John at Wauconda Pass sign
North Cascades Hwy, Washington
Republic, WA to Riverside, WA
We enjoyed the comfort of the hostel. No other guests showed up last night, so we had the whole room to ourselves and it was basically like having a motel room. It's very nice of Lisa, the owner, to provide such a clean, comfortable and affordable place for cyclists to stay.
We packed up and were on the road by 7:00. Lisa recommended a place for us to stop for breakfast just before the town of Republic, so we rode about 4 miles to that place but it wasn't open yet. So we rode another 1/2 mile into town and had a nice, long breakfast (the cook was new, so the service was pretty slow) and made a quick stop at the grocery store. We also made an attempt to get a hotel room donated for tonight in Omak, WA. We knew this was a longshot given that it's a Saturday night and a holiday weekend, but the front desk clerk at one of the places we called said she would contact the manager and ask.
So we continued up (literally) hwy. 20 to Wauconda Pass. The climb today was shorter and not as high as yesterday's. The pass is at 4,310 feet and we started at about 2,500 feet, so we only had 1,800 feet to climb in about 18 miles.
It was a hard climb to describe. It was steep in parts and sometimes had rolling hills. It even had a false summit which we knew about from our elevation map. For portions of the climb we had a tailwind helping us up some of the hills. We made the 18 miles to the top at 11:00 in 2 hours & 10 minutes of riding time at an average speed of 8.3 mph.
We were looking forward to the 2,300 foot drop over the other side. We cruised the first 3 miles down to the town of Wauconda which consists of just a restaurant/snack shop. We stopped to call the hotel but the clerk still didn't have an answer. So we moved on.
The sky was beginning to look a bit threatening, the most threatening we've seen in a month. The wind picked up in a big way and we were heading right into it. Our descent of the pass, which should have been a piece of cake downhill cruise, became almost as difficult as the climb. We had to peddle going downhill to maintain a descent speed and we were getting whipped around like a couple of rag dolls. We both felt a raindrop or two at one point but were amazed that we didn't get any significant rain. As a matter of fact, there were blue skies up ahead. The landscape really opened up to a prairie setting with ranches and sagebrush everywhere. There was nothing around to stop this incredible wind.
We stopped and ate lunch at a gas station in Tonasket. We also got a big rejection from the hotel we were hoping for, so we decided to just go on 15 more miles to Riverside rather than 25 miles to Omak.
And what a 15 that was. The wind was blowing in full force the whole time and it took us 2 hours to get there. We think this is probably the worst wind day we've had on the trip so far. There were some clouds off in the distance that looked menacing, but we never reached them and had sunshine the rest of the day.
There are 2 RV parks in Riverside and we saw one down below from up on the highway, so we decided that was good enough and headed there. There was no manager at the Glenwood RV Park, but there was a telephone number for him on the bulletin board, so Marie gave him a call and he instantly agreed to donate a tent site.
We ate and set up. Another cyclist cruised by on the road right by where we were eating. His name was Dean and he was on a 10 day trip from Seattle, WA to Whitefish, MT. He had made it here from Seattle in just 3 days (3 very long days, that is). He was going on to Tonasket tonight to round out a 90 mile day. He's the lucky one, though, because he's going the opposite way and enjoyed a tailwind all day. We're really hoping this wind was just a result of a frontal passage and won't continue tomorrow for our climb of the third pass called Loup Loup. Just the climb will be challenging enough. We don't need a strong headwind on top of it.
We sat outside writing and reading with the wind still blowing. We enjoyed a beautiful moonrise with the full moon coming up over the hills.
John at Wauconda Pass sign
North Cascades Hwy, Washington
Miles ridden : 61.38
Riding time : 5:52:24
Average speed : 10.4 mph
Maximum speed : 32.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4148.0
Riverside, WA to Winthrop, WA
We woke up to a cool morning today as we crawled out of the tent at 6:15. We made our breakfast and were on the road by 7:30.
Our route today would take us over Loup Loup pass, our 3rd pass in three days. We had a pretty easy ride for the first 10 miles to the town of Omak, where we stocked up a little bit because there isn't much in the way of stores for the next couple of days. It is probably a good thing we didn't make it to Omak last night because the fairgrounds where we planned on camping had been converted into a fire camp.
From there it was another easy 3 miles to the town of Okanogan. Once past Okanogan the climb up Loup Loup began. The top of the pass is at 4,020 feet and we were starting our climb at about 800 feet. The first 4 miles was on a side road and was steep in the beginning but more gradual towards the junction with hwy. 20. Hwy 20 started out with a very steep climb for the first 2 miles. We both were wondering if we could make this climb if this grade kept up. Luckily it didn't and for the next 8 miles or so the grade was much more tolerable. We did, however, stop several times along the way for food and water breaks.
About 8 miles from the pass Marie spotted her first bear. It was a fairly big black bear that was trying to crawl over the guardrail and cross the road. We stopped and it took a look at us and then moved a litte bit further down and tried again. This time a car came by and scared it back down into the ravine. We proceeded with caution and were able to get a very good look at it before it wondered off into the woods.
The last part of the pass got a little steeper but not as hard as the first part. When we got to the summit we rejoiced at having made it up another pass. It took us 3 1/2 hours to cover the 18 miles of climbing and some how it doesn't seem quite fair that it only took us about a 1/2 hour to cover the 12 miles down to the town of Twisp.
We stopped at a convenience store for some chips and Gatorade. While there John called home to wish his sister, Jenny, and his mom a happy birthday. He knew the family would be gathering and got to talk to all that were there.
From Twisp it was an easy 10 miles to Winthrop where we planned to camp tonight. Just before getting to town we met Susie and her dog, Waltzing Matilda (Tilly). We were stopped looking at the map and she asked if she could help us find something and when we said we were looking for a campground, she offered her backyard and a shower. How wonderful. We followed her up to her house and found out that she has spent 16 months total touring on her bike, eight months of which were in New Zealand and Australia.
We showered and chatted about the joys of bike touring and then walked into town for a nice pizza dinner. It never ceases to amaze us how friendly and helping total strangers can be. We walked back to the house and relaxed and wrote. We slept on a mattress and box spring in the garage.
Until next time, life is not "fair". Learn to be happy with what you have or take the neccessary steps to make changes happen. Good night.
Marie at Loup Loup Pass sign
North Cascades Hwy, Washington
Miles ridden : 59.41
Riding time : 5:51:01
Average speed : 10.1 mph
Maximum speed : 37.0 mph
Total trip miles : 4207.4
Winthrop, WA to Colonial Creek campground, North Cascades National Park, WA
We got up just before 7:00, packed up and said our goodbyes to Susie. What a nice woman! She briefed us on today's ride saying that it was a long climb and steep in some sections. She also said that there would be a lot of traffic (all the people heading back to Seattle from their Labor Day weekend fun) and that it looked like we would get wet today. The sky was pretty cloudy this morning and didn' look promising.
We rode into the town of Winthrop for breakfast. Just as we were entering town John noticed that his back tire was flat again. He pumped some air into it to get us into town. Then we ate breakfast at a restaurant and patched the hole we found in John's tube. We don't know the cause of the hole and apparently the slime innertube is not doing its job.
We headed west on hwy. 20 for 8 miles and then took a back road into the town of Mazama for another 6 miles. We picked up a couple innertubes at the bike shop there and some snacks from the store. We got back on hwy. 20 and began our ascent of Washington Pass at about 10:30. The top of the pass is at 5,477 feet and we were starting at about 1,800 feet. That's a lot of feet! Just after getting on the highway we picked up a fairly strong headwind. We were both having our doubts at this point but continued on anyway.
