So I knoew that this has taken me an extremely long time to write the last blog posttt of my trip. I have been busy, it really hads taken me a long to try and get my life back on track. I mean I have decided to overhaul my life and try to make a new existance in Bellingham, and this is not the easiest thing.

I wrote this when I got back to Bellingham in ealy May of this year. I didn't finish the blog successfully, I think that the shock of entering back into the real world stopped me from finishing what was one of the most successful journals I have ever wrote. I guess that there is no looking back on the mistake that I made now, and no true way to finish what I started. I guess that the only finishing touch from my bike trip is what it has done to me. How I have changed and that is something that only you my dear followers can quantify when you meet me in person. Thank you everyone for reading and sorry that it took me so long to post the last two blogs of really one the most ridiculous things that I will ever do in my life.

Bringing it Together (Salem Or. to Olympia Wa.)

Going to the college corridor was a terrible idea. Ever since I have come here I haven't been able to ween myself from eating hot dogs, going to good wills, and sleeping on couches. I mean seriously it is the best, I honestly don't know a better way to spend some of the most worry free days of life. I have camped for two nights in a row since I have gotten to Eugene. It was only 45 miles to Corvallis, and then 50 or so to Salem, then another 50 to Portland and from there I met my mom and she drove me all the way to Astoria so it was pretty easy to make all the way to Olympia in a few days. There is a large part of me that is screaming at myself. Not letting me forget how much of a pussy I have been for not braving the wet cold ass nights that April in Washington promises. I have been in the weather for so long and it has gotten to the point where if a slightly comfortable opportunity presents itself than it is worth taking. Although I am missing out on the Native Americans, the Rain Forest, and the home town of Bella, it is totally worth it to get out of the rain and the constant feeling of loneliness. I guess to me at this point in my very short life, eating apple tarts with my friends is better than biting the Carlisle Cullen obsessed girl that I was sure to seduce. I definitely wouldn't give up that opportunity if it came across my path, but seeking it out at the expense of my body and missing out on Carson Ball the best friend my smelly asshole could ever have (Written by Carson) was just not worth it me. That is what I am starting to realize, it is way better hanging out with the devil than being alone. It isn't worth punishing myself anymore, I like myself I think that I have gained all of the character that I can possibly squeeze out of this trip. If I was way more hardcore and didn't like people as much as I do, it wouldn't have been a big deal to go around the country like a badass mother fucker, but since I am a normal human being I'm pretty much over it. I want to see people that are my age, I don't want to ride my bike in the rain everyday with no hope of any comfort. I am just ready go home sit in my pool and eat the absolutely delicious food that Prudy is bound to make me. Even though I'm getting to the point of being over what I am doing I am not over the way that this trip made me. Being able to go anywhere talking to anyone and riding my bike to get there is a great way to live. Even living really cheaply is a new habit that I don't think I will be able to shake. I am just starting to learn what is important in life, it is worth squandering all of my money on having incredible experiences rather than buying all of the gear that I would need to decorate my room the same way that they do on Extreme Home Make Over. I love coming home to a nice space, but how can I ever give up for the gratitude of a little kid in a skate park by giving him the exact thing that he is always looking for in exchange for it. I have started to grow back into my college self but now with a totally different attitude. It is really hard for me to not appreciate what I have, it is hard for me to not look at the college world and see how nice it is, going to school and learning some pretty awesome stuff compared to the alternative of sleeping under bridges and begging for food and alcohol for the rest of my life. I am ready to think and grow in a way that can only be done by being forced by teachers. I can't go through my entire life acting like I am an intelligent productive member of society when I am actually a bum that is so jaded I feel as though the world kind of gives a shit about me. Carson told me a quote "That the world only cares about you as much as you care about yourself." and he's completely right. Eventually my luck is going to run out, sooner or later everyone is going to be disillusioned with my mission and me to the realization of what I really am, which is a traveling homeless person that uses and breaks all of their stuff at the very worst, and eats all of their food at the very best. The thing is that I do care about myself now. I completely love myself so I guess it is worth putting a little bit of effort into something that will eventually be worth something rather than continuing to sleep outside and being semi miserable. This experience has been life changing I believe that I am a better person than when I started but it's really hard to say. On a moral level I feel as though I have been living a fairly successful life but at a legality level I feel as though I may be doing subpar. This is the question that is hard for me to decide on. Is something that everyone thinks is wrong necessarily wrong?

College Enterance Essay for Willimette University (Same Place, I can't believe I haven't left yet.)

An Epiphany to Leave.

It is not very often when something hits you so hard that it is a completely overwhelming experience. The onset of the experience is so emotionally vast that it becomes a very strange thing, something that is deeply complex, but if taken at face value the emotion seems to be very obvious. I felt this way when I first came on to the Willamette University. Imagine coming in as an outsider, being instantly accepted to the point of popularity, and being able to perfectly fill the role that the fame is based on? To me this was a life time fantasying, but when it finally happened I was stunted by my fame. It's overruling presence restricted me, disallowing me from growing on a personal level.

By living a lifestyle that is based on fulfilling a preconceived notion of a person, that person deceiving himself or herself. If constantly worried about what other people think, and acting upon the way that they are expected to be, the individual is more controlled by their surroundings than any sense of self. I am at least. I came to Willimete University in the middle of a bike trip starting in Santa Barbara Ca. and ending in Bellingham Wa, when people learned this they instantly liked me for it. As I began to enter deeper into the community my reputation began to spread. The more people that knew of me, the more that I wasn’t so sure that what they thought of me was an actual manifestation of self. I would deceive them, acting the way that I thought they wanted me to be. After awhile of this I became caught up in it, I would act a certain way to fill the role that I was supposed to be. By doing this well I became incredibly liked. I became more of a symbol, or a model human being, rather than the person that I have been trying so hard to become. I would compromise personal expression so I could fit the role that was pressed on me.

Character can only be derived when a person is being purely themselves. People try so hard to obtain character by copying market schemes. The problem is that when everyone tries to copy the same character the traits that symbol represents become generic. I was creating a similar type situation in myself. I would live up to character traits that everyone expected me to have. They would corrupt me. I was so good at living up to the image of myself I would act on the intention of my idyllic self. It was like living in a scene, walking through cherry blossoms, having everybody I met deeply connect with me, it gave me a state of being that I have secretly always wanted. I could have been consumed by this, enrolling into Willamette staying this role during my college and then going out into the world to become I’m sure fairly successful. This could have been a very happy life, actually a life that a ton of people strive for, but that is not what I want. It would have been giving up my soul in exchange for a seemingly idyllic life.

In all honesty I don’t know if this is where I want to go to school anymore. I still have so much world to see, so many more experiences to be had and it is a huge decision finding a place to base my life’s journey out of. A big reason I’m writing this essay is to back up what I have started; to make sure that my true character has not been tarnished by the distorted reality that I found myself stumble into. In falling into this alternate from of self I have learned myself, grown vastly as a person. It is just very emotionally taxing. I'm not if the taxation is worth the glory that it promises.

