Happy New Year and all that. I suppose if I spent a little time updating this web page every month, it would not take so long to write or read. But, anyway, here goes. I will start back in September, when I still thought I could do the whole trip without ever flipping over my handlebars and slicing open my knee.
After my last update from the typhoon battered city of Aomori, I started the ride south. I headed up into the mountains of Hakkoda San. I got there early enough to have a great hike. I climbed a couple of big hills and walked across a swampy area. Even getting stuck behind 200 Junior High School students at one point did not slow me down too much. Besides, it is always fun to say "Hello" to a few hundred people in an hour.
After the hike I went to the "1000 Person Cedar Bath" It was not all that big. I don't think you could fit more than 200 people in there, and they would all have to be pretty good friends. The hot spring was in a big, old cedar building and had milky water.
From my mountain campsite, I headed down towards the Towada-Ko Lake. It was a great long downhill followed by a riverside ride along the beautiful and famous Oirase River gorge. The road around the lake had some big climbs in it and so did the road away from the lake. It was time to head for the coast and start making some good time.
I headed southwest into Akita Prefecture and then followed the coast south. A couple of hard days of riding brought through Yamagata Prefecture to Niigata Prefecture. I found a big hotel with a hot spring on the beach in the town of Murakami. I think I arrived at the hotel a few minutes before some tour buses. There were about a dozen young women in kimonos out front to greet me. They all giggled at me as I rooted around my bike to find my soap and towel and cleaner clothes. Finally, I got my stuff and was ceremoniously bowed into the hotel and guided to the hot spring. I soaked a few days road grime off of my skin and watched the sun set.
That night I found a hilly town park to camp in. A big wind and rain storm came in during the night and the event I knew would happen eventually finally occurred. My tent pole snapped and the whole thing came down on top of me. The tent floor flooded and I retreated fully into my sleeping bag. My sleeping mattress is only about four feet long, so I had to curl up and make sure that nothing hung out into the tent lake. Eventually, I was fully soaked and decided to just pack up and start riding. I got a nice early start that day.
I approached the city of Niigata from the north and noticed many interesting things. Niigata is a major port, especially for trade with Russia. As I rode along the port area, I saw a bunch of used car dealerships. All run by big Russian men in overalls. Also, there were lots of Russian guys riding around the port area on bicycles. I also went by Habib's Halal Restaurant, but it was too early to stop.
I made it into the city early enough to do my usual Internet and book exchange. Then I went down to the river to dry my stuff in the sun and to plan where to go next. Riding into the city took all morning and was not so fun. I did not look forward to spending another few hours fighting traffic just to leave the city. A quick look at the map told me that I could leave in the easiest way possible ?by ferry.
I took the afternoon ferry over to Sado Island. In the distant past this remote island was used for banished intellectuals and Emperors. In the 1600s it was populated with convicts who were forced to dig for gold. In the 1970s North Koreans kidnapped people from here. Last month, Sado Island made the news when the US defector from the Korean War, Mr. Jenkins, settled here with his family.
I got to the island just after sunset and a very helpful woman at the information counter directed me to a sea side park that was suitable for camping. I had ridden hard for about a week and decided to treat my time here as an island vacation. From the port town of Ryotsu, I rode around Kanto Lake, read a book and then followed the coastline north to the top of the island. I found a great campground on a cliff, overlooking the ocean and two small islands named the Turtle Islands. The next morning, I spent a few hours cleaning and tuning up my bike before swimming in the ocean.
By lunchtime, I was out of food and decided to start riding. This coastal rode was long and sparsely populated. There was no place to buy food. By two o'clock I was getting hungry when a woman in a passing car reached out her window and handed me some snack food. I guess must have looked hungry or something.
After a couple more easy riding days and beach nights, I made it to the small town of Ogi on the Southwest coast and took the ferry to Naoetsu. I rode inland along a highway and camped in a rest area. A few mountain passes later, I was in the city of Nagano in time to visit a bike shop and get a new sprocket for the back wheel.
My extensive study of urban camping areas has honed my searching skills. At the end of the day, I headed straight for the river. All the cities put their sports fields next to the rivers, in the flood plains. There is always nice camping down there. In Nagano, I found a small field that was completely surrounded by 10 foot tall trees. After forcing my way through the barrier, I had a whole private camping ground with no obvious access all to myself.
