Recent article in Aaron's hometown paper

 Ashton Gazette Spinal cord injured ‘quadriplegic’ Marine is riding across the United States on handcycle 

Aaron pushes on up the Mountains

Friday Jan 28. Thatcher to Three Way, AZ

Breakfast at Gabi's Diner.  Our 1st breakfast in a restaurant since leaving San Diego exactly 2 weeks ago.  I don't really miss eating out.  It takes less time to get going in the morning when Lenny makes breakfast at camp and Lenny makes good grub.

We woke up to find 2 of Aaron's wheels flat and on the road today he got 2 more.  That makes 7 for the trip for Aaron.  He's riding thin racing tires that thin thorns easily pierce.  When we get to silver city we hope to pick up wider and more puncture resistant touring tires for his 2 rear wheels (the front doesn't have clearance to go any bigger).

Today's terrain is a long steady climb through the low traffic and wide shoulder roads of the Black Hills.  Once over the 4800ft Thumb Butte Pass we coasted into the small town of Three Way. They have free primitive camping on US Forest Service property near the Rangers Station.  It got below freezing tonight (doubt we'll get much sympathy from family back home dealing with sub-zero temps) so Lenny and Aaron made room for me in the heated RV.  Ear plugs worked wonders and the snoring was barely perceptable.

Aaron's been a trooper grinding 4 tough days in a row dealing with significant mountain passes or yesterday's high winds and numerous 1/2 mile climbs.  The next 2 days have even taller mountain passes before our rest day on Monday at Gila Hot Springs (and the Gila Cliff dwellings).  After a days rest we have our final and tallest mountain (Emory Pass) at 8,200 ft on Tuesday before we get a break from the mountains and get to enjoy gravity working in our favor all the way to El Paso Texas. 

The video below is from last week going into Surprise Arizona. That was a meticulously landscaped town outside of Phoenix.  A very popular retirement area where Aaron was enjoying the flat roads.  Keep plugging away at these hills Aaron and we'll soon have roads like that again!

video from Suprise Arizona on a flat day

San Carlos Lake

Thursday Jan 27 San Carlos Lake to Thatcher AZ

Woke up and peaked out of the tent to find the sun glistening off the lake and lighting up the brown, gold and white hues of the lakeside mountain.  It was the coldest morning of the trip with frost on the truck's hood.  After enjoying the natural view from the tent for 15 minutes I headed into the heated camper to find Lenny with a pot of hot perked coffee.  Aaron's morning greeting came out of nowhere.  His head remained under the covers until the familiar rooster call from his alarm got him up.

Lenny went off to tease some fish but unlike the last catfish hole he didn't get a bite.  Aaron and I had a map session and discussed life outside of biking in the comfort of the trailer as we let the sun do it's magic on the desert.

Today looked like an easy day on paper.  The profile showed no major elevation change but once we went up and down 1/2 mile long climbs over the 1st 2 we realized that the maps refered to the average elevation change.  The hills combined with a steady 20 mph headwind made for a long slow grind.  The legs and arms still recalling the big hills from the last 2 days.

We were happy to arrive at camp.  The Chuckwagon Master/ Campsite Coordinator Extrodinaire Lenny had a perfect cooking woodfire going with flank steak and baked potatoes cooking as we rolled into town. 

Aaron gave me another camp toasting lesson.  I attempted to toast bread over the fire but woodfire grill toasting techniques are not the same as hot rock toasting.

Saying goodbye to Rick

Wednesday 1/26 Superior AZ to San Carlos Lake

The day started with the typical energy packed oatmeal, a cup of hot coffee in a mug and as a special today "eggs in a hole" breakfast from Lenny.  The special breakfast entree was designed to fuel us up after yesterday's hard ride and the long steap climb that began as soon as we turned out of the RV camp spot. 

Based on the maps the 1st 12 miles today is uphill to the top of the 4,600 foot Signal Mountain Pass.  To our suprise we crested the peak after 6 miles of climbing.  We figured it was a small downhill in the climb but had our spirits raised when we saw a sign stating "6% downhill next 12 miles ".  We did a short celebration at our good fortune, put on our jackets and speed down the hill.  It felt great to get up to speed after spending the last 90+ minutes grinding up the mountain.  Then I heard a loud "OH NO" up ahead.  Aaron saw it 1st.  After only 1/2 mile of glorious downhill the road went steeply up again.  For the next 5 miles we were back to the uphill grind...the whole time cursing the cruel joke the Arizona DOT did by getting cyclist hopes crushed with their inaccurate signage.

