Oakridge, Oregon

Jimerica! is freaking exhausted. I just finished my longest ever day on a mountain bike. I was so tired when I finished, I considered skipping the beer and burger and going right to bed. But I persevered and now I have a second wind and will try to write a blog post about Oakridge, Oregon. 

There are really only two places you absolutely have to know about in Oakridge. Once you do, everything else will take care of itself.

First, the bike shop:

It was pouring rain when I pulled into Oakridge for the first time. I then executed my well-honed routine of finding a bike shop and then the local pub. So, my first stop was The Willamette Mountain Mercantile where I reserved a spot on a shuttle to Alpine Trail for the next morning. I was worried we'd get rained out, but they informed me that it pretty much rains every morning and evening here and that the trails were fine to ride. My bike had been out in the elements quite a bit lately, so I brought it in with me and asked the service guy to give it a little attention. He lubed up the chain, got the shocks to the right pressure, and then refused to accept money for the service. Given they are the only shop in town, they don’t have to be this cool. But, they are. They also had a couple suggestions on where to stay. It was pouring out and Jimerica! isn’t a fan of setting up camp in the rain. Anyhow, I’d been camping for most of the last 6 weeks, so a real roof sounded excellent.

The second place is the bar:

I then hit the local pub which, Jimerica! was happy to discover, is also a small brewery. The Brewers Union Local 180 is very much the social hub of Oakridge as well as a place all the tired riders gathered at night. More about the Brewers Union later.

So, my next day was set, and it went something like this:

At 9:30AM I was at the bike shop to grab the shuttle to the Alpine Trail.  Alpine Trail is the most popular trail in Oakridge and is considered one of the best mountain bike trails in the United States. Here's an exciting photo of what one of these shuttles look like:

Alpine is about 15 miles of single track, starting above 4000 feet and ending at around 1000 feet. You start with a pretty steady climb from the drop off point. They had some snow here a few days ago and a little of it remained:

It was pretty cool encountering snow on a ride in mid June.

After about of mile this, I came to "the meadow". The shuttle driver really talked this place up, and for good reason. I should have taken a few more shots here, but I was fixated on the cool trail. I always notice when I'm riding something that is very different to any other trail I've ever been on, and this short section was definitely that. This grass will be over 3' tall in August:

 You then drop back into the trees and soon encounter trails like this:

And then you get to spots like this, where it seems like the trail is beginning to change, and you have no idea what you're going to encounter:

And then you ride along a tunnel-like trail through heavy woods until you see a light up ahead and then find yourself here:

You then ride a step hillside trail with beautiful views for a bit:

And then back into the trees on a part of the trail the locals refer to as "jedi" because you feel like you're flying through the ewok forest in Star Wars:

Jimerica! is good at getting the pretty pictures. However, there are plenty of challenging parts on the alpine trail as well. Usually, when I run into a nasty section, I'm not thinking about the blog, but rather my face and bones. I did get this shot, which doesn't look like much, but is, in fact, a switchback turn with a 4' drop on a steep slope. So, if you screw the turn up and fall, you won't stop falling for a very long time. Jimerica! valiantly inched down this turn on his butt: 

It's worse than it looks.

OK, so enough about mountain biking. Let's talk about the Brewers Union Local 180, shall we? We shall, declareth Jimerica! So, quickly, about Brewers Local, half the beer they offer is made by them and offered only on cask pull. They have 6 cask pull selections (that's 5 more than any other bar I've ever visited). I am not normally a fan of the cellar temp cask pull type beers, but I liked theirs. They also offer 6 selections from other local breweries in the normal cold draft style. Want to see a lot of cask pumps? Yes? OK:

Cask Pumps at The Brewers Union Local 180

After Myers Flat, I was ready to put my phone down for a while. Taking pictures and notes and chatting with a person while sort-of interviewing them is something Jimerica! needed a break from. So, you'll get the stories without the names or the pictures. I'll give you a quick glimpse of the night after my Alpine ride. Prepared for the glimps, Jimericanos? Ready or not..

