Susan Nordskog's Bike Blog

Video at normal speed on Youtube channel SUENORD1 (https://youtu.be/mKmLfTNXgk0)

I left San Francisco as soon as I got back to my van after filming the Golden Gate Bridge, but the traffic was terrifying on highway 101, so I stopped in the parking lot of 24-hour fitness center and spent the night keeping my head down in the back of the car. The next morning was Sunday, and I camped at Monterey Veteran’s Memorial Park on a hill above town. My knees still felt rubbery after the San Francisco expedition, despite the fact that I walked up most of the hills. A 20″ bike requires more work than my electric bikes, but electric bikes aren’t allowed on most of the bike paths I intended to film. Maybe I will lose some weight?

 

On Monday morning, I located the start of the bicycle path ( Montery Bay Coastal Trail) at Canyon del Rey Boulevard, near the Home Depot and headed towards Monterey. The bike path was LEVEL, and a pure joy to ride on. There were some enormous trees, and the air smelled  wonderfully of eucalyptus. Most of the joggers tore past me as if I were standing still, but my goal wasn’t speed.

As I got closer to my turning point at Point Pinos Lighthouse (I didn’t actually see a lighthouse), a few small hills got in my way. I walked up some of them. The scenery became really spectacular, with giant trees, jagged rocks and breaking waves. I had to backtrack to Lover’s Point to catch the returning bus, which went about 2/3 of the way back to Home Depot.

I probably could have taken another bus the rest of the way, but it was easier to just bike the rest. The buses have racks on the front for bicycles, which impressed me. When I returned to my car, I headed for Morro Bay. I once more spent the night lurking in the back of my van, trying to be inconspicuous.

 

Video at normal speed on Youtube channel SUENORD1 (https://youtu.be/w6rCttNDtss)

San Francisco Senior Style
After spending the night in the corner of a 24-hour restaurant parking lot, I headed for the BART train station in San Bruno. I had checked out how to park the van and was assisted by a friendly BART employee when I put money on my senior, or “Clipper” card. This would give me a nice discount on the train and ferry.
The train trip to the Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco went seamlessly. I turned my Yi 4k camera to “flip” (upside down), and walked my bike through the busy intersection to the bike path. The camera dangled from a heavy pole down by my feet, and will hopefully result in an interesting viewpoint. The whole block was enlivened by musicians, sales booths and tourists. The sun was beautiful and it was surprisingly warm for February. The bike path disappeared to the left (uphill), but reappeared when I got to a large park and marina. Before 1530, you have to take the bike path on the west side of the bridge. Right under the bridge, a road leads to the bike path. A few brave and hardy souls actually rode up that part. Yours-truly took to her feet every time she ran into a hill. When I got up to the Golden Gate itself, the rise was more gentle. I still pulled off to pant once in a while.

After I got to the North side of the Bridge, there was a road on the west side from the viewpoint. It was steep, and I lost most my 80 meter advantage in a few minutes.

There was another hill before Sausalito that I also strolled up, along with at least half of my fellow bikers. On the ferry back to the Embarcadero, there were 79 bikes. E-bikes are not allowed. That is why I have my little 20″ folding bike.

Getting back to San Bruno and my van was not as easy as the first trip. The card wouldn’t open the gate, though I filled it with money twice. I finally went through the emergency gate to get to the train, after the alarms on the gate had beeped for 20 minutes. No BART employees responded.   When I got to my car, I headed South for an hour, and stealth camped again in a Denny’s parking lot.