We eventually got our downhill reward into the copper mining town of Globe.  Then headed out of the high traffic area into the Apache Reservation.  We had an another incredible 6 mile downhill into the town of Peridot before setting up camp on picturesque San Carlos Lake.  We had big helpings of pasta and italian sausage with Aaron teaching me how to toast bread on the camp fire rocks.

The adventure today was a great experience but it was also a sad day.  After joining us on day 3, we said goodbye to Rick Mason.  Rick had to turn in the wheelchair accessible mini-van today that the Ability Center so kindly loaned him for the last 2 weeks.  Rick has been instrumental in arranging the media contacts, updating the website with pictures and blog entries, making helpful route recommendations, taking roadside action photos, providing moral support, being a great companion to Lenny during the day and we all looked forward to sharing the days experiences with him each night at camp.  In Aaron's words..."Rick is my inspiration and the reason I'm on this journey...without Rick I wouldn't have this great opportunity."  We are all sad to see him leave us and look forward to him rejoining our adventure soon.

Gonzales Pass

Tue Jan 25th Tempe AZ to Superior AZ

Dave posted a comment about being Forest Gump.  Aaron had made his own spin on that analogy and made some wrist bands before the start of this trip.  I took a picture of the one he gave me.

Last night i slept like a rock in a real bed but I've slept pretty well on the ground too.  We started the ride going past Arizona State University on a scenic pedestrian bridge over the lake.

Arizona could unofficially be called "The land of 10,000 schools".   There had to be 100 small schools in less than a 20 mile stretch of road yesterday.  The Fox news reporter told us the school voucher law in Arizona has created many small private charter schools giving the state the highest number of schools per capita in the country. One plus for bikers is the slow speed of traffic d/t the school speed zones and speed humps every half mile.

Someone pulled their car off the road and was clapping for us as we road past Apache Junction.  Her name is Clax and is a local school teacher who saw the Fox news broadcast yesterday.  It was nice to have a roadside cheerleader spur us onward.  Another friendly soul was Mary in the Honda Element who pulled over and invited us to spend the night at her studio next to her home.  By the time we had the invitation Lenny already had camp set so we thanked her for the offer and continued down the road,

In Apache Junction we had a quick game of "rock, paper, scissors" to determine who gets 1st pick of the beter military "Meals Ready to Eat".  Then we sipped a few latte's, courtesy of a gift card from my co-workers at Lifetime Care, for a boost of energy before heading up a long steady climb to the Gonzales Pass.  We pulled in hungry and tired to find Rick and Lenny with camp all setup for us and a hot dinner of Rick's special camp potatoes, cheeseburgers and asparagus.

We have some more climbing at the start tomorrow as we keep stair stepping our way towards an 8000+ foot peak that we have to pass early next week (today we started at about 1,200ft and are camping at 2900ft). 

Tomorrow we're camping near the Coolidge Dam.  There are 4 campsites nearby and since Lenny likes to fish we thought our best bet would be the Catfish Bay Reservation Campground.

Ride into Phoenix

Monday 1/24 Wickenburg to Tempe AZ

After a restful day off the bike we saddled up again.  The terrain was mostly flat or downhill so we were able to put in our longest ride of the trip at 71 miles. 

Surprise AZ is a large retirement suburban area just east of Phoenix.  The whole town (population 31,000) was meticulously landscaped with large Palm trees, orange trees and cactus.  We passed multiple golf courses, a large Bocce club having a tournament and hundreds of Golf carts on the roads.  Apparently golf carts can be licensed for road use on the main road and this town had an extra wide right hand lane to accommodate them (came in handy for us too).

Towards the end of the ride, we had a short stop for filming a news story by Fox News Ch10 in Phoenix.

There weren't too many camping options in a big city so I have my first night on a real bed in 10 days.  I seem to be sleeping fine without one so I'll see if I've been missing anything.

