Oregon Coast- Everything's Bigger in Alaska!

7/13

The next morning we rode west to the coast. The ride from Redding to 101 is on the the best highways we have ridden.

We stopped to take a bread at a roadside turnout and met one of the funniest people I have ever talked to. Paul, a hippie living in Trinity County, was hitchhiking east trying to make it to the next town over to deliver some court papers. He had been arrested 66 times for various things (protests, hitchhiking, etc.) but never been convicted of anything. He had recently been released from jail after spending two and a half years in a county holding cell. The DA could not find any evidence on which to convict him and he was free.

He had a lot to say about corrupt cops, growing pot, rainbow gatherings, and time behind bars. Note: keep your eyes out for a cookbook Paul wrote while in the slammer entitled, Haikuking (Haiku-cooking), a guide to fine cuisine written all in Haiku format.

He also told us about Texans who are so proud of their big state. "Everybody in Texas thinks 'Every Thing Is Bigger In Texas.' They haven't been to Alaska. The tide goes out two miles. Anchorage has skyscrapers with huge mountains behind it. The day lasts all day and the night lasts so long people kill themselves. And the deer, man. The deer are moose. And moose, they kill trains, man!

We laughed hysterically at Paul's rants for about and hour before jumping back on the bikes and hitting the road. The ride up 101 into Oregon was fun, but that fun soon turned to frustration when we struggled to find a suitable place to camp. We had hoped to find an ideal spot on the beach, and when that failed we ended up at some lame state park a few miles from the ocean overrun with dune-happy ATV freaks.

We arrived after dark with the trip odometer reading 9360 miles and paid $17 dollars for a junky spot. Angry and tired we ate our meal in silence and then went to bed disappointed at being unable to hear the waves crashing outside our tent.