On The Road

This is our 4th day on the road, but we're retsing up in Santa Cruz. Weve been through Devils Slide (steep!), Montera, Halfmoon Bay (The Pumpkin Capital Of The World), Pidgeon Point, Pescadero, Davenport and now Santa Cruz. We're both eating tons of food, its not that hot though so thats ok. Already met lots of nice and interesting people on the way. It seems theres a whole other little sub culture of bike tourers, putting our meagre distance to shame. Its good to get tips and info about the next stages though, and where to camp etc. The bikes are holding up well, but they're really heavy now, it feels like youre towing an extra person. We've done just over 100 miles so far.

Nic has eaten 12 eggs in two days, which she says was "a mistake".

We're camping at the top of a cliff in a nice campsite now, i think we'll have another 2 nights and then move on. Theres some monster RV's about... whole houses on wheels that must be quite amazing to see inside. Anyway, i think im going to the beach to read, and i need to buy a new pair of shoes. We have stopped by the library, which is where im typing this.

2-4-6-8 Motorway!

The One Before We Set Off On The Bikes

You maye have noticed ive five got some photos arranged below. hurrah! I bought a small card reader... Radio Shack (curses!) didnt have any... but i did go into an underground computer 'warehouse'and got one there. Ive been whizzing around town like a proper San Francisco-er. Ive got the hang of the traffic, its much more considerate than in England.. nice n easy really.

I took a short film on my camera, of a nice n buff fire engine screaming by Union Square, dodging a tram with sirens whailing. Clkic here and see if it works for you. I got pretty excited. Will you?? (you need broadband, slow coaches)

Look at the fog! Id met Eddie at breakfast, who had just hired a bike, so we went on a ride across the bridge, through Sausalito and on to Tiberon, and then we got the ferry back to San Fran across the bay. We saw some great house boats, little wooden bridges, and rode past a pumpkin bouncy castle theme park. I like charlie brown, and the pumpkins did look nice. We should have gone in. Eddie uses a lot of sun cream. THis one to the left was taken from the ferry on the way back... Id thought the postcards were faked, but no no its real. Then it got cold, the fog swalowed the boat up and we could have been anywhere. No pirates like in The Fog showed up.

Ruth, the pen-knife you gave me has been good luck all the way, and chopped and opened things left right and centre. I even lost it (and all my keys) in a park, got on a bus for 10 minutes, realised, got told how to make a million dollars by a sunburned man with bright bue eyes (he hoped id find them again), went back to the park and found them. So Thankyou!!

Me as a Complete Idiot

So tomorrow morning we set off on the first leg of the trip. I dont have the guide book with me, so i cant tell you where ill end up by the end of tomorrow, but the trip takes us through Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Montery, Carmel, Big Sur, San Luis, Santa Barbara, and a lot of coastal ranges, beaches, cliffs and sunsets.

Today we were trying to scoop up the last of the things we need. Because we are biking proffessionals we went straight to the One Dollar Shop and then back to the Goodwill Charity shop. We got a bike rack for $1, some water bottles, bungee cords, cagouly type jackets, sweets and party dresses for our stop offs. We also have a bunch of tools and tubes. Oh and we've fixed fruit crates onto the back of the bikes too, hobo style. Cable Ties Forever!

All thats left to do is buy a bike pump, and post my heavyish rucksack down to LA where ill meet it. Travelling light is the name of the game. Well whatever it is, it has to fit into the crates.

RIGHT... just heard my dorm will be empty tonight, so i can mess it up with my new found charity goods. Nic adores buying crap in dollar shops, i wonder what her bike will look like by tomorrow. Heres a map of California, we'll be hugging the coast all the way. I Proabbly wont be on here for a while, but you never know do you. Internet eh, its everywhere these days.

(All the photos so far can be found if you visit www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/ but theyre not sorted or anything, although ive deleted the bad ones)

A Winner of a Day

I bought my bike which looks like its more than upto the job, cycled a lot through town and along the coast, and visited a GIANT second hand shop, where i found a Camping Mat ($2), Bike Helmet ($3.50) and nice clean sleeping bag ($8). also some knives and forks ($1).