Media Coverage

Coyote Sighting

Saturday 1/22. Harcuvar to Wickenburg Arizona (Dude Ranch Capital of the World)

Tail wind and flat smooth pavement all morning as we cruise east down Route 60.  For a 10 mile section we average 20mph.  There is a nice wide shoulder and we watched the rocky Harquahala Mountains get bigger and pass by to the south.

Just before our lunch stop in Aguila I spotted a "dog" up the road.  Grabbed the pepper spray out of the holder (Lenny bought us both pepper spray the 3rd day after being chased by a pitbull/greyhound mix) and prepared to be chased.  To my surprise the "dog" was not a dog but a Coyote.  Quickly I swapped the pepper spray for my camera and got a few pics and a short video of him trotting off into the desert scrub bushes.  I believe I heard the Roadrunner tormenting him in the distance.  (Thanks to Aaron for helping me swap out the sound of wind in the camera microphone for the sound effects on our day off)

After lunch the legs (and Aaron reports his arms) were pretty tired from the effort of the last 8 days of riding in a row.  We've ridden 351 miles since leaving Ocean Beach San Diego and are due for a rest break.  On the agenda for tomorrow:  Eating frequently, sleeping in, catching up on uploading pictures, eating, planning the destination towns for the next week, watching the NFL playoff games and eating.

Arizona Snowbird Lifestyle

Friday 1/21 Quartzsite (B-10 RV park) to Harcuvar AZ (Desert Gem RV Park)

I've added some new links to the right hand side of this blog.  Rick and Aaron started blogging and adding pictures to their sites.  Check in periodically with their pages as they plan to continually post new pics and post comment that you won't see here such as complaints about my excessive eating requirements etc.

After a hard day yesterday we decided to sleep in and take a shorter ride today (36 miles).  At the Quartzsite B-10 RV Park we had a large group of well wishers who sent us off with a well spoken prayer.

In a little under 3 hours we road through the Ranegras Plains and up a 1000ft gradual climb up to the Desert Gem RV Park that really matched it's name.  It is much smaller than the RV parks in Quartzsite.  The long term winter resident there gave it a warm small town community feel.  We joined their community fireside discussions and they were very welcoming to our nomadic group.

(The picture is of Rick and Benny the pouch from the Desert Gem on their dune buggie.) 

I learned a bit about RV's and the Arizona desert snow bird lifestyle.  Having traveled to Florida multiple times I couldn't see myself snowbirding there but this part of the country is much different.  The terrain, weather, off road trail system and wide road shoulders for biking make this an ideal region to winter if you are into an active lifestyle. 

Arizona border crossing

Day 6 January 20th

Heading Northeast today and had a 20-30mph headwind all day. Due to the wind and a 1000ft climb it took over 5 1/2 hours to go 54 miles.  We met 2 cyclotourists going in the other direction with big smiles on their faces.  They stopped to chat and report going 20+ mph all morning without much effort. 

We had our 1st dinner eating out since starting the journey.  A popular pizza place called "Silly Al's". It's a hopping country bar/pizza joint with pool tables.  Aaron and I challenged Lenny and Rick to a game.  I'm sure they will want a rematch soon as Aaron was able to arm bike 54 miles into a stiff headwind all day and still had the arm coordination to sink 3 balls in a row to finish them off at the end.

We had our 1st state crossing towards the end of today's ride as we crossed the Colorado river into Arizona.  Our destination for today is Quartzsite Arizona.  Permenant resident population about 3,600.  January and February population about 1 million!  I've never seen so many RV's in one area.  This town is known for it's 2 month long swap meets and flee markets that attract a huge portion of retired RV'ers.  If your curious about this check out the towns official website about their events at http://www.maineventqz.com/

Chocolate Mountains

Day 5 (Wed 1/19) -after 4 challenging days we decided to take it easy today by going a shorter distance (40 miles) to a really cool camping spot on the Colorado River near the AZ border. 

We started the day by biking through the sand dunes watching dune buggies shoot up rooster tails of sand as they climbed from one peak to the next.  The route then took us through the Chocolate Mountains.  For some reason we had a strong desire to stop and get ice cream after riding through this mountain range.  I have some money my nephew Andrew gave me that I have set aside especially for ice cream.

