The one key element in this loaded tour that started in Seattle and returned to Sacramento was individuality. This was a tour where everyone did his or her own thing. Most of the group of nine elected to take the train from Sacramento to Seattle, stay in the hostel, take the ferry to Bremerton the next morning and ride 70 miles to Elma. In that group were Bob Maben, Dave Storm, Dick Nussbaum, Paul Gunkel, and Ed Delano. As this was our first fully loaded tour we decided to go a day early and break up the 70-mile day. Bob Hawkins and Harry Jones joined us.

Getting to Seattle is interesting. You arrive at the depot in Sacramento before midnight, check in your bike and for us our BOB trailer and dry sack. Then you wait for the train, which is always late. It arrives and you find all the cars are dark and full of sleeping people sprawled over the seats. The conductor found us seats in the last car. The train was very cold at night. We arrived in Seattle at 10:30 the following night. Harry and Bob took a taxi to the hostel. We put the bike together, attached the trailer and were off. Finding the hostel was difficult and the stairs are interminable. We took off the trailer, hauled the bike down, then the trailer, hauled the bag up to our third story room, and took the bike and trailer to the bike locker below the hostel. It seemed like a thousand stairs. We met Bob and Harry at the ferry in the morning and headed for Bremerton.

Weather was perfect for biking and we had a good ride to Shelton. We asked at the Police Station and found out that the only camping was at the fairground. That added some miles but it was cheap and the showers were hot. We had a nice dinner at a Chinese buffet. The next morning everything was wet from heavy dew. To keep from packing up the tent I started a routine of getting the sleeping bags in the stuff sacks, rolling up the Thermal Rest pads, and stuffing our pillows before leaving the tent. Bob and Harry were old hands at this and were ready before we were. We rode to Elma, stopped by the library for B-Bob to send an email to the Wheelmen, bought steaks and stuff for dinner and headed for an RV park. Showers, a pool, gas grills and a recreation room made for a nice evening.

Meantime, Bob, Ed, Dave, Dick, and Paul, one day behind us, were riding directly from Bremerton to Elma to catch up. Just outside Belfair the spindle in Dick’s bottom bracket broke. While the rest rode on, Dick found a good Samaritan who drove him to a bike shop for a fix. He arrived in Elma later in the day. We all met the rest of the group for breakfast at the Rusty Tractor restaurant. “Huge pancakes”!!.

We rode with Paul and Dick and started the experience of the high mileage riders. It is a good thing we had two days of the relaxed pace with Bob and Harry because now we were pushing. The riding is mostly flat so we move quickly and grab food at a bakery. We stop to eat at Lewis and Clark State Park. We are the first into Castle Rock and are sent on a wild goose chase by the Chamber of Commerce. We end up back at the first campground we saw and eat sandwiches in camp. Gradually, everyone else shows up. It was the first and last evening that all nine of us in the group were together. We did 87 miles and 3000 feet of climbing.

September 25 finds us chasing Paul and Dick to Cathlemet. We grab a burger and hurry to catch the ferry to Astoria. The remainder of the group has a leisurely lunch in Cathlemet and crosses the ferry about two hours later after a long wait on the dock.

We elect to stay on Hwy 101 all the way to Seaside. We stayed at an RV park and did laundry. We did 83 miles with 3,580 feet of climb. The others stayed in a motel in Astoria, except for Ed who camped on the coast. That was the last day any of us saw Ed for the remainder of the tour. Dave caught Paul’s cold.

September 26 we leave Seaside and eat at the Pig and Pancake. We rejoin with Bob, B-Bob, Dave and Harry just after breakfast and ride with them for awhile before a series of climbs and stops splits us again. We ride 101 into Tillamook for lunch.

A man on road paving crew directs us to Wiskeytown Road into Netarts. We get snacks, beer and oatmeal at a store and go to the Bike and Hike in Cape Lookout State Park. Interesting concept. Bikers are in a beautiful grove that you walk into on winding gravel paths. The bathrooms and showers are a mile away in the campground. Bob, B-Bob, Dave and Harry stay at a rather seedy, weedy RV park outside Tillamook, definitely the worst campsite of the tour. The showers are not functioning. It is sponge bath night. Bob catches the cold.