It was early evening after my Alpine ride when I entered Brewers Local. It had started to rain again. I sat near the end of the bar to the left of a man and woman I'd met the previous day. I don't remember the woman's name, but she was very nice. The man's name was Jim, and he was the town's mayor. Together, we worked on a crossword puzzle for about an hour. This sort of mindful mindlessness is oddly comforting after a long day riding. 

After we finished the crossword, I ordered some food and struck up a conversation with two gentleman siting to my left. It was an older gentleman and his son. They were on a week long fishing trip together. They were traveling in a big RV. They lived in the bay area, but the older gentleman also spent time at another home he had in Key West. We talked about the fishing in Oakridge and the people we've met. About 20 minutes later, we had gotten onto the subject of the older man's upbringing and the long process he went through that ended in him leaving the Mormon faith in his 50s. He owned a successful management consulting company and was now semi-retired. I'd put him in his later 60s. He has 7 kids, all successful. He said that the hardest part of leaving the faith was how hurt many of his friends and family were by the news. But, he said he'd been living a lie for as long as he could remember and just couldn't do it any longer. Now, I don't want you to think this man was in any way somber. He wasn't at all. You could tell he loved spending time with his son, and in Key West, and pretty much every day that came along. You meet some really good people on the road. People that you feel fortunate to have had a conversation with. This guy was one of them.

AND, there would be another on this very night. I was thinking about going back to my hotel when the father and son hit the road, but then a man that looked and sounded like John Goodman walked in. He was a defense lawyer that had done his undergrad in English Literature and Poetry studies. I'd put him in his early 50s. He was on his way to a conference and stopped at Oakridge for the evening. He kept his glasses at the tip of his large nose on his large face on his big head and they did not move. He asked me about my trip, and then why I wanted to do such a trip, and then laughed and recited a few lines of a poem, and then laughed some more. He said he loved Yeats and said my story reminded him of the Poem "The Song of Wandering Aengus". He said somebody had made a song out of the poem, and then, leaning against the bar, began singing the song loudly. This man was blogging GOLD.  Later, we got onto the subject of Cormac McCarthy, which was enough to keep us occupied until the bar closed (which here is the late late hour of 11PM). 

It's the people you meet out here that makes the trip. The riding helps, the parks like Yosemite help, the brew pubs help, the ocean side wineries help, but it's the people that make the trip. 

As I finish this post, I am now sitting in Eugene, Oregon looking forward to seeing my old friend, Anji Marth. But that will be a future post. I hope you are all doing super great. Thank you for reading!

Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California

Sometimes in Jimerica!, rainy days are welcome. It gives me a guilt free day to sit, write, and relax. Today is such a day. So, instead of being out on my mountain bike, I am sitting in the back of a little pub hoping to catch up on blogging. Let’s see how this goes. Wish me luck.

When last we spoke, I had just arrived to Humboldt Redwoods State Park. This park has 19 of the 25 tallest trees on earth, and I visited many of them. A few days ago, I had my hand on a tree that was over 360 feet tall, 53 feet around, and about 2000 years old. I found that most people who approached the tree did something similar to what I did. They approached slowly, looking it up and down, trying to take it in, then walked up and put their hand on it. Some said, “hello” or “hey there”. 

One of the first monster trees I met. Jimerica! says hello, monster tree!

See my camera sitting on the tree?

There are many “groves” here, which is what they call small sections of the old growth forest, full of these massive trees. There is also an area within the park called “Rockefeller Forest” which is the largest old growth costal redwood forest in the world. It’s dim and cool in here, even at noontime.

See the Jimericycle?

Always shady.

You see a lot of stuff like this you can walk right through

Just driving the road through Humboldt, called “The Avenue of Giants”, is an amazing experience.

This is the road off of Avenue of Giants that leads to Rockefeller Forest.

