One for the Ages

As Brian said below, we reached the pinnacle of the trip yesterday by visiting the San Diego Zoo. When we had a passer-by take our picture together in front of the Zoo sign before entering, I was ecstatic. Another great part of the culmination of this trip has been staying with the Saleh family in Del Mar, a northern suburb of San Diego. The Saleh's are related to our very dear friend Melissa Turner. Her Uncle Fred and Aunt Adele, along with her cousins, Michael and Nicole, have been so warm and welcoming to Brian and I. We've been able to stay in their beautiful house that has a pool in the back yard and a great view of the surrounding area, and they took us out to dinner last night in downtown San Diego. It has really been a blessing and privilege to get to know this part of Melissa's family and to have ended our trip here.

For me, I think the most significant part of the trip has been the fact that I have been able to see such a long stretch of a beautiful part of our country. This will continue as we take the Amtrak back across another large portion of the states, much of which I haven't been to before either. The reason this is so significant is because I will soon be working to protect and defend this great nation and its people. Having seen so much of it, and getting to meet so many different people, I feel very privileged that I will have this opportunity. In fact, at this point, nothing seems better. Along these same lines, it was also very symbolic for me when on our last day of riding we biked through USMC Base-Camp Pendleton, just north of San Diego. A fitting finish, seeing as I begin active duty on 15 June. It made me wonder when I will next be back here, though it will be in a much different capacity. Time will tell.

The other most significant thing that I have experienced is the splendor of God, our Creator, the Almighty. To know that the very same God who created all of these beautiful landscapes that we have gotten to travel through is the very same God who is Lord of our very lives is an amazing thing. Sometimes it boggles my mind; sometimes it brings tears to my eyes; sometimes it makes me yell really loud in excitement as I ride down Highway 1. It is even more amazing to think further about how Jesus is not only central, but crucial to that very concept, for "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth... He is before all things and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:15-17). It makes me feel so small and helpless, but so thankful and redeemed and loved by Him all at the same time. That seems like one of the best mixes of emotions you can get. This being the case, it is also important to clarify something from one of my previous posts. I stated that it is neat to see in hindsight how everything happens for a reason. When I say this, I don't mean it in the common, light, fate-related sort of way. I mean that everything happens for a reason because God has orchestrated it as such, and His hand is above all things and in all things, in the good times and bad, through the thick and thin, even in a place as grim the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23), or as great as the mountains from whence commeth our help (Psalm 121).

Friends, I bid you adieu from the Golden State, but not without thanking you for being part of this epic journey, and certainly not without thanking you for being who you are in my life. It is a great thing, this gift called Life. Let's continue to press on so that when we're done we might be able to echo the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."By Grace, Steven Robert Haack

Huntington Beach - Home Away from Home

Our last major day of riding took us from McGrath State Beach, located just south of Ventura, CA, to Huntington, CA - a total of 103.5 miles. We arrived in Huntington on Sunday night, after contact in Long Beach who we were planning to say with fell through. It actually worked out quite well, because as we were walking along a residential street because of another of my flat tires (don't ask!), a few ladies sitting out on their front porch inquired about my riding and travels, etc... One thing lead to another and before I knew it, we had a lawn to put our tent on for the night. We couldn't sleep inside, as they were already booked with all the people who were over celebrating the Memorial Day weekend, but we did get to enjoy great company along with great food from their barbeque. Two of the girls were Spanish, and they were sisters, and holy chowder did they know how to cook. The guys that were there had almost all studied some form of aeronautical engineering in college, so that made for interesting conversation as well.

Brian and I turned in for the night at about 10:30, though the party went on well into the morning. We awoke at about 6:00, as usual, and met Tom - whom we became friends with the night before - for breakfast at the Sugar Shack. The Sugar Shack at Huntington Beach is one of a kind; a family-owned restaurant that people literaly are lined up out the door and onto the sidwalk for at 7:30 A.M. Tom graciously picked up the tab for breakfast, and Brian and I were on our way once again.

In light of our experiences at Huntington Beach, it is cool to realize in hindsight that everything happens for a reason - from the things you experience, to the people you meet, to the flat tires that you get! Honestly, if I hadn't had that flat tire, we would have never been walking past that house and that time and never have gotten to meet those cool people. And I'd like to think that in our short time spent together, they left something with me and I left something with them that will ultimately make us better people and hopefully, in turn, bring us closer to the Lord.

Thus, it is easy to see why Huntington Beach turned out to be our home away from home. Amen.