From Nagano, I continued inland to the town of Matsumoto and then headed into the mountains. I followed the Azusa River into the Northern Japan Alps. A day after leaving Nagano, I found myself slowly climbing towards the small town of Kamikochi. A difficult two mile climb up a very steep tunnel that was only open to buses and taxis brought me to the Kappa bridge ?one of the most famous mountain view points in all of Japan.
It was time to park the bike and enjoy some hiking. I followed the river north for the rest of the day and camped near the head of the valley. The next day was a bit rainy and entirely uphill. I made it to the campsite just below Japan's fifth tallest peak - Mt. Yari. As I was setting up my tent in the rain on a wind-blasted ridge, a pole broke. I fixed it and spent a cold, cold night waiting for the tent to fall on me, but it never did. In the morning fog, I climbed the 3,180 meter peak. It was an exciting hour with all of the ladders and chains, but there was no view at the top.
The rest of the day was spent on the famous Daikiretto traverse. A very steep and scary ridge walk with lots more rusty ladders, chains, old ropes and scree fields to traverse. It was tiring, but great. At the end of the traverse, I found myself high above a very crowded campground. It took another hour or two to make my way down and camp in one of the most popular back country campgrounds in Japan. After climbing over another small mountain, I walked back to Kamikochi. I was out of the bitter cold mountains and into the heavy rain.
After a damp night, I awoke to a clear day and rode back down the long tunnel. It was much easier going this way. From there, the road split. Cars could take a tunnel and bikes had to go over the mountain. After an hour of climbing, my chain broke. I had the tools and knowledge to fix it. Under the watchful eyes of a troop of monkeys, I had the bike repaired and my hands cleaned in under 30 minutes. Another bit of climbing took me to a 7,000+ foot pass - the highest point on my bike ride.
I stopped in the town of Hirayu for lunch. While washing my hands I got a great surprise. For the first time in my two years in Japan, I found a public bathroom sink that had hot water. It helped that the rest stop was part of a hot spring. I ended that day just outside of Takayama at a nice riverside campsite.
Now that my last big hike was behind me and time was running out, I decided to ride hard for a few more days. I got a nice early start the next day. It only took me about 30 minutes to realize that I had missed a turn. So, I zoomed back down the valley, found the turn and headed up into the hills on a very small and empty road. After three major hill climbs, I stopped at a roadside rest area with a robotic dinosaur show. There was also a bunch of motorcycle club members there. One club was for people with Harley Davidson motorcycles. The motorcycles were painted like police bikes and the riders all wore official looking uniforms and patches. I guess they were out playing police man for the day.
Towards the end of the day I found myself climbing another big hill. About an hour before sunset I realized that I was already well over 90 miles on the day and that I could hit 100 if I pushed on a little longer. So, I watched my odometer and as soon as it hit 100 miles for the day I stopped. I camped behind a small shrine and slept through the night of rain.
A few hours into the next day I came to an intersection. To the left was the road I had planned on taking, but it was closed. To the right was the suggested alternative. Naturally, I chose to continue on straight, figuring that I would just split the difference. I followed the river as the road got smaller and smaller. Eventually, the pavement ended and I was on a dirt road. In the heavy downpour, I found it rough going and ended up pushing the bike up the rest of the mountain. Coming down the other side was no picnic either with wet brakes and a dirt road.
I returned to the Sea of Japan coast and passed through the towns of Tsuruga, Obama and Maizuru. Maizuru was exciting because that is where I caught one of my ferries up to Hokkaido back in August. I only had about two weeks left and I was still only half way done. But, I still had one exciting experience to survive before even thinking about finishing. Late in the afternoon, I decided to take a break from the narrow and busy road and ride on the empty sidewalk. As I was tooling along, the front left bag on my bike got snagged on a pole. The front wheel turned sharply and went down. So did I. I flipped over the handlebars and skinned my knee in the process. I finished my somersault on the strip of grass next to the sidewalk - or so I thought for a brief moment. As I was rolling over I realized that my feet should have hit the ground already, but were still in mid-air. I looked down and saw that I was rolling off of a four foot ledge into a muddy rice field. I managed to stick my landing perfectly and only got muddy up to my ankles. The blood from my knee never even made it past my shin, so I guess the cut was not all that serious.
