Humpty Dumpy

Mt. Hood

Today started out promising.It was about a 60 mile ride up to Mt. Hood.By 10 o'clock it was in the 90's.After snapping off a few pictures and taking in the mountain with all it's glory, I packed up and started on my decent back down the six mile timberline road.I was now going to ride on to the Columbia Gorge.I was indecisive as to which way it was out of the parking lot and in the last instant I turned left, but I was on a steep incline.It was so steep my left foot couldn't touch the ground as I made a sharp left turn the bike began to lean further and further and my foot still wouldn't touch.Soon I was past the point of no return.When my foot finally touched the weight was too much and the bike just slammed me to the ground, HARD!

My left arm remained on the handle bar and was trapped between the road and my rib cage.The whole force of the spill went right to my upper rib cage.I laid there for ten seconds or so trying to get my wind back and reeling in extreme pain.I thought to myself,oh I just broke my fucking ribs.I've never felt anything like that.What a smack down.I crawled out from under the bike and picked it up.Just then this guy came over and asked if I needed some help.I said yeah,just grab the front brake.I got the kickstand down, and immediately checked the bike for damage.The left mirror was smashed, other than that,not a scratch.

Now I could focus on the pain in my chest.Ouch! That fucking hurt.Ooh Damn, I just fucked up my mirror, I said. It was all over but the crying.I got back on my horse and rode gingerly down the mountain.Damn, I thought, Mt. Hood just kicked my ass.

I'm laid up in a super 8 motel sore as hell.There doesn't seem to be any swelling or bruising as of yet,but getting in and out of bed is painful.I bruised up my ego pretty bad and beat myself up all the way back to Portland.I'm taking it easy til tomorrow and we'll see how I feel in the morning.Sorry for all the profanity,but I didn't want to pull any punches in my description of today's festivities.

There, I got that off my chest.

Portland

I'm in Portland right now, it's as hot as bejesus! I rode back up the coast and got the first 600 mile service done on the bike,then rode to Portland. I have to say I'm noy very impressed.For one thing it's just too damn hot.Yesterday it was 102.I think I'm better off staying away from cities.Today I'm going to ride up to Mt. Hood, then over to the Columbia Gorge.It sure is nice being able to cover some ground.I've seen tons of bicyclists and in this heat it's got to be tough. Alrighty then... see ya

Motorcycle Heaven

Sunset city
The money shot
Bandon beach lighthouseBandon beach

I spent the night in Bandon beach, Oregon.A beautiful little town with lots of rocks on the coast.I just kinda tooled my way south, taking in all the beautiful sights.Fish taco's were on the menu last night.Yum.The weather is amazing and I'm feeling pretty good. Lucky to be alive...

Que: Eye of the Tiger music here...

My new mode of transportationI am just beachy keenSeal rock is where I camped for the nightWhat a wonderful coastThe devils punch bowl

Sometimes in life you just have to do what you want to do, and this is one of those times.I sold the bike with some of my gear at a bicycle shop and bought this Husquavarna. Nice.Now I'm going to leisurely tour the west coast pacific highway.Last night I camped at Seal Rock in Oregon and met some great people.We hung out by the bonfire till around 11:30 drinking beer and telling stories.The weather is beautiful on the coast,but really hot inland.It's in the 100's in Portland.

The adventure continues...

Changed my mind

high above the Oregon coastNice beach

After much contemplation I decided to resume my journey on land. Last night I told Marvin I wanted to abandon ship.Life on the ocean was a little too slow paced.It was great when we had wind, but boring when we had to motor at 2 miles an hour.Marvin took it well and was just as nice as ever.We had coffee together this morning and bid each other farewell.Ever since the sand bar incident I tried to convince myself it would be o.k.,but in the end my land loving self convinced me to get back on solid ground.Now I'm headed down the Oregon coast in search of winding roads and beautiful landscapes.I hope to get back to Portland as well, to meet up with Jamie and Cece in the first week in August,then head to California and see my old friend Jesse Muson and a much anticipated reunion with my dear friend Christi who also resides in California with her husband and two children.Stay tuned for some exciting new developments in my quest to travel, discover and experience life on the go.