We climbed steadily for about 7 miles and stopped to put on our tights and arm warmers. That's sure the opposite of what we've been doing for the last few weeks. We usually start with all this stuff on because it's cool in the morning and then strip it off after riding for about 2 miles. Then it stays off for the rest of the day. Well, today we started with everything on, took it off in Mazama and put it back on after climbing for 7 miles. We were sweating from the climb, but the partly cloudy skies and cool headwind forced it back on.
John jinxed us by pointing out that the climb really wasn't that steep yet. So many parts of the last 9 miles of the climb were quite steep. With only 3 miles to the top we stopped and looked at the huge switchback in the road up ahead. We could see the climb that was coming up and it didn't look pretty.
As is usually the case, it wasn't as bad as it looked and we made it to the top at 2:00. Susie was right on 2 out of 3 counts. The climb was tough and the traffic was horrendous (although the road surface was very good and there was an adequate shoulder so it wasn't too much of a problem), but we sure didn't get rained on. The sky cleared quite a bit from the time we left Mazama and the day was cool but pleasant.
We rode the extra mile to the Washington Pass overlook and got a great birdseye view of the road we just climbed. We were just amazed that we did it!
We bundled up for our 3 1/2 mile descent. At the bottom of this hill we hit a brick wall. We knew it was coming, though, so it did't catch us off guard. After descending about 800 feet from Washington Pass, you have to go up another 300 feet in 2 miles to Rainy Pass. We took off all the jackets we had put on for the descent and went to work. This climb wasn't too bad for us. We saw 2 women cyclists flying down the hill past us going the other way and they looked like they were enjoying it much more that we were.
We had a snack at Rainy Pass and then bundled up again for the descent down to the campground. We rode through a beautiful canyon with the beautifully clear water of Granite Creek flowing to our right and some awesome jagged peaks in all directions. The scenery we've seen over these past 4 days wasn't really what we had expected to see in the North Cascades. The first pass was mostly forest. The next was forest followed by wide open prairie ranch land, the third was the prairie ranch land followed by forest, and finally the last 2 opened up to the beautiful mountain range we had hoped to see.
We had 27 miles to go from Rainy Pass and covered them in 2 1/2 hours. There were some good, long downhills, some level terrain and a little bit of climbing toward the end. We got to the campground at around 6:00 after a very long, tough day. The campground was actually 6 miles sooner than we had expected due to a minor map reading glitch, so that was a pleasant surprise.
The road through the campground was wet in some places. It looked like it had rained here today. As a matter of fact, it looked like it rains here quite often. This place was very green and looked like a rainforest. That's those west sides of the mountains for you. The entire area was shaded by huge Ponderosa pines, so it was quite cool and damp. You could see your breath.
We set up and ate quickly. We washed up and headed for the comfort of the tent quite early for it was way too damp to sit outside. We've got everything prepared for rain tonight (the tent fly is on, our bike seats are covered, our panniers are stowed in the vestibule of the tent), so we'll see if our dry streak comes to an end soon.
John at Washington Pass sign
North Cascades Hwy, Washington
Marie at Rainy Pass sign
North Cascades Hwy, Washington
Miles ridden : 67.14
Riding time : 6:12:33
Average speed : 10.8 mph
Maximum speed : 35.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4274.5
Donations collected : $13.00
Colonial Creek Campground NPS to Rockport State Park.
After 4 hard days of riding, we decided to take it easy today and make a short day of it. We set the alarm for 8:00 A.M. last night hoping that we would be able to sleep in. It started to rain around 4:30 in the morning just in time for our nightly bathroom break. On our short walk to the bathroom building we found out that it wasn't raining hard, but we both thought we would be packing up a soaked tent in the morning. We fell back asleep and were awakened at 7:00 by the sound of pine cones dropping all around us. A few of them even hit the tent. We think the squirrels knock them down from the tall treetops then scrounge them up later. There were so many that we considered wearing our bike helmets while eating breakfast.
With all this racket going on we decided to get up at 7:45. The good news is that it wasn't raining and the tent was nearly dry. Like always, we did our morning routine and were on the road before 9:00. It must be getting towards fall now because we heard the honking from a gagle of geese this morning.
What a difference in scenery here on the west side of the mountains. Everything is a lush, suculant green. The ground is covered in ferns and downed trees are draped with moss. The temperature is cool and the air has a hint of dampness in it.
We rode 10 miles to the town of Newhalem where we bought some snacks. Nothing much here except the store and a visitor center relating to the Diablo dam. From there it was down the road a couple of miles to the visitor center for North Cascades National Park. We looked around a bit and then had our peanut butter and honey bagel lunch. From here it was a nice easy cruise to the town of Marblemount, where we stopped for a short break and bought some cookies. They are repaving a long stretch of hwy. 20 and at one of the flagman stops we noticed a huge patch of ripe blackberries. We helped ourselves to a nice treat.
We missed our turn out of Marblemont onto the side road on the map so we just continued on hwy. 20 to Rockport. A few miles before Rockport we came upon some more blackberries so we decided to pick a small bag full and hopefully have blackberry pancakes tomorrow morning.
At the gas station/grocery store we bought some chips and dip and headed for the campground a mile further down the road. This campground is in an old growth forest and is very thick with vegetation. The Douglas Fir trees here stand over 200 feet tall. They are quite impressive. They even make Marie feel short. We set up camp, took showers and then looked over our maps for the next few days. We made dinner and then sat by the fire and relaxed.
Until next time, life goes by too quickly, so enjoy every minute of it. Good night.
Miles ridden : 37.23
Riding time : 3:11:16
Average speed : 11.7 mph
Maximum speed : 32.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4311.8
Rockport State Park, WA to Bay View State Park, WA
We got up around 7:30 and started the day off with a nice treat. Instead of our usual M&M pancakes (which we love -- don't get us wrong), we had blackberry pancakes made with the berries we picked on the side of the road yesterday. John did a great job with them and they tasted yummy.
We started our riding today at about 9:00 with some non-productive miles. Last night while going over our receipts, Marie discovered that the grocery store in Rockport put an additional $15.92 charge on our credit card. We called them from the phone at the state park, but they said they would have to see the receipt in order to issue us a credit. So we rode the 1.25 miles downhill back to Rockport and got the credit with no argument and then had to ride back up the same hill we rode up yesterday.
We continued west on hwy. 20 for 8 miles to the town of Concrete. From there we got off the main hwy. and onto a back road called the South Skagit Hwy. This road was very rainforesty and followed the south side of the glacier-fed Skagit River. We enjoyed the first 20 miles on this road, but for some reason on the last 4 miles the truck traffic really picked up and we were being passed left and right. The road was shoulderless, so it was challenging. We had a couple of dogs interested in us on this road, too, but we survived.
When we got up this morning the sky was partly cloudy. However, as the day went on the sky obtained the more typical look of a Pacific Northwest sky. The clouds hung low shrouding the hills and the air was very moist. We felt a drop or two hit us, but again we were extremely surprised that we didn't get rained on. It sure didn't look promising. The road we were riding on was wet, so it must have rained there recently, but somehow we managed to escape it.
We ran into hwy. 9 and took it north into Sedro-Woolley. This is a fairly large town of 5,000+ people. We stopped right away at a grocery store we saw and picked up some food. Then we rode into the historic district and stopped at the Hometown Cafe for a nice sitdown lunch. Our lovely waitress, Bonita, gave us great service and a nice donation.