Like Minded People (Eugene to Salem)

In knowing that I have moved less than 80 mile in the somewhat wrong direction since last week makes me feel pretty shitty about the progress of my bike trip. I have started to accept the fact that I am becoming fat, lazy, and would rather find away into the Goudi dining hall to eat a hot fresh meal rather than eat peanut butter, apples, cheese, and the occasional treat of kind semi moist beef jerky. Yes, I am in the process of taking another week off of my trip to bum around the Willamette College campus, and also yes, I have been wasting the last of my very limited resources to buy party supplies, but in the end is it not worth me finding a place staying to see if I like it and than moving onto the next. I have started to evolve out of my old, constantly moving, continually scared self into realizing that I can literally do whatever I want. There really is no reason (accept making it to Pete's Graduation on time) for me to not spend as much time as I possibly can figuring a place out. I have come to realize (and I am so glad that I did) this is the great lesson to teach myself. After spending sometime on the Willamette campus I have realized that I have found a hidden gem. Something that in my entire life I would have for sure looked over, dismissing it as another private school, that is full of a bunch of elitist rich kids that were way more worried about grades for their future careers as CEO's than anything else in the world. When I came onto this campus this preconceived notion blinded me. I was so wrapped up in my own ideas of doubt that I missed what was standing right in front of me for the first few nights. In all honesty I was only staying because there was a massive storm raging outside, and I felt as though getting soaking wet for a couple more days would be way less fun than staying in a superbly decorated, warm dorm room. It took me being left by all of my friends from Boise to really begin to understand what the campus was all about. When waking up on Saturday morning I felt pretty bad about myself, I felt kind of lonely, and knew that I was failing hard at assimilating into the Willamette community. Instead of acting like myself I was putting on a front of something that I felt people wanted to see, I was acting the exact way that made me feel so terrible about my self when living in Bozeman. I knew that I would either have to stop doing this to myself or leave. It would have been a bash on the whole spirit of this trip if that was the way that I acted for an extended period of time, so I knew that I was going to have to hightail it out of Willamette if this pressing feeling of shittiness persisted. On Saturday morning though all of this changed. I was walking around Terra hall and happened to bum into Megan and Cross... Actually I just kind of walked into their room to see what they were up to. After sitting, letting my guard down and really engaging with them my eyes were opened to what at least Terra house really was. They made me understand that everyone at this campus, no matter what they are into is extremely smart. This opened my mind to the fact that the people here are very real, they understand the world, and although a lot of them were brought up in privileged circumstances they at least understand and appreciate the circumstances that led them to thins point of their lives. Also this was the first time it hit me that I was living in a girls dorm room, using the women's bathroom completely unattended by her your anyone else. Even in my state of reclusion I was seen as a part of the community, people trusted me enough to live with them without really knowing me at all. This is a special thing that I have not found on any other college campus that I was visited. I am always greeted with some justifiable anticipation. (like your cool man and I guess you can stay, but don't steal my fucking sunglasses you bastard.) I am a transient bum, and having a healthy sense of respect when dealing with people this way, is probably a good idea if you don't want to get totally ripped off. So entering into a community that started out trusting me, based on someone else word that kind of knew me, was a pretty telling sign of how awesome this college community actually was. From here I was able to start acting like myself again I began to branch out and meet more and more people and them more that I have done this the more I realize that this is a place filled with kids that are like me. As I continued on my journey for the day a ran into Eli who kind of knowing me asked if I was still coming to plateau by Detroit lake so I could come and party with them. After making it to the top of the plateau, realizing it was too wet to camp, going to a hot springs, taking a wrong turn and getting stuck in the snow, trying to get unstuck for a hour (with all of our car member not ready for snow at all.) running to a hot springs to meet up with some other kids whose car we could use, driving out to call a tow truck, getting towed out, bringing the keys back down to the hot spring, deciding that it was too cold and wet to camp, convincing kids to leave the womb like hot springs to enter the harsh world, starting to drive back, passing a closed gas station on empty, running out of gas 20 miles down the road, waiting an extremely long time for the other crew to get gas, learning they got pulled over, stressing out for a while, deciding when they got back that the only two suitable drivers were Eli, and Jillian who had never driven a clutch, having Jillian step up to the plate and driving a manual as well as I do, and making it home safely just so we could partying our brains out at 3:30 am, I began to realize this is an incredible place. We were in a string of really terrible situation and no one complained, actually I think that people were secretly happy about it. (I was having a great time personally) I have never met this big of a group of people that have gamed this hard in a completely outrageous string of events and having everyone at the end talking about how awesome it was. This event (realizing the potential of the kids that go here), the best campus music scene ever, the best, most relaxed dining hall on the west coast, and the fact the my mind is on fire with it constantly being fed by the community around me I have come to fall in love with this place. So yes, I am still here, wasting my life away waiting until April 20th and the massive campus wide celebrations that the school has been kind enough to give everyone the day off for, but I have come to the conclusion that this is not a terrible thing. Alex Blake was completely right in telling me that I need to steel my mind so I don't end up on the couches of my friends... I have ended up on my friends couches. I guess this has proven the pink squishiness of my mind, but at least I don't have a steel trap that won't let any new ideas in or out.
Tim
P.s. Thank you so much Lauren for being my temporary roommate. I honestly think that you have allowed me to fall onto the best spot on campus.
P.s.s. Thank you Terra house for accepting me into the community, you guys rule.

Getting Fat (Eugene Or. to Eugene Or.)