Hungry to get going

An interesting view from the docks in AstoriaThe view from my cabin this morning

The next leg of our trip is an 112 mile run from the Columbia river to Coos bay.It looks as though we're going to have to spend another night at sea.With such a distance we don't have much of a choice.The forecast for Friday is 35 mile an hour gale force winds with 8-10 foot seas.Um, I don't think we'll be leaving with those kind of conditions.Saturday looks much better.

The controllers for the motor should be here today. Marvin will install them and we should be ready to go.The weather here lately is typical, rainy and overcast.Not much for sightseeing or riding my bike around.I'm spending most of my day in a cafe getting wired, wireless of course.Last night I cooked up some spaghetti with meat sauce and served it with sourdough.We chased it down with a bottle of white Merlot.

We need to get some food and do a load of laundry before getting out of here, oh yeah,and gas up and change the oil on one of the generators.Other than that we're good to go.All this sitting around just makes me hungry.Well, actually bored and that makes me want to eat.I think tonight I'll do Mexican... Sounds good to me.

The will to thrive

We can all learn something from Marvin

So, we need two controller's for the motor and they'll be shipped out today from Minnesota.They should be here by the weekend.Things are looking pretty good.Last night I grilled up a couple of rib eye steaks with some corn on the cob sliced tomato's and garlic bread.We drank a bottle of Merlot and properly celebrated Marvin's 69 birthday.

Last night I was lying in bed wondering how is it that I can all of a sudden have a 69 year old stranger as a really good friend? You know, it's not that big of a boat and we're living in close quarters.There's a lot of getting out of one an other's way.Not to mention some severely stressful situations we've encountered.I don't know about you,but I tend to get a little surly under stress.Through it all we've managed to keep an even keel, and our friendship is a testament to that.While stranded on the sand bar I was seriously considering moving on, and Marvin even said, If you want to leave the boat and get back to riding your bike, I understand.But you know what? The fuckers got heart.And at 69, with two titanium knee replacements,and two shoulder operations he is one tough cookie.Not to mention, a wonderful human being,father and friend.Yeah, I'm learning a lot about sailing, but more important,I'm learning a lot about myself and how I relate to others.I'll come out of this experience a better person.I'm committed to sailing with Marvin to San Fransisco, so he can see his 18 month old granddaughter and get back to warmer weather where his bones wont ache.I've never felt more alive than these last 82 days on the road and sea.If at 69 I can be as much alive as Marvin,then I'll truly be living life to the fullest.

Recovery is a success

That stump in the middle sure looks like a giant squid

It's Tuesday,I'm in a coffee house in Astoria, Oregon. Marvin hired a Salvage crew to pull the boat off the sand bar Sunday night around 10:30 p.m. at high Tide.It took a 68 ft. commercial fishing boat and a 20 ft. skiff, with a crew of five guys.The first attempt riped a cleat off the bow, so they tided a line around the mast and it pulled the boat over on it's side and slid it over the sand bar.By 12 o'clock midnight we were in a bar drinking a beer with the guy who managed it and celebrating Marvin's 69 birthday.He couldn't ask for a better present.They towed the boat to Warrenton marina, just outside of Astoria.

Yesterday we spent the day pumping out the bulge. It had about a half a foot of water in it.We also cleaned her up. Everything was strewn about and soaking wet, but we managed to get her back in livable condition and spent the night on her.Today Marvin is diagnostic testing the electric motor to pinpoint the problem.Until that is fixed we can't safely go anywhere, but he's confident that it shouldn't take too long, unless we have to order parts and have them shipped from Minnesota.I'm on the hunt for a fuse that was blown during the fiasco.