Just outside the restaurant we met Cookie and Greg. They both donated and suggested that we stop in across the street at the Courier Times where Cookie worked for many years to see if they would want to do an article on our trip. We did just that and had a nice interview and photo shoot with Sean. We really appreciate the press and hope that it helps with some needed donations.
We got the name of a contact at another nearby newspaper from Greg and gave her a call. We told her where we would be camping tonight and she said she may send someone over. We'll see.
We finally left Sedro-Woolley at 3:30 and rode some backroads for the remaining 13 miles to the campground at Bay View State Park. As we turned west out of Sedro-Woolley we saw clear skies ahead and had nothing but sunshine for the remainder of the ride. We also saw blackberry patches galore and finally stopped along the road and picked a bag full of berries again for pancakes tomorrow.
As we pulled into the park we were met by the campground host, Jim. He gave us a personal escort to the area where he wanted us to camp and filled us in on the facilities. He is a very friendly gentleman who likes to joke around and does a great job as a campground host.
We picked out a spot and then went over to talk to another cyclist who was camping there. His name is Jeff. He's from Vancouver, British Columbia and is riding down to Panama. Today is his first day on the road and he rode 90 miles to get here from Vancouver!
As we were getting ready to hit the shower, Jim came back and brought us a pay envelope for the campsite and a Ziploc bag full of homemade cookies. What a nice, thoughtful treat! We didn't get a chance to thank his wife in person, so if she's reading this, THANKS A BUNCH!
Since we ate lunch at 2:00, we weren't really that starving, so we packed up a picnic dinner and took it down to the beach to watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean in the bay. It's been 2 months since we last saw the ocean in Anchorage, so we're excited to smell the salty air again and were anxious to see that orange ball sink into the water.
There were a few clouds on the horizon, so the sky lit up to a nice pinkish orange hue. John spent some time talking to a birder who had come down to look for migrating birds. We had a nice dinner of bagels, fruit, veggies, yogurt and cookies.
We walked back up to our campsite and met Will, another cyclist camped here from Texas. He's riding from Vancouver to Santa Barbara, CA. We are surprised at the number of cyclists we are still meeting. We didn't think we would see anyone else up here this late in the year.
We aren't officially on the coast until we get to Astoria, OR, so this is still leg 3 of the trip. But we did ride over I-5 today which made us feel like we're really west.
Today we got a note from Bryan, a gentleman we met on Labor Day in Mazama, WA. He and some friends were going out mountain biking. We gave him one of our trip cards and he promised to mail us a check. Well, we've heard that hundreds of times already and have only seen a couple of checks. But Bryan's message told us that his check is in the mail. Thanks, Bryan, and let this be an inspiration to all the rest who have promised but just haven't gotten around to mailing that check yet.
Miles ridden : 52.44
Riding time : 4:28:05
Average speed : 11.7 mph
Maximum speed : 26.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4364.2
Donations collected : $11.00
Bay View State Park, WA to Fort Casey State Park, WA.
We were able to try to sleep in today because we had a short day planned. The alarm was set for 7:00, but as usual John didn't hear it and Marie ignored it. We finally crawled out of the tent by 7:45. We made breakfast, blackberry pancakes again, packed up and were on the road by 9:30. Mark made it out before us but Will was still in his tent.
Before we left the campground John called Rick from Vittoria tires to see if he could help us out with some tires. He was very nice and gave us a substantial discount on 4 tires. We won't pick these up for 2-3 weeks but hopefully our flat tire problem will be solved. We have our friend, Marie Nemec, to thank for this contact.
The skies were grey once again, the wind was blowing a bit and the temperature was in the upper fifties. For the first part of the day we followed hwy. 20 onto Whitbey Island, which is the second largest island in the lower 48. The traffic was heavy and it seemed unusually loud. Once on the island we were able to take some side roads which were a lot quieter but probably quite a bit hillier.
We stopped at a farmer's stand for lunch. We bought a few goodies to go along with our usual fare. The skies were still looking like rain and the temps remained cool so we stayed in our tights and windbreakers.
After lunch we continued on to the town of Coupeville. Of course, the side roads that we stayed on remained hilly and made it pretty tough going. One of the side roads we took because it took us right along the shore. We thought this would be flat and scenic. We were wrong. There were a few very steep climbs. Also, at the places along the shore you couldn't even see the water for the most part because there were so many houses built one right next to the other right on the waterfront that you only got quick glimpses of the water between properties. Many of the houses were very nice to look at, though.
In Coupeville we met some nice folks from California who helped out the Leukemia Society. We went to a coffee house and warmed up with a nice cup of Chai tea. While there we met a couple from Minnesota who took our picture with a digital camera and said he would send it to Jenny so we could post it on the website. Stay tuned!
From here it was only five more miles to our campsite for tonight so we lingered a bit and didn't leave town until after 4:00 P.M. The ride to Fort Casey State Park was uneventful until we got to the park. At the entrance there was a sign that said "campground full". We knew this place has hiker/biker sites, so we weren't worried. We rode up a huge hill past a picnic site and then down a big hill to the campground. We couldn't find any hiker/biker sites so we asked Jim, who had an RV, if we could pitch our tent on his site. He said sure, no problem. Later we were informed that the hiker/biker sites are back up the hill in the picnic area. A sign might be helpful here.
We set up our tent, took showers, walked to the ferry dock to check the schedule for tomorrow and then made dinner. It was still cool and breezy so we retreated to the cozy comfort of our tent early.
We would like to thank Isabel from Alberta, Canada and the mother-in-law of Laurel from Catalyst for sending in checks. With help like this we will make our fundraising goal.
We got word today that we finally made the papers on the front page in the Fernie Free Press. We will try to get the article posted on the website.
Until next time, take a few minutes out of each hour every day and practice smiling. It just might become a habit. Good night.
John & Marie on Whitbey Island, WA
(photo taken by John Lonstein)
Miles ridden : 43.58
Riding time : 4:09:56
Average speed : 10.5 mph
Maximum speed : 34.0 mph
Total trip miles : 4407.8
Donations collected : $60.00
Fort Casey State Park, WA to Bremerton, Wa.
We set the alarm for 6:15 last night so that we would have plenty of time to eat and pack up for the 7:45 ferry. We didn't roll out of the tent until 6:40 but were able to make the ferry with a few minutes to spare. It was a cool and foggy morning but the tent and bikes were dry.
The ferry ride to Port Townsend took a 1/2 hour and about ten minutes into the ride we got out from under the fog and had clear skies. We had a little trouble finding our way once we got out off the ferry terminal because there were no road signs and the route maps didn't tell you which way to turn. We managed to figure it out and found a grocery store to stock up on some supplies.
Even though the sun was out it was still cool so we stayed in our tights and windbreakers for most of the day. The terrain was very hilly today, the kind of hills that are short but steeper than what we have experienced so far. They just seem to get to you after a while.
We passed by a few exclusive communities enroute to lunch and even though we were riding along the coast of Admirality Inlet there were very few places where you could actually see the water.
We took our lunch break at a pullout just before the bridge that crosses the Hood canal. As we were finishing lunch we notice that the cars were being stopped on the bridge. We figured that some ship must be passing through and they needed to raise the midsection of the bridge to allow for clearance. It turned out to be a huge submarine. We hopped on the bikes and rode to the front of the line and watched it pass by. I think that is the first time we have seen a sub in action. It closed down the bridge for about 30 minutes and had traffic backed up in both directions for several miles.