We had our favorite camp site this night.  It was on the edge of the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge.  It has it's own dock and Lenny (Aaron's dad who is driving the support RV) caught a couple really good size catfish.  We had delicious battered and fried fresh catfish for dinner as we watched the moon rise over the Palo Verde Mountains.

Lush Imperial Valley

Day 4 (Tuesday 1/18) Ride from Ocotillo to Imperial Dunes Recreation Area.  Today was the 1st day without going up any major hills and I was impressed with the pace Aaron was able to ride at on the flats.  Despite a late start (10am) and 2 previous very hilly rides, we were able to ride 62 miles today.  We also experimented with drafting for the 1st time.  Aaron is very good at tucking in behind my saddle bags to avoid the steady headwind.

The scenery started with lots of sand, sparce desert scrubbery and a nice view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains off to our left (that we had just finished passing over yesterday).  The temperature was in the mid 70's and perfect for biking as the dry air makes it seem like you don't even sweat.  As we passed through the Yuha Desert we came across an incredible fertile valley of lush farmland that was created over a hundred years ago when Colorado River water was diverted into an extensive canal irrigation system.  This oasis in the desert stretched on for 40 miles.  We road by the largest dairy farm I've ever seen with thousands of hollsteins.  We also passed a hay storage area with 100+ massive barns with open sides being loaded by fork lifts carrying what I was told were 200lb bails of hay.  As we watched the tractors working we were treated to the site of the Blue Angles aerial squadron practicing their maneuvers as this is their home base. 

Just before the town of El Centro we started to run out of water.  We saw a family out watering their garden and asked to fill our bottles from the hose.  We had a nice chat with Fred and his daughter who didn't recommend drinking the canal water they used for their garden but they did go inside and get a big pitcher of cold drinking water for us as they gave us some insight on this unique and beautiful region in which they lived their entire lives.  Fred has also ridden his bike across the country but his has a V-twin motor.  As a Vietnam veteran Fred road to Washington DC to pay his respects at the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

Toward the last 10 miles of today's ride we passed over another canal that marked the end of the imperial valley.  At this point the lush farmland immediately switch back to the sandy desert terrain in which we started the days ride.   We found a quiet spot in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation area at a primitive campsite.  Lucky to have an RV I was able to have a warm shower in the middle of the desert (navy style to conserve water).  What a refreshing end to great day.  It was a clear night..in the distance their was brief nightime aerial combat exercise creating a fireworks show for us as we sat around the camp fire grilling sausages under the stars and bright moon.

Cresting the Sierra Nevada's

No warm up today as their was only one way out of the valley and that's straight up a 1.3 mile hill steep enough that I had to switchback in my granny gear.  Unfortunately Aaron's bike has the turning radius of a tractor trailer so he has to go straight up.  Thankfully he has a smaller 27 tooth front chainring and a 34 tooth large cassette to give him a better mechanical advantage.  His bike is pretty heavy and I doubt I could make it half the distance he does each day if I had to pedal with my arms.

After the 1st big hill Aaron had a priceless smile on his face as we hit our 1st major downhill since the trip started.  We finally got gravity to pay us back for all the hard work from yesterday with a 3 mile 30-35 mph downhill.  Aaron's has a disadvantage pedaling up the hills but we found out how much better he can descend on his recumbent arm bike. He put in a half mile gap on me by the end of the downhill.

Got a glimps of the border fence.  It is quite impressive in size and distance.  Saw more border patrol cars today than civilian ones.

Aaron got his first flat tire.  His rear wheels don't need to come off in order to change them.  I just push his bike onto two wheels while he balances it with his forearm them do a Nascar style quick change for him so he doesn't have to dismount his bike as it's a chore to do since he is all straped into it.

Incredible 15 mile coast down the east side of Sierra Nevada Mountain range.

We met our 1st cyclotourist.  His name is John Cross and he is a retired Lutheran Minister who is also riding the same cross country route.

Rick Mason met us at camp and will spend the next week following us.  Rick is the organizer of the ride but had to pull out due to a rotator cuff injury.  Hopefully he will be well enough in March to ride the final portion of the trip.