When the coast guard dropped us off in Astoria there wasn't a vacant hotel room in town.I contacted a hostel, but they were closing in 10 minutes and we still needed to call a cab and cross town to get there.It was looking pretty grim.Somehow we made it in the nick of time. We spent the night eating a pizza and watching the comedy channel and laughing like girls at a slumber party as if what we just went through never happened.The cab driver gave us the tip about the salvage co. and by mid morning the next day Marvin had it all worked out.Not without a serious price though. Ouch!Nothing like getting kicked when your already down.

Astoria is a beautiful town on the shore of the Columbia river with lot's of coffee houses that serve stumptown coffee,restaurants, and museums.We couldn't have found a better place to be laid up for a while.We're moored next to a fish precessing plant where the commercail fishing boats unload there catch and it stinks to high heaven.We'll make the best of it though.On Sunday there was a great farmers market with live music and vender's galore.My buddy Jamie and his girlfriend Cece are gonna be in Portland soon, hopefully I'll get a chance to to spend some quality time with them.Until then, see ya when I see ya.

Shipwrecked

stranded on the sand barMarvin and I sailing buddys

Well here we sit aboard Le Perle Bleue stranded for the last fifteen hours on a sand bar in the Columbia river.Yesterday, after a promising start coming out of the bay in West port marina things were looking quite different.We caught a nice wind at 8:00a.m. and cruised out into the Pacific ocean in no time at all.We only had 40 miles to sail into the mouth of the Columbia river and strong northwest winds were forecast for the day.No sooner did we get into the ocean and the wind just died.Surrounded by fog with about 100 yards visibility we were dead in the water.We used the GPS right from the dock because the fog was as thick as pea soup right from the marina.So we turned on the motor and began a slow crawl south.We never saw land all day and the fog stayed thick.My highlight of the day was a giant blue whale about 20 yards off the starboard side.It surfaced twice and spouted as well.I screamed for Marvin but he was too late to witness the massive mammal.I on the other hand was overjoyed to see her so close to the boat. From what I could see she was at least twice as big as the boat.
We ended up motoring for most of the day, but the wind finally picked up about 26 miles from our destination and we sailed right into the mouth of the Columbia river.It was 10:30 p.m. when we arrived at the jetty's.Now we had to sail another five miles up the river to our destination,the Astoria boat dock.After finding the course on the GPS I handed it off to Marvin and went down below for a little rest.It was dark and foggy but the wind was blowing and visibility was better than we had all day and I was confident Marvin would get us well up river.About an hour after I laid down I suddenly felt some jolts and ran up top to see what was happening.We had run a ground.Feverishly, Marvin tried to put the engine in reverse and back us off, but it didn't work,in fact it blew up the engine.As I looked around to survey the situation I could clearly see the buoys marking the channel and we were nowhere near them.We had just run a ground on the most infamous sand bar on the west coast the Des demona.We were now a statistic. One of 2000 vessels who have at one time or another come to this same fate.In the next few hours that followed, the tide proceeded to go out and the boat began to lean further and further on the boards until it was completely on it's side.Things started falling of the walls, out of the cabinets,off shelves, and water began to seep in.We could barely walk around in the cabin now and every couple of steps was hard for me, and almost impossible for Marvin.The waves were beating the boat around pretty good as well.All we could do is try to get some sleep and wait for the 10 a.m. high tide in the morning.To make matters worse water started running out of the sink faucet because the water tank was on the high side of the boat and gravity was taking over.Every half hour I had to bail water out of the sink and into a bucket to throw overboard and with the boat on it's side this became a major task.On top of that all I wanted to do was get some sleep.
I got up and crawled out of the boat at 5:00 a.m. and couldn't believe the predicament we were in.When Marvin awoke he began calling towing company's to see if someone could help us out. At 11:00 a.m. when it was high tide and the boat would right itself, hopefully...but no towing company came. The Coast Guard did show up but could not get past the sand bar to assist us.When high tide came in at 11:00 a.m. the water level was 6 ft. 9 inch's but our keel sticks down 7ft. below the water level and she was in at least a foot of sand.We had some decent wind and raised the main sail and the jib and for an hour we tried to break free under sail power as the Coast Guard looked helplessly on from a safe distance.She was inching forward but just didn't have enough depth.It is now 4:30 in the afternoon and once again low tide and we are getting battered and beaten by the waves crashing in the sand bar and the boat is once again on her side.It's not pretty.Now we are waiting for 11:00 p.m. when the tide will once again be high, and actually 3 feet higher than the last high tide and hoping we can break free.Of coarse we wont have the ease of daylight to navigate, and or, the power of the motor to break us free.The Coast Guard is coming back to assist and hopefully give us a tow to the marina.For now, it's just weight and sea.