We continued on our way on back roads and after a few more miles the terrain became much more friendly. We even picked up a tail wind. The last 10 miles or so into Bremerton were fairly easy.
We decided to get a hotel tonight to rest our weary legs and get a nice soak in a hot tub. We have a few more of these tough days ahead. Our room came with a kitchenette so we went to the store and bought stuff to make burritos. When you get the chance to make something other than noodles or rice, you take advantage of it. We soaked in the hot tub and then Marie made dinner while John tried to figure out a way out of town so we wouldn't have to backtrack. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and doing laundry. Tomorrow we have another hilly day ahead of us. The weather, however, is supposed to remain dry for the next 5-7 days. Unbelievable.
I forgot to mention that when we were checking into the hotel, a flower delivery person, Ellie, came with a bouquet for one of the guests. It turns out that she is a Lymphoma survivor and saw our jerseys and gave generously to the cause. She really applauded our fundraising effort.
Until next time, keep your eyes focused on your goals and eventually you will reach them. Good night.
Miles ridden : 52.20
Riding time : 4:38:15
Average speed : 11.3 mph
Maximum speed : 34.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4460.0
Donations collected : $20.00
Bremerton, WA to Elma, WA
We got up at 6:30, had our complimentary continental breakfast and were on the road by 8:00. It was a sunny but very cold morning. The weather on T.V. said it was 50 degrees but it sure didn't feel like it was even forty.
We had to go off our route to get to the hotel yesterday, so we used a map of the city to find our way back to the route. John did a great job of getting us back on track without any backtracking. As soon as we got back to the route we hit an extremely steep, fairly long hill. We still haven't come to grips with the fact that the Adventure Cycling routes take us up such hills. Don't they know that we're hauling a heavy load!
We stopped briefly in Belfair, a town that was much bigger than we expected (the Adventure Cycling map says it has a population of 200 - that's got to be wrong). From there we took some backroads toward Shelton. As we turned onto one of the roads we hit a hill even steeper than the one in Bremerton. Unbelievable!
We took a road that follows along Mason Lake. We stopped at the public boat landing and had our first installation of lunch. After eating we hit yet a third unbelievably steep hill. Marie was having a hard time keeping her front tire on the ground because it was so steep, but somehow we managed to climb it.
We got to Shelton just after 1:00. We saw a sign for the tourist information place, so we went there and instantly recognized this place that we had been to in 1995 when we cycled part of the west coast with John's brother, Jim.
The tourist info place was closed, so we sat at a picnic table and had lunch #2 while we debated over whether we wanted to continue on our planned route tomorrow and on into Astoria, OR (3 days of riding) or if we wanted to try winging it into Astoria using the Washington state map and taking a more direct route (2 days of riding).
We had a specific state park we were trying to locate, so we rode a block up the street to the Shelton fire station. Darryl, a very helpful firefighter, went out of his way to find us a detailed map and answer our question.
The sailing went quite a bit smoother after Shelton. There were a couple of climbs but they were longer and not as steep. It turned out to be a warm, perfectly sunny day, a rarity in these parts. We got into Elma just before 5:00. We were either going to stay at a hostel or an RV park, but we didn't know where either was. We went past the library and it was still open for a few minutes, so we went in for some help. We were able to call both places. The hostel was a little pricey, so we decided to camp.
We found the RV park about a mile away. We registered, set up, showered and then went into the clubhouse to cook our dinner on their stove. They had a T.V., books, videos, appliances, dishes, basically everything anyone needed. But the coolest thing about the park is that when you register they give you a Ziploc bag with 4 cookies in it!
While making dinner we learned that the people who are temporarily managing the place grew up in Mequon, WI. What a small world.
We ate dinner, watched T.V. and wrote in the clubhouse. The managers came in at 9:00 and we talked for a while about Cedarburg and other things. We finally hit the tent about 10:00 to try to fall asleep to the sound of racecars humming at the nearby racetrack.
Miles ridden : 71.13
Riding time : 6:05:47
Average speed : 11.6 mph
Maximum speed : 34.0 mph
Total trip miles : 4531.1
Elma, WA to Lewis and Clark State Park, WA
The alarm went off at 7:00. We were surrounded by fog, so we went back to sleep and woke again at 8:00 to mostly sunny skies. We made our pancakes and said our goodbyes to the wonderful temporary campground managers at the Elma RV Park. Lauren, we will say hello to all your relatives in Wisconsin. Sherbie, thanks again for the bag of cookies for the road!
We were on the road by 9:30. We took hwy. 12 east right out of the RV park rather than taking the backroad route on our bike map since we would have had to backtrack to join up with the route again. Our guess is that doing this saved us about 5 miles of riding on the day. We cruised on the highway through the towns of Oakville and Rochester. We got a few really nice looks at Mt. St. Helens off in the distance. It looked especially cool because there were no other mountains to be seen around it. It just sort of stood there all by itself, snowy and all. I think it looked even nicer than the views we got of Mt. Rainier the other day on our way into Bremerton.
John's tire was very low, so we stopped to take a look. We decided to let the slime innertube do its job, so rather than changing the tube, we took all the gear off the bike and spun the tire around quickly a few times. This is supposed to get the slime moving in the tube so it can get to the hole and plug it up. We pumped some more air in and he was good to go for the rest of the day.
In Rochester we left the highway and took some lesser-traveled roads into the bigger city of Centralia (population 12,000). We travelled on fairly level terrain the entire morning and made the 31 miles into Centralia by 12:15. Not bad considering our late start.
It was another beautiful, sunny day in western Washington. We know we must have some guardian angels watching over us on this trip. We got some groceries, ate lunch and made our way out of town through the neighborhoods of Centralia and then onto some more backroads. One of the roads we planned to take was called Logan Hill Road. We dreaded this one, but again things hardly ever go the way you expect them to. The big climb actually came on the road before Logan Hill Road. The nastiest hill, however, came shortly after that. Fortunately, we got to go down it! At the top of the hill there was a traffic sign warning trucks about its 16% grade. That's amazing because I don't think we've ever seen one of these signs for anything steeper than 8%. We'll bet, though, that the hills we remember climbing yesterday were at least 16%!
We stopped at a gas station/convenience store to get some M&Ms for pancakes tomorrow. We forgot to pick them up in Centralia. We were quite warm when we got there, so we each got a soda to drink with dinner and an ice cream bar to cool us off. Well, wouldn't you know it -- we forgot the M&Ms! We realized this when we got to the campground. Oh well, tomorrow's pancakes will be an interesting experiment.
After downing the ice creams we stopped at the Jackson Courthouse State Park to look at the old house of a couple of the homesteaders in this area, the Jacksons (no relation to Marie as far as we know). Then it was 2 more miles to our destination for the night, Lewis and Clark State Park. The campground is in a beautiful old growth forest. We set up, showered, ate dinner -- pretty much the same things we do every night.
John celebrating going down a 16% grade hill
south of Centralia, Washington
Miles ridden : 54.26
Riding time : 4:33:10
Average speed : 11.9 mph
Maximum speed : 38.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4585.4
Lewis and Clark State Park, WA to County Line County Park, WA.