As can be seen from the title of this blog I have become extremely lazy. Ever since I have hit Eugene I have decided fuck going on an epic adventure, fuck being in the cold ass rain, and fuck being so dirty and hungry that eating a peanut butter covered apple, and jumping in the freezing river is such an improvement from the status quo that sometimes I will fiend for those things. The problem is, I'm not done. I still have half of Oregon, and all of Washington to ride before I can even consider myself to be somewhat accomplished. There are still so many more people to meet, so much more territory to see (this is only a very small portion of the world) that giving up is not an option. It would go against everything that I have began to cherish in myself. With quite a bit more riding to do, and tons more adventures to be had, there is no way that I could throw this away, but It took me a while to get a hold of this mental attitude. Upon first getting into Eugene I was pretty ravished from long days of biking and really having no comfort since I was in Arcata. Arcata to Eugene was so difficult because I stretched myself out so thin. I went days and days without any real rest, without a real sense of safety so getting to Eugene was such a great treat. As soon as I got here though I became so lazy and uninspired it was almost unbearable. It took me from Wednesday to Sunday to write the first blog that I posted here. On Thursday I cleaned the most disgusting kitchen I have ever seen, but those are about the only productive thing that I have done in a week... It has been a great time. Being in Eugene and hanging out with my friends has been so amazing that I really haven't had this much fun (I mean real fun doing things that are not fun afterwards but are fun right then.) since I was in Santa Barbara. This has been a much needed week of recuperation. Although I could have taken better advantage of it by sleeping, and planning my next step; I feel like the excessive partying and eating of ice cream and cookies has been one of the best vacations I could have taken away from my vacation. To do this and not feel like a total mooch I had to give something back. I did that by cleaning the kitchen of the house that I stayed in on 23rd and Onyx, it was seriously filthy. In cleaning the kitchen I dumped out at least 4 pots of standing water with a mold layer on them. Cleaned out a sink filled with fungus covered dishes and washed almost every dish that they had in a six person house. When cleaning the sink I would get wafts of a fungi like microbe decomposing the Kraft macaroni and cheese grit in a month old dirty dish. On top of this there were old party remnants everywhere which had to be cleaned. It was a pretty big job, but I'm really glad that I did it. While living in that house I have mooched off everyone so hard I probably should, in all honesty have to do something like that again. Everyone that lives there has been incredibly good to me, and I hope that they come back to Boise this summer so that i can repay them a little bit more. In this week I have lost all of my physical and mental endurance, letting myself slip so hard that I probably won't be able to make it the 40 miles to Corvallis tomorrow. Even if I couldn't do this (Which is an absurd thought I can't believe I typed it in the first place.) it would have been worth it, going back and hanging out at a college has been a great time. If I didn't appreciate it with all of the value that it really has I have obviously have learned nothing on my trip. Thank you to everyone at Eugene that has made my stay about as perfect as it could have possibly been. I am sad to leave but I know the time has come, with a inspired second half to come I am ready once again to step back into the world.
Tim
P.s. I want to give a special thanks to Alex Unger for letting me stay in his room with him, giving me a lot of cookies and such and teaching me about doing you.
p.s.s. I have way too many shout outs to give on this blog so thank you guys all a lot. Especially Coop, Stroob, Kerry, Joe, and Nick. It has been awesome thank you guys
p.s.s.s. Good job keeping the kitchen clean

Biting Off more than I Can Chew (Brookings to Eugene)

The beach at Brookings Or.

In the tree hole I couldn't make the flash work well enough to show its proper depth but it was probably two feet above my head
I finally made it
The tree hole I jumped into

When I said going to get through the southern part of Oregon pretty quickly I was kind of joking, but upon realized how close I was to Eugene, there was no way I was going to mess around and wait for the ensuing storm to come and hit me. This part of the country is beautiful, but the idea of a nice bed to sleep in, the ability to feel safe, and seeing some old friends was so close I couldn't handle the thought of camping through more nights of rain, and the cold front that was beginning to press down upon me. My drive to get up the coast line was so great it forced me to do the two longest days yet, one 85 from Gold beach to Coos Bay and the next day of 95-100 going from Coos Bay all the way into Eugene. I was supposed to meet my friends in Florance Oregon today (Friday the 8th), but there was no way that I was willing to wait in some terrible storm felling like a pussy when I could just (what I thought) easily ride it in myself. In the morning at Coos Bay I thought that I would be able to (if I didn't camp) make it the full 100 miles and ride it into Eugene. This was, flat out, a total over estimation on my own riding ability. It is (I promise) extremely hard to ride 100 miles over the coastal range after riding 85 miles the day before. After getting up at 6 am so I could get up and out as early as possible (to avoid the camp ranger that I didn't pay) I rode the first 25 miles from Coos Bay to Reedsport, I felt good and it was still about 10 am. I figured that turning up the Smith river road and riding the last 75 miles to Eugene would be a breeze. I stopped at the Chamber of Commerce in Reedsport before taking this side rode, to just to make sure it would be safe for me to go up it, and if it was even possible to make it over it in one day. The only response that was given was how desolate the road was, and that it was 75 miles long. In my gusto to get to Eugene I decided that this was totally worth it. I mean I would have forgotten about later that night when I was sitting around. I figured prolonged pain for one day was worth all of the prolonged happiness I would get from the unlimited sitting around I had the opportunity to finally do. I started to ride, after 30 miles down this fire road (it was paved but not very well kept with no people anywhere.) I started to think to myself that this was maybe going to be a little bit harder than saying "fuck it I'm going to do this." It had rained, hailed, and sleeted on me all day, and after feeling damp and cold for such a long time I started to realize that I was get drained. Another ten miles down the road I began to hit the wall. I could barley turn my crank, barley had enough energy to keep my steady momentum going forward. As I started to bonk, very, very, hard I hit the real mountains! I had to climb the the coastal range to make it to Eugene, and in the state that I was in this seemed impossible. I stopped to eat, that was the only possible way I could even consider the idea of making it. In stopping I became extremely cold, I was soaking wet all day, and it was only 9 degrees C, so stopping my body was not only a waste of very limited daylight, but it also broke the endorphin train that I was on breaking much of the will power that I had left. In stopping I began to shake uncontrollably, I was hitting the wall so hard that I didn't know what to do. I started panic very badly, this is the first time I have really lost all of my inner drive and the hope that help would come. The idea of camping kept flashing through my head and that was worst case scenario from the beginning. The ground was so mucky that it would have been really unsuitable to pitch my tent on anything except for the blacktop road, and the temperature was starting to fall fast. This was shaping but to be the worst night of my entire life, and I could not shake that thought, it consumed me, forcing me going deeper and deeper into my panic state. The idea of getting defeated by this road and suffering the consequences for it was a very daunting way to end my day, it would have shaken me for the entire rest of the trip. In all honesty I would have road into Eugene the next day, (having no other choice) but it would have been in very bad shape. As I sat at the bottom of the hill so panic stricken I thought I was going to puke (I was very very shaken and tired and cold.) One out of the five cars I saw on the entire stretch drove by me. It happened to be a truck, and I knew that was the only way I was going to make it to anywhere that help would be available. I flagged him, forced him to stop, this is the first time I have ever stood in the road, showing that I was in extreme distress. Upon explaining my situation he didn't really want to give him a ride at all. He was an old logger named Brian, and thought that I was like all the other dumb ass kids he worked with. He kept telling me that I really deserved to suffer my consequences, to make sure that the lesson became ingrained. No one in the entire world is that heartless though. He in the end, of course, he gave me a ride telling about how I should tell all of the girls that I meet about how far I rode, and how no one helped me. He was very into the idea of me picking up chicks with that type of tactic, supposedly it was what he would always do to his wife. I was given a fifteen mile ride to the top of the coastal range, being dropped off in Crow Oregon. From there it was another 30 miles to Eugene but it was all down hill and flat. By that time, I was so ready to make it that it was pretty easy to muster enough strength to ride it all the way in. This was the heaviest experience i have had on this trip. It has really shaken me. The fact that when I needed to keep myself together the most, I lost it. This can not happen to me again, it is really just too dangerous. Keeping a calm collective mental attitude is really important for me to do at all times. It is really scary to know that I still have a lot of capability of reverting back to my old notorious self of constantly making massive mistakes induced because of being too panicky self. I cant let this happen again!
Over all I have been doing well. I have hit new bike riding abilities, and now I'm in Eugene where I can laugh on what I have done, and prepare myself for the future. I so incredibly excited to spend some time with Stroob, Unger, Cooper, Nick, Joe, and Kerry I can't even relate the feelings into words. So I hope that I can make some money and heal my body for a little bit before I take off on the the second half of the trip.
Tim
P.s. I don't have much to say about southern Oregon I rode straight through it without looking around... IT was stormy and shitty and I wanted to go, I think that the Sand Dunes are pretty awesome but I didn't spend anytime in them.