We're checked into a Youth Hostel in Astoria Oregon.It's 12:20 a.m. The Coast Guard could not pull us off the sand bar and we had to abandon ship.Marvin has been living on his boat for the last two years. If you could have seen the look on his face as the Coast Guard motored us away without her it would have broke your heart.We could only take necessary items with, so my bike is still on the boat,as with most of Marvin's possessions.Tomorrow we'll see if we can find a salvation company to tow the boat off the sand bar, and figure out what's next.For now, it's good to be on solid ground.

Dew drops
Need I say more
Seascape
These little guys were screaming, look at us

Just a few reminders of the little things in life.I hope everyone is well and thriving.Thanks for the comments I look forward to your responses.It is truly a highlight in my day.Just knowing someone out there is paying attention and in someway moved by what I am trying to express. Live it up til we meet again.

A night on the Pacific

Leaving Makah marina
Coming into Greys HarborThis is what 5 miles off shore looks likeThis morning in Greys Harbor


I’m sitting at the jetty's in Greys Harbor Washington, it’s 7:30 in the morning and I’ve just had some coffee and a wonderful raspberry fritter.There is a thick blanket of fog covering the harbor and visibility is next to nothing.Marvin and I sailed 32 hours to travel the hundred plus miles to get here.We left Makah marina at 6:00 am Monday morning with thick fog and calm waters headed for the end of the straight and south into the Pacific ocean

It took about two hours to get around Tatoshe Island and a few dangerous rocks that line the shore in these parts.We kept a steady southwest course to keep far enough away from the coast and by mid afternoon the wind picked up and away we went.The wind stayed fairly strong until late afternoon, then it gradually died out. It was now apparent that we would not reach our planed destination and would be spending the night at sea. By 8:00 p.m. we were a good 10 miles off shore and the wind all but died. As darkness came upon us I took over the helm for the first watch. Marvin would get some much needed sleep and relieve me at 12:30 a.m.
As the light faded out my only reference to land was a small town with a few lights I could see in the very distance.I was huddled in a sleeping bag armed with a hand held GPS unit and tried to hold a steady course.Talk about eerie…Marvin was now sound asleep and it was just me and the pacific ocean, a light wind, some fog, and these little sea birds who seemed to be laughing at me.Already exhausted from the days sail I was fighting off the urge to fall asleep and keep my barrings straight.That’s when the delusion set in. My mind began playing tricks on me.What little wind I had seemed to be changing directions and keeping a steady course was becoming more and more difficult.The boat spun around and very soon I didn’t know what direction I was headed.I could still make out some lights on the shore but now they were on the wrong side of me. Just when I would get the boat back in the right direction,she would spin around and once again I wouldn’t know what the fuck was going on. I started changing the sails around because of the changing winds and pretty soon panic set in. Marvin called out from inside the boat if I was alright, and I sheepishly replied yeah. But I was now at the mercy of the mighty Pacific.Two hours into my night watch I was at the end of my rope. This was some scary shit. Marvin finally emerged from his sleeping quarters and took over the helm . I was spent emotionally and physically.
The boat spun Marvin around a couple more times before he got his barrings straight, which made me feel less incompetent.None the less I was happy he took over and I could finally get some sleep. At about 3:30 in the morning after some sleep I emerged to take over the helm to discover we were now much further from shore. Marvin looked like a weary sailor ready for a break. Night time at sea is lonely and scary. It wears on you.With the fading darkness my confidence grew but was kept at bay with the with the though of Destruction Island somewhere out there and I needed to avoid it. We were now motoring along at about three miles an hour with no wind and it was boring knowing what its like to be humming along with the wind. Marvin relieved me about 8:00 a.m. and I headed straight for bed.Two and half hours later I relieved Marvin to find out we were even further off shore.What the *%#? I thought where is he taking us? For the next six hours we motored along with no wind and moral was low. At about 2 o’clock in the afternoon the wind finally picked up, and picked up it did. By 4:00 p.m. it was a steady 20 knots and we were cruising along nicely. We still had a long 40 mile sail ahead of us to make it to Greys Harbor, but the wind stayed strong and we made good time and it eventually blew us right into the marina, and by 8:00 p.m. we were dock and ready to get some much needed food. Finally we could get back to joking around and reveling in the experience we had just gone through.It took us 32 hours to get from dock to dock and it was quite an adventure.We found an expensive restaurant at the marina and had a couple of beers and some fresh seafood pasta, and were happy to be back on solid ground. At 10:30 it was lights out and we were down for the count.