Another sunny day greeted us this morning. It was a bit cool, but the sun would soon take care of that. We had the alarm set for 7:00 but didn't get up until 7:30. Because of the lack of M&M's, the pancakes this morning were quite an experiment. The first batch was made with our trail mix and they tasted pretty good. Each bite contained different flavors (peanuts, raisins, dried papaya, etc.). What a nice surprise for the the old taste buds. For the second batch we added bananas into the batter. Marie liked these better, but John preferred the trail mix batch.
We packed up and were on the road by 9:00. We had clear and smooth sailing to Toledo. From there we were on some back roads and you would have thought you were back in Wisconsin. We had the beautiful Cowlitz River on our right and corn fields on our left. We stopped at a little pullout along the river and had some snacks. Those blackberry bushes are still around so we enjoyed some of those as well. We also asked a fisherman how the fishing was, and he answered "the fishing is good - it's the catching that's bad".
We continued on to Castle Rock where we stopped at a store for some groceries and then ate lunch on a bench on Main Street.
After lunch we had some climbing to do on the cutoff to Ocean Beach road. The climbing wasn't as bad as we expected. There weren't any really steep climbs as our bike map described. Just before we came to the summit there was a pullout which had a view of the three sisters, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. It was here that we found out that we misled you yesterday when we said we saw Mt. St. Helens in the distance. We were actually seeing Mt. Rainier. Sorry.
It was a nice five mile ride down to Ocean Beach Road where we turned west once again. Are we ever going to start heading east? Ocean Beach Road parallels our good friend, the Columbia River, and we followed it to our campground for the night. We thought about going 10 miles further down the road to make tomorrow's ride into Astoria shorter but decided to stay here and camp on the shore of the river. It was a pretty spot, we got a friendly greeting from the campground host and we were tired of the headwind and the traffic noise. Tonight and tomorrow night we stay on your shores and then we must part ways for good. We saw where you started and we will see where you end. It has been fun.
We set up camp, cleaned up and made dinner, then sat on our power loungers, wrote and planned out our next 5-7 days. We saw three huge ships pass by and we had to wonder where they might have come from and where they might be going. As the sun sets and the sky glows pink it is time to say good night.
Until next time, just because it is written doesn't mean it is fact. Don't be afraid to question it.
Miles ridden : 47.64
Riding time : 3:58:08
Average speed : 12.0 mph
Maximum speed : 34.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4633.1
County Line county park, WA to Astoria, OR.
Goodbye, Washington. Hello, Oregon!
We woke up to overcast skies and the roar of traffic along hwy 4. Our campsite was right below the road. It was about 7:30 when we exited the tent and began to make breakfast. A short while later the campground host came over and informed us of the tragedy taking place on the east coast. He told us that two planes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center. Although we were informed, it was hard to form a picture of what had happened. We finished breakfast, packed up and were on the road by 8:15.
We continued on hwy 4 for 14 miles to the ferry crossing over the Columbia River to Westport, OR. The ferry only runs every hour on the hour so we had to wait a 1/2 hour to cross. The ride to the ferry terminal on hwy 4 was rather hilly. The low clouds hung around until we finally got into Oregon where the fog had burned off and the sky was sunny and remained that way for the rest of the day.
Out of Westport we followed hwy 30 west. We immediately started a 4 mile long hill. The grade wasn't too steep, but we were hoping for an easy ride today. We had a couple of more long climbs before our lunch stop in Svenson. We decided to have lunch in a restaurant and it was here where we first saw the pictures of the devastation in New York. Both of us were numb with shock. We managed to eat lunch while trying to comprehend what was going on.
We had 30 miles in and only had 11 miles to go for the day. Marie had secured a hotel stay in Astoria for the night, so we planned to take full advantage of the hot tub and sauna. A few more gradual climbs brought us into town. It was only 1:30 and we couldn't check in until 3:00.
We headed into town to check the website at the library but the terminals were full. The next logical stop was the bakery where we stopped in for some doughnuts and had a nice chat with a couple of old timers.
We returned to the Comfort Suites, checked in and went directly for the hot tub and sauna. While sitting in the hot tub we saw two people walking bikes outside of the hotel. We saw them start to ride away and then come back. One went inside so John took the opportunity to meet Laura and find out where they were headed. They talked briefly and decided to get together for dinner.
We went back to the room and John rotated the tires and Marie relaxed. We found the hole in John's back innertube that was causing him to have to put air in his tire all the time. It was a fairly big hole, so the slime was doing an O.K. job but still isn't what we expected.
Laura and Rich called us when they returned from running errands in town and we all walked back into town for dinner. Rich and Laura are headed for the Mexican border from Vancouver. They are from the Chicago area and have done quite a lot of traveling on bikes. We had a great time discussing riding stories with them. We walked back to the hotel and then a little further down to a pier where there were a few sea lions up on the docks. We walked back to our room and said goodnight to Laura and Rich, who generously helped out the Leukemia Society.
We went back into the hot tub for a while and then relaxed and went to sleep while watching the continuing coverage of today's events.
Until next time, treaasure each and every moment. Good night.
Miles ridden : 42.77
Riding time : 3:51:45
Average speed : 11.0 mph
Maximum speed : 30.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4675.8
Donations collected : $50.00
Astoria, OR to Seaside, OR
The beginning of leg 4 of the journey!
John got up at 7:00 and went to the breakfast room. Marie slept until just after 8:00 and met him there. We ate our complimentary breakfast. John had spoken briefly with Rich this morning, but we didn't eat breakfast with Rich and Laura as we had hoped. We went back to the room and began packing up. John put a new innertube in Marie's front tire which was flat. There was a leak at one of the patches. The flats continue!
We walked back out to the pier and saw the sea lions in the daylight. There were many of them and they were barking up a storm. It was still quite foggy over the area. We finished our packing and then met the general manager, Marcey, who donated the nights stay at the brand new Comfort Suites. She told us she has a friend that is now living her last days after a battle with Lymphoma. She thanked us for what we were doing.
We were on the road about 10:30. Most of the fog had burned off and the sun was shining, but it was quite cool. We stopped at a bike shop and picked up another spare innertube. Now we had to decide if we wanted to follow the Adventure Cycling route on backroads or go directly to Seaside, OR riding on hwy. 101. We decided to take Adventure Cycling even though we've already ridden this route back in 1995. We hit the neighborhoods of Astoria after turning off the main street, Marine Drive, and in 4 miles we were back on Marine Drive. We were right next to the hwy. 101 bridge and changed our minds. We headed for 101 and were glad we did at the end of the day. We had a pleasant, flat ride the whole way.
We arrived in Seaside, our destination for the day, at about 12:30 after riding just over 19 miles. We had a gift certificate for the Shilo Oceanfront Resort that we had donated to us back in May, so we planned a short day so we can sort of consider this a "day off". We went to the visitor center and then spent a little time on the internet at the library. We went to the grocery store and picked up some things for dinner tonight.
We left the developed highway 101 and headed toward the beach. The Seaside downtown area was very crowded with shops of all sorts. It reminded us of Mackinack Island in Michigan, especially since we saw some fudge shops. We checked into the beautiful hotel right on the beach. Unfortunately, we couldn't even see the ocean which was right outside our balcony. The fog right along the shore was heavy, but it was still sunny up on hwy. 101. We met Jim, the manager who Marie had talked to back in May. He was very accomodating and we really appreciate his generosity.
Our room was incredible. We had a full kitchen, a gas fireplace and a balcony overlooking the foggy beach. We hauled all of our gear and our bikes up to the room and then walked a couple blocks to the post office to mail some things home.
