Golden Week

For Golden week my friend Dan and I set out from Mutsu to ride to Hirosaki to see its famous castle and park while the cherry trees were in full bloom. Dan took an old clunky bike he had never actually ridden, and I borrowed a bike from a friend. We had two days worth of clothing, sleeping bags, and tarps to sleep on. When we were hungry we stopped at convenience stores and restaurants. When we needed a shower we visited Japanese public baths called onsen. It seemed like a good plan.

Here I am taking a break and eating an onigiri (rice ball wrapped in seaweed, in this case also filled with chicken and mayonaisse) for breakfast.


The first night we stopped at a campsite before reaching Aomori City. After going to an onsen, we searched for a restaurant, but found the only one in the area was closed for the holiday. There were no convenient stores nearby either, so the best we could do was eat food out of vending machines at the onsen. They actually had soup and fried rice, but my stomach couldnt handle a big meal. Around 7:30 it had turned dark, and with no places to go in the area, we set up to camp. We had two tarps, one underneath us and one we put over our sleeping bags like a blanket. We didn't expect rain.

The first suprise of the night after climbing into our sleeping bags was a frog. It was on my head. I woke up and felt something move on my ear. I flicked it away, expecting to find a big spider, but no, it was a big frog. Very slowly, it hopped away into the darkness.

Next suprise: rain. Barely a sprinkle, but after a few minutes we realized it wouldnt be stopping, so we moved our things to underneath the porch of a building in the park we were at.


Here are pics of us riding the next day:




Sad to say, I did not finish the ride to Hirosaki. On the second day, as we approached Aomori, my knees began to hurt, especially my right knee which I injured this winter while skiing. The kind of injury I knew would only get worse if I kept riding. To get to Aomori I had to walk my bike up hills and coast down, and then I could ride while it was flat. I left my bike at the train station, and took the train the rest of the way, as Dan rode on. Then Wednesday my friend Jon came to Hirosaki for an art show and he picked up me and my bike and we returned to Shimokita.

I have some pics of Hirosaki, but they are on my cell phone and I wont be able to post them for a few days.