Climbing the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Climbing, climbing, climbing.  That pretty much sums up the type of riding we had today.  Today was the bulk of the climbing to get on top of the Sierra Navada Mountains.  We started the day at an elevation of 400ft and had to go up a 4000 ft pass before decending down slightly to 3700ft to our stop in Pine Valley.  We ran out of daylight as we spent the whole day covering only 28 miles as approx 3/4 of that distance was uphill.  My ride time was just under 4 hours.  The total time on the bike was 8 hours.  Aaron was grinding up the hills at 3-4 mph so I leap frogged him all day as I have trouble maintaining my balance at those speeds.  Luckily this should be the hardest hill day of the entire cross country trip.

We picked up a home made peach pie from a farmers stand..since we biked hard all day we had it for an appetizer while sitting at the campfire as dinner was cooking.  Rick Mason, Steve and Kelli Cal joined us at camp for moral support and to discuss the day's adventure.  (Pic above taken the next morning before leaving camp at Morena Lake, a beautiful mountain lake in the high desert)

1st full week in California comes to an end.  I Eased into the riding this week with 5 days of riding and 2 rest days.  Covered 191 miles during 17 hours of pedaling.  Temps ranged during the day from mid 60's to high 70's with lows in the mid 40's to high 50's.  Wall to wall sunshine and not a hint of rain.  Soon we will drop into the Sonora Desert so we look to avoid rain at least until we ride into Texas.

I'm so thankful for all the support I've had from family, friends, co-workers and complete strangers that have made this first week of the adventure possible and the next 9 weeks to come.

Cross country day 1

Saturday 1/15 was our 1st day on the cross country portion of the adventure and the 1st day biking with Aaron Roux.  After dipping my rear wheel into the  pacific (and my shoes because of a rogue wave) we had a photo op for Ch 5 a San Diego TV station.  We headed out from Ocean Beach with Kelli Cal and George Olmstead joining us for the 1st 15 miles.  Then we stopped at the San Diego Chargers stadium for an interview with ABC San Diego ch 10 (their stations website may have the footage posted by today).  After Qualcomm stadium Aaron and I headed off for our campground at Lake Jennings (see pic).  Time was limited because of all the media events and some pretty decent size climbs so we kept the mileage light at 31. 

Lake Jennings was quiet compared to the urban coastal campgrounds.  We had  a nice camp fire and cooked hamburgers over it.  After a map session we planned our lunch and campspots for tomorrow as we enjoyed a warm (still in the low 60's after dark) and moonlit night.  Then to bed early (9pm) as we know tomorrow will be the hardest climbing day of the trip with a 4000ft pass to climb to get over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Overall a great day and official start of our adventure together!

ESPN

Aaron getting interviewed by ESPN sports before the start of the trip

Continued good fortune

Wednesday 1/12/11:

Today is a short biking day.  Only about 20-25 miles of riding planned from Cardiff by the Sea to Mission Bay.  Since I didn't have far to go I had a leisurely morning at camp.  I "cooked up" a eggs and bacon freeze dried meal (actually tasked pretty good) hot oatmeal and a cup of tea.  I sat overlooking the beach eating breakfast and watching the surfers ride the waves.  I called home then took a brief nap before packing up camp.  My neighbor stopped by to wish me safe journeys  and by 11:30 I was off.  It only took 2 miles for me to see a spectacular ocean /cliff view so I stopped for a photo. 

So far I haven't spend a night in the exact location I planned to stay and tonight would be no different. The benefit of not having reservations and travel off peak in this area is that you really don't need reservation so you can alter your plans as the day unfolds.  Each day has developed far better than I could have hoped.  Initially I bummed that I would be spending a week "alone" until I met up with Aaron Roux and Rick Mason.  Little did I know how much bike traffic there would be along the coast during the daytime on a weekday in January.  I've been so forturnate to bump into such nice people along the way.  On average I see roughly 150-200 cyclist and hundreds of runners during the course of a 4 hour bike ride.

While stopped for my photo 2 miles from camp today I met George Olmstead.  We had a nice discussion about my trip and it happens that he is a very experience cyclotourist as well a warm showers host.  George and his wife Cindy live only 3-4 miles from the starting point where Aaron and I plan to begin our trip on Saturday.  George graciously invited me to dinner and to spend the next 2 nights at his home.  George gave me his cell number, home address and agreed to meet after 5pm at his house. 