We hit the sauna, steam room (this is a new one for us - didn't really like it) and hot tub and spent the rest of the night relaxing. We watched more news ocverage on the New York City World Trade Center terrorist attack. Finally at around 10:00 P.M. the fog lifted enough for us to see the waves from our balcony.
Miles ridden : 20.65
Riding time : 1:44:14
Average speed : 11.8 mph
Maximum speed : 21.0 mph
Total trip miles : 4696.5
Donations collected : $150.00
Thanks to Drew, who we met in Whitefish, MT, and Bryan, who we met in Mazama, WA, for mailing in their donations as they promised.
Seaside, OR to Nehalem Bay State Park, OR.
We planned today to be short so we could take full advantage of our beautiful hotel room. We took it easy and didn't get out of bed until 9:00. We made our pancakes on the stove in our room and took our time packing up. The fog had moved back in so we could just barely see the ocean from our balcony. We hoped it would ease up a bit but it didn't, so we checked out and were on the road by 10:30.
Our camp for tonight was a mere 25 or so miles away and we were in no hurry to get there if this fog kept up. We rode 10 miles to Cannon Beach and then took the loop through town. It was a nice little town with a huge rock just off shore called Haystack Rock. We took a short break here to photograph the rock and feast on roadside blackberries and then continued on to Hug Point State Park. There was a pretty steep hill leading down to the parking area, but we figured what the heck, it is a short day, we can handle it. A longer break was taken here as we sat on a bench above the beach and had our first lunch. The fog had lifted a bit so you could see a little ways down the coast.
After lunch it was back up the steep hill to hwy 101 (barely made it up) and on to Arch Cape. Here we passed through the first tunnel on the coast. It is very interesting how different the state of Oregon treats bikers. 1 cent of the tax on every gallon of gas goes toward road improvements for bicycles. The signs on the roads warn vehicles that there are bikes on the roadway. We are used to having the bikes be warned about vehicles. For the tunnel there is a button for cyclists to press that activates flashing yellow lights around a sign above the entrance that warns cars that there are cyclists in the tunnel and reduces the speed limit. There should be more states that think about cyclists in this manner.
5 miles further down the road the sun came out as we approached Oswald State Park. We considered stopping here for the night but decided to keep going. We met another touring cyclist here who started his solo trip in Seattle. He didn't seem very interested in talking to us which is unusual. Most tourists, especially the ones traveling alone, are usually very talkative.
The sun stayed with us as we climbed up a hill that gave us great views of the coast. We stopped at a pullout overlooking the ocean for lunch number 2. From here you could see the fog just offshore with a tongue of fog stretching inland over the area we were planning on camping tonight. We stayed at the overlook for quite a while enjoying the view and the sunshine. But, alas, we must continue on down through the town of Manzanita and on to the campground.
When we pulled into the campground the fog was just begining to clear. They had a special segregated area for hikers & bikers to camp. The cyclist we met earlier was there and there was one other guy who we couldn't quite figure out. He had a tent set up but we didn't see any backpack or bike. He was picking up pieces of earth and rubbing them onto his tent. We were convinced that we would probably be murdered before the night was over.
We set up camp, took showers and then made dinner. We cleaned up and then went for a walk up onto a sand dune to watch the sun set. We were a little late because of the fog offshore that was slowly creeping towards shore. We walked back to camp and retired to the comfort of the tent.
Until next time, Marie knew she married Mr. Right. She just didn't know his first name was "Always". Good night.
Miles ridden : 26.13
Riding time : 2:37:40
Average speed : 9.9 mph
Maximum speed : 35.0 mph
Total trip miles : 4722.6
Nehalem Bay State Park, OR to Cape Lookout State Park, OR
Today was another pea soup kind of day. We woke up at 7:15 to more fog. We ate and packed up quickly and were on the road by 8:45, happy that we weren't attacked during the night by either of our neighbors. We decided to stay on hwy. 101 rather than taking the first deviation suggested by our Adventure Cycling map. We made it less than 6 miles before stopping for a pecan roll at a bakery in Wheeler. It was a cool morning and we thought the bakery would be a good warming spot. Either that or we're just addicted to the little hometown bakeries that all these coastal towns have.
We continued along the coast riding through Brighton, Nedonna Beach, Manhattan Beach, Rockaway and Bay City (no sign of the famous Bay City Rollers). We were often right next to the ocean but could only see about 100 feet out because of the fog. John even rode with his blinkin' beacon on. This is one of those lights you can clip to your pannier that has 5 red bulbs that either flash or strobe depending on how you have it set. We also had our yellow wind jackets on for visibility and warmth.
We arrived in Tillamook just before noon after 28 miles of riding. We stopped at the Tillamook cheese factory on the north end of town. We had been here in 1995, too, and knew we could sample cheese so we had to make a stop. We paid some attention to the videos and signs about the cheese making process and then proceeded to sample. Marie downed many of her favorites, the cheddar cheese curds. We went through the line several times to get our fill of that squeeky cheese.
We bought a small package of curds, a block of colby-jack and some chocolate milk. It's easy to tell that we're from Wisconsin. We sat in their concession area and had our peanut butter and honey bagels and chocolate milk for lunch.
We rode on into town and stopped at the grocery store for some needed items. Then we continued on following the alternate Three Capes Scenic Route. We had very little hope that the fog would lift and that we would be able to enjoy the beauty of this section of the coast, but what the heck.
Neither of us was sure if we had taken this route the last time we were here. The route actually starts by taking you back north for about 4 miles. Then you make a pretty steep 1 1/2 mile climb up to Cape Meares State Park. When we got there we were convinced that we had come this way last time because we stopped here to look at the lighthouse and the octopus tree. Well, there was no need to go to the lighthouse today since the fog had gotten even thicker as we climbed.
We rode on and stopped in the small town of Netarts for a warming beverage. We rode down to the ocean and saw another place that we both recognized. It was a motel where last time we had eaten our lunch on their private deck overlooking the ocean since the motel was not open at the time. We saw a group of sea lions on a sand spit across the water and remembered seeing some in the same place last time. Did these huge, lazy creatures not move in 6 years?
We rode back up to the general store which we recognized as the place we had the sandwiches made that we ate on the motel's deck last time we were here. The clerk in the store, Judy, was curious about our trip and ended up donating generously to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, telling us that Lymphoma had touched her life through several of her family and friends. She made us some delicious Chai tea that warmed us enough to send us on our way.
The next 6 miles to the campground was a nice, rolling ride. We are fairly sure we camped here back in 1995 and remember having taken a long walk on the beach. Not this time. It was still quite foggy.
Since it was Friday night, we had to stop at the check-in booth to register for camping. They had a separate area for hiker and bikers, and do I mean separate. We had to walk our bikes down a hiking trail for about 1/4 mile. They were supposed to have a port-a-john back there, but we never found it. So the nearest bathroom is about another 1/4 mile hike and the showers were about 1/2 mile away. I guess they think that hikers and bikers need even more exercise!
On our way to the showers we saw the biker who was at the campsite last night. He was setting up his tent and we said hello. That was the extent of that conversation. By the time we walked to the showers, showered and dried our hair (well, John doesn't have much of that to speak of) and clothes under the warm air hand dryers in the bathroom, it was already 7:00.
We had a small difference of opinions about what to have for dinner. John wanted noodles and Marie wanted rice. Since we had rice last night, we made noodles. It's funny how things work out sometimes, though. As John was draining the noodles and trying to get that one last drop of water out, he lost his grip and there went all the noodles all over the forest floor. So we ended up having rice and was it good!
