[Bike]
The Bike Touring Pages of
Chris X. Edwards

Summer 1997 - Yukon to California
Journals - 2 September 1997

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Day 54

2 September 1997 (cloudy, nice morn; sunny, nice midday; good tail wind; mileage = 31.3; Butano State Park) -- X - Last night, I experienced a serious illness (my worst in a few years). I felt like I was going to puke which made me nervous since I didn't want to do that in the tent. When I finally (carefully) got out of the tent to puke, I didn't have to. And without the fear of puking in the tent, I started feeling better. April came outside with me and we worked on strategies for puking in the tent. It was nice outside and the wind had died down quite a bit. We all got up before 7:30 and we had a textbook take down. Dennis is doing pretty well with it, too. We were rolling at about 9:22. At about (after) 9:30, April got a flat in her front tire (glass). I fixed/patched it and we were rolling by 9:45. Soon, and inevitably, we came to a small hill which was quite a struggle. I thought it would be good for April and I to stop at an overlook and let the Richters work on their climb. Well, they saw us stopped there and came back down the hill to join us, which cost us a lot of time, but it was indeed very scenic. After some more similar riding, we got to our lunch site. It was very nice with a picnic table on a low bluff looking out over a big rock island with heaps and heaps of pelicans. As I was getting out the food, a couple of German tourists took an interest. He was so impressed with all four of us riding 10,000 km that he gave me a Soligen knife and Dennis a flashlight (didn't Chris Columbus use this trick?). He was VERY cool to do that. He also had a cycling magazine in German. When he realized I was very interested in it and learning German, he gave it to me. Danke. Dennis was really enjoying the fruits of our labor with photos and everything. Then, strangely, another couple was interested in us. There were from Pennsylvania. Dennis really seemed to enjoy the attention. I had to laugh when he answered the (very common) question "How many miles do you do a day?" (about 30). So we ate lunch. There were seals there. That's always fun. Then we (April and I) reorganized Nancy's cargo onto our bikes. This made a significant difference for her and a small one for us. We turned inland for a mercifully gentle climb to the state park. Wait! Before that, we went down to the hostel/lighthouse. I think they wanted $40 + a "chore" for a shitty stripped-down hotel room where we could worry about our stuff getting stolen. No thanks. After April and the Richters took the self-guided tour, we left and headed for our state park destination. There were some hills that made Nancy struggle, but it could have been a LOT worse. Anyway, this campsite is gorgeous. VERY nice! Redwoods with walk-in sites neatly placed. Very nice. So we set up and we all washed off (no shower, though) and we ate and here we are.
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Chris X. Edwards ~ October 2000