Now having about 5 hours of time and no need to arrive early to setup camp I took the opporturnity to visit Torrey Pines golf course and pick up a souvenir in the proshop.  As I took a few pictures of the course a ranger came over (I thought he was going to tell me to move along and stop taking pictures) wanting to hear about the trip I'm taking.  He recently moved to the area and was as enamoured with Southern California as I am.  He shared the only 2 downsides he has discovered about living here..(and only one downside if your OK with the high population density)..the cost of living is high (property values and taxes).  The ranger then recommended I check out the gliderport. 

The Gliderport (see picassa pictures) was an excellent spot for a nice long lunch.  I shared a few sunflower seeds with friendly bird (see pictures) and then headed down the steep hill into La Jolla.  La Jolla is an impressive town, especially the views by the water.  The scenery and real estate are impressive and remind me of the beauty of the Amalfi Coast of Italy or the Charleston Waterfront but with it's own distinct spanish influence.

Next I biked through the Mission Bay beach resort area on a long boardwalk.  Before arriving at George and Cindy's I was passed by a guy on a bike with a small gas motor and a trailer carrying his dog.  Pretty strange site...luckily I quickly snapped a picture to remember it better (see picassa pics)

After 5 nights on the road (3 on a train and 2 camping) it was a real treat to have Cindy's excellent home cooked meal and sleep in a comfy bed.  Professor Slughorn's sand timer was running very slow because of the conversation over dinner (sorry to all you non- Harry Potter fans for the Professor Slughorn analogy).  George and Cindy couldn't be any more helpful and accomodating hosts.  Likely George will be able to ride with us on part of the 1st day of the trip out of San Diego.  I feel very lucky that I happened to leave camp when I did and run into George on the road.  Any cyclist traveling through San Diego who belongs to Warm Showers should contact them when they are in the area.

I slept straight though the night for the 1st time in nearly a week.  Woke up feeling extra refreshed and looking forward to meeting Aaron and the adventures to come.

-Jeff

Pacific Coast 1st 2 days

Pacific Coast Highway at Crystal Cove

I've uploaded photos from the 1st 3 days of biking.  link to the web album I'm new to sharing pictures on Picassa so if your reading this and can't view the pictures send me an email and I'll add you to the sharing list I haven't written online since getting off the train because I've met so many wonderful people every day that I've had little down time. The kindness of all the people I've met has been incredible. I started meeting nice people as soon as I got on the train in Rochester and the positive encounters have been continuous ever since. I have kept a hand written journal with notes and used this to put locations and captions on the pictures.

My first day I biked from Fullerton California to Dana point (about 55 miles). It was an easy 6 mile ride out of the train station to the Coyote Creek bike trail. Once on the bike trail I passed a constant stream of bikers and runner along the slightly downhill ride all the way to Seal Beach. From Seal Beach I would ride the Adventure Cycling Coastal route (very easy to follow and safe biking roads despite the high traffic due to dedicated bike/walking paths or bike lanes on the roads most of the way).

Only 15 miles into this 3000+ mile trip I had my first temporary biking companion. I met a very nice local doctor (who specializes in infectious disease) who was out cross training for an ultramarathon. He had to turn around after a few miles as he had a run planned with another person but gave me some advice and wished me well.

I stopped around 4pm in Dana Point and bought $1 of unleaded gasoline for my new camp stove and went to check in at the Doheny State Beach Campground. I found the campsites but couldn't find the registration desk. Norm Hough was outside working of his RV so I asked for directions to the Check in desk. He and his wife Fay invited me to pitch my tent on their site. Then they invited me for dinner. Norm and Fay have traveled extensively across the USA since they retired. They shared their stories and gave me some great advice about camping that will come in handy as I head out into the desert next week. The next morning they invited me for coffee and breakfast treats. I shared some of my Mom's homemade banana bread (they send compliments to my mom for her baking) then packed up for the next days adventure.