The Avenue of Giants

I camped at a great campsite, called “Burlington”. It was also home to the park’s visitor center. They had daily guided nature walks and entertainment on their stage every evening. I did some riding here, but mostly I hiked. In every other place I’d been, riding was great because you could get to the next cool view quickly. However, here, what you wanted to see was on top of you and around every corner. So, walking slowly is the way to do it here.  Here’s a shot of my campsite (exciting!):

Burlington Campsite, Humboldt Redwood Forest.

OOOOH?!? Did you notice my swank new digs? Yes, Little Ol' Tenty bit the dust. Dealing with the oversized air mattress was a lot for my little old home, but then a rainy and windy night came along and finished Ol' Tenty off. So, Jimerica! now has a nice new and bigger tent. Can this post get even more exciting?!?! Let’s find out together. 

I met my camp neighbors, Gabby and Tyler, sitting on this big ol' tree stump. Tyler was on his way west to start a new job. I believe Gabby said she was a camp counselor for kids with autism. They both recently graduated from the University of New England:

There are stumps like this all over the campground. They have ladders carved into them so you can climb up.

I met some cool people in the crazy little town of Myers Flat, California. First was Britney. When I first met Britney, she was standing in the middle of the coffee shop she worked in changing her clothes. She did this skillfully enough to not expose anything, sort of like a strip tease. I found myself to be very patient through this process, and then bought some coffee. I would see Britney in two subsequent outfits before the end of this day. Britany moved here from Idaho 4 years ago. She also has an awesome dog, 'Sissy'.

Britney at The Myers Flat Saloon

Britney's dog, Sissy. Who's a good doggy?!?!?!

Then, of course, I met most of the staff at the local Saloon. Most notably, I met the owner, Bill Meagher. Bill owns this Saloon and, I get the feeling, about half the town. He's owned the Myers Flat Saloon for 48 years. He is 91 years old. He is 100% as cool as he looks.

Bill Meagher. Owner of the Myers Flat Saloon. This is his seat near the bar.

As soon as the bartenders, Laurel and Michele, confirmed that I wasn't a cop. They agreed to let me get a shot of them, on the condition that I was in the photo. This flies in the face of the Jimerica! Code. But, honestly, what the hell is the Jimerica! Code? It sounds made up. So, I jumped behind the bar. Please appreciate the wild boar overhead:

You've never seen a place like this. I'm here with Michele (left), and Laurel. You may remember Laurel from my previous post.

I didn't get to learn much about Michele, besides the fact that she's here visiting from Las Vegas. Laurel moved here 2.5 years ago. She's into yoga and has made some of her own videos, but hasn't decided if she wants to market them yet. Oh, and she is a master of analogies and has a very appropriate tattoo for a woman named Laurel.

I also met Carrie, who likes a guy named Fernando a LOT.  Carrie was originally from Minnesota, then lived in Washington State for 6 years, and has been here for 6 months. Did I mention that she really likes a guy named Fernando? More on that later. Here she is doing her best Blue Steel (see: Zoolander). The wild boar is also doing its best Blue Steel:

Carrie!

And then Sweet Pika. She's lived here for a year. She's from Chicago and we discovered that we've both backpacked Guatemala. She's also backpacked Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. And she has an interesting tattoo that I did not ask her to explain. Pika:

Pika

Oh, and then the people on my side of the bar. There was Dave and Chris. Dave has been coming to the Redwood Run since it's first year in 1980 when it only cost $10. Now, it's over $200. 

Dave and Chris

Then I met James and Linda. This was their first trip to the Redwood Run. James wore a leather biker jacked covered in patches that he said were a sort of history of the places he's been and the things he's done. James is 71. An activity that he was really into for about 48 years was drag racing. 

James and Linda. Jimerica! loves meeting folks like this.

A few of the many places he's been.

He worked as an EMT for a time

And spent 48 years drag racing

And is planning on getting as much as he can out of this life.

