From the Redwood Forests to the Oregon Waters

After the Lost Coast we spent several days exploring the beautiful rugged coastline and beaches along Rte. 
101, and occasionally searching for veggie oil. 

Score! Finally.

Big biodiesel operations have definitely gained popularity since we did our first WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) powered road trip more than five years ago. Due to this competition, we were met with limited success in our first several attempts at sucking up the greasy stuff. Fortunately, in Crescent City our fortunes changed and we got permission to fill up with 50 gallons of free WVO fuel from a local restaurant. 
On our way up North we wandered though many groves of redwood trees as well as completing some serious biking and hiking day trips. 

Not a bear.

The easy part.

On one trip in particular in Redwood National Park, we started out biking a gravel road next to the ocean which soon turned into a serious mountain biking trail over roots, rocks and mud. We don’t have mountain bikes but we kept going anyways, carrying our bikes at times. The trail then smoothed out but gained 800 feet of altitude as we huffed and puffed over a steep mountain path. Part way up, we were greeted by a 200 pound bear lumbering ahead of us rather quickly. Quite a sight to see, especially since he was only about 20 feet away. She looked over at us, but fortunately wasn’t interested and kept heading over the mountain ahead of us. This was the second bear we've seen on our trip. We've also seen elk, deer, mink, seals, bunnies, banana slugs, bald eagles, osprey, and cute little gophers. It's a regular National Geographic special out here. 

Once we made it over the summit we were rewarded by a fun winding bike ride through redwoods down to the paved road. We then got to cool off as we soared downhill through these majestic trees in the dappled sunlight. It was one of those moments where it was hard to not feel overjoyed being alive.  (Check out the video of it below). We finished the day off by locking up our bikes and hiking back to our bus and campsite through a secluded and quiet old growth redwood forest. Many of the trees we hiked past were at least 1000 years old, some several centuries more. These massive beauties always fill me with awe and inner silence. I think the cathedrals we build intend to mimic the feeling you get in forests like these. The day ended  with a sunset over the ocean, a cold shower and some warm dinner cooked in the bus.

A few redwood groves, dirt roads and some chilly river swims later, we found ourselves crossing the border into Oregon. We didn’t make it much more than 35 miles into the state before the Boose decided it needed some TLC. It started squeeling, whining and clunking suddenly at a stop light. This happened at the perfect time though, because we were about to embark down a windy two lane road through the mountains with little to no cell coverage. But we were still on 101 and were able to call a diesel mechanic who highly advised us not to drive the bus, since our alternator had seized up (the clunking) and the serpentine belt was rubbing against it (the whining). Fourtunately, our AAA - RV had just kicked in a couple days prior (thanks Dad!) and we were able to get the Boose towed 85 miles to a mechanic in Coos Bay for free! 

Poor Boose.

We spent a night on the street in front on the mechanic, Kenny’s, shop, and all in all, the new alternator and repair was pretty cheap as far as bus fixes go. There were several honest and friendly people who helped us out in this ordeal, so we’ve come to really like Oregonians.

The bus is running smoothly now, and we're heading inland to explore the Oregon wilderness. Our first stop is Umpqua Hot Springs in the national forest to soak away the stress of a broken boose. Wish us luck!

We start out again.....by getting Lost



Jori driving across the Golden Gate Bridge

We finally managed to escape the gravitational pull of the Bay Area (Watch out, you go to visit a few months and somehow find that you are still there half a decade later!) and began our bus trip home to New Hampshire on the afternoon of June 11th. After packing and boxing and many sad farewells, we shed a few nostalgic tears as we made our way through San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge to route 101 N and the start of our cross country adventure (Part II).

Our first destination: The Lost Coast for a few days of hiking with a couple of good friends.

We've had a few outdoor adventures with Pete and Mary in the past (most notably the infamous misadventure to Snow Creek Cabin a few winters ago, which is a story for another blog) and we quickly settled into that easy rhythm that you find with great exploring companions. We were off to tackle the several hours of rutted and bumpy dirt road driving required to deposit their car at one end of the trail and our bus at the other in preparation for our thru hike. You might not guess from looking at it, but the bus makes a decent off road vehicle as long as there are not low hanging branches and you take it slow.