Signs of the Times - Southern California

A significant fact about being south of Santa Barbara is that less than 1/3 of California remains. Pismo Beach is actually where the transition from central to southern Cali takes place, and with this transition comes the first sightings of palm trees. Having ventured as far as we have, this is a welcome sight, as it promises sunshine and warm weather - as if we haven't had enough already. For example, take a look at our breakfast table from this morning on the campus of Pepperdine University.
Other signs of being in southern California are as follows: the chipmunks scurrying along the ground have changed to lizards, and the raccoon roadkill has changed to snakes, first sighting of elephant-ear cactus, wide bike lanes, lots of sand, lots of ocean, lots of sheer goodness.

It has been very cool to see the change in climates and geography as we've come down the entire coast, from some of the wettest territory in the country (Hoh Rainforest - though we escaped nearly dry), to some of the driest. i.e. from lush green vegetation and rolling hills, to sandy and rocky landscapes and mountains.

One last tip that you are in southern California - you might see a sign as you are riding along on the Pacific Coast Highway that reads, "San Diego - 198 miles"! Oh yes, friends, oh yes.

Final Thoughts from Santa Barbara

Brian failed to mention that he did have to replace one tube when the valve decided to blow out on him. Also, he actually miscalculated my number of flats; I've had 8... yeah...

No worries, however, because just as we've treated Nelle to a new set of tires, I got a new set yesterday as well. I can't begin to tell you how exciting it is when you get out of that bike shop just knowing that your bike is ready to go. Therefore, it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

Now we are off to see the Mission of Santa Barbara, arguably one of the most beautiful of the California mission sites. Until next time, take care, and we'll do the same.

Water on the Right

Coming to you all the way from the library at the University of California - Santa Barbara. The sun is shining brightly again, as it has been for the past couple days. The mighty north winds are at are back, and by the end of the day we will have about 200 miles left!

After our time spent in San Francisco, we had fresh and fast legs, which allowed us to bike 125 miles the following day! Brian and I both agreed that would be the biggest day of our trip. There weren't too many places we wanted to stop, so the miles flew by; but as we are now getting further south, we will be taking more of a look around. The toughest part of this day came right at the beginning when we learned that Highway 1 was closed due to a mudslide (that happens out here in California, you know). A friend of one of Susie's residents told us a "shortcut" to get through the mudslidden (is that even a word?) area. Though it did save us many extra miles, the narrow broken pavement/hiking trail did not prove to be ideal road bike conditions. We survived with no flat tires, and no blood was shed. An added bonus was that Brian saw a bobcat cross the path, as he was the first one up, so we can add that to our list of extreme wildlife seen so far. Other great things that happened this day were seeing the first sign for Los Angeles, a mere 338 miles away, and getting Slurpee's at a 7-Eleven in Santa Cruz.

The next day, Thursday (Day 16), was one of the most beautiful days yet. We were riding through the Big Sur area of California. Along Highway 1, that is the most consistently beautiful stretch of land that there is. Looking down the road and seeing picture-perfect rolling green mountains on the left side, and amazing coastline on the right made me feel like I was riding my bike in the middle of Narnia. It seriously looked just like scenes from the movie. Phenomenal. It is also important to mention that with the water being on the right side of the road, we know that we are heading the right way. That has been a big help for us, because once we cover those miles, there ain't no turning back. Even as we were training for this trip, we enjoyed our rides back from places like Grand Haven, MI, because we were getting used to that feeling of water being on the right. How sweet it is.

Small bumps in the road (figuratively speaking of course) came when I got two flat tires, one at the beginning of the day and one at the end of the day. I must say that I had quite a view while I was fixing them on the side of the road, so it was just fine. Also, on a positive note, my bike acheived a milestone today when the odometer passed the 2000 mile mark. Brian's did this on Wednesday, by the way.

Something else that I enjoyed today was meeting a man named Joe, a Marine, who served from 1961-1964. It was at one of the waysides that we stopped at to take pictures. Joe shared with me how much he enjoyed his time serving in the Marine Corps, and told me about the key things that he learned like perserverance, character, and LOYALTY. He really emphasized that one. There is no question that Joe and I shared a moment that day, as he was almost brought to tears when remembering and talking about some of these things with me; and he reminded me that I need to take good care of my men since I'm an officer. Thanks, Joe.