We did get run off the road by a little old lady on oxygen in a white minivan. Ralph kept us right beside her, as she turned right in front of us. I’m afraid we yelled at her. A good day of 63 miles and 2930 feet of climb.

September 27 we cook our oatmeal in camp for breakfast. Good thing as there is an 800-foot climb right out of camp. We ride to Pacific City and have a great breakfast at a brewpub. Paul even has a beer. We stick to 101 but still have another 800 foot climb out of Neskowin. It is foggy and 101 has a lot of traffic. We take the quiet and beautiful Otter Crest Loop thinking we will eat dinner in Otter Rock. Missed Otter Rock and push on along 101 to Newport. We eat a big dinner. Ralph has caught Paul’s cold so we decided to find a hotel. We stay at the Inn at Yaquina Bay while Dick and Paul camp. We did 67 miles and 3,730 feet of climb. The others camp at Beverly Beach State Park.

September 28 we meet Dick at South Beach State Park. It is a very nice campground. Today we head towards Seal Rock and finally eat breakfast in Yachats. We thought we would buy food in Westlake and camp before Gardinier. Nothing in Westlake, and no campground. We push on to Gardinier, which has no services. We cross the bridge to Reedsport and find Dick and Paul eating a great dinner of Lingcod. We ride to Winchester and stay in an RV park. I’ve got the cold now. We rode 76 miles with 3240 feet of climb. The others stay at a motel in Florence and consume a huge Chinese dinner that evening. The next morning Harry ships home about 6-7 pounds of unnecessary gear.

September 29 we stop for breakfast at Pizza Rays in Winchester Bay, then head towards North Bend. We walk across the long Coos Bay Bridge. Bob rides across on the sidewalk, Dave walks and that devil-may-care duo, B-Bob and Harry, ride across on the road with mere inches between them and passing traffic.

We stop for cold medicines and once again we ride by ourselves. In Charleston we had clam chowder to prepare us for Seven Devils Road. We had ridden it before unloaded. It is beautiful, remote with great view from the top of several ridges. Then we are back on 101 into Bullard’s Beach State Park where Paul and Dick have already set up camp. We try to find the rest of the group. They are 20 miles back in Charleston at a motel where they dry out, and Dave restocks his sweets supply with a huge bag of saltwater taffy and licorice jelly beans. It was a 63-mile ride with 2220 feet of climb.

Barbara Nussbaum met us in camp in the morning. We put the BOB in her car and rode unloaded for one day. We had breakfast in Bandon and followed the route out of town on quiet roads. Dave looses contact with Bob and B-Bob when he stops for photos outside Brandon on Seven Devils Road, makes a wrong turn in the fog and rides a few extra miles. He rejoins with Harry in Bandon where the two of them have a leisurely coffee and croissant break. They ride together the rest of the day, giving Dave a chance to take a lot of photos.

It is still foggy and cold. We can see the cranberry bogs but all the scenic overlooks are fogged in. We speed into Gold Beach and meet Barbara at the Motel 6. We have a great steak dinner with all the trimmings thanks to Barbara. A 60 mile day with 2300 feet of climb but we averaged 16 mph. Dick and Paul did it loaded. The others stay at an RV park at Nesika Beach, where Dave and Harry arrive late in the afternoon. Harry catches the cold.

October 1 we have a good breakfast at Grant’s in Gold Beach, stop for pastries in Brookings, and search for a brewery in Crescent City. We find it! Good food, terrible beer! It looks like a short ride to Del Norte Campground outside of Crescent City but we end up doing a big climb, as the campground is closed for the season. We ride all the way to Klamath and camp in an RV park. B-Bob and Harry elect to stay in a motel in Crescent City while Bob and Dave push over the hill and stay in the Redwood Hostel a few miles back. We are now fragmented into three groups. We find out Ed Delano had to take the bus part way home because of pulled ligament at Port Orford. We did 78 miles with 3,800 feet of climb.