sittin on the dock of the bay

One of the many Bald eagles I saw this morningMakah marina

Just killing time here at the marina.We have to stay here another night as the weather system blows over.This morning I went to get coffee and saw about 10 bald eagles.This place is a haven for them.The marina is full with commercial fishing boats.It's pretty cool here.We're at the most western part of the country in Washington.Tomorrow we'll make our way out into the Pacific if the weather and wind are in our favor.Marvin and I had breakfast this morning at a local hot spot where they serve all local organic food.Farm fresh eggs, home made bread and home made strawberry jam.It was quite nice.This is a Indian reservation and everyone is super friendly.We have a resident sea loin on the dock.Marvin saw him yesterday while I was napping.I sure would like to get a picture of him.Right now we have the heater cranked up in the boat because it's quite chilly.The forecast looks good for the next four days.We should be able to make some good time.

Ain't it foggy outside

Catch of the day King SalmonLe Paley Bleue safely tucked away in Neah BayThat's the fog bank in the distanceNeah Bay
I'm sitting in the sailboat docked at Neah bay right at the mouth of the Jaun De Fuca straights and the Pacific ocean. The wind is howling outside at least 20 knots.Our belly's are full from Indian Taco's that we had from a little trailer that was perched in the parking lot of a country store.Indian fried bread with ground beef, lettuce, tomato's, and cheese topped with salsa.We also had a piece of Three Berrie pie.I'm stuffed and ready for a nap.We left Seku this morning around 6:30 a.m. and slipped out through the fog and into the straight.We motored for about two hours before the wind picked up.The whole straight was covered with a thick fog bank.visibility was about 100 yards and we had to keep our eyes peeled for small fishing boats.At one point we heard a large tug boat blow his horn several times and I could just make out the giant silhouette off the starboard side.Two minutes after it had passed this huge barge that it was towing what seemed liked 500 yards behind it emerged out of the fog 100 yards off the starboard side.Whoa!That was scary.I was at the helm and turned sharp to the port side to avoid being run over by that mammoth thing.We were nowhere near the shipping lane because of the fog and this tug was not where you would expect him to be. The winds picked up considerably and we were sailing along between 7 and 8 knots but the fog would not burn off.So we ducted into Neah bay and will spend the night and try again tomorrow.Marvin made a good call by getting us into that bay.We would have had our hands full if we were in the Pacific right now.It's 4 p.m. and the thick fog bank is still looming out there, combined with the strong winds and chance of a thunder storm.

