The Long Haul

More SF

The first two photos are of Steve Earl. The next few are from an art 'happening' we went to in San Francisco that night. The art galleries (which are all over the place) constantly rotate new art through and throw big parties with live music to draw people in. They get around their lack of liquor licenses by giving the alcohol away and encouraging a tip. This was definitely a unique San Francisco flavor. Following those photos are photos from the 3rd and final day of the festival. The first artist is Peter Rowan, followed by Early Scruggs (who at age 86 still picks like the grandfather of modern banjo that he is), then Doc Watson (as with Scruggs, also with Watson except he's 87 and is the grandfather of bluegrass flatpicking). The next photo is the Del McCoury Band (amazing), and then 2 photos of a number of artists that came out and finished their set together (including Elvis Costello). The following photo is a statue outside of AT&T Stadium where the Giants play with some homeless fellows in the background. The silver bridge is the Bay Bridge which leads from San Francisco to Oakland. The 2 photos prior to The Golden Gate Bridge are from the San Francisco National Cemetary with another view of Alcatraz in the 2nd of the 2. The last photo is of the flag on the corner of Market, Castro, and 17th Street in The Castro, a notorious gay community in SF where Harvey Milk did his thing.

Redwoods to Bluegrass

This set has photos from Humboldt Redwood State Park to San Francisco and the 2nd and 3rd days of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. The 3rd and 4th photos are Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, and the 5th photo is a redwood carving on the roof of a Masonic Temple in Mendocino. The wildflowers in California are beautiful and a few pics of them are mixed in. The pictures following are from the rest of the coast down to San Francisco. There are a handful of small towns along the northern coast of California, but it is mostly very sparsely populated. It's some very difficult riding, as the coast is very rocky with many cliffs and the road is very narrow. San Francisco was covered in a thick fog when I got there, as is normal. The photo after the ones from the Golden Gate Bridge is Alcatraz. I made it to the Mission district where I stayed with some friends for about a week while I went to Hardly Strictly and explored the city. I was too hungover from celebrating my arrival in San Francisco to make it to the first day of the festival, but didn't miss too much and made it to the 2nd and 3rd days. The first photo is of Joan Baez, the second of the David Grisman Quintet (plus 1), the third of David Grisman's flautist Matt Eakle (who was phenomenal) and the 4th of Gillian Welch with David Rawlins and David Grisman.

Oregon to California

These photos are from Southern Oregon to Humboldt Redwood State Park in Northern California. The victorian architecture and folk art photos are from Eureka, CA, one of many post-hippie movement towns on the Northern California coast. After Eureka is the road to the Lost Coast, the Lost Coast, the road back from the Lost Coast, and then the beginning of Humboldt Redwood State Park. Neal and I parted ways after Eureka and I rode solo the rest of the way down to San Francisco.

Seattle to Oregon

Here are some photos from the Seattle to Oregon leg of the trip. The first picture is Fred, the fellow who has ridden his bike around the world, with my host Joe in Seattle. The following two are a few sculptures around the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle followed by a few pics from downtown and then Pike Place Market. From Seattle I rode north and took a ferry to Whidbey Island and crossed some bridges to get to Anacortes, where I took another ferry to Victoria, BC. From the picture of the boats in front of the stone building to the huge watering can are pictures of Victoria. From then on is the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and on down the coast into Oregon. You may notice there aren't many photos of the Washington and Oregon coasts. I was rained on nearly every single day I rode that stretch and as such didn't stop to take many photos. Someday I'll have to go back and revisit this section because it's obviously beautiful, but it was difficult to enjoy in the rain. I rode with a few fellows at different points along this stretch, Scott and Mark for a few days and then Neal for about 5 days. Some photos with them are mixed in.

Hardly Strictly Part 1

Joan Baez

David Grisman Quintet

Bodega Bay, CA

This is from 2 days ago. I stayed in a hostel north of SF last night and met some cool people. I'll be crossing the Golden Gate Bridge today, right on schedule. Photos to come in the next few days.

Update

Some updates from the past few glorious days; Lost Coast, Humboldt Redwood State Park, Avenue of the Giants and Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. I'll upload some stills and some text once I get to SF in case anyone's still reading/viewing but for now the videos are easiest. Adios! ...and I just found out the stretch of redwoods after Honeydew in the 2nd video was used in the filming of Jurassic Park...

California Love

I'm in Eureka, CA now. The Santa Ana winds will bring beautiful, warm weather for the next week or so. Neal and I bombed on the rainy days so now I'm ahead of schedule and have 8 days to make it about 340 miles to SF. This allows me to slow my pace and take an alternate route through the desolate Lost Coast rather than sticking to Route 101. Neal needs to get to SF faster than I so we parted ways this morning, good luck to him on his journey. Here is a video and picture from the Trinidad coast, just north of Eureka. My video from the redwood forest wouldn't upload but I'll work on fixing that once I get to SF. From sunny California, enjoy!

Oregon Coast

This is a video I've been meaning to upload since Monday. More updates to come, in California now.

More Rain and Beer