El Fin. That’s right. I’m done. 3,200+ miles in a little less than a month and a half. I’m actually sitting outside the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas right now waiting on the fountains to get started for the noon show. My dad and I are checking out some sights on the way back (Hoover is next!).
But, to get back to the point I’ve first got to mention a few of the more interesting things from previous entries that I’ve left out. First off, in the middle of nowhere Utah without a person in sight I saw a huge tarantula crossing the road. Of course I stopped and took a few pics, (fountains just started) but it was one huge spider. The other thing I forgot to mention was my only run in with vandals, i.e., kids. I went to the public library in Maybell, CO, the little town where they skin antelope in the park, and while I was in using their only public computer, some kids (I think they were kids) decided they would tamper with my rig. They poured the water out of my bottles and stuffed leaves down the black water bottle and, no joke, urinated in the clear one. Now, the reason I’m pretty sure they were kids is because if they’d had more life experience they would’ve known to take a leak in the black one and leave the clear one alone (it makes you think of Dumb n’ Dumber doesn’t it…remember the dog mobile and the cop).
The statue show at Ceasar’s Palace just started, but I’m going to get to the last two states here in a sec. California and Nevada were two of the most scenic yet. As I previously mentioned, I actually started in California and went back to just East of Ely, 30 miles West of the Utah/Nevada border. Berkeley and San Francisco were two amazing cities. Berkeley I’m going to call the perfect college town--tons of restaurants, tons of street vendors, and the most amazing campus I’ve seen (not for flatlanders). San Francisco was way too cool to pack into a single day, but we did it. We rode the cable car a couple of times, went to the Fisherman’s wharf and visited the sea lions of Pier 39, ate cow stomach noodles for dinner in china town, and saw the golden gate bridge and Alcatraz from a distance. I also went to the huge REI there for some climbing gear.
The sealions with San Fran in the background
Now as for the riding…it was pretty sweet as well. The first day in Cali was incredibly flat coming out of San Fran. I rode South out of Oakland through a crazy number of little towns which were so intertwined it was difficult to tell it wasn’t all the same. After getting through the cities, most of the riding was through fruit farms. At night after a 100 mile day I had a little fit of the chills, but after a Taco Bell burrito (dad’s idea) I was 100% the next day which turned out to be a really good thing. I knew the valley had to end, but why it had to end in switchbacks going up roughly 3,000 ft in a few miles I have no clue. At the top at the gas station I stopped at 3 or 4 different people came up and said something to the effect of “I can’t believe you just did that,” and neither could I. It was the steepest “long” hill I climbed. Dad and I took the next day off in Yosemite (saw half done, el capitan, a dry Yosemite falls, etc.), and the following day I climbed the remaining 5,000+ ft out of the park over Tioga pass. I knew all the climbing wasn’t a total shaft when I got to the top and started down. A 12 mile downhill with nothing but a cliff on one side and a shear drop on the other for wiggle room was a pure adrenaline rush. Just on the other side of the park was mono lake, a pretty huge parti-colored lake surrounded at least on one side by a pumice moonscape crafted by the nearby volcanoes.
Dad in front of halfdome at Yosemite
Nevada, the final state, was significantly more mountainous that I would have previously imagined. Regular veins of mountains seem to come through the state every 50 miles or so going West to East, and I probably crossed 10 passes that were 6,000 ft or higher, with 5 of those being above 7,000 ft. The first night in Nevada we actually camped out just below an 8,000 ft pass and when we woke up the inside of the tent, the car, my bike, and everything else was covered in a layer of ice. My cheap thermometer said low 20’s when we finally got out of the tent and started making breakfast. I decided to ride the state without my trailer, and as a result my longest day was 125 miles, which included four 6,000 ft passes.
Nevada is nothin but desert/plains and mountains
Final Thoughts
I’m glad I did it. I set out with a goal; I figured a month of nothing but time to think would be sufficient for me to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. It hasn’t been, and I don’t think any amount of time would be. However, what I’ve managed to do instead is grow an amazing beard and go for extremely long periods of time without showering, two things I’ve wanted to do for a while. No joke though, this trip has been about little things and not life changing meditation sessions. It’s been about the people I’ve met, the places I’ve seen, and the experiences I’ve had that are going to continue to drive me to do more similar things. And even though I’m still clueless as to which direction my life is heading in, I’ve at least got a few more stories to tell about where it’s been.
The Final shot
p.s. If anyone is wondering, I think the next trip involves a motorcycle ride through Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas (three states I’d still like to see more of), and then continuing on down through Mexico, and then… Let me know if you’re interested or have any ideas.
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