Jumping into Holes (Arcata Ca. to Brookings Or.)

Yes! I finally made it to Oregon. I am now done, with what I think will be, the first and hardest state. It is the longest, hilliest, and sketchiest area I am going through. (I honestly can't believe that I still have not gotten my bike stolen!) Upon getting into Oregon I have been given some new hope, a new drive to get the trip done, and am finally starting to believe that I will be able to finish. I have gotten used to bagging for food, and campsites. Ever since going to the pastor of a Methodist church asking if I could sleep in the church, and eat the canned food that was supposed to go to hungry women and children I have lost all of my shame. This is great news, it really allows me to get into wild situations without my conscious interfering at all. In being shameless as I have kind of become, I thought that I could get a free dinner from this gay couple last night, and that was not a good idea. Last night I pulled into the Harris beach state park next to Brooking Oregon. (This is were I told the cop he couldn't search my car with Henry Ross, George Gundlach, and Pete Ronan.) I set up my camp at the hiker biker sight and this weird guy riding a red scooter thing comes up to my stuff and informed me that he was just looking around. The instant that I first met him I knew that there was something extremely weird about him. After every thing that I said we would do this strange, high pitch, very effeminate, laugh making it known that he was appreciating what I was saying. I'm not really one to give up an opportunities of meeting someone anymore, so I try and ignore quirks like this. After a while he told me that I should come over to his trailer so I could meet his dog and his his partner. I kind of thought it was a bad idea the entire time, but after being by myself for a while, and the driving, constant, motivator that is extreme hunger I figured that I should go over to there. If nothing else I was going to warm up my hands and get a free dinner. As soon as I went over, and walked in it hit me this was a terrible idea. The contents of the trailer were, two 55-70 year old very gay men, a long haired weiner dog and a Pomeranian. Like it was normal conversation one of the first things they asked me was if I was bi. I was really confused at first, I thought they were asking if I buy drugs or something, but no, they were definitely asking me if I was bi-sexual. When I understood the context of the question I told them that there was no way that I was bi, and that there was no way that i would do anything or witness anything that they had to offer. This offended both of them, saying that "We don't normally see people with such beautiful, long, hair like yours that don't swing both ways." This was almost too much, but the conversation dropped, and I was cold as shit, so I wasn't really ready to go back to my tent, and they had cookies so of course I stayed in the trailer a little longer. After sitting there, talking about how exciting it was that Britney Spears was going on a come back tour, I figured I was high time I got back to my camping area. When I said I was going , the guy in the red scooter asked me if he could walk me back to my tent, trying to convince me that it was good for his sciatica. I didn't want to be a total dick head, and they did let me stay in their trailer so i let him do it. As we were walking back he kept getting closer and closer to me (the exact same thing that I try to do when I'm trying to get together with some girl, even though I know she thinks I'm a disgusting pig, and that she is definitely going to deny me.) As we got back to my campsite, the guy told me that I shouldn't take this to be offensive, but that I have a great body. This was way over the line. I made him leave after that, telling him that I reserve the right to beat the shit out of him if he tried making any sort of strange sexual move on me. This did the trick, forcing him to walk back across the campsite to his trailer in shame. Probably going back to his gay lover,crying telling him that the moves he put on this lovely little boy did not quite work. This to me has still been bothering me, for a couple of reasons. Mainly all of my stuff (except for my bike.) Is still at that camp site unattended and I'm slightly worried that this guy may go there and fuck with it... this instant as I'm writing this blog. Also I don't really like giving off a negative vibe towards anyone but this guy forced it upon himself. I'm very conflicted with the lesson I'm supposed to learn here, which should be don't hang out with super weird people. The problem is that hanging out with super weird people has done me good in the past, giving me gifts and advice. So maybe it should be I shouldn't hang out with super weird people that want to hook up with me... Once again this is proven wrong because the one legged chick that I spent some time with in Myers Flat definitely wanted to get together with me, and she gave me so many presents I can't even believe it. So, this is the lesson, don't hang out with super weird gay guys that want to get together with you. It never turns out to be a good situation. I sometime don't know if they even realize that they are crossing the line, but yes, if you are homosexual consent, and rape laws still do apply to you. I think its always good to have some sort of bail out plan no matter what type of situation you get into, which is something that I did not have earlier this week. The area between Arcata and Crescent City is absolutely amazing. The old growth red wood groves, in which there are the largest trees in the world is one of the more spectacular places that I have ever been. I spent a lot of time hiking around and checking out these groves, (Part of the reason it took me so long to get from Arcata to Oregon.) but to get to the really old big trees I would have to hike deep into the woods, through reeds and on paths that may or may not have been marked. One of the days I hiked really deep into the the Lady Brigam Old growth grove which is in Peirce state park close to where all of the Roosevelt elk live. I stashed my bike, took this back trail for about 4 miles up a massive hill, through a pretty big swampy area, and got to a place were I was the only person for about a square mile. Upon getting to this area I was climbing around the trunks of the tress, taking pictures, jumping from one tree to the next when my camera slipped out of my hand. Out of all the place that it could have bounced, it happened to fall down this 8 foot deep hole created by a fire in the roots of the tree. This devastated me, and the longer I stood there and thought the more I knew I had to jump into the hole. I knew the consequences, jumping into a massive hole, not being able to get out, no one even close, or having any idea where I was in the world. My bike and gear was all hidden so that it probably wouldn't have been found for a couple of months. My body would have not been found until I would have slowly died, turning into a skeleton, sitting for a couple hundred years, and only being found because we decided that the need for natural resources is far more important than natural splendor making it so the clear cutting of the forest would have led to the discovery of my remains. All of this going through my mind i wedged myself into the hole and slowly lowered myself down, looking for foot holds the entire way. I got to the bottom grabbed my camera and chimneyed my way back out without a problem. If I had an arm spand of a couple inches shorter, or didn't have an extreme determination to escape my pit of death, I maybe wouldn't have been able to do this but it all turned out fine and I got my camera back. It has really motivated me to start to take more picture, which once again I have messed up on on placing on my blog because I forgot to grab my usb cable before coming to the library this morning. (Next post I promise I'll put on like ten pics or something to make up for it.) I am now in Oregon and am feeling ready to make some miles, I am strong, happy (it's been sunny for a while.) and ready to see some friends. I have made a goal to make it to Eugene by this weekend. I hope that Oregon is ready for me because I am for the first time ready to ride my bike. Tim P.S. I have had three sexual moves made towards me on this trip. Two of them were by gay dudes (one in Merin and this one I talked about. and one of them was by a one legged in bred girl in Myers Flat... For some reason I feel like I'm doing something terribly wrong.