Day 2. Dana Point to Cardiff by the sea (43 miles).
Setting off alone, only 5 miles into the journey, I came across Vicki and Warren (college students from Berkley studying Envirnmental science and Biology respectively) who had fully loaded bikes. Then while in Camp Pendelton we picked up 2 more local riders (also college students...unfortunately I can be bad remembering names) who helped us pick our way through some of the busier parts of town. I enjoyed spending the entire day riding with this group until I reached what I thought was going to be my destination (Norm and Fay recommended South Carlsbad State Beach). The Park Ranger at Carlsbad informed me that if I biked 7 miles further to the San Elijo State Beach they have special Biking rate of $6 (instead of $35). I'm all for saving money so I rode there and said goodbye to me new friends as they continued on to a friends house about 10-15 miles further down the coast (see picasa pic of myself with Vicki and Warren).

With only about an hour of daylight I setup camp quickly then cooked for the 1st time with my new multifuel stove. There was a beautiful sunset (see picture) with views of the ocean from my picnic table as I ate dinner then off to bed early. The ear plugs came in handy as all the coastal campsites are close to the road and the train tracks. I'm thankful to Ben and Dianne for my Christmas Gifts of a comfy camp pillow and sleeping bag liner (gets pretty cool at night) as I'm sure I wouldn't have slept nearly as well without them.

Weather has been perfect both days. Mid 60's and sunny.
The only downside of the trip is being away from my family and friends.
-Jeff

Train sleeper car

Just received an email with questions such as: How full is the train? How's the food?  Did you sleep well?

I hear that the train is full but I haven't mingled with anyone from coach to

confirm.  The sleeper car is isolated from coach as both ends of the car dead end on the lower level that I share with 5 other rooms.  The 2 big rooms on the end have their own bath and the 4 smaller rooms share 3 bathrooms and one shower room (Never had to wait to use one yet).  Just  upstairs and one car over is the dining car.  For breakfast just show up anytime b/w 6-9am sign a form (and leave a tip) as all meals are included in the sleeper upgrade.  For lunch and dinner someone comes to your room and schedules reservations (and delivers the morning paper).  They seat sleeper car passengers together and coach passengers are in another dining car.  When we boarded yesterday the sleeper car passengers were escorted from the 1st class lounge directly to our private car without the need to wait in line so I didn't get a chance to see the coach area.  I did ride coach from Rochester to Chicago and it was much more comfortable than airline coach even when it's full.

The food is typical of what you would get in a decent diner.  More than acceptable with good portion sizes and good service.  I've met some nice people from California, Florida and Chicago during dinner last night and breakfast this morning.  Everyone I met so far during meals has a flying anxiety issue although there are many other reasons to take the train.

I went to bed at 8pm (9pm eastern) as I was tired from limited sleep Friday night in coach.  Used ear plugs and didn't wake up til 2:30am when the conductor knocked on my neighbors door and helped them disembark.  The stops are so gradual the change in speed doesn't wake me up.  After a staggering walk back and forth to the bathroom I fell back to sleep by 3am and didn't wake until the announcement for 2nd call for Breakfast at 7am.  Combine limited sleep in coach Friday, comfortable traveler's ear plugs and my known sleeping skills the result was 11 hours of quality sleep.  I don't think those results are typical for most passengers based on the reports from my breakfast companions.

This morning it took about 5 minutes to convert the bunk bed setup backing into the daytime lounge setting.  A sleeperette room is as comfy as my couch at home.  Sharing it with another person would make it tight especially when the beds are setup.  I could see getting the bigger room if someone was with me.  Today i feel refreshed, full and relaxed.  Enjoying the quiet private cabin watching the flat eastern Colorado scenery roll past as the snow capped mountains grow on the horizon.  Soon after we started the long slow climb (going about 15-20mph) up the Raton pass that took us from Colorado into New Mexico.  The Raton train station has a unique style (see pic)

Jeff

Off and running

Train just pulled out of the station and the adventure begins.  The train is pretty packed so no room to stretch across multiple seats but luckily the seats are huge compared to airline coach accomodations. The guy next to me Stephan is very friendly and funny.  Stephan disembarks the train at 4am in Ohio so I should be able to lay across both seats from 4am til the train pulls into Chicago around 10am. 

Last day of work

Today is bringing back all the feelings of being back in school.  It is just like the last day before summer holiday but without the final exams!  The sad feelings of missing all my school friends but the excitement of all the new and exciting adventures so soon to begin.