Here en lies the official documentation of the epic journey of two lovely lady friends and their adventures to overcome the odds and do an official "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" bike trip. Please be warned, the stunts enlisted below are not necessarily advised and were done by non-professionals. Not recommended for everybody.
To start things off, I would just like this to be a testament that traveling does not have to cost you an arm and six legs. I survived over a month on less than $500 which amounts to roughly $12/day. "But Jenna, that's absurd!" you might say. "That barely covers a six pack a day and a donut, how did you ever make that happen?" Well friends, let me tell ya.
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My Jamis Aurora Elite (aka Lachlan) donated to me from
Justin at Life Cycle in Eugene, OR. Best. Bike. Ever. |
Trip Basics: Mission: Canada to California via b*tchin bicycles and the 101 Highway at about $10/day. Kayla, our friend Roby and I left in early May starting in Bend, Oregon. We took a train through
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Kayla, Roby, and me after catching the 5am train to Seattle
after trying to quietly open a bottle of champagne. |
Seattle and explored for awhile then trained up to Anacortes,WA. Note: Always check to see how many spots are available for bikes on the train. The best bet is try and find commuter trains so that you don't have to worry about boxing up your bike. From there we cycled up to catch a ferry to the San Juan Islands which we rode around and explored for about a week. Then we took off to Sydney, British Columbia and rode down to Victoria to catch a ferry back to Port Angeles. From Port Angeles we picked up the 101 Highway and started working our way down. Roby, our third initial compadre on the trip, had bike difficulties outside of Port Angeles which left Kayla and me to journey alone. We followed the 101 through the Olympic Peninsula, down through rainy Oregon, into shithole Crescent City, CA, and all the way through the Redwoods and into Arcata before I had to ship my bike home. After crashing on some random people's couch for a few days, we found a ride on Craigslist to take us to San Fran where we couch surfed yet again before Kayla had to leave for her job in Oregon. She missed her first train out so we ended up going down to visit friends in Santa Cruz and hang out in an vacated office (illegally?) for a few nights.
So here goes the crucial ingredients to having a super, banging, balling, awesome time on an impromptu bicycle trip covering over 1000mi over the course of a month and a half:
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| Kayla in Oregon on our trial ride outside of Bend |
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Find the right buddy: Kayla and I were a match made in heaven. We met when we both picked up work at a ski lodge in Utah late in the season and it's been love ever since. We were both entirely on board with dedicating the vast majority of our budget to vivacious liquids and cutting corners where we could. Neither of us really trained, although both of us are semi-avid runners and we'd been skiing all season, but def no hardcore cycling training. Neither of us had a problem sleeping on random people's couches or going weeks without showering (the goal was one shower per state) which really made the trip the amazing adventure that it was. I definitely could not have asked for a better companion!
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Nothing fancy or specialized! First of all, we didn't buy anything fancy or extraordinary for the trip. We got most of our gear from thrift stores in Utah and Oregon and opted out of wearing bike shorts, which our lady parts initially were not a huge fan of. We would generally start every morning out by giving the rating for what level our vags were at for the day. Some were a lot rougher than others, let me tell ya. But moral of the story, it was done and I don't think I'll ever shell out the money for the padded goodness that constitutes bike shorts. I also did the vast majority of the trip without a cell phone, which my mom wasn't too excited about, but you find a way around it :) Hellllo free public libraries..
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Hit the early season: Another short cut made was that we went earlier in the season (we started in May) before all of the campsites and parks had officially opened up. While this did put us at the risk for hitting the tail end of the rainy season (which it did), it also gave us the advantage of being able to essentially "stealth camp" aka pull off on the side of the road and camp wherever, because park rangers and campsite hosts weren't around just yet. But this also meant a bit more planning on our part as a lot of the amenities at the campsites weren't turned on so it required a lot of stopping at gas stations to fill up water beforehand to last through the night and next morning.
