It Will Be Okay Again Tour (1 Viewer) Featured

Hey y'all.

A couple weeks ago, I hit the road again after being evicted from my spot for quarantine. Figured I'd start a new picture/ story thread for this one.

First road photo of the tour with the new smiley.

My panniers just gain more character.

Laying in the rain on the Natchez Trace on a hot day.

Amazing little view on the 50 miles of the Great Rivers South route I did.

Great lakefront camping I stayed in at Land Between Lakes on the Tennessee side.

Mandatory state line crossing photo.

Got to love a good bridge shot in the morning.

Got to throw in a tent selfie or two.

Old pirate murder cave at Cave In State Park.

A date with the Ohio River for lunch.

Third state of this trip so far.

This hill really sucked and I walked up half of it.

In a sea of Confederate flags and Trump stickers, there's good people.

The TransAmerica Trail took me to the Tunnel Hill State Trail and I had to take a whole day to ride it.

The famous tunnel.

Bridge crossing on the Tunnel Hill State Trail.

Crabtree Lake in the morning.

Pretty fun tour so far!

I've done a few hundred miles again, but I'm going real slow. Staying in a lot of state parks and doing small mileage days. This ride might be life for a good while and it's a global pandemic, so taking time is the focus. I'm hoping to get to Missouri and do the Katy Trail as a second famous rail Trail of this trip and then I'll likely head north to get away from humidity.

You can follow me as I go on Instagram!

If you're housed up for the pandemic and want to donate to my journey:

Paypal.me/bikepunky
Patreon.com/bikepunky

I'll come back with more photos every couple weeks.

 

[HitchBiker]

Awesome Pics! Keep them coming! Damn I wish I was traveling with you!!! Maybe next time!!! That's nice about the saddle, can't beat that at all!!! Thank you for sharing as always!!!

No problem, just glad to share them somewhere. Figure also is the first thread of its kind and gives people more of an idea of what touring is like as it is happening. Yesterday was tough. Had to do 80 miles on a freshly loaded bike, because all the campgrounds without bike space were filled up.

All the bits of the Olympic Discovery Trail I've done have been nice and paved.

Port Angeles was pretty blown up, so I just pedaled right through it without stopping.

Small portion of the Olympic Adventure Trail.

The Adventure Trail is definitely more for Mountain bikes, so I bailed onto a road that turned out to be closed to all traffic (even had a sign telling bikes not to pass). Guess a fire had been on it and trees were down at one point. Lucky for me, it was clear and I got across without running into the law.

Usually there is a paved rail Trail across the other side of crescent lake but it is closed due to a tunnel construction and a fire in the area, so cyclists are stuck riding this fairly sketchy part of 101.

The lake sure is pretty though.

Some old history about Crescent Lake.

Due to the surge of campers on weekends I had to go all the way to the next state park to get a camp. As state parks have separate bike camps for when the car ones are filled. Ended up getting in late, so the ranger wasn't around until check in the next day. Two nights for the price of one.

 

[Pixelhopper]

Great photos, and good advice on the extra tires.. I am sure it's been more difficult lately as supply of everything seems to be difficult.

 

[HitchBiker]

About to cross the state line into Oregon today after an evening in Naselle, hoping to take a few days off and switch out gear.

First real glimpse of the ocean.

Spent the whole evening on the beach at Klahowya.

Last day of riding around the Peninsula.

Stayed at a pretty cool spot on Lake Quinault.

Accidentally stayed with the 12 Tribes cult in Raymond, WA.

Host in Naselle had great taste in dog toys.

View from the mountains over Naselle.

Looking forward to a couple days of rest in Astoria and changing out gear.

 

[HitchBiker]

Dang, I haven't posted in like a couple weeks. Mostly I've been luxury surfing WarmShowers spots in upper Oregon. Feel sandwiched between the heatwaves of the south and the coming rain of the pacific northwest.

I ended up deciding to tour inland of Oregon instead of taking the coast.

Rode the Vernonia-Banks Trail.

Roadside Triceratops.

Stayed in a cool tiny house.

Corvallis today, Eugene tomorrow.

 

[HitchBiker]

Seems I've rolled right into the middle of Oregon's biggest natural disaster.

Nearest evacuation order is 10 miles away. Wish me luck!

 

[Crazy Hobo Johnny]

Thanks @BikePunky for sharing your photos!!! Wow! Be careful and safe!!!!