It was dark in our heavily forested area by the time we finished eating, so we had to clean up in the dark. John had a nice campfire going to try to keep Marie warm. We doubt if any of the heat could penetrate what she had on, though. She was wearing a down vest, a fleece jacket and a windbreaker along with a winter hat! She has the feeling that we are never going to feel anything other than cold and damp until we get to L.A. Sure hope she's wrong. We hiked to the bathroom again to brush our teeth and then hit the tent by 8:00. Since Marie got a hotel room donated for tomorrow night in Newport, a 60+ mile ride, we need to get up early tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to get a better look at the ocean then.
Miles ridden : 49.78
Riding time : 4:23:29
Average speed : 11.3 mph
Maximum speed : 32.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4772.4
Donations collected : $20.00
Cape Lookout State Park, OR to Shilo Inn Newport, OR.
We were hoping to get an early start on the day today but when we looked outside at 6:00 it was still dark, foggy and there was a light, intermitent drizzle. We decided to sleep in for another hour. At 7:00 the only thing that had changed was that it was a little lighter. The decision was made to pack up and go. The tent was fairly dry but the fly was pretty soaked. We packed up quickly and headed for the nearest restaurant.
A 3 mile hill greeted us first thing and after 6 miles we were cold and soaked from sweat and all that could be found was a small store in Sandlake. It drizzled on us slightly during this stretch, so we guess our dry streak has ended. The owner was kind enough to make Marie a hot chocolate (John had coffee). We bought a small snack and stood in the warmth of the store eating and drinking. We continued on another 8 miles to Pacific City where we stopped and had a real breakfast. We spent a little time here trying to warm up and dry out a bit.
The skies were still foggy and cloudy but it did look promising at times. 11 miles further down the road we decided to stay on hwy 101 which was 6 miles shorter than the map route but included a steeper climb.
In Lincoln City the sun actually came out so we stopped at a park along the beach and had some lunch. The sun didn't stay out long, so we hit the road to try to stay warm.
We hit another hill just south of Depoe Bay and at a rest stop we found a small plastic American flag, so John replaced his BOB flag with it. The weather seemed to be clearing up a bit, so we stopped at a few lookouts to view the gorgeous coast. At one of these lookouts we saw some whales spouting.
While we were coasting down a hill 6 miles out of Newport we saw a man, Vint from California, trying to take a picture of us. He held his hand for us to stop. We obliged and he told us that he has ridden this coast several times since 1972. He took a picture of us with the bikes and made a nice donation. Thanks, Vint.
We pulled into Newport and found the Shilo Inn and checked in. Karen, the manager, had eagerly donated a room for us, and boy were we glad. It was cold and the fog had moved back in. We went up to our room which had an ocean view, king size bed and kitchenette. There was also a handwritten note from Karen wishing us an enjoyable stay here and luck on the remainder of the trip. Along with the note were 4 oatmeal raisin cookies. What an incredible greeting.
We did some wash and then ordered chinese food for dinner. This is the second time we have had an ocean view room and couldn't see the ocean because of the fog. We relaxed the night away in our warm and dry room.
Until next time, do your part to keep the economy moving by continuing to spend and invest. Don't let them win. Good night.
John & Marie in near Lincoln City, OR
(photo taken by Vint Ellis)
Miles ridden : 64.89
Riding time : 5:48:26
Average speed : 11.1 mph
Maximum speed : 34.0 mph
Total trip miles : 4837.3
Donations collected : $40.00
Newport, OR to Honeyman State Park, OR
We slept until about 8:00 and microwaved our leftover Chinese food for breakfast. It sure is nice having all these modern conveniences. We packed up, checked out and stopped at the grocery store. All of this took until about 10:00 when we finally started making some forward progress. John's front tire was low on air again this morning, so we spun it and filled it back up and it did O.K. the rest of the day.
It was a cloudy morning but not foggy, so we could see the ocean. After leaving one of the many viewpoints we stopped at, John got a flat rear tire. Needless to say he wasn't happy about it, but he fixed it quickly. As he was working on it, a nice man in a Porsche pulled up and asked if we were alright or if we needed anything. We said everything was O.K. and thanked him for stopping. Afterwards we thought that we probably missed a good opportunity for a donation.
We stopped in Waldport at noon after riding only 16 miles and ate some lunch. Just before stopping the sun came out, so sitting down at a picnic table by the water to eat was actually tolerable (meaning Marie wasn't shivering violently like she was any time we stopped yesterday), although the wind was blowing pretty strongly. Just after sitting down, a couple of bicycle tourists pulled in and ate their lunch with us. They were Larry and Barb from Nelson, British Columbia. They had started their tour yesterday in Lincoln City and were going to Eureka, CA. We ended up leapfrogging with them all day on the road and then staying at the same campground.
The sun stayed out until we hit the town of Yachats 8 miles later. For some reason it was cloudy and foggy there. We stopped there at a bakery and enjoyed a couple of donuts.
Shortly after leaving Yachats the sun came back out and stayed out the rest of the day. It was still rather cool, but oh what a difference the sun makes. We were also enjoying the prevailing northwest wind of the Pacific coast which we could feel helping us up the hills. We spent the day stopping at many of the state parks, scenic viewpoints and waysides to get beautiful looks at the shoreline that stretches on forever and the nice rock formations just off the shore. At Seal Rocks State Park we saw a whale spouting way off shore. At another lookout we saw a bunch of sea lions swimming in the waves just off shore.
We climbed up Heceta Head and had a nice, long descent, leaving behind the ocean and heading inland a bit into the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. We stopped at the Fred Meyer's store in Florence to get some food for tonight. Fred Meyer's is a chain store that we first saw in Anchorage, AK. The stores are outrageously huge and have everything from clothes to garden rakes to groceries. They're a little intimidating at first, but John and I like them now because they carry a line of Indian food that is vacuum packed (not freeze dried) and ready in 5 minutes and very nice and spicy. So we're thinking about campaigning good old Freddy to open stores in the Midwest.
Anyway, it was through Florence (bringing back memories of the places we stopped when we were here in 1995), over the bridge and up a couple of hills for 2 miles to Honeyman State Park. Just after crossing the bridge we stopped to take our jackets off before climbing the hill and there came the guy we met the other day who wasn't very talkative. We waved and ended up seeing him again at the campground.
The campground has a hiker/biker section and this one was even more ridiculously segregated from the "regular" campground. We had to pack our garbage out and once again the walk to the showers and bathroom was quite a hike. Marie's shower never got hot, so she had to do without.
We also had to push our bikes up a pretty steep dirt hill to get to the hiker/biker site. It should be interesting trying to get them down in the morning.
Within 30 minutes of arriving, the hiker/biker area held 4 groups of cyclists. There was us, Larry & Barb, the quiet guy and another couple, Tom from Chicago and Lisa from Idaho. Lisa & Tom started in Astoria, OR and are ending their tour tomorrow. See, we're not the only crazy ones!
By the time we showered and ate it was dark, so the night didn't turn out to be as social as we had hoped it would be. No, wait. On our way to our final hike to the bathroom we walked by Tom and Lisa's campsite and spent about 2 hours talking with them.
Waves crashing at Seal Rock
Oregon coast
Hceta Head lighthouse
Oregon Coast
Miles ridden : 56.81
Riding time : 4:41:18
Average speed : 12.1 mph
Maximum speed : 34.5 mph
Total riidng time : 4894.1
Honeyman State Park, OR to Tugman State Park, OR
We woke up to cloudy skies at 7:30 today. We ate and began packing up and then got involved in another interesting conversation with Tom and Lisa and then Larry and Barb joined in and before we knew it it was almost 10:00. Tom made a nice donation to the Leukemia Society before we left. We are so grateful to all of the new cycling friends we've met that have been so generous!