I found a city sports park and hid at the top of a hill until the staff all went home before setting up camp. The overnight drizzle turned into a downpour before I got to the town of Ama-no-hashi-date (The Bridge to Heaven). This is one of the three most famous views in Japan. It is a two mile long spit of sand and trees separating a lake and the ocean. There is a viewpoint from which you are supposed to turn your back on the view and bend down and look through your legs. It seems to me that this viewing position had to have been invented by a bored tour guide. But anyway, it was too rainy to see anything anyway.
That afternoon, I met some people and learned that all this rain was due to an approaching typhoon. I figured that rain is not all that bad and since it was not windy yet, I might as well keep on riding. Just before sunset, I came to a small town. As I entered the town, the wind started and I was in for some difficult riding. It was definitely not a camping night. Rather than aimlessly searching for the Youth Hostel, I rode to the main police station. It is much better marked. I went in, asked directions and apologized for leaving such a big puddle on their floor. I headed back out into the wind and they looked at me like I was crazy.
I had to peddle really hard to make any progress. Also, I had to keep the brakes on to keep the sudden strong gusts of wind from knocking me over. A mile later, I stopped in a small police station to check the directions and left a puddle there too. Finally, not too long after dark, I made it to the Youth Hostel and finally got out of my wet clothes.
The next day was nice and sunny as I headed to the City of Tottori. I was excited to be there because that is the sight of the largest sand dunes in Japan. I spent a morning hiking across the dunes down to the sea. The dunes are not very big, but there was one enjoyable one that was steep enough to run down very fast.
Another day or two of following the coast west brought me to the port of Sakai-Minato. I decided to have another island vacation and took the ferry to the island of Nishino in the Oki chain of off-shore islands. I got to the very small town of Beppu in the late afternoon and went off in search of the campground. I crossed to the north side of the narrow island and the road ended in a long, narrow bay. At the head of the bay was an empty campground. I was tired of sleeping in my wet and broken tent, so I spent the night on the floor of the shower room, where it was dry.
Nishino is a pretty small island and I explored most of it the next morning before taking the ten minute ferry to Nakano Island. Nakano is also small and I found another empty seaside campground to relax in. After riding all over Nakano, I took a ferry to the bigger island of Dogo. Crossing Dogo took over an hour and I ended up another empty seaside campground. This one was memorable because they had a lot of chopped up firewood sitting around for me to make a fire with.
After ferrying back to the mainland, I rode west for a few more days to the town of Hamada. Then it was time to head for the hills again. I rode up to the Sandan Gorge and went for an afternoon hike along the river. An hour into my very pleasant walk, I looked across the river and saw a small bear. I had seen on TV that all of the typhoons had been forcing the bears out of the mountains, but I had long since given up hope of seeing one, so I felt pretty lucky.
After two hours of hiking I came to a small hut with a little old lady in it. For a few dollars, she let me sit in her boat while she used overhanging ropes to pull us through the narrowest section of the gorge to look at a big waterfall.
Another wet night and it was time to go to Hiroshima. It was just about all down hill to the center of the city. I parked near the train station and found another great capsule hotel. I wandered around the downtown for a while before returning to the Grand Sauna Hiroshima Capsule Hotel. After a warm soak in the roof top baths, I returned to my capsule and watched on TV as the latest typhoon hit Japan.
I spent a rainy day touring the city and a few hours in the Peace Memorial Hall after walking around the Peace Memorial Park ?site of the world's first use of a nuclear bomb on people. I was most impressed by the wall of telegraphs. Every time any nation detonates a nuclear bomb for testing purposes, the Mayor of Hiroshima sends a telegraph of protest to the president of that country. Unfortunately, over the years, the mayors have sent out many such telegrams.
After another night at the capsule hotel, the typhoon was gone and it was time to move on. I hate riding in and out of big cities, so in Hiroshima, I finally did it right. I came in from the mountain side which is always the fastest and easiest land access to a city. I left by ferry. The ferry passed through the huge Hiroshima Bay. I was amazed by the number and size of ships being built. Outside of the bay, we crossed the Inland Sea. There are over 3,000 little islands there and I longed for a sea kayak so that I could explore them all.
The ferry docked in Matsuyama and I quickly started following the coast of Shikoku Island to the Southwest. I spent the night on a peninsula overlooking the town of Yawatahama. The next day, I took the ferry to the city of Beppu in Kyushu. Beppu is famous for its many hot springs. There are many different kinds of them. Some are for soaking and the other are really hot and are just for looking at. I am a big fan of bubbling mud, so I went to one of the so-called "Hells" I went to one that was called Bozu. Bozu refers to the shaved heads of monks. The big bubbles of mud really looked like a bald guys scalp before they popped.