Well, it's about time I let you all get back to your lives. But, before we go, I promised to get back to some tattoo related items. So, here are some tattoos:

I told you Carrie really liked Fernando:

This is the right tattoo for a woman named Laurel:

I didn't inquire about Pika's tattoo beyond asking to get a shot of it:

And that's it, folks! I hope you enjoyed this post. Humboldt and Myers Flat were a blast. As I noted before, I'm now sitting in my next destination which I can say has some of the most fun mountain biking I've yet to do on this trip. I'm supposed to leave tomorrow, but I may stick around for another day. Oh, the flexibility of Jimerica! Thanks for reading!

The drive to Humboldt National Forest, California.

Fellow Jimericanos, Jimerica! has some catching up to do. When last we spoke, I was leaving Fort Bragg, CA and heading to another super secret destination. I noted in my last post that I get a lot of great suggestions on where to visit, and that sometimes I get so many suggestions that it’s impossible to hit all of them. However, this can be tricky when you’re getting really great suggestions that you just can’t miss AND you’re trying to actually get somewhere. So, you’ll hear about one of those days in this post.

But, before we start, you all probably know the movie “The Breakfast Club”. Do you remember the scene when bad-guy teacher (Paul Gleason) was in a confrontation with the dirtbag-hero character (Judd Nelson)? The evil teacher gave the hero another Saturday of detention, and the hero was like “yeah, ok.”. And then the evil guy said “how about another one?” And the hero was like “Fine!”. And then the evil guy was like “How about we make it a whole MONTH?!”. And the hero said “GREAAAAAT”.  I want you to remember the dirtbag’s voice and hear only it during any quoted text in this post. This is Jimerica!'s internal voice screaming out to all of you. If that reference doesn’t work for you, then you may use the voice Randy Marsh used during the “sarcastiball” episode of South Park. If neither of these references work for you, you have not lived and Jimerica! cannot help you. Just make something up.

So, I’d initially wanted to leave Fort Bragg early in the morning so I could get a full day chilling with the redwoods in Humboldt. But, on my last visit to Piaci, a woman there who had heard I was traveling north said that I absolutely should not miss the Pacific Star Winery. She described the place and I immediately knew I wasn’t going to miss it.

“Yeah, great. So I’ll just leave a little later than I planned. THANKS. Thanks for the wonderful suggestion. I’m so glad it entered my ear holes and is now in my brain.”

So, the next morning, instead of being on the road bright and early, I was here on this very comfortable couch drinking excellent coffee:

Mara's Coffee in Fort Bragg, California

It was here, I shit you not dear reader, where I met a woman who insisted I visit a place on the Oregon coast where she grew up, Port Orford. And now, I sit in that very town, in a motel on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and write this. And tomorrow I will eat at The Crazy Norwegian’s Fish and Chips restaurant, as she commanded. “Greaaaat!”. But I’m getting WAY ahead of myself. Back to the long day. 

So, I wasted a couple hours on the comfy couch at Mara's and then headed north out of Fort Bragg toward the Pacific Star Winery where I met this wonderful couple:

Marcus and Diana. Diana is the wine maker. She bought this property back in the 80's.

Here's a shot looking out from their property:

Pacific Star Winery. Fort Bragg, California.

This is the only winery in the world that has a tectonic fault named after it:

This is the actual name of the fault. Named after their winery.

I met Marcus first. He and his wife own the winery.  He, like so many here, had some suggestions for me. He pulled out a map and circled a couple spots on the coast that he thought I should visit.

“Yeah, OK. No Problem. These places sound awesome. I wasn’t going to shower or eat today anyway.”

Then his wife arrived on the scene and had some other suggestions.

“Oh, great, your wife is here now and she also has some awesome suggestions. And maybe I can just find a vampire to bite me so I’ll have everlasting life and can actually see all of these places.”

I had hoped to leave Fort Bragg at about 8AM. It was 2:30PM when I left Pacific Star. Please visit this place if you have a chance. Marcus and Diana are awesome, the scenery is beautiful, and their wine is excellent.

One of Diana's suggestions was Leggett, California. This was totally worth it and 100% on my way:

Chandelier Tree. Leggett, California. Jimerica!