Having good toothpaste makes the world seem a better place.

Heres the bike, hero shot. Im watching the San Francisco Philarmonic Orchestra play (off screen right).

Bird Muck and A-Team

This weeks been a bit hectic. Im with Nic now too, which is fantastic. Another schmo to wander the streets with. We met on Sunday, and since then its all been good (most of it anyway! but that is for another day) and an ezciting new trip to plan. On monday we're going to set off to Los Angeles on bicycles. Its 500 miles, which sounded a bit crazy (since we dont have any bikes or equipment), but now we've read up on it a bit, it looks like its going to be pretty special. So its beena lot of trips to bike shops, workshops and charity shops. We'll stretch it out over 3 weeks or so, and the route has some beautiful scenery and plenty of places to stop off. Its Highway 1 more or less, with a few extra bits.

The green man is white, and he gives you a digital countdown to when youll get knocked down by a bus or bike. Traffic is nice and friendly actually.... theres a wierd sort of car showdown shuffle at each junction without lights. a bit like when you walk arounda corner and dance with someone who wants to get past. Some of the best views are while standing right in the middle of a street too - all the roads are on blocks as you proabbly know, so you can see miiiiles along soem of them... ups and downs. Ive been hanging around with Nic's Friend Breezy, whos got an apartment here. Its got a flat roof, with one of those fire escapes that sticks out the top, 9its like climbing a narrow staircase and opening a door on it, to see an amazing rooftop view of the city. And it also makes you want to hide behind it, shoot your finger pistols and shout "IM NOT COMIN DOWN MAN! STAY BACK!".

We climbed up to a high viewpoint called Corona Heights (i think). I gonked my head off a big rock (Pictured), Nic thought it smelled of Wee everywhere, but the view was incredible. It was very windy. We saw the famous fog crawl across.

Ive been in another hostel, which was soemthing to remember. On Haight Street, which has some history, birthplace of the san francisco Beat Poets and hippies im told, but generally full of 'lost souls' and crack heads shuffling around asking for dollars. The guests - Dean: talked an unbelievable, un-imaginable ammount of gibberish, he just wouldnt shut up about this and that, he had 'Anger problems' and 'went to a clinic' three times a day. Rogerwas conspiracy nut - "Oh youre english huh..... what do you think of those crop circles??" were his first words to me. People had stolen everything useful from there, but really silly things. We ate soup with chopsticks. The one cup id found for breakfast had had a cigarette hole burned through the bottom (so i had to drink fast). It was one of thoseplaces that you really hate, but know youll love once youve gone. Im back in the Green Tortoise hostel again now, which by comparison is like Alton Towers to Haight Street's Spanish City.

Ive been trying to find map of SF on here, but nothings really clear when its oin the screen. And i still havnt managed to get the ophotos off the camera.




We went to alcatraz today which was amazing- theres bird muck evrywhere. But yes, it was very interesring. Theres soemthing very glamourous about Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly types... back when criminals were good n honest Bank Robbers. they had 23 hours a day in the cells. The 'Bird Man' was in a tiny cell for 6 years, and NEVER came out. There was an audio tour, like the Churchill War Rooms in london. Heres a picture of an esape attempt at Alcatraz, the REAL one. I dont think Clint Eastwood did this.

View from Alcatraz.

On saturday im going along to a bike workshop, where you can use their tools, buy cheap new and usedparts and fix up your bike. Nic's bike needs new drive train pieces anda fair ammount of sorting. Ive found an ex-hire bike, which costs a bit more (its a posh Marin touring bike for $270), but i should be able to sell it on once we get to L.A. They're very into bikes here, so that buzz keeps it as a volunteer non profit project, and its very well used. What a good idea! But we have only 5 hours with them, so itll be an A-Team effort required to get this one road worthy. Nic will do the welding and fit the armour plating, and i will get to crash it through the doors in slow motion once its finished. I love it when a plan comes together. Hey we might see them! They were in LA werent they...


Nic and Me on Alcatraz...