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| Kayla and me and Neil's house in Seaside, OR |
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Take up offers to sleep on the couch: It never seized to amaze us the acts of kindness we were graced with along the way. Generally, whenever Kayla and I rode into a town after cycling the 30-60 miles each day we would try to find the local dive bar. Talking to the locals about the best place for camping proved immensely helpful and gave us a much more civil introduction to the town we were crashing in, as opposed to merely a pin point on a iphone. We were always amazed at how many people would non-creepily offer up their couch or backyard to us and buy all of our meals just to hear about our adventures. We also utilized warmshowers.org which is the cyclist version of couch surfing and the way that we found Mr. Neil in Seaside, Oregon. Neil came into our lives after we cycled nearly 100 miles that day to get out of Washington and cross the Oregon border via the historic Astoria Bridge. Neil was amazing as he left his house unlocked for us and the other random guests that he had staying and offered us fantastic accommodations, our first shower in about two weeks, and great conversation about his travels around the world. I have never met a more inspiring person and it was truly touching to see his zest for life in everything that he does. Absolutely amazing.
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Leave technology at home: As long as you are well-prepared, half of the fun is getting lost or straying off the beaten track. Kayla had a smartphone on her which we used a bit at first, but ultimately we decided to do it the old fashioned way by picking up maps at ranger stations to figure out campsites, stopping at the local library for some free internet access (usually a 15 min limit so act fast), or stopping in and asking the locals. This way, we were able to stay at some of the most beautiful locations that we wouldn't have found otherwise and we also found backroad routes that way we could minimize our time spent cycling on the highway (especially after Oregon when the shoulder drops off). We were able to make amazing friends by trusting our faith in humanity and not keeping our noses dug into our smartphones or taking the easy way out.
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Kayla and Mr. Gregory who we rode and camped with
for a few days and showed us how to properly brew
campfire coffee using a strainer and sticks |
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Make friends!: Whenever we did stop at an actual campsite to stay, it usually had a few others doing the same Highway 101 bike tour. Hiker/biker camp sites are usually either free or only $5 so they're definitely the way to go! Generally the sites are one giant area with no room for a vehicle so you really get a chance to get to know the people staying at the site with you. It's always a great asset to be able to make friends and share resources. We didn't carry certain items such as chain lube because we knew that wherever we stopped someone else usually had it. It was always great to stop and exchange food and stories over the campfire.
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| Kayla and Roby snacking near Crescent Lake, WA |
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Don't be a picky eater: First of all, condense everything down and lose the packaging. After we bought food we would lose all of the extra boxes and packaging and reuse the same three ziploc bags to shed the extra weight and not take up too much space. Kayla and I each had a single tupperware container that acted as our bowl/plate and a single spoon which was all we needed. No need to buy any expensive sporks or collapsible containers. We both bought ours at a thrift store for about 50 cents each. Winning! We would generally eat the same things about each day. We had a gallon zip lock bag full of oatmeal that we would put flax meal in, then lunch would primarily be oatmeal and something cheap from the gas station, and then dinner we would generally make beans or instant stuffing or mashed potatoes with veggie protein added. I definitely underestimated the amount of food I would consume on a daily basis and if there was one thing that I learned, it was to eat, eat, eat! We were doing about 50-60 mi/day and it took a looottt of energy to maintain that.
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Choose beer!: We also found that beer was an excellent source of carbs to get the job done and help us punch out those last 15mi to the campsite. And naturally we didn't want to carry the extra weight of all those vivacious liquids so we found it crucial to drink a few before continuing on :) The only food that we ever really carried with us was oatmeal, instant stuffing, and lotttts of coffee. We found it worked best to buy whatever we wanted for dinner on our way to the campsite that way we weren't lugging around extra cans of anything all day. We would definitely stock up if we knew that we were going to be riding through National Parks with jacked up general store prices for a few days, but other than that, we figured out a cheap and effective system pretty early on. I think our most creative campfire meal was a conglomeration of instant stuffing with sour cream n' onion chips mixed in, wrapped in a seaweed sushi roll. Not my favorite meal, but truly a testament to what can happen if you get four or five desperate cyclists pooling resources over a few beers. If you can contribute a beer to a campfire dinner, you may be considered God's gift to man.
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Don't pay for wood: We actually saw a sign advertising organic firewood $10/bundle. One, isn't all wood organic? Two, why pay for a bundle of wood when you're surrounded by trees. Dumb.