Another one of Diana’s suggestions was Peg House. "I’m the Highlander.” Peg House is a restaurant/grocery store/ and a few other things Jimerica! couldn’t quite figure out. It's on the way toward the Avenue of Giants, on Route 101. It's well known in this part of the country. They have great burgers and beer on tap (the Jimerica! anthem), and the owner, whose name Jimerica! failed to get, had some suggestions for me!! "How about that?" Here's a couple shots:

Jimerica! is very sorry I didn't get their names. I could have sworn I noted them, but the Jimeriphone tells me otherwise. However, I can tell you that the owner is the one on the right and that her name is not Peg.

That's a parachute shading the customers.

As I stood chatting with the owner of the Peg House, she commented on all the motorcycles going by. She said that she would hear that roar all weekend long because of the 'Run'. And then asked if I was going to go there. I stupidly asked what she was talking about. She informed me that a large biker rally was going on that weekend just down the road called The Redwood Run and said that I should go check it out. It was then that I realized I would be setting up my tent in the dark. 

"GREAAAAT. Since I can't seem to find a vampire, maybe I can find some crystal meth at the bike rally so I can actually keep this up."

So, from the Peg House, I headed to The Redwood Run and spent about an hour there chatting with some folks. Here are some of the people I met. However, before we proceed, this post will get a bit R rated for language. So for those Jimericanos that aren't into that sort of thing, now would be a good time to start looking forward to my next post. Here are some shots:

The Redwood Run. From left to right. Jonny V, Wolf, and James.

 Jonny V and Wolf are from the Bay area. James is from Sacramento. Jonny V is Wolf's grandson. I asked Jonny what the V stands for, Wolf said it stands for 'Very Fine Motherfucker'. Wolf won the grandprize at the run last year, a leather biker jacket stitched by a well know artist from Canada named 'Krazy Boy'. Here's a shot: 

Wolf with last year's grand prize.

A question I got from these guys is 'are you a cop'? I would eventually be asked that question enough times to be suspicious of myself. After I talked to these guys, I wandered into the registration tent to see how much access I could get to the event. The guy at the registration said he couldn't let me in past the gate, but I was free to roam around the outside where I would find plenty of people just arriving and getting organized with other riders before going in. Then he asked 'are you a cop'? I said no. He looked at me, and then at my camera, and shook his head slowly. He was thinking about what to say next. He then said, 'Fine. Just be careful not to point that thing at anybody without permission and do not ask anybody with an 'H.A.' on their jacket for permission.' He was referring to my camera. I agreed, obviously.

Next I met this gentleman:

I have no idea what happened to my notes on this guy. I think his name was Jim. Sorry if I got that wrong.

I'm constantly typing notes into my phone when I meet new people. Sometimes, I manage to screw that up and lose them. Such is the case here. In any case, this was a good dude. 

Then I met John. John manages the stage at this event and has done so for many many years. This year's headliner was Great White. John was originally from LA. He also manages the stage at a big music festival they have near here every year called The Summer Arts Music Festival. http://mateel.org/summer-arts-and-music-festival/

Here's a shot of John:

John at The Redwood Run

John suggested that I check out the Myers Flat Saloon, since it was on my way. He said there would be other riders up there. 

"That's exactly what I'm going to do."

So, then I headed to the Myers Flat Saloon, where I found a line of Harleys and, inside, a bar unlike any bar I had ever seen in my life. I'll share a couple of shots with you here, but you'll get the full story on Myers Flat and the surrounding area next time. Myers Flat Saloon:

Myers Flat Saloon. From Dusk til Dawn, anybody?

The bartender, Laurel, liked me immediately:

She's actually very nice. More about Laurel next time.

I spent a couple hours here, and then finally rolled into my campsite just before 10PM. I bought some firewood, set my tent up, got a fire going, and then sat and thought about what an awesome day I'd just had. A to B is never a straight line. So that's it, folks. Thank you all for reading!