Day 89 - 84 miles

     I started riding in the morning and I had a headwind.  The weather was sunny and the temperature was good for riding.

     The road was long and straight and climbed steadily.  I reached Sierra Summit at 4000 feet and the sun had gone down.  

     The last 10 miles before Needles was all downhill.  I was cruising at 22mph through the darkness.  It was intense because I had to stay on the shoulder of the road.  I came over a hill and I saw city lights.  I coasted down to Needles and I had not yet talked to my CouchSurfing host, Amanda.

     Needles had a population of 5,000 so I figured I could ask around to find Amanda’s number.  I asked people at Carl’s Junior and Dairy Queen.  The girls at Carl’s Junior said they had had Amanda as an english teacher, but they didn’t know her number.  One lady at Dairy Queen made a phone call to someone that would know of Amanda because she was also a teacher.  I don’t know what kind of phone tree ensued but after 30 minutes they told me they had her number and I called her.  Amanda told me how to get to her house.

     Amanda was a cool host.  She had lived in Las Vegas.  We had a beer and I showed her pictures from the trip.  Then I went to sleep in the guest room.

I camped right next to the highway.

Camping in the desert.

Riding in the desert.

Good weather for biking.

The pavement on the shoulder was rough.

Smooth sailing.

I hit 5,000 miles.

Empty desert.

Colorful sky.

Flat road.

Colorful sunset.

Pink sky.

Sunset.

Day 88 - 69 miles

     I took Route 66 for a few miles but its surface was rough and it slowed my pace a lot.  I had a flat tire and two dogs came over and started barking at me.  I used my slingshot to fire a couple rounds towards them and they left me alone.  

     To get from Route 66 to the interstate that ran parallel to it I had to toss my bike and trailer over a barbwire fence.  Riding on the interstate was smoother, more comfortable, and faster.

     The road was gradually uphill.  The terrain was desolate desert and I saw some rodents running occasionally.

     I used SPF 50 sunscreen during the day.  When the sun set I was in Ludlow and I stopped to eat and put on my nighttime riding gear and lights.

     After riding in the dark for a while I camped next to the highway.  My camp was visible form the road but the color of my tent blended in with the surroundings so it wasn’t noticeable.

Gary's house with my gear on the floor.

Riding on I40.

Riding on Route 66.

Riding in the desert.

Day 87 - 72 miles

     When I was getting ready to leave Mojave the wind was blowing hard and it knocked my bike over and broke the rear view mirror.

     Heading out of Mojave I picked up a tailwind again and I was going 24 mph on flat road.

     I had a flat tire and a guy who owned a bike shop stopped and offered to help.  I said ‘ok’ and the guy basically changed my tube for me.

     My host in Barstow was named Gary.  When I got to Barstow I bought another inner tube and I ate at Del Taco and figured out how to get to Gary’s house.

     Gary was a kind host.  He had done a bike trip from Prudhoe Bay to Idaho 15 years before my trip.  We showed each other pictures from our bike trips and we had some of the exact same pictures.

Zach's mission house.

Long straight road.

Riding in the sun.

A truck carrying a giant wing.

Chuck from Main Street Bicycle in Illinois changed my flat for me.

Entering Barstow.

American flags flying.

Day 86 - 77 miles

     I woke up at 8:30am, packed up, and headed out.  On the way out of Bakersfield I stopped at a bike shop to pump up my tires.  I also got a haircut, bought groceries, and ate at In & Out Burger.  

     On the highway leaving town a police officer stopped me and told me to get off the highway and find an alternative route.  I rode through an orange grove and ate some oranges.

     I rode up a 17 mile hill and I was in the high desert.  Zach was my CouchSurfing host in Mojave.  At 8:30pm, when I was 20 miles from Mojave, I started going downhill with a strong tailwind.  I cruised in the dark at 25 - 30 mph average.  Soon I was in Mojave.