The Lost Coast is a section of the California shore deemed too rugged to build the ocean-skirting Route 1 along, which has left it beautifully undeveloped and crowd free. We hiked a section of roughly 20 miles between Needle Point and Usal Campground, spending 3 nights on the trail with a “rest day” left for relaxation and exploration in the middle of a couple of longer day hikes. The trail took us up over the sides of tree covered mountains, through brushy meadows, into deep valleys, across bubbling streams, and onto sunny sandy beaches. The crashing of the blue Pacific was rarely far off.

When not hiking, we explored beach caves, sat in the warm sand, took some chilly dips in the rivers and ocean, sat around the campfire, and enjoyed the finest in campsite gastronomy (no prepackaged hiking food for this crew!). We managed to avoid the itchy unpleasantness of poison oak with some post-hike Technu and cold river plunges. Plus, we didn’t get lost when the trail occasionally disappeared into the bushes, but all of us had a few thorn bush scratches and nettle stings at the end of the trip as testaments to our wilderness adventures and overall badass-ness.

We ended our backpacking venture with beer and burgers on the drive back to our starting point and the little blue boose, where we said goodbye to Pete and Mary and the reality of the long adventure in front of us began to sink in!

Testing to see if we can still access our old blog. If you're subscribed, we'll start posting about our journey back home in the next few weeks. -B&J

Mariposa Grove / Willow House

So, in case you haven't figured it out yet, we're settling in the San Francisco Bay area for a while. We found a co-housing community focused on permaculture gardening called Mariposa Grove (In case you're wondering it is not a commune, just a place where people have torn down the fences between their yards and started gardening together. They have a small communal space for shared meals, meetings and socializing and many of them are in the process of buying their individual apartments as condos). We are parked in the driveway of the "Willow House" (there's a large willow in the backyard) and use their bathroom and kitchen, while continuing to use the bus as our bedroom. It's pretty warm here now, so its not a bad arrangement. Mariposa Grove is located in North Oakland (near Berkeley, where people don't get shot as much) and an easy 20 minute BART ride (the BART is like the "T" or "metro") under the bay to San Francisco.


Wine Country and San Francisco

Once back in good old Fairfield we were surprised to find that my Uncle Bob and Aunt Karen had turned into our own personal resident tour guides. Over the course of a few weeks we went to both Sonoma and Napa to taste at the finest vineyards, we toured great Fairfield establishments such as the Jelly-Belly and Annheiser-Busch factories (both providing free samples of their latest products). We checked out art galleries and sculptures, enjoyed fine dining (Bob's specialties of course), and were given a tour of Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and the Marin area. When they brought us up for a view of the bridge, Betsy and I both had the feeling of wow, we finally made it, we're in San Francisco, since this had been a major goal of the trip.





Karen and Bob have been the most wonderful, hospitable, and generous people. Letting us stay in their house for at least a month all together, and even offering up their condo for whenever we want to use it, including when Betsy's mom and sister come in to visit. Not only all that, but they are really fun people to hang out with too. We've already been back to visit since "moving out" and I'm sure we'll be back often. It's been fun to hang out with my cousin Chris and his girlfriend Katie as well. They took the ferry over to visit us in the city last weekend and we checked out Fisherman's Wharf and Haight Ashbury with them. It was alot of fun. Hopefully we'll be able to go out camping with them some time soon too, and try out Chris' new motor bike. . . if he lets us.

Whoo. So we're almost caught up with the blog. Next post, we'll tell you about the place we found to live out here and the job hunt. We need to download some pics first though. Until then, keep those comments coming. We love to read them

Mommy Nic, Daddy James, and Baby Oona

After Tahoe, my Aunt and Uncle were nice enough to drop Betsy and I off at Betsy's friend, Nicole's house so we could visit with her, her husband James, and their one year old daughter, Oona, who is very, very cute and a pretty mellow baby. She's mastered crawling and is beginning to stand up. She loves hanging out at the park, playing with toys, walks in strollers, and long car rides. Thus, we did a lot of these things and generally hung out with the baby. We also got to spend alot of time with Nic and James and did fun things like go to a local brewery for beer sampling (I liked the stout), walked around a lake at a state park up in the mountains, and had lots of picnics. We spent about a week with them in Placerville before heading back to Karen and Bob's. Here are bunch of pictures of Oona and friends.