After looking at the popping mud bubbles, I went for a soak in the Hyotan Onsen. They had some nice soaking pools and a section of big waterfalls. The main road out of the city was very crowded and I felt sorry for all of the people stuck in traffic as I zipped by them on my bike.
From Oita, I headed straight south towards the Prefecture of Miyazaki. This coastline faces the Pacific Ocean and is famous for its interesting rock formations. I was now back on my home turf, re-visiting places I had been to in the previous two years. I continued along the coast down to Shibushi, the place where I caught one of my ferries north in the beginning of the summer.
I kept the ocean on my left all the way down to the very bottom of the country. This day was longer and tougher than I expected. I ended up actually riding just over ten hours, according to my bike computer. My butt was very sore that night. I spent my final night near Cape Sata and rode on up to the Southernmost point in mainland Japan in the morning. Then I followed the Kinko Bay coastline to Tarumizu before taking the 15th and final ferry ride of my ten week bike ride.
I returned to Kagoshima on the 15th of October, after riding 5177 kilometers (about 3200 miles) in ten weeks. Once back in Kagoshima, I quickly picked up where I had left off ?with goodbye-parties. But first, I stayed in and watched TV for two days as the tenth typhoon of the season passed overhead. This one was the most powerful typhoon in many years and I was glad to be out of it. When the weather cleared, I had a good bye hike, hot spring excursion and party with the teachers from Wada Junior High School. I also had second good-bye party from the nice people in my Tai Chi class. Rie and I rode the new Ferris wheel twice and visited the new shopping area near the train station.
I managed to sell my bike and am already looking forward to buying my next one. I also ate in my favorite sushi place another half dozen times before leaving Japan on the 25th of October.
After my sad goodbye with Rie in Kagoshima, I flew to Korea. During the layover I went to the Haesoopia Hot Spring. It was very big. In Korea, they like their hot water salty, so that was a new experience for me. There was a hot cave to crawl into, but that was boring. The best part was a room with hot red lamps overhead and little wooden pillows on the floor. I had a great nap in there along with a dozen other men.
I thought that once I left Japan I would have no use for Japanese. But, in the Korea airport, the English speaking people at the information booth were busy, so I went to the Japanese speaking person instead. It was much faster. Also, at the Korean hot spring, a man tried to start a conversation with me, but he did not speak English and I don't speak Korean. Luckily, he was able to remember his Japanese lessons from when Korea was a colony of Japan and we could have a little conversation.
The over night flight to LA was uneventful. In LA, I had a few hours to wander around before my flight to Fort Lauderdale. In a men's room I saw a homeless man talking to himself. He was speaking in Japanese and I again had an opportunity to say a few words in my latest language. Wow - three times in a day I had a chance to speak Japanese outside of Japan. And I thought that Japanese was only good for reading the instructions on VCRs. I have since realized that many people in America have tattoos of Chinese characters and I can read many of them.
I got back to Florida early on the 26th of October and went straight to the Driver's License office to renew my long expired license. It took me a day or two to get used to driving on the right side of the road again, but I made the transition without doing any damage or scaring anybody.
On the 27th, I went up to help my grandfather celebrate his 80th birthday. I was proud to be the sole representative of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I also saw my father and uncles there.
After a hectic week that included the death of a family friend from cancer, my mother and I hit the road for road trip. I like driving and always miss it on my overseas travels. My mother let me drive all the way to Atlanta. We stopped along the way at cousin Leslie's and then visited friends in Atlanta. I think it was my first visit back there since 1996 or so. I was very excited because they have three REI camping stores. I managed to visit two of them and buy a new tent.
On the way out of the city, we stopped at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center. According to his museum, he was a great man and did a lot of good things. And still does.
We stopped in my old college town of Gainseville and I marveled at all the new buildings.
On the 19th of November, I flew up to New Jersey to visit Unka Jim and all the Dalins. After a fun few days there, I went into New York and saw cousin Nancy, Milo, Uncle Ed and Ruth. I also visited with my friend Matt and discussed his triathlon training.