A Concise Account

Wow- Things have been quite hectic. BUT, it looks like ive made it to San Francisco! It was pouring with heavy grey rain in manchester when i left, to see me off, you know. Checks at the airport flagged me up as being here for more than 90 days, ie outstaying my so called welcome, so i had to change my ticket to 89 days, and at some point ill have to apply for an extended visa, if im to be here/Canada for christmas. blah blah, but they were all very nice about it. NOT SO in new york, where the bored man obviously liked to pick a few aliens and watch them squirm now and then. He asked me questions like about how much money have i got (and was it in cash?), how did i earn it, and "i dunno man, 90 days in hostels? whos your friend? how do you know her?" I was a sweating wreck, since i had 25 minutes to get onto my next plane on the otherside of an unhelpful and hard to understand airport.. I ate a lot of crap plane food and was feeling ill. it was horrible really but oh i better move on- this is boring stuff. another 7 or 8 hours anyway, i was back on the ground and out of San Fran airport and getting my first Bus into town. A nice man gave me three quarters, since i didnt have the right change.

Ive got got some nice photos of things i think are interesting or wierd, but i dont know yet how ill get them off the camera.

Thinsg ive seen: cars with lots of lights on them, 4 lane roads, people talking to themselves, people dancing by themselves with no music, and quite a few who shout gibberish at everyone else. Very very steep roads and pavements, trams (trolleys), very tall buildings, a man whos foot was really rotting and smelled like the strongest cheese you could imagine (he got on the same bus i was on, and the man sat opposite said "Jesus christ!" and opened as many windows as he could- others were holding their jumpers over their faces, and the tiny old chinese woman i was next to looked she was going to black out). Big juggernaught trucks honk honk, yellow school buses, a muffin i couldnt finish, electric buses, the steepest winding residential street in the USA (youve seen it in a picture), a broken down bus blocking the rushhour financial district (we had to abandon our working but helpless bus and there were lots of horns and "WHY I OUGHTTA!" shouting out of car windows). Ive been in a really nice hostel, and a night in a really bad one (no sheets, ciggarrette holes all over the blankets, the staff were 3 russian teenagers, and a lot of other guests in the morning were complaining about water flooding through their ceilings in the night. It wasnt a busy hostel (word must have got out), so i had my own room with 4 filthy beds). I put my head down for a rest after checking in at 6pm, and i woke up at 7:30am, which i think has exorcised the last of the jetlag, or made it worse, but i feel fine now). Im back in the nice and friendly one now, and have it for the next few nights. Its the same price too. Service with a smile.



I went to see the Golden Gate bridge, which was quite special. Its enormous, and you can walk across it while grinning widely, which takes about 35 minutes each way. You get fantastic views into the bay, and out to the pacific ocean. You can see Alcatraz island too. Everyone on the bridge was happy, but it was really windy, and you have to dodge some pretty serious cyclists buzzing along the 'sidewalk'. They probably do it every day, and must be sick of gurning tourists taking the billionth picture of themselves with their thumbs up infront of the big orange stantions. I did my bit the best i could, but not being with anyone, only my thumbs-up makes it into the photo.

Today, my third but second full day has been pretty hard. A lot of lugging the rucksack around, and battling with the cash card i have, i think ive cracked it now. I went to a Comic Art museum which was very good, and then immediately when i stepped outside got dragged in to an opening day 'Psychotherapy Is Terrible' exhibition next door which was awful- lots of weak links and facts about EST and drug treatment... presented in the worst amercan way you can imagine. Next door to that though, was the Gay Lesbian and Transgender Celebration Museum, but i think id had enough of museums by that point. Ill go back tomorrow for that one.

OH i had a crazy breakfast in Loui's Diner, which was all 50's inside. I think it was quite a touristy thing, but there seemed a lot of locals in there too. I ordered the wrong thing by accident, so no pancakes, but i did get a huge plate of potato and corned beef thing, with sausages. It was nice, but i codulnt finish that either. My waitress was called Erika, who hoped id have a nice day, and a happy stay in San Francisco. They had 5 immaculate and amazing vintage Pinball Machines to play on, making some nice clunking, dinging and clanging sounds. I got 90,000 points, which on todays machines with inflation would be 90,0000000000000 points.