Sailing from port to port is alot like riding a bike from campground to campground.It's nice to have a place to rest and reflect on the events of the day.Marvin is out like a light in his bunk, and I'm not far behind.Sailing makes you hungry and tired,But it sure is fun.

37 feet of waterline nicely making way

The first sign of lightThe orka's were too fast to captureMyfriendmarvinMorning has broken

After a full day of getting the ship in shape,crossing our T's and doting our I's we pulled out of the marina at 9:00 p.m. Heading into the Juan De fuca straight we had light winds allowing us to set the main sail and unfurl the jib.It took about an hour to clear the spit and we set our course west with a beautiful red moonrise at our backs. We picked up a nice northwest wind and cruised at about 7 knots as the moon slowly rose over the next four hours guiding us with her beautiful shone light.Surrounded by dark mountains on each side of the straight we danced across the water effortlessly.Keeping a Kean lookout for freighters and giant cruise ships coming in from Alaska.As the night wore on the winds began to subside until they finally laid down to rest.We turned on the generators and for the remainder of the night motored our way toward our first port of call.Both of us we're tired and weary just before the dawn, but we're given a burst of energy as the first sign of light appeared out of the east.In the distance we spotted what appeared to be dolphins until suddenly they began racing all around the boat.Like lightning they crisscrossed under and along side the boat as if they were greeting us and showing their incredible speed.Killer whales,dozens of them zigzagging all around us. It was amazing.They looked to be about a thousand pounds each just babies curious to see what had entered their feeding grounds.At about 9:00a.m. we finally reached Seku, docked the boat and got some breakfast.We'll spend the day here, get some much needed rest and leave at high tide tomorrow afternoon.Marvin was great.I have total faith in his abilities to sail Le Paley bleue to our planned destination.Me? I'm along for the adventure,companionship, and education of a lifetime.

Getting ready to set sail

The mighty pacific

Wednesday, July 8th 2009

Today it’s raining for the first time in a couple of weeks.I walked into town and spent the morning at the coffee house on line.They have a really nice piano there, so I asked if I could play it.I spent the next couple of hours entertaining the folks coming in and out of the coffee house with some old lenny sales classics.I tried to wait out the rain, but it’s one of those days where it just keeps coming down.I stopped at the health food store and picked up some food staples for the journey.Fresh fruits, oatmeal, chocolate soymilk,and some chips and a chocolate bar.Now I’m back at the boat waiting for Marvin to return from gathering some electic supplies to hook up the two back up generators we have to motor us when there is no wind.Marvin took out the diesel motor and installed an electric motor that runs on twelve, 12 volt batteries. We have two Honda generators to recharge the batteries, as well as 10 gallons of gas to run the generators.Today we’re going to take the boat out and test the motor to see how long it takes to run down the batteries, and see if we can simultaneously recharge them with the generators without losing power.Other than that we’re watching the weather closely and plotting our course from Washington to San Francisco. It looks as though we’ll be sailing some 50 miles off shore and making 3 or 4 stops at ports along the way. We figure it will take us eleven days to get to San Francisco.Soon enough we’ll find out just how sea worthy I am.50 miles off shore on a 37 foot boat. Oh boy! Gulp.