From New York, I went to visit Uncle Lenny and his family in Connecticut before taking the long bus ride to Boston. Visiting my dad and his family was naturally the highlight of this leg of the journey, but a couple of trips to the REI store were also very enjoyable.
I returned to Florida on the 2nd of December and had a good birthday party that weekend. On my fourth birthday my mother made a chocolate cake that I did not care for. I decided, after 29 years, to try it again and I liked this one even less than the first.
On the tenth of December, Karla flew in from Denver. We spent a day gathering supplies and then drove down to the southwest corner of Florida. We rented a canoe and headed out to the Everglades for five days. During the first afternoon, we were paddling against the tide and it was tough going. We got to Rabbit Key at high tide and camped on the beach on our own private island. We spent the night listening to raccoons run around inside the canoe and in the morning the food lock box was covered in sandy little footprints.
On the morning of the 13th, we packed up and set out. Unfortunately, it was low tide and we spent about 30 minutes pushing the fully loaded canoe through the tidal muck before we could actually get in and start paddling. We went south along the coast and crossed a big bay before stopping on Mormon Key. It was such a nice place that we decided to call it a day and read our books. The rats came out in the late afternoon, but they stopped snooping a little while after sunset.
We spent the third morning of the trip reading books and waiting for the tide to change. After a while, we loaded up and headed up a channel. We saw a dolphin playing in the water near the canoe. Lunch at a campground was quick because of the mosquitoes. We paddled on into the afternoon and came into some difficulty. We had to cross a large open bay. It was very windy and the water was choppy. We were both a little nervous as we fought the waves in our little canoe. Eventually, we made it across and up into a side channel before realizing that it was the wrong channel. After a quick re-crossing of the big waves, we went up the correct channel and camped on a chickee. A chickee is a raised platform over the water. It has a toilet, a flat space for the tent and a roof. Ever since Karla and I learned of their existence many years ago, we have been eager to spend a night on one.
Florida had its one cold week while we were there and we froze. The wind was strong all night and was blowing in the large gap between the tent and the water. The temperature was well below 40 degrees. In the morning, my fingers hurt as I untied the knots on the ropes holding down the tent. Soon after we started I decided that it is time to buy a new and better sleeping bag.
It was a very long and difficult day. We had to cross a couple of large open bays. We tried to stick to the shore and hide behind the trees when possible. Most of the day was spent in shallow water, just in case we over-turned. The canoe scared a lot of large fish and they were always jumping around the boat. Twice I was scared when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large silver object flying at me, only to bounce off the canoe with a solid thump. Those poor fish must have quite a headache now.
Our goal for the day was another chickee. It was hidden behind some small islands. I caught a glimpse of it and steered us straight across the large bay. We fought the strong wind and waves knowing that we were almost there and if we rested we would lose ground. The gap to the chickee was passable, but soon got too shallow and muddy for us. We went back around one of the islands to try a different approach. We got within 30 feet of the chickee but could not get any closer because of the mud. I was willing to wait a few hours for the tide to come in, but in the end we went with Karla's excellent suggestion and moved on to the next campground.
The last night of the canoe trip was spent on a riverbank. The highlight of the evening was seeing a manatee swim bye while we were watching the sunset.
Bright and early on the 16th, we set out and had a pleasant ride back to the start. There were a lot of birds out and even some raccoons. The five days were a lot harder and colder than either of us had anticipated. My back was pretty sore from all that hard work. Karla managed to find us a couple of showers within minutes of landing.
We got in the car and drove off to look at some alligators before arriving in the keys. Karla was done camping and spent the next two nights in the car. I enjoyed the extra room in the tent.
Karla and I went to Key West and were both unimpressed. The big cruise ships were in and the whole place was too crowded. Plus, the beaches were less than spectacular. I can see the attraction of living there, but it is no place for a tourist.
On the 18th, we went to John Pennekamp State Park for a sailboat ride out to the reef. I did not realize that the reef off of Florida is the third largest in the world. Within minutes of jumping in the water, I saw a large sea turtle. During the next hour or so I saw some spotted rays, barracuda, lots of pretty tropical fish and some healthy coral.
The next day we spent a few hours on South Beach in Miami and had a Cuban lunch in Little Havana.
Karla went home on the 20th and I spent some time helping around the house and getting ready for my next trip.
There are a lot of things I miss from Japan, but I am ready for my next adventure. Tomorrow I will fly to Lima, Peru and start four months of hiking and traveling, so stay tuned.
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