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| Sean and Peter just casually milking the goat |
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Work on farms along the way: So I found a farm to work on upon landing in San Francisco after Kayla took off to go work in Oregon for the summer and it was the most affordable way to hang out in California. Free room and board, free meals, and a free tour guide essentially all for donating free labor! I landed outside of Sacramento working with Sean (the farmer) and his trusty Swedish assistant, Peter. I think it was when we all went swimming in the glacier fed pond after having a few beers with lunch that I fully realized that my life is a joke. I still can't figure out how I was lucky enough to be able to work with those two guys for a few weeks before shipping out home. We would spend the morning hours working and watering and then spend all afternoon swimming, slacklining, or just laughing til we cried. We even all piled in the truck with a few road beers to go see the Sierra Nevadas and spend the day rock climbing and hiking. Wicked. There was no cable, no internet, and he was completely off the grid. My favorite parts were the outdoor composting "toilet" and the solar powered outdoor shower that was West facing without a door so you could go and watch the sunset after a hard days work and just be completely one with your surroundings. Heaven. Definitely going back there! You can find farms by either A) going to the towns farmer's markets and asking around if you're just swinging through B) WWOOFING (Worldwide Work on Organic Farms.. I think) or 9) helpx.net is also bomb status
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| Kayla and me in Santa Cruz, CA after she missed her first train |
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Just crush it and let it ride!: The amazing adventure that unfolded would not have been able to happen had we not trusted that everything was going to be alright. We definitely hit some major road bumps (Kayla's three flat tires and a massive storm in Tillamook, OR) but it was the
experience of the lifetime just by letting go. We would both do signature mating calls before entering each town which basically just involved random "Ay yi yi yi yi!" being shouted from the tops of our lungs after being the only people on the road for the past two hours. We met amazing individuals along the way and created memories to last a lifetime. So if you think you don't have the money, time, or capabilities. Let me tell ya, you do! It takes a heck of a lot less money than living in your apartment when you take into account the utilities, food, rent, cable, and cell phone bills you pay. Not to mention you're probably working 20 to 30 hours a week just to make that feasible. So just drop everything and consider cycling around, meeting awesome people, not working a day unless you choose otherwise, and just having the time of your life. Totally possible, my friend.
The Town: Pena Blanca is the perfect home away from home and such a nice balance of my village in Priveli Obcha and good ol' Urbana in the US. It has all the markets of fresh, all natural produce and re-sale clothing stores, but also has a little coffee shop and an actual grocery store to go to if need be. We are nestled in the mountains, which is so amazing to wake up to everyday with the nearby river and Lake Yojoa right at our fingertips. There are so many amazing hikes, waterfalls, row-boating opportunities, and places to explore that it never seizes to amaze me. There is a local hostel and brewery here that also lets all of us teachers go on excursions with their guides for free whenever we want which is such a great resource and we get to meet so many interesting people travelling from all over!
We have hot showers that require the bimonthly event of emptying the showerhead of the minerals (rocks) that accumulate from the water here being so "hard". We have a washer, although I prefer just to hand wash my clothes in the backyard seeing as the washer drains straight into our backyard leaving the soapy water to seep into the ground water. There's a clothesline strung across under our gigantic lime tree and a hammock on the back porch. Yes, our house is surrounded by a barbed wire fence and padlocked gate with bars on all of our windows, but that is just the normalcy here. Everyone has it but it most certainly doesn't feel necessary. Which leads me to the next topic..
That Whole "Safety" Thing: Prior to coming to Honduras, I received several comments of concern and a bazillion talks of not being smart and trying being safe this time around. Honestly, I feel a heck of a lot safer here than at home. Mostly because I would never pull the same dumb shit that I do at home here. I don't walk alone at dark (very much), I most certainly don't attempt my favorite 2am runs down the vacant streets, I don't really talk to many strangers seeing as most of them are either whistling or making cat calls, and I don't make any unnecessary trips to San Pedro Sula (the murder capital of the world). There are police checkpoints every now that are checking to make sure there's nothing suspicious on board or to ask for the casual "donation". The only issue we've had so far with the cops is when we only had the copies of our 
