On the Road with Karen and Don

Know what they have a lot of up in the northeastern corner of California? They have a lot of those Share the Road signs, although they are in orange, rather than the yellow ones posted along the roadways down here. I can't be sure if that is a sign of friendliness, or if Caltrans, recognizing that the area is favorable to bike-packing / cyclotouring, or perhaps local governments, have stepped up positively. Anyway, this is not the first time our campground neighbors have been cyclists while we have stayed at the Lava Beds National Monument. I take that as a sign that this must be an especially good place for riding.

The mrs. is adept at locating nearby cyclists. It seems to be a knack that she has perfected. The day of our second evening at the Monument she had hiked up the hill to the visitors center where she discovered Don and Karen, who had ridden south from Oregon, inquiring about camping. Of course she nudged her way into the conversation, noting that there was an open spot next to our own. A few minutes later the pair were rolling up to site B27. That night, saying it was a nice change of pace, they added homemade tomato soup to whatever bike packing fare they had brought, and in the morning banana nut muffins straight from our quickly diminishing larder. The mrs. has always been a generous giver of food to hungry, traveling cyclists. That is a good thing, as it helps round out the nutritional requirements of freeze-dried food, and keeps me from gaining weight.