They day started badly with a flat tyre, but I never dreamed it would get as worse as it did.
I stopped to pick up some more low-fat, high-energie nut, caramel and chocolate bars and as I usually do I leaned the bike against the wall and popped inside. When I came out the bike was on it’s side and the front fork had spun through 360°. Not a disaster, but as I unwound the the fork the was a small snap and the horn from THE honker fell to the floor!!! The Bear Honker was dead. I was left with a squeaker that sounded like a dog’s chew toy. Bears would just laugh at that, not be bemused. I was consoled with the thought that it may amuse wolves long enough for me to make my escape, but it was no Bear Honker. I rode along occasionally squeaking the new Wolf Squeaker, but it wasn’t the same. And as I rode disconsolately into Astoria, just to make matters worse, the black, rubber bulb fell off and was lost in the roadside bushes. Now I didn’t even have a Wolf Botherer! Not much point in carrying on I thought. I doubt they’ll even let me into Mexico without some sort of Coyote Taunter. But I hadn’t counted on Astoria. If you need a Honker then head for Bikes and Beyond, they have a selection. I chose one identical to the Lost Honker of the North and tomorrow it will be installed.
The adventure can continue…
Love
Pete
Patagonia Pete 
For goodness sake, just don’t do that again! I read the first sentence of Day 39 and hardly made it to the next! So, you lost a Bear Honker. Like, you are expecting bears to be your constant companions on this trip? As you go further south I would think you’d meet more of the small poisonous things than the big growly ones, and the small poisonous ones are mostly deaf, I gather.
Anyway, please don’t start another blog like that. Believe it or not, I worry about you!
Lots of love
Mum
It was for dramatic effect; seems to have worked!
I think I have proved, by the absence of bears, that the Bear Honker works. For my next trick I shall be keeping tigers at bay with screwed up pieces paper. Or was it elephants? Please advise, it could be important.
No need to worry, mum, worse things happen at sea. Ahhh… I’m sure Sam’s ok too! Love #2 Son
Sent from my iPhone
plus side though Pete is that the sun looks like it’s shining, nothing’s ever that bad when the sun is shining (unless of course you’re very ginger, and even burn in the shade)
That sounds like a classic case of sabotage to me, maybe one of the bears with an invisibilty cloak has been following you ready to strike against the honker at the first available moment, I think you’ll agree any other explanation would be ludicrous
On a different note, I had first hand experience this weekend of Apple’s customer service and how others could take a leaf out of their book. My Iphone started playing up this weekend for no reason, so, went into the Apple store, no box or receipt, just a smile and some confusion at how so many people can be so happy in their work, Apple shop workers must be on serious party powder!? Anyway, one of the said workers approached asked what the problem was and within 5mins gave me a brand spanking new Iphone4, no arguments or anything. That is how it should be done!
As for Mr Religion, hmmm, that’s sounds potentially scarey, I guess you decided maybe cracking a joke about the anti-christ wasn’t the best thing to do, probably right
Hope the weather stays good for you!
Of course, if you tell Apple your name, they then have your soul. And that’s why they don’t need a receipt. Fact.
Sent from my iPhone
Hi Pete, Sorry to hear about your honker! Sounds painful! By the way, I forgot to tell you that I did a similar trip with my mum and the children a couple of years ago. A road trip from Vancouver to the red woods of California! Not quite as adventurous i.e. no bikes were involved and a bit more touristy!! But I will be able to picture the scenery. We had dinner at the top of Seattle Space Needle and watched the Seattle Mariners play a baseball home game (Not sure who won though!} and drove through the trunk of a redwood tree, sorry but I’m afraid we did!! Great coastline. Have you encountered any fog ….maybe you are not that close to the coast? Xx
It´s tigers, definitely. You have to shred up newspaper and throw it out of train windows to keep them away. But your cyclists version seems to be working….so far……
Just keep shredding….just keep shredding……(with apologies to Pixar)
MAN DOWN! I hope Son-of-Honker is as good as his father.
Honker fatigue. Classic mode of failure, probably exacerbated through excitation via bulb resonance. If you tie a small weight firmly to either the honker trumpet or bulb on your new one, you should modify its modal response sufficiently to avoid premature failure.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Can I say my bike has been assessed by an F1 ‘boffin’ now? Send me a Maclaren sticker and lots of money and you can sponsor me. You lucky chaps.
Pete Coombes
http://www.patagoniapete.com petecoombes@mac.com Skype:pcoombes