You all are Great

Just want to take a minute to say thanks to everyone who is keeping up with us and our trip, and to let you know that we are thinking about you too. We especially hope our friend Katie Skaff had a great wedding today! Also, way to go Emily Brooks on the job at Illinois Mesonic. Craig, we are liking what you posted about the Trek Pilot; keep up the good work. Ed and Melissa, thank you for the possible contacts. Hopefully they will work out. Dad, thanks for keeping track of us so well. Bethany and Amanda, we hope you ran well today at regionals. And thanks to all who have called and left voice mails on our phones; we will get to answering them soon once we have some service! Point Arena and the surrounding areas just aren't up with the cell phone reception yet. When we get to San Francisco in a day or two we'll hopefully make up for lost calls.

Lastly, we especially appreciate the prayers for safety, as we've been good to go so far despite a few minor hurdles which Brian wrote about. It is so cool that we can use technology for things like this, in terms of keeping up with one another and giving thanks to the Lord all the while. Amen.

News from Point Arena, CA

Friends: By the title, you can guess where Brian and I are now located. It was a challenging day in northern California, this Saturday, the 20th of May. The hills are delightful and we had the wind blowing from the south since a front is moving in. Also, today was big because we moved from our route of traveling US 101 over to California Route 1. We were welcomed onto 1 by a couple of huge hills, the biggest that we will see for the whole trip. Another awesome welcome present was seeing a little brown bear cub and its mama at the bottom of the first hill. It moved too fast to get a picture even though we had stopped our bikes. When the cub got scared and ran back into the woods, that is when the mama bear came out of the woods and onto the street. She was staring us down; straight up fierce looking. After a couple of seconds she was gone too.

Speaking of wildlife, I forgot to mention that when we traveled through Depoe Bay, Oregon on Day 6 we saw a whale. After all, Depoe Bay prides itself on being the whale viewing capital of Oregon. Seeing the whale was sweet because, come on, it's a friggin' whale. And seeing the bears were amazing too because, well come on, they are friggin' bears.

Another important thing we failed to mention is that when we stayed at Honeyman State Park on Day 6 there were showers at this campsite. Thus, we took our first showers for the first time in a week. Despite the fact that we didn't have any soap or towels, and rather had to use paper towels to dry ourselves off, it was a revolutionary experience. Things that we had been seeing for the past 7 days even looked different colors now that we were clean!

Head Games-1 Week In

Oh, the fun of biking every day:) Both Steve and I are enjoying the scenery, but the biking is definitely our favorite part. The view from the saddle is a great way to travel and the speed of traveling is so conducive for exploring. I have enjoyed Oregon a great deal seeing the coastline and enjoying the weather. The people seem to pride themselves on being outlawish and a little known state in the country.

Mornings: The earlier we can get on the roads, the better from our vantage point.

Hurdles: A flat tire from thorns in the woods for the Burley that held us back for a couple of hours.
Sunburn- Steve got the worst of it, but we have now moved into the world of sunscreen.
Mosquitos- The place we stayed last night I think might have been heaven for mosquitos. There were about 6 or seven on you at all times.

Bottom line: We are blessed and happy to be in Bandon, Oregon. God Bless.
Brian

Day 5 and 6 and 7

Day 5 was a beautiful 80.1 miles that took us from Cannon Beach to Pacific City where we camped at Bob Straub State Park. The route we travled took us off of US 101 for a while to follow the "Three Capes Route." We got to see some sweet lighthouses, and climb some massive hills. The largest was towards the end of the day and took us over Cape Lookout. The hill was 2.7 miles long! Holy chowder. Brian and I both were loving every second of it. It was such a great end of the day, because you need to remember, what goes up, must come down. Thus, the coast down the south side of the hill was long and fast. We were loving that part too. We also passed through a town called Tierra del Mar, and I think that is the coolest name of a town as we've seen while we've been out here. Day 5 was also Sunday, and Mother's Day. This being the case, we went to church in a town called Nehalem and made it right in time for the 11:00 service. They had great food afterwards, mostly cake, so we had our fair share. We met a lady named Roselie who was from Kalamazoo, MI, so she knew well of Hope College and the rest of Michigan. We had a good time talking to her, as well as the pastor of the church who had done the same trip we are doing a while back. Another great character from the church was a man named Wally Ummel who was an ex-Marine. Actually, he would be the first to correct you and say, "There is no such thing as an 'ex-Marine.' Once a Marine always a Marine," were his exact words. So it was fun talking with Wally, who was in the Corps for about 10-15 years and got out as a Gunnery Sergeant. Last but certainly not least, Brian and I each called our mom's to tell them that we love them. Heck, none of what we are doing would be possible if it weren't for them. To top it off, we called them from the Tillamook Cheese factory which gives out plenty of free samples. This sufficed for an afternoon snack to hold us over until dinner, which was tortillas and peanut butter.

