Shut Up Legs Tours

Here is the book with the highlights of this trip. It is not cheap at about $20 but I don't make a dime. Blurb is expensive to publish and I did it just to give away a few to friends. But, if you are doing this trip or parts of it you might it find it valuable. Vicotoria, San Juan Islands and Oregon Coast by Michael Sojka | Make Your Own Book

If you are a "cyclist" you will most likely laugh. This video explains why serious cyclists do what they do. Though it is written to be funny, it is actually very close to what many serious cyclists think.... Cycling Explained

Originally I had planned to camp at Tree of Heaven campground tonight. Somewhere along the road I decided that idea was not so great and that I wanted to eat and sleep at home tonight. I think when I got to the Klamth River market called Quigleys and was looking for food that nothing looked good and so I called my wife from the pay phone there since there is no cell coverage and told her my plan. It was going to be a heck of a ride but she could pick me up in Yreka at the Mexican restaurant Casa Ramos. And, I had done the 35 mile ride from Yreka to Mount Shasta a hundred times so that did not seem like a big cheat. Check out the State of Jefferson flag flying in the low position. The State of Jefferson was a short-lived secession movement to try and get some politicians attention and more money sent up this way in 1941.  I get to the turnoff for 263 which is a beautiful road next to the Shasta River and find out the road is closed. That means the only way back

I had thought about this day a lot starting a month before the trip at least. Back and forth went the decision making process. Should I stay in Cave Junction or ride through to Happy Camp over the little used backroad from O'Brien. Since it was an extra 10 miles past the turnoff to Cave Junction and I had not figured out where to camp there, I decided to go for Happy Camp. The mileage was a doable 75 miles but there was 7500' of climbing which was far and away the most of the trip. It did not help that morning that I had a headwind all the way along 199. It is a narrow road right next to the Smith River. This is where the middle and north fork of the river come together. Raft race? Sounds fun! Now, I cross back into Oregon for a little while. Bridge about 8 miles outside of Happy Camp over Indian Creek I tanked up on sorbet, iced tea, and other surgery liquid things in O'brien which this picture shows in entirety. It was hot now - the hottest weath

This was going to be a very short day at only 28 miles. I would be crossing back into California and was somewhat sad to leave Oregon. The Oregon Coast had been everything I thought it would be and more. The other cycle tourists had been fun to talk with at the campsites and I knew it would be unlikely to meet more at this time. So, I spent some time at the beach by the campground this morning doing Tai Chi and taking pictures. The fog was just lifting and was creating some really fun light, shadow, and surreal effects.  This was going over the bridge at Brookings, Or  There was a group of touring cyclists in the site across from mine - yea! They had driven down from Reno and started in Fortuna and were going to head north into the headwind until they were tired of it and come back. Nice group that shared their mosquito repellent with me - good thing as the skeeters were fierce there. This had to be the most beautiful campsite of the trip with 250 - 30

This was July 4th so it seemed prudent to get on the road early which is what I did. The plan was to ride the 25 miles to Port Orford and have breakfast there. Leaving Bullard Beach I took the scenic bikeway road and ended up on a dead-end out by this inlet. Very pretty but not the way I wanted to start the day. I got back on route and enjoyed seeing the city of Bandon which seems to be suffering from overbuilding. There was lots of for sale signs everywhere. Very pretty views of the coast from several of the properties. Something, though, felt a little hollow about this place. I would need to spend more time here to know if that was a valid observation or not. This silly looking sculpture was along the road going out of town. Pedaling into Port Orford I see a restaurant and a guy walking towards the front door. I ask him if it is any good and says yes and it needs to be since it is the only place for breakfast. I noticed he has some strange Chinese herbal liniment formu

This was about a 75 mile day. I got out of Jessie Honeyman's State Park before any of the other cycle tourists got up. It must have been the lack of coffee but I suddenly realized that Oregon's rumble strip is the best one for cyclists. It seems they can paint and somehow pattern the blacktop all in one process. Plus, it is narrow, does not extend into the shoulder where cyclists ride, and also is not so deep like some that almost knock you off your bike. Anyhow, kudos to Oregon Transportation Dept for this design and hopefully other states will copy it. This critter had been hit by a car but was still alive. I thought it was a beaver at first but then realized the tail indicates something else. This thing was pretty big at around 7 - 8 pounds. Anyone know what it is? Gardiner has to be one of the saddest looking towns along the Oregon coast. The only people I saw were digging out in the mud -  I am guessing for clams. I finally made it to Reedsport and sto

There is a hospitality center at South Beach where the best tool for cycling the Oregon Coast is available free. The volunteers in there give me this map of the coast that has everything the cycling tourist will want: names of campgrounds with hiker/biker sites; elevation profiles, distances, and alternate bike routes. Whoever put this together did an outstanding job as this is easily the most useful map I have ever had. The nice ladies also told me of a breakfast spot in Waldport called Dan O's that some people on Yelp have given terrible reviews. It is true the waitress smokes outside and everything they said, but, the breakfasts here are huge and coffee cup is bottomless. There are two signs outside - one says Dan O's and one says Carols. Apparently it is in some kind of transition right now. I liked the food and also got into a discussion with a trucker at the next table. We talked about cyclists and how he is deathly afraid of hitting someone and tries his best. He d

Left McMinnville and headed to the coast. On the way I detoured slightly off 18 to go through Sheridan and Willamina. There was a nice bakery in Willamina that had decent coffee so I got my caffeine fix there. Sheridan was a depressed looking area though the mill was going. My first planned destination was Devils Lake which is supposed to have a hiker/biker camping site but though I looked at two different places it was not apparent to me. It was too early in the day to stop anyways but thought it would be worth checking out in case it was so awesome I would be compelled to stop. So, on down the coast I rolled. Devils Lake First picture of the Oregon Coast One of many alternate bike routes off the main 101 Sometimes you saw these signs for alternate routes and sometimes not There is a bike shop listed on warmshowers.org that will let cycle tourists shower there and is supposed to have lots of stuff for the cycle tourist. They were very friendly and gave me gr