Too much Insanitity (Stinsen Beach to Arcata)

So I know that I haven't blogged in a very long time, and I'm really sorry about that. The ability to get on Internet is harder then it seems going through Northern California. Firstly I was riding through Northern California, which is not very inhabited and where there are people they really don't have much use for things like public libraries. (Well I actually think that the U.S. government has forgotten about this region of the country... except for the DEA where it does most of it's business.) Also every time I did hit a library they were closed, and the one time that I saw computers in an Internet cafe they were trying to charge me ten cents a minute. That is way too expensive, and I don't deal with people who won't barter with me . SO no one ever go to the Cookie Company in Fort Bragg. They are total bastards, when I asked the manager if she would let me get on the Internet in exchange to give tons of free, really incredible, advertising she looked at me like I was crazy and told me that she couldn't make those sort of decisions. Anyways so much has happened to me in this time period it's hard to know where to start. I guess I can start with last night because it is the most prevalent in my mind.
Two days ago I had extremely high hopes, thinking that I was going to see some familiar faces, getting a food drop and having a nice comfortable bed to stay in when I got to Arcata. One very bad thing after the next happened. First my drop and I missed each other. I don't really know how it happened but through a lack of communication and a freak landslide that separated us it became impossible for me to meet with Adam Lister and company and get some desperately needed supplies. I hadn't bought food in days and the only thing that I had left was half a jar of peanut butter and 10 lemons which I picked off of a tree when I stopped in Myers Flatt and hung out with some tweekers for a bit. When I realized I missed my food I was devastated, it was such a terrible blow to my mental stamina. Imagine looking forward to something for 5 days so much, like have never been happier to have something that was definitely going to happen taken away from you, and you are starving and extremely dirty and on such a low point that seeing a friendly face and having a little bit of extra food would be the greatest thing ever ripped out of your hands with no possible way to salvage any of it. The only thing that I could do (which I always do when I'm really feeling shitty) was to keep riding. I still had the hope in my head of making it to Arcata, getting a hot shower seeing some friendly faces and hopefully seeing some of my other friends the next day. So I rode and rode getting more and more depressed and further and further into misery. AS I was riding I got two flat tires! Yes my tire and about twenty minutes later the valve on my new tube exploded making me change it again. This to say the least put me into some of the worst spirits of the entire trip. After riding for hours I finally made it to Arcata, just to realize that my hot shower and my bed and any chance I had of salvaging the day were actually not there. There was actually nothing in Arcata for me just another town with a college (that was closed for the day Cezer Chavez day of course.) and I didn't have anything to do. Just when I was about to admit defeat. Yes I was extremely close to wasting bunch of money going to a hotel room and crying, and yes I did think about bailing on the whole trip because I figured it was just becoming to much to bear another girl on a Surly bike rode by me and asked if I was on a tour. I knew that I had to act fast and said yes and told her my situation quickly and ask if I could maybe stay at her house. (I know this was a super bold move but it had to happen.) To my utter delight... maybe the happiest that I've ever been in my life she told me about how she knows all about bike touring and the community and that she would be happy to let me stay with her. It was the single greatest thing that could have happened to me at that time. I had not showered, washed my body at all (except for my gouch area because if I don't wash that daily I will probably get some sort of mushroom growing down there and it may not be the greatest thing ever.) for 6 days, I had ridden extremely hard being coaxed by the idea of a bed and food for the last 4 days, so when someone was there to help me it was one of the best things that could have possibly happened. Thank you Kenzie so much for what you did it was huge, maybe to the point of saving me trip. Now that I feel good and am in high hopes I can look back on yesterdays events and laugh but I promise they really were not that funny at the time. That is one of many crazy things that has happened to me since my last post many bad some good but I'm feeling good today so i should stay positive.
It is important to understand that this has been one of the wettest spring recorded in California in a while. I was told that it rains on average 40'' a year in California and this year it was rained 80" I feel every single on of those inches of rain. When I have any opportunity to get out of it for a bit it is a massive opportunity that I make sure to try my hardest so my endeavor succeeds. This led me to a funeral, I'm serious . Someone told me of a funeral that was going on and I knew that I had to go to the after party which I was informed was in timber Cove trailer park. I should up there pretty nervous, not really knowing how to act or what to do, so I know on the office door. Everyone was in there morning and although I felt pretty awkward and really like a massive scum bag I knew that I had to ask them if I could camp there. I was told by Randi (Manger and Daughter of the deceased.) "Dave would have wanted it this was way, and if you stay you have to stay up and help drink the keg." I was instantly sold. I set up camp went back over and started kind of acting like I knew Dave, you know not really buttering it up or anything but definitely acting sorry ( I genuinely was sorry though this guy sounded like a total bad ass I Mean we wanted a keg at his funeral.) and begging to get continually more and more drunk. By the end of the night (I had made friends with the funeral attendees.) we were free style rapping and talking about everything and how if I would have gotten there a year early Dave would of some how cororsed me into staying an working the trailer park. Also during this time and entire lamb and about 35 crabs were consumed, I definitely did my share of the eating. It was overall a really great time. I'm so happy I got to meet everyone at Timber Cove, and I promise next time I'm in Fort Ross I will stop by and say hello. I have tons of other stories, I just don't have the blogging time to tell them all. This has been a very wild part of a very wild trip. So when I get back home remind me to tell everybody about sleeping in a church ( I thought I was going to die and needed some salvation from god.) and hanging out with tweekers in the North, I have lots of good shit to say bout that but it is probably better that I don't put it out on the Internet anyways. I hope everyone is safe and well, I'm going to make it go Oregon soon so I think computer access will get better. I have made it far and still have a ways to go. I hope I don't die before the end. (I'm semi serious.)
Tim
p.s. No pictures I had to write this in a limited amount of time.
p.s.s. This may have some typos and is not the smoothest reading but I have to go, I will edit it next comp i get to.