October 2 we meet Dave and Bob for breakfast in Klamath. We have a big climb up Newton Drury Parkway with a glorious downhill through the forest. We stop in Orrick for some rich rocky road pie. Dick and Paul claim they waited for us, but they didn’t. We ride alone along 101. Lots of climbs in the cold fog. We stop in Arcata for lunch and call Bob. They are on 101 between Arcata and Eureka. We move quickly and catch them before Eureka and find a motel there. Dick and Paul made it to Fortuna. It was a 72-mile day with 2,840 feet of climbing.

October 2 is cold and almost a drizzle. We ride 101 to Scotia and Rio Del and then take the Highway of the Redwoods (Avenue of the Giants). A great road with little traffic and huge redwoods. At Meyers Flat we are on the edge of a big fire just across the Eel River. Lots of smoke. Back on 101 with a big climb into Garberville.

We stay in the private Richardson’s Grove RV Park because they have a deli across the street. A 79 mile day with 3030 feet of climb.

October 3 we decide to take Highway 1 over the 1,900 foot Leggett grade to Cleone. The others take 101 to avoid the cold foggy weather along the coast. There is 1,200-feet of up-and-down climbing to breakfast in Leggett before the grade. We take Highway 1 down into a cold valley, put on jackets, and start to climb to 800 feet again up to the bluffs on the coast. Lots of climbing into Westport. Highway 1 is narrow with no shoulder, steep rollers and an occasional rude aggressive driver. It is definitely the worst riding of the tour. MacKerricker State Park is not very nice and they charged for showers. We did 59 miles and 4,140 feet of climb. Good Mexican dinner at the Blue Rose. We receive a cell phone call from B-Bob that evening informing us that he had a spill when running over a rumble strip. He suffers some road rash, but can continue to ride.

October 4 we have a flat in camp, the only one we had. The sun breaks through and we ride together through Mendocino and Albion and on into the Anderson Valley via Highway 128. The temperature rises significantly as we ride inland.
We make reservations at the Boonville Hotel, as there are no campgrounds. Pull into Boonville with 58 miles and 2,300 feet of climb.

We have nice rooms at a great discount. We get dinner out, savor the product of the local Boonville microbrewery and have wonderful dessert at the hotel, double chocolate pecan pie alamode.

Ralph gets sick in the middle of the night. Don’t take anti-histamines with prostate problems or you could end up with your urethra blocked. We were very fortunate. A call to the Ukiah emergency room gave me the number of the ambulance service. The CDF and volunteer fire departments arrived and one of the volunteer firemen, Jim Minton took us to the hospital in his truck. If you can stay at his Anderson Creek Inn, I’m sure he would be a wonderful host. Ralph got relief, we found a truck at Hertz, picked up our bike at the hotel and I drove home. We rode 960 miles in 14 days with 39,760 feet of climb.

Bob and Dave continue the route into Sacramento. On October 6 they ride on to Calistoga where they stay for the night, 65 miles and 3,117 feet. The last day, October 7, they complete their ride into Sacramento via Berryessa, Winters and Davis. 94 miles and 2,167 feet. B-Bob and Harry, riding down Highway 101, 20, and 16 also complete the tour on the
same day. Paul and Dick, riding the same route as B-Bob and Harry, arrive in Sacramento on October 5.

What I learned is that loaded touring can be anything you want. You can be a tourist, ride and stop to see things, arrive in camp early and have a nice dinner. You can ride hard, camp every night, eat only one or two meals out, arrive early in camp and drink beer. You can ride moderately and stay at hotels every third night so you can wash the three sets of riding clothes whether it is foggy or not. I also learned that on fairly populated routes you don’t have to bring your cooking gear. You may have to eat a muffin or energy bar to get you to breakfast or have a cold dinner but you won’t have the weight or take the time to cook and clean up. Also, being organized makes all the packing and unpacking easier. We found zip-lock bags were very handy. A bike cover keeps things from getting wet along the coast. The Adventure Cyclist maps were good but not infallible. They tended to take you on secondary roads without regard to climbing. There wasn’t a profile on the California maps to let you know how much climbing there was. I hope if you decide to try this wonderful way to travel that you will be blessed with the clear weather we enjoyed. Thanks to Bob Maben and Dave Storm for the great trip.

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