALS. Seems like about half the people who ask me why I'm doing this ride have a relative or know someone who has or had ALS. I trust that the universe is connecting me with exactly the people I need to meet. I empower all I meet with inspiration and hope. Dan and his family invited me to pray with them before I set out on the road yesterday and I joyfully accepted. We circled up and placed arms around each other's shoulders and Dan led us in a beautiful spontaneous prayer of gratitude, celebration, and blessing. A beautiful start to a beautiful day.
One of my greatest joys spending 5-6 or more hours a day on my bicycle is the time I have to dedicate to prayer, gratitude, and meditation. Wonderful practice! Later that morning, I was saying my morning gathas from thich nhat hahn's tradition and an especially large group of grasshoppers flew along side me to accent my thoughts. It was a magical moment.
Yesterday, I rode across the WA-ID boarder on hwy 2 and I plan to arrive in Montana tomorrow eve or wednesday. I figure at 45-55 miles a day, I'll be in Glacier in about 7 days. Met a westbound cyclist who'd started in NY! Very cool to chat about the road ahead and receive a bit of encouragement from a fellow on the road. Only two other westbound guys (cousins!) have crossed my path since I started riding in WA. Haven't been passed by anyone eastbound yet. I average 8-9 mph (6-7 if there's a lot of climbing!) so I'm doubtful I'm going to pass anyone else!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Day Six: WUSSED!
I rode 64 miles and put in 7 hours on the saddle from 9 am till 6:30 pm and landed in Willows, CA. Google maps did fail me today...their route offered some circuitous detour I couldn't figure out how to follow, but it seemed to take me 20 miles out of the way in order to connect Hwy 20 with the bike-friendly frontage road I sought to parallel the bicycle-prohibitive I-5 when a simple "left turn before the overpass" was all that was needed! Thank you to Mom for map reading skills over the phone, as well as the gentleman in the truck who saw my lost looking face as I struggled with my paper directions and my cell phone. I was grateful for his deft redirection back on course! I thought about spending the night somewhere along the I-5 corridor and riding the last 65 miles or so tomorrow morning. It's pretty flat and I'm maintaining about 10-12 mph but it was so hot (certainly over 100!) and the central valley sun was so strong that even reapplying my sunscreen twice made no difference to my toasted arms and calves (my arms look like neopolitan ice cream with my two jersey sleeve lengths!). Also, it's Friday, and it would be nice to spend some extra weekend time with my mom, so I called in support! Mom was willing to drive the whole 3.5 hours down to the Hwy 20 junction, but I wasn't quite done riding for the day. We coordinated a restaurant meeting place in Willows, about an hour drive for her (saving me a whole day's ride!). I was grateful for the inspiration of food, water, salts, and air conditioning as I continued up the road with my sarong around my waist for leg shade.
I feel a little bad knowing that my bro is riding on 299 over some bigger mountain passes and twister roads than I was on today and I caught a ride and who knows if he'll be in reception range to know that a ride is available if he chooses it! Tomorrow, taiko drumming in Mt. Shasta. Very excited about this. Now to bed. Will continue to catch up in the am!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Day Five: Lounging at Nils's
When I checked my map last night, I discovered to my dismay it's another 165 miles to my mom's place near Redding where I'm planning to meet my bro and ride on towards Idaho...well, it is so beautiful and relaxing and I am so surrounded by love, I have chosen to enjoy and rest. Ran my 3 days of riding clothes through the laundromat at Nils's place (yippee!! I underestimated the stickiness of riding through 100+ degree heat without showering...), hung it to dry on the line, received a massage from Nils opening some flow in my right-side body. Shoulder, knee, hips. Taking good care of my hardworking quads and back. For some reason, my bicycle seat keeps slipping so I have to stop and re-adjust the seat height every 45 minutes or so and it's not so kind to my knees if I don't re-adjust soon enough. Maybe I can get into a bike shop at my mom's place and fix this up before doing too much more climbing. It's now 2pm and I'm caught up on blogging (Thank you Nils for showing me how to upload maps through screenshots so all can see where I've been riding).