I left Reno in a rush because a snowstorm which was supposed to hit the High Sierras got moved up about 5 hours during the night, and I had to get over to highest point in Donner’s Pass before the snow started. Wind gusts well over hurricane level were also predicted.
I got off about 9am, without having time to feel out various systems on the car, like the locks, defrosting system, etc. The glove compartment also decided not to latch, which looked rather tacky.
There was bright sunlight as I left, but the wind and rain came as I approached the foothills. The wind gusts were rather intimidating, and dozens of tumbleweeds bounded over the barriers and across the freeway. On my right was a spectacular rainbow, and on my left the snow-covered mountains rose impressively. Very quickly, the rain started to come down in buckets. The trucks were struggling up the hill, and whenever I got brave enough to pass one, it threw up sheets of muddy water. The slow lane desperately needed maintenance, and there were a lot of holes in the pavement. Also, the lines between the lanes were hard to see.
I was very glad to reach the top of the pass, and life became much easier on the downhill side. The rain continued, and I took a break after Sacramento to see if the weather might improve. Not likely! There were flood and wind warnings, and flooding even in downtown San Francisco.
l continued until I had passed Oakland, planning on  crossing the San Francisco Bay further South he Oakland-Bay Bridge. The last couple of hours was bumper to bumper traffic, and I finally found a shopping center with an all-night Fitness center. I decided that was a pretty safe place to camp.
I had headlights, but they didn’t look bright enough to me. I had a pretty good night, but kind of long, since I was too tired to go shopping, though Walmart was open until midnight. The rain pattering on the car roof made a really cozy sound.  Nobody challenged my right to park there.
The next morning, I went over the bridge to San Mateo. This bridge was REALLY long. It was still raining, but not with the same enthusiasm. The sun came out at noon in San Bruno. I spent the day reorganizing my van and charting the paths between Walmart, McDonalds and Denny’s, all of which have free wifi. I found the Bay Area Rapid Transit station by the mall, checked out the parking area, and put money on my senior-discount card. I also adjusted the brakes on my folding bike, and put on a speedometer, head and tail-lights and a mirror. I think I am ready for the sunny day that Saturday should be.
I will hang around McDonalds unless someone runs me out. Their drive-thru window is open all night. I I will be a little late sending this blog. My cigarette light had no power, even after I changed the fuse, but there is one in the back of the van that works, so I will eventually get my two smartphones, tablet, laptop and about 11 camera batteries charged up. This can only be done while I am driving. I guess I had better get back out to the car. I can only get a limited amount of goodwill out of a Big-Mac and a coffee.
email still doesn’t work on the laptop.

I believe in the expression “adventures are catastrophes viewed in retrospect”.  Therefor,  I refuse to make detailed plans for my scatterbrained projects in advance. It would somehow detract from the quality of the trip.

I left Norway on February 1st early in the morning, and arrived in San Francisco the same day, but 1 1/2 hours later than scheduled.  Getting from the airport to downtown on the Bay Area Transit System, a sort of metro-train, was an unadulterated joy. The system is simple, fast and cheap.

The BART station downtown, at the Embarcadero, is 4/10 of a mile from the Greyhound bus station. I had packed most of my luggage in a bicycle bag, which is rather shapeless and refuses to sit on top of my wheeled hand-luggage for more that about a half block. I didn’t think the packed local busses would be very enthusiastic about myself and my luggage, so I decided to drag it to the Greyhound Station. The station was quite nice, with a guarded waiting area, and they printed me a ticket to Reno on the next bus, 9 hours later.

A blizzard was expected going over the Sierra Nevada mountains, which I figured would be rather exciting. I didn’t sleep, because I was afraid of missing something. I also got the whole front seat to myself, which I love.

Not far before the top of the Donner Pass (where some pioneers ate some of their companions), the snow started coming down so thick we could hardly see the road. Shortly thereafter, we came over a long line of trucks pulled over on the shoulder of the road, mounting snow chains.

We had a lady driver, who recruited one of the other passengers to help her get the chains on. She got them on, but after about 20 feet, one fell off, bending the attachment hooks. After an hour, the chains were securely attached, and we continued on to Reno. It was all rather exciting. We got to Reno at 7am, and I called my sister to pick me up.

Over the weekend, we bought a 2003 Pontiac Montana. It had a crack in the top of the windshield, but since I am kind of short, the crack was up in the sky somewhere, so it won’t be a problem for my field  of view.  Anyhow, I read on Google that cooking oil had the same index of refraction as glass, so I have an ongoing experiment in the driveway to see if any of the oil will run into the crack.

When we started the engine, it rocked alarmingly, so we had to change two of the rubber mounting brackets to stabilize it. My sister has a very good mechanic who found the problem and did the work. The lights, windshield wipers, and cabin heat work fine and the motor sounds very smooth.

The next project was building the bike, which took a few hours in the basement where I have taken up residence. I am violently allergic to cats, and my sister has one, so I am sleeping down with my bike on a “futon”, or frame mattress.  Really nice and quiet, and the tools and workbench are close at hand! (There is also a bathroom down there).

We got the car insured and registered today, so I am planning to leave on Thursday. I have to. There should be quite a lot of snow in the mountains starting Thursday evening, and I don¨t want to buy chains. I want to get somewhere warmer as quickly as possible-that’s the reason I fled from Norway in early February.

The trip won’t really  begin until I leave Reno, but I figured I ought to learn how to post a blog before I start.