Ups and Downs

I can't really say when we woke....not because we were camping and didn't have a clock, because we did. I can't say because the first time we woke was went we heard footsteps nearby and then our panniers attempting to be opened. I sprung into action, grabbed my light, and burst out of the tent....which is a dramatization of the real events that include me turning my light on in the tent after fumbling unsuccessfully for the zipper, blinding myself to the fact that the zipper that I had found was for the screen so me bursting out of the tent was actually me trying to burst through the screen. Lucky for us, since this process was so delayed, the perpetrator was not the deranged owner of the seemingly abandoned tent at the campsite over that the rangers had inspected earlier, but a much more benign troop of raccoons. The raccoons did prove to be much more annoying and persistent than any deranged camper would ever have been and proceeded to launch a second attack while I was removing the food from our panniers to put in the lock-box at our site. I scared them away again with another mock chase, only to have them flank me. Their cunning and skill was unexpected and successful....in pissing me off. Being a primate, I grabbed a stick to defend myself which I ended up throwing, Ventura style, into the bushes at the rustling that I identified as a third wave. By this time I had the bikes free standing as opposed to leaned against the picnic table where they were easy targets to the raccoons who used the table as strategic high ground, had bungee-ed the lock-box door shut, and jammed a stick in the clasp for good measure. Despite all the excitement, Alyssa remained in the tent sleepily inquiring from time to time as to how the battle was going. Also adding to the uncertainty as to when we awoke, in addition to intermittent raids by the courageous but defeated raccoons, was the bitter cold. We've talked a lot about the cold, but this night takes the cake. We had made a fire out of wood that we foraged for around our site, but that was safely distant from our tent and had burned out shortly after we went to bed. We had sleeping bags and were in full clothes, but it simply wasn't enough. We both woke multiple times shivering and re-huddled for what little warmth we could gather, but knowing that we would just be awakened what seemed like minutes later. During one sleepless spell I briefly pondered if this was how people froze to death, but decided it probably wasn't that bad, although Alyssa later voiced the same question. Most of the time we woke up asking, "Is it getting light out?" The answer seemed to always be that no, it was still pitch dark. Finally, Alyssa decided to go to the bathroom and saw that the sky was actually getting lighter. We jumped out of the tent, and although we said we would just leave in the morning, we started making a fire. After packing up and getting a little warmer from the fire, but mostly just really smoky, we headed, reluctantly, into Jenner where we hoped to get warm coffee and charge Alyssa's phone to get in touch with Zach. We got coffee at a mediocre cafe that was somehow loved on Yelp, which makes more sense when considering the small crappy town we were in that didn't even offer cellphone coverage. With Alyssa's phone charged tentatively connected to a roaming signal, we texted Zach to see where he was. As a reminder, although it was mentioned in the yesterday's post, we had been in contact with Zach, expected to meet him, and told him that we were sick, wouldn't make it to our prearranged spot, and would need a ride. Some how between the time that we had texted him yesterday evening to tell him that we would be camping in Jenner and had very little signal to which he responded that he was still a day away and the time that we got to the cafe the next day, Zach had drove past Jenner, not texted and found himself over 200 miles north of us which meant that he couldn't possibly turn around for a four hour drive to get us and besides, the car was very full. Maybe he picked up a lot of redwood pine cones that took our spots, or maybe he just never considered that we would be physical objects that have volume, either way we were fairly certain that he probably knew how much room he would have much before the previous evenings exchange and that he had definitely just knowingly drove past us. We were annoyed, and it could be argued that the offense still stings upon contemplation. So, with little choice and feeling sicker than ever, we started to ride... (Alyssa) and ride we did. For several hours. Although we rode for awhile we only manage to bike ten to fifteen miles that day. The hills were incredible! I'm pretty sure we climbed more in that morning than we did the entire day we rode from San Francisco to Wine Country. Since we couldn't do anything else except keep riding north, I switched into the lowest gear I had and enjoyed the view. Just to make it perfectly clear how many hills there were and how long, we climbed one stretch for over a mile and a half with no break in the hill. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or just being high from the physical stress but for some reason it felt great. I felt crazed but it was quite an accomplishment to climb what we did in the condition we were in. Although we were moving, it wasn't a good enough pace to ride the miles we needed. We both agreed that we needed to figure something else out, our vacation was turning to difficult times and we didn't want to stop having fun. We decided to not camp anymore because of the cold (and our colds) and ultimately decided to stop touring. We stopped at a hotel on the coast and used their internet to find a different way up the coast.....(David) which involved taking a local bus that had the added drama of only being able to take two bikes; if there was even just one bike already, we would have to wait until the next day when the bus came again. So we waited for the bus, for four hours, and eventually it came....with a bike on the front. Great, huh? Luckily the driver was super nice and the guy with the bike, a small mountain bike with quick-release wheels, offered to put his inside the bus. So we made the bus and went 40 miles north up the coast for $2.75 each to a cheap hotel that we had found at Point Arena. The hotel, which I just realized we did not take photos of, was the most retro thing you can imagine and was run by some very nice hippies. The rooms were wood paneled, retro old tv, one wall covered by some mountain scene, think 8' by 16' mural, which was framed with what looked like redwood, small leather sitting chair, pretty much the works as far as cheap old hotels built in the 70s. The town was tiny and recovering from a harbor fest so literally everything was closed save one pizza place which the lady from the hotel offered to drive me to in order to pick up a pizza. The pizza was delicious, and we spent time adjusting and talking about our new trip plans.