Hoping to meet up with Nic tomorrow or Monday, whichll be nice to share some of this with. Now i need to get some food. Its very hot today, i have a red tan. But i think itll have cooled down by now (6pm). Ill try and add the photos to this post when i get them.

Overall, this seems like a very relaxed place, for a big city. The traffic is on the whole very calm, except when things break down, and most people are nice and friendly (that reminds me, on the way here i was just invited to go into a place to have a personality check! I spotted that it was the Church of Scientology! yuck! to show me where i was going wrong obviously).

Hope you enoyed this uncut rambling, who knows, you might not have even got this far. Imagine!

EDIT: NOW WITH PHOTOS

The Last Post

Yesterday was the last day at work, which was generally a mish mash of feelings- excitement, anxiety, sadness and something else, but that makes it sounds like there was a bit more drama than there actually was. In all a strange day, but a good one. I had nice goodbyes with everyone i wanted to, which was all i really wanted. It was sad to leave Dave (who is my flatmate here and friend), who's been fantastic and very good for me, and who I hope to see a lot more of when im done and dusted (that sounds like 'when im dead', doesnt it).

So as soon as ive finished packing, had a last nights sleep here in Ansdell and steered the white van back up to Newcastle (ill cut a few people up on the way), it'll be All Clear to get on with it
and start the ball rolling.



I have a hostel booked in San Francisco, so ill have a bed on the first night, which is the only kind of problem id like to have for the duration of the trip. We will see eh. byee!

The Invigorated

Today's weather was incredible, biblical. I bet Moses couldnt whip up the winds there were today. This is how I looked after getting back from a hair raising walk along the sea front. Its the same expression too i bet. I have very thick hair, its good at holding its own. It was hard work, because i was carrying a packet of sausages, a paper, a small book, a calendar (a birthday present) and some shampoo (for me), but no bag! oh ho.

Five days are left at work.

Out with the old, in with the.... no they're gone.

It was my birthday on Saturday, im 28 now. I think its a good age, one that i would prefer to be for the rest of my life. But maybe 29, or 30 is better? Dad said that it was an age whereby I didnt have to prove anything more to anybody, and that id grown into a nice man, which I thought was warming. Ill find out. I had a nice weekend down in wales, we went foraging for Blackberries, Mushrooms and Muscles (Mussels? it must be mussels...? Not one i use often) Then i went to Chicken Shack, a housing co-op's annual party in the sticks. Its great to go back to Machynlleth- its 'my happy place' as Dave put it, which is probably quite right (he knows im a little 'off kilter and not quite happy' now).

I used to live there for a bit (11 months), and made some fantastic friends and generally my life opened up into a lot of new dimensions. Infact, the picture of me over on the right, is myself in Happy Valley! And that is the name of the place... look it up. infact (since you won't)... (map of it here) its along the white road heading east from the blue line). A cheery sign post just beyond Pennal proves it (i bet theres a picture of it google- i will look now). Oh ok, there isnt, but here is a picture of somebody wearing red shorts in Happy Valley, and he looks quite happy too. Its a nice place, and I do love Wales.



Today was the doorstep pickup for the large bag I had filled with things, that were destined for charitable causes. I thought this was brilliant timing, since getting rid of a thing or two would be a good move before going away, and far better than binning things. Ive done this before too. I certainly didnt fill it with holey socks, ripped trousers, and old razors, but i did put some things in which i dont really use or have no need for. Like trousers that dont fit but are fine and even quite new. Tonight though i had cold feet, because id put in some thick socks, like slippers. Still, im pretty sure that someones elses feet are colder or are in worse condition than mine. ill just turn the heating up eh.

Dave and I went to pay a 'Scare Bill' for council tax (£720 - we'd missed a payment and it said we had forfeited the right to pay in installments). A very Jolly man told us oh no no we wouldnt pay that, thats just to scare people. We paid our months worth, and in the meantime dave got a parking ticket. Another lunch break for the diary (Hah!! thats one in your eye).