Surviving the Sprawl (San Fransisco to Stinson Beach)

The last few days have greatly tested my physical, and mental endurance. Yesterday was one of the biggest storms I have ever experienced, and definitely the biggest storm that I have ever camped through. I was forced to take a lay over day in Samual P. Taylor state park, if I would have collapsed my tent it would have gotten so wet that I would have had no where that was even semi dry to sleep. It rained so hard, that even under the grove of redwoods where I was hidden, all of my stuff became soaked. My tent got to the point of almost being useless, it became so saturated with water that it dripped through. Every single article of clothing, my sleeping gear, all of my food, and all of my cookware became so wet that it came to the point of being worthless. I more or less slept in a puddle last night, so this morning when I saw that the clouds were starting to break up I became so excited that I packed up and left my campsite (with all of my stuff soaking wet... The state that it is still in.) by 7:45. The one good thing about staying in the state park for an extra day was that it allowed me to go to the food bank. A local, Ace, told me about it after showing me different plants that I could eat, and make into teas. He did this so that no matter what happened I would always have something to live off of. As he showed me he told me some Indian story about the origin of medicine making sure that his lesson wouldn't be lost. It won't be, I have been constantly looking for Indian lettuce, not because i will ever find enough to fill me up, but I feel like a bad ass eating it. When he finished showing me native plants and had some tea that we brewed he told me "you know if you don't want to waste a bunch of time collecting plants there is a food bank on Tuesdays and Thursdays." I was sold going to the food bank first thing the next morning. It wasn't open yet, and so I didn't feel so bad about taking food out of the mouths of the homeless (I'm homeless... Seriously I swear to you I'm becoming more and more like a homeless person) I helped set up the food bank. When I went through I got a bunch of food, but after riding with it for a day I may have to get rid of some of it somehow. It all takes some preparation to make, and is extremely heavy. I haven't decided because the pound of ground beef I took does sound considerably better than the nuts and dried fruit that I have, to my dismay recently run out of. Riding the last few days has been very tedious.

Making it through San Fransisco by bike is not as easy as it seems. The city limits weren't very hard to get through, and actually extremely fun to ride. (I hit a new speed record of going 39 mph bombing Hayte St. with my fully loaded bike.) Once I got out of the city into east Merin though things became slightly different. The neighborhood sprawled for what seemed like forever. I became extremely frustrated, and depressed trying to make it out of such a densely populated area. Constantly having to stop at every red light, watching the thousands and thousands of soccer moms driving their screaming kids from point A to B; having no regard for anything except for making it home to cook an organic dinner stressed me out so badly that I'm happy to say I loath east Merin. It seemed as though everyone was acting so environmentally conscious, riding bikes, eating locally, but to me it seemed as though they were doing exactly that, acting. No ones was nice there, there was no since of community, or compassion for anything except for what was seen to be as cool. The people where just big city suburbanites trying their hardest to fill the role of the yuppie which they have been deemed. (A wave was not returned to me once the entire time was riding my bike through that city. I feel like the point of riding a bike there was to show not only how fast and strong you are, but also that they have enough money to afford the nicest carbon bike on the market.) I can't express how deeply joyed I am to be out of that city, and a lot of its surrounding area. I will hopefully be out of Merin today and be done with this county, but I'm not sure. I have been loosing motivation in the last couple of days. Not only physical exhaustion, but my mental capabilities are starting to collapse kind of. I am becoming increasingly more lonely. Before it was my goal to make it to San Fran, and now that I've made it and am though the city I am kind of lost, kind of feeling as though I bit off a little more then I can handle. I guess there is no bailing though, and really the only thing that I can do is ride. I just hope that I hit a second wind soon.

Tim

p.s. Sorry for a lack of pictures I have been lazy about taking them.

Nice People (Santa Cruz to San Francisco)

Afters riding 85 miles yesterday I made it to San Francisco. When I got here I felt as though I were going to die. Not only was it the longest day of biking that I have ever even came close to having, but I also didn't get a very good nights sleep two nights ago (I'll explain in a further). By the time I hit the city I was the closest to bonking that I have been on my entire trip. At the city limits it started to become clear that there were no camping options, unless I felt like sleeping with the bums underneath an overpass. Although this seems glorious, and a great story to tell I've been getting smarter, and now know doing things like that are not that awesome. (I wouldn't sleep, probably be murdered, and have my bike stolen and sold for the scrap steel of the frame.) Saying that, it was worth swallowing my pride and going to a hostel. Since I have no maps, and don't know how to really use my gps I was utterly lost in the city, and knew that the only way to possibly find a safe place to sleep was to ask someone. I asked the most qualified person that I could find, a very tall, skinny, dready that was standing on the railing between the board walk and the beach doing yoga. He answered my question with more information then I could have ever wanted, giving me every hostel in the city limits, its address, and phone number. When he was done giving me this information his what I took to be girlfriend came up and began explaining to me that they lived on a yoga farm near Sacramento. When I acted slightly interested they asked if I wanted to do a yoga section to revive myself. Of course I took this! My body has been in shambles and anything to help fix it is happily excepted. This was the beginning of my yoga training. The first thing they showed me was the corpse pose. I lied on my back in the middle of the Great highway board walk and slowly relaxed every muscle set starting with my toes and going to the tip of my scalp. To my astonishment it actually really worked well. I was to the point of bonking before this, and doing the corpse pose gave me enough energy to ride my bike up to the golden gate bridge and then back the other way about 4 miles to find the hostel and party really hard when I made it there. This would have been impossible without being given this little bit of assistance. Upon telling them how much better I felt a buzz of excitement ran through the two of them and they started to show me more and more. They did everything from a entire lesson I could do to stretch after a long day of bike riding, to have the guy put me on his feet and stretching out my back that way. These people helped me so much my back is for the first time kind of lined up. I need to keep following the ways of the master. If not I may become to tight, seize up as I ride my bike down a hill and run into truck, to get drug on the highway 30 feet. (No one would ever be that dumb! Haha). These were not the best people that I have met in the last few days though.
Two nights ago as I was riding away from Santa Cruz by default ended up in the town of Davenport California. The only reason that I stopped was because the town is consist of a bakery, a run down shack next to the bakery, and ten houses. I thought that if I looked through the dumpster I could find some thrown out treat. I checked and to my dismay there was nothing there. Instead of giving up, I decided to take the direct approach and just ask. When first asking the guy if they had any day only stuff that they were planning on throwing out he looked at me like come on, are you serious. Then softening up, asked why I would ask such a stupid thing. Upon explaining the situation his entire demeanor changed, with a huge smile he gave me not only tons and tons of old muffins, but also two loaves of fresh bread and butter to eat with it! I came out of the bakery very satisfied and went over to sit on a bench next to the shack. As soon as I sat down a scraggly looking, half Japanese, guy came up to me and asked if I was looking to by some drug. I told him that I didn't have any money, and his answer to that was "You're riding your bike against a head wind and I can tell you have been for days. This was enough payment for him." So I sat there, hung out with him for bit doing what people do, and to my utter surprise another guy burst out of the shack. It turns out that Nef is the ceo and president of Homergrown surf boards, which was based out of this small shack in a town of no more than 30 people. His friend Chris just kind of hangs out with him and tries distracting him from getting any work down. These guys where two of the biggest characters that I have ever met, talking to me about everything from world unification to Nef's newest surfboard which we cut by standing on top a massive piece of redwood carving the board out with a chainsaw. (Maybe one of the most dangerous things that I have ever heard.) The massive log washed up onto the beach about a month ago. Instead of planing the wood into boards and selling it to get money for the entire town, Nef put it onto himself to make a surf board out of it and when some yuppy from Merin buys it, the entire town would throw a party with the money. (I'm not joking this was the plan they were telling me.) As we sat there and became more and more inebriated other people began to come out of the woodwork. Eddy was the 1984 Mexico surf champion, he now is a proud resident of Devonport, and the self proclaimed surf king of the area. As he was telling me this all of his friend were giving him shit and telling me not to believe a word. Although I'm positive that we has dead serious. I also met a Harley rider with his 3rd grade son that would come along with him to where ever he travelled. They just happened to land in Davenport because the people there were just too nice. The entire town is full of characters and more or less devoid of the law. This makes it to be the coolest town I've ever been to. Everyone is friendly, accepting, and brings a different aspect to the town that makes it extremely unique. They also have a militia that's ready to protect the area in case of the apocalypse, when that happens this might be the first place that i head. Right when I was about to leave (it was getting very dark, night biking is scary!) they told me where to camp if I swore to tell no one. When I got there I understand not only was it a beautiful free beach that the cops would never find, but also there is a really great surf break that I'm sure is supposed to kept under wraps so it doesn't become over run with tourist. As I left town I asked Nef for the one Homegrown surf shop flag he owned. He gave it to me telling me to try and not become the grom that I probably used to be, and that I'm welcome to come back to Davenport as long as I was cool. Although the flag is huge and will give me lots of problems, I will fly it with pride. When I finally left and got to the campground the night sky was perfectly clear, and I was perfectly out of my mind, so I figured that it would be a great idea to sleep underneath the stars. I woke up at 2 am to being down poured upon. Thank god I had the common sense to set up my tent instead of trying to tough it out in the rain. It has rained since that night, and I don't think its supposed to stop for another couple of days. This is the beginning of the mess that is my vacation.
Tim
P.s. I honestly think the only reason that all of these people are down with me is because I am starting to become extremely fifthly, showering with doctor Bronners take the edge off but my base level personal hygiene is as low as ever. I think it make me less threatening, or just less appealing because this is close to the worst I've ever smelled. The only time that is has been worst was the first time that I went over to Matt Bakers house!