I added some more photos above. I rode about 24 miles today from 5:30pm to 10:30pm. My friends assured me it was all down-hill from Nils's place. Well, one thing I've learned the hard way while cycling: "all-downhill" to a motorist is a VERY different thing from "all-downhill" to a cyclist. About 45 minutes later, I crested a hill after climbing at about 3.3 mph...you'd zip up that in about 10 minutes or less in a car, but this is not the case when muscles are transforming apples and bananas into forward motion. A delicious exhilarating downhill lead me out of the pine forest, along a few unpaved farm roads (thanks again Google Maps...at least these were much flatter than the Western Mine Road on the way to Nils's place) that carried me the rest of the way across the south east mountains surrounding Clear Lake and down a 3.3 mile downhill on Hwy 29--39 mph top speed--Wha-whooo! As I rolled up to the stop light at the bottom of the hill and into the left-turn lane, an older SUV (circa 1980s? Bronco or Suburban?) pulled up next to me and rolled his window down. I looked over beaming (somewhat cautiously, if that's possible), and he gave me a thumbs up and said, "You look soooo happy!" I replied, "I am! I'm in my bliss!" He drove on ahead of me as the light changed and I enjoyed another surge of love, life, and light from having helped another to smile today. I associate much of the flow I'm experiencing in my body today to my Vibrational Healing Massage Therapy session with Nils this morning. I feel so centered and fluid and ALIVE! Awesome. Thank you Thank you THANK YOU, brother Nils!
I biked along a creek on Hwy 20 looking for a place to camp. Dusk was falling rapidly and my aching legs were longing to rest. Behind that tree? No, not enough cover. How about that dirt pile? No, don't want to wake up in someone's quarry. Semi truck already has that spot...that one, too. Hmmmm, I decided to pray and create some BLM land to retire safely on. Within about 5 minutes, I turned a corner and found the Cashe Creek BLM camping and day-use area! I pulled into the parking lot and noticed a pickup with an open camper shell draped in mosquito netting, but no people. I read the signage which required camping at least 1/4 mile from the parking lot and a bunch of stuff about hunting regulations. Hmmmm, hunting regulations...a small red flag went up and I eyeballed the picnic table near the parking lot contemplatively. Not knowing who was in that truck, I decided to pedal down the fire road to look for a legal place to camp. I selected a cushy flat place tucked into some pines with lots of duff and laid out my ground cloth, sleeping pad, and sleeping bag. I began my evening routine--brush teeth, note the day's mileage, use the facil-trees, etc when I heard voices about 100 yards from me...I made some noise and flashed my headlamp around while I was setting up camp, so I'm pretty sure they knew I was there. Just as I was wondering if I was safe to sleep here for the night or if I ought to mosey on down the road, two shots rang out. I hollared, "Hey!" but got no response. Their silence now when I could hear their voices earlier was a clear indication it was time to move on. Fortunately, I hadn't unstuffed my sleeping bag or changed out of my cycling clothes yet so packing everything back into my xtra-cycle saddle bags was complete in about 2 minutes or less and I was back on the fire road to the parking lot and out onto Hwy 20, pedaling on into the night. My 9:30 bedtime was now a 10:30 starting over looking for a camp site. Bummer. I was thrilled to have found the BLM land as an answer to my prayer, but tired and disappointed not to find the safety I was seeking there.
The night sky was gorgeous, however, and back in the saddle, I had a stunning view of the stars that had been hiding in the pine canopy of my abandoned camp site. There must be a meteor shower on, because the shooting stars are coming several a minute all across the star studded sky.
Probably another 20 minutes down the road, I found a turnout that went down a hill to a watering hole. I was barely visible from the road to a scrutinizing eye (see photo above in the morning), but I was far enough out of sight that I didn't think anyone would notice me over night and I'd be gone early enough not to worry about being spotted in the morning. Camping near water (shallow and weedy as it was) meant two things: BUGS!, and chill: finally, I could zip my brand new, 0 degree North Face Snow Leopard sleeping bag without fear of heat stroke! Which was a big bonus towards reducing the impact of water camping effect #1. I fished my no-see-um head net out of my clothing bag (thank you Aspen Achievement Academy Free Box!), watched a few dozen more shooting stars, made a few journal notes, and went to sleep. Another beautiful night under the stars, resting up to ride again tomorrow.
Blessings and love, y'all! Thank you for following my journey. :)
Chuck Norris Inside Joke
One of the Farmer's Market Musicians painted this onto his truck. Funny stuff. :)
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