 

[superphoenix]

Can't believe I've missed this for so long! Looks like a crazy and cool trip, dude! Gonna have to follow your IG and see what's up!

 

[HitchBiker]

Can't believe I've missed this for so long! Looks like a crazy and cool trip, dude! Gonna have to follow your IG and see what's up!

Thanks. This Wednesday after a two week fire hiatus, I'm catching a train to Sacramento to ride the Western Express and then the Grand Canyon south to my favorite city (Tucson). Hoping for some winter touring or some time off to plan another grand adventure.

Someone bought me a 32000mah battery pack, so I'm going to be able to start filming more.

 

[Comedy]

Good luck with future cycling adventures, love the pictures!

 

[HitchBiker]

Back at it again. Sacramento to Folsom today. Hopeful of a big push tomorrow.

Had breakfast at the rail museum.

The 32 mile American River Trail to Folsom.

There is a path called the Johnny Cash Trail looping around the actual Folsom prison. Do you think this is the work of city planners making a jab at the prison, or the prison making a tax write off in the name of a celebrity that disliked them most?

 

[HitchBiker]

Next couple of days over the Sierras were really tough. I did something like 42 miles that were all uphill. It wrecked me. Didn't help highway 50 was closed, so what should have been empty backroads was filled with cars. Almost got hit a few times. One road was so bad I had to hike my bike for three miles. I was fortunate I had a WarmShowers host willing to pick me up when it got too bad. Between all that and the ban on forest camping in California right now, it was not a super hospitable route.

My hosted spot ended up being at the Kirkwood Resort, where I also discovered I could easily work there for the snow season because my host is the hiring manager.

I bet all the mountains surrounding the resort look amazing in the snow.

Being shown all the ski routes.

Got some rare shots in action thanks to hosts that rode with me the first few miles.

The first few miles were the last of the serious uphill to get to the other side of the Sierras.

Ran into the Pacific Crest Trail again right here.

Staying in a little downtown cottage in Carson City. Hoping to prepare my legs for the loneliest road in Amerika across Nevada.

 

[HitchBiker]

 

[Crazy Hobo Johnny]

@BikePunky Thanks for the updates and awesome pictures! I look forward for them.

 

[HitchBiker]

Heading to Cedar City, Utah today as the last leg of the Western Express route I'm doing. Got loads of content to make videos, so haven't been uploading them. Nevada was a pretty hard state to cycle across and it felt like forever to do.

 

[ali]

I'd really love to hear more stories from Nevada! I've always wanted to spend more time traveling there but with Greyhound gradually removing stops on 80 (forget about 50) I wasn't sure there'd be any way to do it without a car.

 

[HitchBiker]

It was a beautiful and brutal route. If I hadn't done all this touring months before, I don't think I could have done it. First of all, the Sierras are the worst climb through California. There's rolling foothills going up and down 1500 feet until you reach the mountain, where you go up 8000ft to Kirkwood. Now Nevada itself is mostly 1500ft UPS and downs, but big mileage days with huge water carries. 60-85 miles a day.

Carson City I stayed with Warmshowers hosts.

Fallon stopped allowing tents in their fairground due to homeless people and covid.

MiddleGate station let's cyclists camp for free, but good luck saying no to a paid shower and burger.

Austin has a weird church run RV park with tent sites, which was cool to have something. But the guy really pushed for a donation...while treating me like a homeless person so I gave nothing.

In Eureka everything was full or closed, so I camped at a rest area that says you can only be there 18 hours. Highway patrol came by, but never bother me.

The 80 mile slog into Ely exhausted me, so I snuck into a KOA and was out by morning. Checked into Hotel Nevada and enjoyed a cheap room for a day off.

Baker has a little Whisper Elms RV Park that offers bicycle camping and showers for ten bucks.

The 84 mile ride to Milford was the hardest. There's a secret abandoned house halfway between it with a spring feeding the only two trees in that desert. I got hit by headwinds and camped at the top of a climb. Once in Milford, I got a TravelLodge for 50 bucks by getting them to undercut the Priceline deal.

In Cedar City, I got a WarmShowers host.

 

[HitchBiker]

 

[HitchBiker]

Western Express #2 (YouTube):

 

[Matt Derrick]

Love the photos and all the updates, I've added this thread to our best of section!

 

[HitchBiker]

Love the photos and all the updates, I've added this thread to our best of section!

Thanks!

Forgot to update for a while, I'm actually in Tucson and hopefully heading to the Slabs for some time off.

I'll try to get some more photos up soon.