Sitting at the Inner Harbor in Victoria enjoying the warming sun I thought about my further travel plans. First I thought that I would make my way to the US, visiting Seattle and Boston and then go on to Africa. In Africa I would have gone for some weeks on a organized Truck-Safari from Nairobi down to the Victoria-Falls and then travel independently back to Nairobi and up to Ethiopia. For a change, that would hade been not on a bicycle but on public busses. The idea was then to go to Egypt and from there making slowly my way back to Europe, this time on bicycle again.
Being in Victoria I made once more research about Safaris in Africa and compared the tours and prices of the different companies and tours that lucked cheap at first sight got more and more expensive after adding all the extra coast. I also read in guidebooks about organizing the safari once I arrived in Africa and I contacted local agencies to ask about there tours and prices. In the end I had a lot data’s – all I needed – but somehow it just did not feel right to move on to Africa – the North-West-Coast of the USA was calling.
Hoping to be able to team up with Laurence and Frederic again I wroth them a e-mail to tell about my plans and left for the ferry for Port Angeles, the US-City just across the ocean from Victoria. I was not just a little surprised to see Laurence and Frederic with there bicycles in the waiting room, ready to board the ferry to. They had read my e-mail and decided to come in the same ferry – luckily I did not postpone my departure date.
The ferry ride was mostly in the fog and we cloud not see anything. After arriving in Port Angeles we toke to route 101 under our wheels and headed towards San Francisco, 1600 kilometers to the south. The weather we encountered was bit a mix of everything, fog, sun, rain, wind, and the mixture out of it. We did not really like the weather, especially after we learned that the previous 4 months were nothing but sunny – we really thought that the weather could have waited to change for an other month.
However, we were on our way and had to deal with the weather as good as we could. We did so in waiting in sheltered places like campground-restrooms or the roofed information boards of rest areas till the worst downpours were over or pitching our tent early to get out of the rain.
An other annoyance were the partly strong headwind. Sometime they blow so strong that we were blown out of our way and we had to get of the bicycles and push them against the wind. The knowledge that the wind normally blows from the North-West and not from the South-West as it did now was in those situations just a small consolation.
Apart from the nature that slowed our progress, we had also some bicycle-breakdowns. Did I had problems with broken back-wheel-spokes ever since I started, during the few days I stayed in Victoria the shop I bought the bike from replaced all the spokes with stronger once. So, as I left Victoria the wheel was good and the spokes did not break anymore. The problem I had was the breaking of the rime there where the spokes are attached to the rim. I did now what I intended to do a long time ago but could not find – I replaced the whole back wheel with stronger one.
The other thing I had to replace was the bottom bracket. Somehow there was water in the bracket and that probably caused oxidation of the bearings and that the wear out of it – next time I probably have to get better components from the beginning. Other problems we had were minor once – some flat tires and a blocking of Laurence break due to dust-dirt-corrosion.
However, the ride along the North-West Coast is very scenic and though the road is not whole the way right at the coast, you get great views and it is amazing to see the waves braking at the coastal rocks. When the road turns away from the coast, it goes through forest or farming area and small towns. The whole route is pretty touristy and you can find everywhere Art-Galleries and Gift-Shops – I just wonder who buys all this stuff. We did not go into all the Art-Galleries and Gift-Shops but concentrated us on the more essential things like cheese factories in Tillamook and Bandon or the candy factory in Bandon. The good thing about them was that they had samples you could tray for free! Needless to say that we stopped in those places for quite a while and “sacrificed” our self to tray all the samples – it’s a hard job because sometime you have to tray several of the a kind to be sure how the taste is.
Crossing into California the weather somehow got better and we did not mind that at all. We had actually sunny days and the temperatures gut warmer. This was especially the case when the road was not following the coast anymore but a bit inland. We felt the difference quit crass as we crossed the mountains from the inland town of Leggett back to the ocean. Within a day the temperatures dropped several degrees Celsius and in the morning the tent was moister from condensation.
After almost a month on the road since Port Angeles we were all looking forward to reach San Francisco. After spending the first night in a Hostel in Downtown we now moved to a campground out of town. The 20.- USD we had to pay in the Hostel were just to much, especially after we did not spend anything or then just a few dollars for accommodation for the last 30 days. Here are we now with view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Downtown San Francisco and do nothing or not that much and I try once more to find out what I gone do next.