Learning Some Respect (Mid Big Sur Region to Santa Cruz)

Phil
My Ride
Firstly it is important to admit to everyone that I have cheated in the last few days. I have been offered two rides and have taken both of them . The first was through the second half of the Big Sur region which was about 50 miles, a full day of bike riding. I know that this seems like kind of a cop out, especially since that is one of the hilliest sections of the trip, but it was the only possible way that I was going to get around the hole in highway. Later that day I made it to Monte Ray taking another ride of about 20 miles from Monte ray to Moss landing, which is where I stayed on a sail boat in a yacht club with my new friend Phil. Although I could have easily ridden this section it is was through an industrial area, (not really worth it) and a lot of sprayed farm land (which Phil informed me has deterred him from riding his bike for the last couple of years because of one time getting hit by a pesticide cloud. I don't really need that.). Anyways its more about the adventure, and its not worth giving up any experiences just because I'm too proud to ride in some trucks. Other than this slight cheating my trip has been raging full force, and because of that I have learned some valuable lessons about respecting things that I cannot control.
Yesterday it was storming extremely hard at moss landing so I decided that I should take a lay over day and stay in the warm, dry comfort that was Phil's boat. Since he is a 66 year old man, and has a girlfriend that's about twenty years younger than him he left me for the day so he could go and satisfy his own manly need. (He informed me that things like having sex and surf don't get less fun as you get older, and that no matter what its never worth giving up these thing for material comforts like a fancy house and a prius.) During his absences I checked the surf, the waves looked glassy and perfect, kind of the same way that they look when you watch a surf movie. In my ignorance I thought that I could conquer the 8 foot swell of a manly wave that was supposedly for loces (local) only. Since it was about my forth time ever really surfing this was maybe not the greatest of plan that I have ever conceived, but I figured it would be a good story. I borrowed Phil's board and wetsuit and since I couldn't get a hold of him I just assumed that it was okay. ( As I've said early assumptions are dumb.) As a began to paddle out into the surf I started to realize that I was in over my head. I continued without fear though, my own hubris stopped me from paddling back to the shore and taking the what would have been insistent storm of insults from the loces! I stayed out there for about half an hour taking one of the most brutal beating of my life. I would try to drop into the wave deep and would just get absolutely dominated time after time. After a while of this I became so tired that I knew my time was up in the water and began to paddle in. As I was doing this, I got caught in a back current which was pulling me out to sea. My exhaustion won, and all of the fighting I did really got me nowhere, so I accepted the fact of being pulled and let it happened. I was sucked over to a rock jetty, and as soon as I got my bearings a wave crushed down on me and slammed me and Phil's board into the rock. I came out unscathed as I normally do, and when I began to inspect the board my heart sank. I realized one of the back fins was missing and there were a large number gashes that I found in the plexy glass. I felt sick to my stomach, not knowing how I going to tell someone that I met only a few days ago that; not only did I borrow his stuff without really asking, but then destroyed it in the process. I could have probably hidden he entire incident from him since he was still not there when I got back to the boat. I knew in my gut that if I did this I wouldn't only fail myself, but really loose one of my new good friend so I waited for him to return. He didn't come back until this morning (right before I was about to leave) and the entire time my guilt consumed me. I hit one of the lowest points that I have hit in a very long time. As soon as I saw him a burst out about breaking his board and would do anything to make it better. He looked at me for a second with dead seriousness in his eyes, then broke down and cracked a smile beginning to laugh. The board was that way the entire time, I just didn't realize it was messed up when I took it out, probably because I felt bad about it in the first place. He told me "There's a reason that this board was in the storage unit and not in the back of the truck." And then gently reminded me that a ten foot swell is really not the best place to be unless you actually know what you are doing. Which I kind of proved to myself i didn't. It taught me a valuable lesson that hopefully I won't soon forget. I've felt sorry about all the times I've done shit like that to people, kind of, but this was the first time that I felt really deep remorse about it.
The other very valuable lesson that I have learned is that it is illegal and extremely dangerous to ride on the freeway. On my way into Santa Cruz this morning I thought it would be a good idea to take the 1 instead of the detour route which was suggested by the rode signs. As I got further and further into the city I started to understand that the detour was probably a better bet. People where not very happy with me. Cars going 65 miles an hour where buzzing me over and over again (prius drivers are the worst. Since they "save the environment" they think it give them the right to be total dickheads to bike riders, as they buzz me they honk to make sure that I swerve a little so that when they hit and kill me the police report can claim its my fault.) I was told many times to "get off the road you crazy mother fucker" but I had nowhere to go. It all came to an end when a cop car started tailing me and informed me the illegality of what I was doing. He then escorted me to the next exit, making 100% sure i was off the freeway. I think it maybe the first time a cop has ever looked out for my best interest. I made it to Santa Cruz so it was worth riding on, but I will try and not do it again. I have had a wild last couple of days and am learning some value out of all of the stupid things that I do. It's a strange contradiction because I'm looking for stories and adventure but those stories are really, not normally that funny when they happen. Traveling is a strange terrific way to live.
Tim
p.s. Fuck Prius drivers... and the Prius for that matter... and Californian Soccer moms.
p.s.s. Multi Surface touring (mountain biking the Santa Cruz hills) is a blast.