     Zach was an airplane designer and motorcycle rider.  He lived in an old mission that he had turned into a neat living space.  I talked to Zach for awhile and then I went to sleep.

My meal at In & Out Burger.

Crossing dry grasslands.

Day 85 - 87 miles

     I woke up and ate a peanut butter and Pop-Tart sandwich for breakfast.  In the morning I had one long climb but after that it was mostly downhill or flat.

     There was road construction on the road and one freshly-paved lane was closed to vehicle traffic.  I rode in the closed lane.

     I ate a raw bell pepper for lunch.  The road went between many fields with various crops.  The road was straight and flat.  I was able to mess with my phone and iTouch while riding.  This was a change from the hilly, twisting road on the coast.

     I stopped at K-Mart in Wasco and had pizza for lunch.  I also bought a slingshot so I could try shooting stuff while riding the bike.

     I contacted the Kappa Sigma Fraternity in Bakersfield and they said I could stay with them.  As I rode I practiced shooting my slingshot but it was hard to ride with no hands because my handlebars would wobble.  

     The road was flat all the way to Bakersfield.  I met the fraternity guys at Applebee’s at 9pm.  One member, Kenny, said I could stay with him in his apartment.  I hung out with the frat guys and then I went to sleep on Kenny’s living room floor.

My campsite.

Speed enforced by aircraft.

Sunset.

There is a box of pizza on my handlebars.

My new slingshot.

Day 84 - 28 miles

     I did laundry in the morning and ate breakfast in a common room with some of the neighbors.  I played piano and helped a 16 year old girl with her math homework.

     I said goodbye to Diane and left Paso Robles.  Soon I was in a new climate.  It was dry grassland with rolling hills.  I had a steady headwind and I was only able to go 4 mph.

     I had a nosebleed due to the change in humidity.       

     My trailer tire went flat and then my back tire went flat (my 10th flat).

     It got dark and I hadn’t made much progress.  I felt unenthusiastic about riding further so I found a place to camp in a field near the highway.

     During the night I woke up multiple times and I was cold.  By morning I had put on all my clothes and I was still cold.

The guest room I used in Paso Robles.

I attached some festive halloween balloons to my trailer.

Fixing a flat tire.

My bloody nose left this mess.

Riding into the desert.

Grasslands.

I had a flat tire here.

Night time sets in.

Day 83 - 101 miles

     I woke up at 7:30am it was chilly.  I knew I would have a long day of riding so I paced myself in the morning.  Highway 1 hugs cliffs overlooking the ocean and in some places you can look straight down off the edge.      

     The weather was sunny with a faint breeze.  The temperature was in the 80’s and it was a little hot for riding on hills.

     Eventually the terrain flattened into grasslands and I approached Cambria.  The sunsets every night on the coast had been spectacular and this night was no exception.  I watched the sunset before I turned inland on Santa Rosa Creek Road.

     Soon it was dark and I was riding on a winding road through a scary forest.  Branches loomed overhead.  There were big dark farm houses back from the road.  I could hear crickets but there were no cars on the road at all.  Some raccoons ran out onto the road and ran next to my bike as I rode.  I could barely see them in the dark but I could hear their claws on the pavement.  A skunk also ran next to me on the road but it didn’t smell bad.  There were some steep climbs over a pass.  Going down the other side was scary because the road was steep and curvy and it was dark.

     I turned on highway 46 and rode 10 miles before I stopped at a gas station to get coffee.

     Diane was my CouchSurfing host in Paso Robles.  I arrived at her house at 11:30pm and she fed me.  Diane lived in a community housing neighborhood with shared guest rooms and common areas.

     I took a shower and went to sleep in one of the guest rooms.

My campsite overlooking the ocean.

I gave myself a temporary tattoo.

Highway 1.

California coast.

This map shows places where I camped.

The beach.

My bike casting a long shadow.

The road flattened out.

Sunset.

Colorful sunset.

The sky on fire.

Sunset.

Resting on a bridge.

Palm trees silhouetted.