Getting the ship in shape

A misty morning
Marvin and I spent the day working on the boat.I did some fiberglass work on the bow while Marvin took care of some rigging.At 3 o'clock we had an appointment to have the boat lifted out of the water so we could clean the bottom of barnacles and installed a new cotter pin on the rudder.Everything went smooth and we had it back in the water and docked in about an hour.Tomorrow I got some sanding and priming to do as well as painting.It's looking real good to get out of port by Friday.We're going to sail at night out of Port Angeles cause during the day it's just too windy.We'll leave port around 9 p.m. and have to sail about 60 miles to get out of the straight of Juan De Fuca and into the Pacific ocean.Sleeping on the boat has been really nice.I have my own quarters in the bow, complete with drawers for all my cloths and bike stuff.It just so happens that everything I brought along for cycling is great for sailing, like my rain gear and flip flops.We have about 50 gallons of fresh water on board a fridge, microwave,gas stove and even a barbecue grill.I'm starting to get real excited about sailing.Marvin and I are getting on just great he's a real sweet guy.He's in constant contact with his family and everyone one here in port just love him.They're all happy that he has me as his sailing partner.I got to know everyone at a 4th of July barbecue a few boats down.This is a real tight knit community here in the marina they look out for one another like family and they are all so nice.I'm at the itty bitty buzz coffee house right now.This town is real nice.They have two bike shops and at least three good coffee shops.What more could you ask for?

Port Angeles Harbor my new home for a weekMarvin Geer "The old sea dog" Le Pale bleau

lenny sails

Well I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July.I'm back in Port Angeles Washington with a story to tell.I was here about 6 days ago and while cruising around craigslist I came across and ad looking for a sailing partner.I answered the ad but never got a response, so I left town the next morning and didn't think too much about it.On Thursday I got my email returned saying that this person had tried to call me and left a message on my voicemail and if I didn't return his email he would consider me not interested. I Shot him back an email and said I was still interested and kept heading south.Later that afternoon I finally got network coverage on my cell phone and saw that I had a voicemail.It was Marvin Geer and he left his telephone number so I called and he wanted to meet with me. The only problem was I was 150 miles away in Aberdeen.I managed to hop on a bus with my bike and made my way back to Port Angeles a little after eight that same evening.I met with Marvin. We went out to this Mexican restaurant which I had been to last time I was in town.To make a long story short.Out of five people interested in the position Marvin selected me to be his sailing partner.So somewhere around next Friday we will be sailing his custom built 37 ft. sailboat out of the straight of Juan De Fuca down to San Fransisco.If we get along and everything works out I have the option to sail all the way to the Panama Canal, back up through the Caribbean and up the east coast to North Carolina.I am currently living aboard the boat and Marvin and I are getting to know one another. He is 69 years old, retired and describes himself as an old sailing dog.He's a really nice guy and I'm about to get an education of a lifetime.This is something that I've always wanted to do, so when the opportunity showed up I was all over it.The adventure continues! Oh, my bike fits on the boat so I'm bring it with.Sorry I don't have any picture at the moment. I left my camera on the boat this morning.

The North West Pacific Coast

The end of a great dayScott,Dewhite,and Sarah all on solo adventuresCamping on the beach
The biggest piece of driftwood everHoh National Rain ForestRuby Beach
Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park

Yesterday I made a big left hand turn and started heading south through Olympic National Park.Early in the morning I came across a gem of a beach called Ruby Beach.I also rode through the Hoh National Rain Forest.Then I passed four more beach's before checking out South Beach.Upon arrival I met Scott from Seattle.The first thing he did was put a cold beer in my hand,It was 11:00 a.m.Three beers later I had no choice but to stay.Sarah from Colorado showed up sometime in the afternoon and Dewight rolled in on His motorcycle from Montana around six, and the party was on.Four solo adventures converging on a tiny camp ground right on the beach.Everyone had a story to tell.We drank beer and exchanged stories long into the night around a camp fire.Scott was into his jeep,kayaking,and fire lookout stations.He was very generous with his extensive selections of good beer. Dewight was on a week long motorcycle jaunt through Olympic Park. An avid camper he was.He even used to work at Yosemite National Park.Sarah just finished her Masters in Colorado and was camping alone all over the place all by her lonesome.We were impressed to say the least.She had a trusty miniature hatchet in case anyone gave her any shit.There was lots of talk of bears and other critter encounters.Everyone was on a self discovery trip.
It was really nice being around like minded individuals and sharing our experiences.
It made me realize how much I miss my friends.I'm sitting in a coffee house on Pacific Beach counting my lucky stars.