Leaving Recowata, Jeff and Jason and I head in opposite directions. The boys make their way back to Creel while I set off towards Urique, 160 kilometres away. I camp alone, for the first time in over a month, near the highway and, in the morning, set off into a cold grey day. The weather [...]
Tagged mexico, mountains, snow and ice, winterI arrive in Flagstaff with serious business to attend to. My trusty bike has taken a beating over the last five months and my lower gears, despite some maintenance work at the Canyon, are no longer functioning. The chain won’t stay on the smallest ring under any kind of load.
Luckily, I have been set up [...]
The temperature plummets during the night and I wake to icy rain. I cook breakfast under the inadequate shelter of my fly and pack my wet things onto the bike. The road surface on the last ten miles to the highway is good and so I am soonback on tarmac with only fifteen miles [...]
Tagged a place to stay, arizona, canyon country, friendsI emerge from the desert dirt roads onto pavement.
After passing through the small settlement of Goffs, where I spent the morning chatting to a volunteer at the East Mojave Desert Museum, who kindly lets me download my photos there, I find myself on the Route 66, a highway which actually no longer exists, heading towards [...]
By morning the constant stream of cars has been replaced by a constant stream of trucks. It is time to flee. Without having any idea what to expect I head towards the Mojave National Preserve – I haven’t had enough of the desert yet.
The desert, as always contains surprises.
I ride to Kelso where, disappointingly, there [...]
With the clouds hanging heavily on the mountain tops and a fierce, frigid, wind blowing from the north I ride back to the highway. Once I reach the highway a north wind is a tail wind – for the most part – and the ride to Bishop, where I hope to have somewhere to stay [...]
Tagged california, desert, hospitality, windI start to develop the urge to arrive in San Francisco when there is still 400 miles, or so, to go. I ride along the glorious coastline, in and out of giant redwood forest, but I am driven forward by an urge I can’t quite put my finger on.
However, my relentless advance doesn’t stop me [...]
I am riding along a rural back-road, a scene of green fields and barbed wire fences, blackberry brambles and grazing cows. Golden sun warms the afternoon air.
I hear persistent barking ahead. I look up and see a black and white dog running apace with a car travelling towards me, lunging and snapping at the wheels. [...]
Loose connections unravel easily and I find my original plans for Seattle disintegrate suddenly. I arrive in the city, trying to traverse freeways on a poorly sign-posted urban bike trail, and wonder why I am here. I realise that I don’t want to be in the city and I have no real reason to be. [...]
Tagged autumn, city life, hospitality, washingtonI disembark from the ferry on Whidbey Island in the afternoon with no map and no plan. The lawns here, back in the USA, seem a little smoother and greener, the picket fences a shade whiter, national flags far more prevalent.
I stop at a tourist information centre in Anacortes and get a map of the [...]