Greetings from Santa Cruz

I arrived in Santa Cruz yesterday after 30 more soggy miles along the California coast. It's rained steadily since we arrived in San Francisco four days ago. I'm still traveling with the Italian cyclist I met outside of Crescent City and it has truly been an unexpected pleasure. His pace is faster and his mileage higher but the company has been great. We have share a few adventures and bonded quickly as a result. However, he has continued south today while I have chosen to slow the pace again and take a rest day in Santa Cruz. I'm now 958 miles into this trip and libraries have been few and far between, thankfully more scarce than showers. Camping has been very inexpensive and showers available in all the Oregon campground but only half the California ones so far. I have only had to use motels during the wet or windy conditions.
My computer time is running out here and there is a line behind me so I will try to post more later. It's been a great trip so far!!!

A Quick Update

My apologies to those of you taking the time to check this. I really intended to keep it current but libraries along this coastal route are few and far between. Today is Day 12 and I'm in Fort Bragg, California. I'm riding with another southbound cyclist, Guido, from Italy, who started in Victoria British Columbia. We are about 200 miles from San Francisco and have been traveling together for the last 3 days.
The Oregon Coast is a blur now, but truly beautiful. It's nearly void of human activity and the campgrounds were the best bar none. The most majestic things have been the giant Redwoods. I have many photos and promise to find a library and time to update this properly.

It's Day Two (April 16th) and it will be spent riding yet one more bus. I'm currently in Portland, Oregon at the downtown public library. The bus ride (my first) has been grueling, but still the cheapest, most practical means of transporting both me and the bike. I unloaded the bike box for the final transfer to Astoria and noticed some damage to the box surrounding my front hub. I will find out tonight if it will cause any repair delays prior to leaving Astoria in the morning. It's a beautiful day here..warm, sunny and, according to the librarian, the first great weather they've had. Accuweather predicts several days of excellent riding weather to get me started.
I kept wondering why I couldn't log onto the Blog until Tracy explained that I spelled bicycle wrong on the Blog title. There isn't any point in changing it now or you wouldn't be able to follow it. Pardon the error.

It's time to Blog another adventure on the bicycle. Beginning in Astoria, Oregon, I will ride south along the Pacific Coast for over 1200 miles to Santa Barbara, California. I hope to maintain this Blog throughout, relying on the Adventure Cycling maps to locate campsites, motels, food, and libraries. Preparation for this tour hasn't been as thorough as the last tour. Most of my training rides have averaged 22 miles with only one longer ride of 64 miles. The plan is to become tour-hardened along the way!
On Thursday, Steve from Sunset Cycle in St. George, Utah helped me to fit the Koga into a cardboard box for safe passage as I begin the tour by catching the Greyhound in Las Vegas on the morning of April 15th, 2009. It will be a 33 hour bus ride via Los Angeles, San Clemente, and Portland before finally reaching Astoria at 8:35 pm on April 16th. Once I arrive I will check into a nearby motel, reassemble the Koga, and hopefully cross the bridge into Washington to start the ride on April 17th.