Living off the Land (San Luis Obispo to somewhere close to Big Sur)

This post wasn't supposed to be up for a couple more days, but I have hit a problem. Two days ago the HWY 1 has slid off the mountain close to Big Sur. This has left me with a huge dilemma, currently locals are the only ones allowed to walk across this section of highway. My only other other option is to take a detour over Nasumento road which is a 3000 foot vertical climb over a distance of 7 miles. This is something that I really do not want to do. I have experienced the brutality of trying and climb big passes on a fully loaded bike. Yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to take a detour up a road that told me it was the OFFICIAL pacific coast bike route. I ended up climbing 1700 vertical in a period of 5 miles and then rode down 1000 feet climbed that high again just so I could ride all the way back down to end up with my final elevation of the day at 60 feet. This was very exhausting and I was dreading the fact that I would have to do a bigger climb than that one tomorrow. Through a twist of fate something extremely lucky happened to me. As I was riding down the rode and a beautiful woman made eye contact with me and pointed. Since I was perplexed by all of the signs that said closed rode ahead I stop to talk to her. She introduced herself as Stacey and told me that there was no way around except that her husband worked on a rode crew, and that if I came back to her house with her she would help me get around it. As soon as I got inside she offered me a sandwich, and then another, and then banana, and an orange. I was so ecstatic I couldn't even express it to her. I was starving. The only things that I had eaten where some seaweed I dried out (I couldn't swallow it), a stolen avocado, and some trail mix to balance it all out. Today was probably some of the hilliest riding that i will see this entire trip so what I had eaten wasn't really enough calories to keep me going for even as long as I had gone. As a scarfed down the food she came up with the idea of scanning one of her bills into the computer and then changing the name to my own so I could fake being a local. It was the greatest plan that I had heard coming from a mom! Not only was she helping me forge a document to trick government workers, but at the same time was giving me so much hospitality I couldn't express to her how grateful I really was. By the time my fake bill was created it had started to rain hard so i was convinced to spend the night here. It has been great, it has allowed me to refortify some strength which will hopefully allow me to make the 75 miles to Monterrey tomorrow.

From the beginning of this trip, I knew that I had to spend as little money as possible just to make the entire experience into something memorable. ( I don't have very much money anyways.) This has kind of worked, but I still have bought all of my food until starting yesterday. Yesterday was the first time that I had the opportunity to steal from an orchard. Although it is kind of a bad thing to do, and to say the least is frowned upon by farmers there was no way that I was going to give up the opportunity. I hopped over a fence that had all of the penalty of avocado theft posted right next to it, stole 10 avocados, hid in the bushes as a couple of trucks passed by, and booked it out of there! Well, as fast as I could, about 6 MPH because I was riding up a hill. I have to start to do this every chance I get, not only is it a huge adrenaline rush, (I am terrified of the farmers catching me) but also I get tons of good fruit for free! I also tried to collect seaweed off the beach and dry it out to eat, but I don't know if that was a great idea. I don't think I let it dry long enough because when I tried eating it, it was like leather... Leather that tasted like sand, seawater, and a slight hint of rotten fish. I don't think that I will try eating it again unless I am either really hungry, or someone shows me the right way to do it. I think that my only hope for really living off the land is living off all the nice people in the world. I do feel guilty being a mooch but I know that it will all come around. In the future I will have to be very generous. I also have some stories to tell in exchange, and although they are not worth $10 of dorm food there is some value in them. This is actually turning into a real adventure and I'm not going to let it stop. I have fallen off track on my timing, but I have plenty of time to give, so I guess that the only thing left to do is it keep on letting the punches roll.

Tim

This post is dedicated to the Johnson Family thank you so much for all of the hospitality and kindness you have shown me, a complete stranger. If there were more people like you guys in the world it would be a way better place. Thank you so much.

Santa Barabara to San Louis Obisipo

After much convincing I have finally given in and am staring to write this blog. ( Actually I kind of wanted to the entire time, but was scared of how much of a pussy it would make me seem like. I'm over it now, I'm kind of a pussy anyways. (Thank you Dave)) This is my third day of bike adventuring and have learned many many things about what to and what not to do. Firstly and most importantly although it seems glorious to sleep in a ditch in the middle of some strange town it is actually not that fun, I don't know if it was the presence of the no trespassing signs all around me or the fact that I slept within ten feet of a clump of poison oak, but it is something that I really am not going to try again... if I can help it. I also have learned that it is actually incredibly hard to ride a fully loaded bike up massive hills with a headwind the entire way ( if anyone who reads this considers doing this trip go north to south because the wind is more difficult to deal with than I assumed.) Which really brings me to my next point of not assuming anything, because at least from my personal experience the assumptions that I make are normally wrong and normally end up leading to bad decisions. Other than that I am doing pretty well, I have learned that talking to people is extremely easy and useful. I have gotten not only a free place to sleep for a night and some strawberries just because of a willingness to put myself out there and tell everyone what my deal is. Hopefully I will hit a dumpster soon my food rations are pretty low, I'm just figuring out what to and what not to eat. Soon I think that I will have it all down, I'll let everyone know when that time comes. The first three days have been very raw maybe to the point of not that much fun at all, but I am finally starting to get the hang of it. I have gained both physical and mental strength and am starting to recognize the value of eating and sleeping, anyways I'm on vacation so I know it's going to have to get better, I mean it's spring break! There's no where to go but up. I hope everyone is safe and well, I will post as often as I can.
Tim Ronan
p.s. A pedal wrench is a invaluable tool while bike touring, don't leave home without one!