Day 6 was easily the most challenging of the trip thusfar; it was also the longest. We logged 104.5 miles over some of the most challenging areas of the Oregon Coast. These were also the windiest portions of the coast, and unlike the rest of the days we've been riding, the wind turned on us for the 15 toughest miles. We also hadn't eaten much during the day, so once we got to Florence, Oregon, we had a great stop at Fred Meyer superstore. This had everything that a hungry and tired biker could ask for. We ended the day at Jessie M. Honeyman State Park, which boasts a beautiful display of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. It was a great place to say for the night, and we met some other guys who were biking part of the coast as well - Jordan and Noah who were going from Portland to San Francisco. Just before arriving in Florence, we were hoping to see some carnivorous plants at a special wayside. We pulled off the road, but they weren't in bloom yet. What are you going to do?

Now we are at the end of Day 7, and we've traveled 75.7 miles. We are at an internet cafe in Bandon, Oregon, with a great host named Eric who is letting us camp in his back yard for the night. After yesterday's challenges, we thought it'd be good to relax for a little bit in the morning, so we enjoyed the dunes at Honeyman State Park and talked about life and the trip and what we have enjoyed after a week on the road and what could be better. We were on our bikes at about 09:33 and have had a great all around day. We had to get suntan lotion because our faces were getting burnt. We have about 85 miles to the California border so we'll be in the Golden State in a day or two. There it is ladies and gents. We're cruising and loving it.

Day 3 and 4

When we woke up in the Quinalt Lake rainforest, it was 35 degrees. Once we got on the bikes and got the blood flowing, we continued to have a great time putting our miles in. It has been easy to do when the beautiful sunshine is smiling down on you throughout the morning and afternoon and into the evening. The people we have been meeting say this weather in very unusual for the Oregon coast, that is 60-70 degrees and absolutely beautiful, but we are not going to be the ones to complain. Brian and I met a couple at Quinalt Lake who recently moved to Washington from Rolling Meadows which is a neighbor of my hometown Arlington Heights. They had even gone to a church in Arlington Hts. that I knew quite well. There have been many cool connections like that. Our Day 3 total was 77.3 miles which ended us in South Bend, Washington. Before camping for the night in South Bend we washed our clothes at the local laundro-mat and met a girl named Tony who showed us a great spot to camp for the night. Tony was serving some clean-up time in the laundro-mat because her mom caught her smoking. So it was good to be able to have fun and joke around with her and try to encourage her a little bit since she seemed like she did not get to much of that at home. Another major part of this day was that when we passed through Aberdeen, we bought a little coleman stove. Finally, we were eating hot food. What a gift :)

On Saturday (Day 4) we crossed the Astoria bridge into the great state of Oregon, finishing in Cannon Beach for the night, after traveling 98.3 miles. This bridge was 4.1 miles long! Little to no shoulder on the bridge made it an interesting crossing, but we pedaled fast.Before crossing the border, we spent some time at Long Beach, WA, the Kite Flying capital of the world. These guys were serious about their kites, it was a site to see. Long Beach also claims to be the longest area of uninterrupted coastline in the world.The end of the day was spent in Cannon Beach, one of the many beautiful places along the Oregon coast, especially known for photographs of the sunsets.We found a nice secluded area to camp for the night after hot dinner on the beach composed of flavored rice and bagles with peanut butter (which is the staple of our diet). In the grocery store there, we met a nice mom named Beth who was with her kids for Mother's Day. She was stoked about our trip, and if it wasn't for the fact that she lived in Portland, she was going invite us in for some hot and home-cooked food.

Summary: Day 0-Day 2.5

Greetings, Friends. Brian has caught you up on the day-to-day experiences thus far, but the BIG PICTURE goes something like this...

After having covered almost 300 miles in the past three days (300+ by the end of today), we are stoked about ending up in southern California. Brian has already mentioned that he really wants to go to the San Diego Zoo, and I started making up a song about our trip in which the chorus is sung as follows, "Just a couple of knuckleheads riding their bikes, heading down south where the weather is nice."

Though southern Cali is the ultimate destination, we have been and will continue to soak up everything that we can about the experience along the way. Among the highlights so far have been meeting different people everday and everywhere we go, along with waking up every morning and thanking the Lord for another great day, whether rain or shine. Until next time, take care.

Signing out from Aberdeen, WA - where the streets are smoothly paved, and the library is good to use for posting blogs, brushing teeth, and refilling waterbottles.