Right around 10:00 we left and headed south on hwy. 101 in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. We stopped at several of the viewpoints to look at the big sand dunes in front of the ocean.
Once again just before noon the clouds burned off and we enjoyed beautiful blue skies for the rest of the day. The temperature was in the 60's, perfect for John but a little cool for Marie. We still sweated plenty going up some of those hills.
We stopped at the Dunes information center in Reedsport and asked about a bakery in town. They sent us to an excellent place called the "Sugar Shack" in the old town area. It was just after noon, so we went there and had soup and sandwiches and, of course, dessert. While there we met 2 very nice couples. The first was from Hamburg, IA. They were very interested in our trip and asked us many questions. They had some yellow and orange bell peppers left from Seattle where they were yesterday and gave us a couple. That will make a nice addition to dinner.
We also met Angie & Mack from Bush, LA. They invited us to stay with them if we pass through that area of the state. They said it will be lovely there in November. They were anxious to see our website.
Upon leaving there we decided to make this a short day. We stopped at a grocery store to make a few phone calls. On the way out of the parking lot Marie got scraped by a car making a right turn. We were stopped at the light next to her and she proceeded to turn in front of us and because of the angle she took, Marie's pedal scraped her truck. She just took off and kept going. The bike and Marie were uninjured.
At the next town, Winchester Bay, we deviated from hwy. 101 and took a short loop road along the bay and a back way into Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. We took a look at the lighthouse, scanned the ocean for whales but didn't see any and climbed the big hills to get out of there. We also saw Marie Lake -- you don't see many of those.
When we rejoined hwy. 101 we were in the middle of a long hill, so we rode up the remainder of that hill, stopped at another lookout and then rode downhill to Tugman State Park, our destination for the evening.
We arrived at 3:30 and picked out a spot in the hiker/biker camping area. We saw some people behind the camping area picking berries, so we went back there and asked what they were. Jim and Betty, who are from this area, were picking huckleberries. They told us all about the berries and about some other berries in the area. They also told us that they taste really good in muffins (which Renee made for us when we were in Libby, MT) and pancakes. They gave us one of their small Hefty plastic containers with a lid so we could pick some and have them in our pancakes tomorrow.
We took another long hike to the shower building, showered, walked back and picked some huckleberries. We bought a newspaper, so we started reading that when in came Tom and Lisa. We were glad to see them. They had also visited the Sugar Shack bakery and loved it. We agreed to have a combined dinner with them tonight. A little while later Larry & Barb pulled in and agreed to join in on the dinner. We waited for those guys to set up and shower and then we all met at Tom & Lisa's campsite. We had a wonderful dinner of beans & rice (2 different kinds), corn on the cob, fresh veggies, soup, oysters, Sun chips & chocolate chip cookies. It was a regular pot luck. We all had fun sharing our food and conversing.
After everybody's dishes were cleaned up and Tom did a hanstand on the picnic table to demonstrate his gymnastics prowess, we all went over to Larry & Barb's campsite where Larry had a nice campfire going. It was a clear, cool night so the fire felt really nice. We all talked some more and got to know each other even better. We gabbed until 11:00!
Lake Marie in Umpqua Lighthouse State Park
near Winchester Bay, OR
Miles ridden : 33.05
Riding time : 2:55:43
Average speed : 11.3 mph
Maximum speed : 34.0 mph
Total trip miles : 4927.2
Donations collected : $20.00
Tugman State Park, OR to Bullards Beach State Park, OR
We woke up shortly after 7:00 to skies that were already blue. We enjoyed our huckleberry pancakes (John is so versatile). Larry came over to our campsite and gave us a nice donation for the Leukemia Society and a wonderful bag full of dried peaches and apples. Barb's parents own an orchard, so they get lots and lots of fruit.
We dragged the gang together for a group photo, talked just a little while and hit the road by about 9:15. Just outside of the campground we met a couple from Germany who were cycling from Anchorage, AK to Argentina. We saw them on and off throughout the day. They were wild camping (camping on the side of the road rather than at an established campground), so we probably won't see them tonight.
We had a really nice ride for the first 14 miles into North Bend. The bridge going into North Bend was a little tight with the traffic. We both remembered this bridge from 1995 as soon as we got on it. The wind in '95 was much worse than it was today.
We went to the Safeway in town for some groceries. Then on the way out of town we saw the candy store that we had visited in 1995. We had written it off because we thought it wasn't on our route and we had already gone by the area where it was. We made a quick turn in there and entered this den of evil. We had remembered sampling candy in there last time but had forgotten just how many things they had to sample. There must have been at least 30 different varieties of chocolates, jelled fruit candies and brittles and we tried them all except for the beer candy. We decided we liked the hazelnut white chocolate bark the best (believe me, it was a tough decision) and bought some of that to take with us. We also took a couple of tummy aches!
John's shoelace broke as we rode on, so we stopped at Walmart for some new ones. We finally made it out of town sometime around 1:00.
We rode a few miles to Charleston where we had lunch at a picnic table by the visitor center. From there the climbing started. There was a really steep climb immediately as we turned onto Seven Devils Rd. but the scenery became very interesting when we got to the top. It was very easy to see all around us because of the clear cutting that had taken place in the forest here. We could see the coastal range and all of the surrounding forest area. We descended a bit and then climbed another steep area where at the top we could now see down to the ocean. It was beautiful.
The cruise down was fun. We ended up at Bullards Beach State Park for the night. The next campground was 20+ miles away and it was already 3:15, so that really wasn't an option. We had tried to get a motel room donated in Bandon, the next town down the highway, but were unsuccessful, so camping it was.
We set up at the hiker/biker section which was actually just 50 yards from the bathrooms and showers. We set up, showered, took a walk around the campground loops to try to get some white gas (John was successful) and made dinner. We were amazed at how crowded this huge campground was on a Tuesday night in September. Larry and Barb were camped with us in the hiker/biker area again tonight.
We went to the program at the meeting hall yurt which was on sand and all the wonderful things it does. Back at the campsite Larry had another fire going, so we sat and talked with them a while before turning in.
Cyclist group at Tugman State Park, Oregon
(left to right)
Lisa (Boise, ID) & Tom (Chicago, IL), John & Marie, Barb & Larry (Nelson,
B.C.)
Miles ridden : 42.94
Riding time : 3:35:49
Average speed : 11.9 mph
Maximum speed : 29.5 mph
Total trip miles : 4970.1
Bullards Beach State Park, OR to Gold Beach, OR
No fog this morning as we emerged from the tent at 7:00. The skies were clear and it looked as if it was going to be a gorgeous riding day. We made breakfast, packed up and were on the road by 8:30. Larry and Barb were still finishing breakfast.
Our route took us through Bandon, where there was another cranberry sweets store and a cheese factory, but we were there a little too early to partake in the sampling. We followed the beach loop road out of town which took us along a high cliff with spectacular views of the coast's beauty. We stopped at Coquille Point to take it all in.
Once back on hwy. 101 we cruised with the nice north wind to Langlois, where we stopped for a snack and where Larry and Barb caught up with us. (man, we just can't loose those two). From there it was another nice ride to Port Orford. Just before town we passed a cyclist (Willie) pulling a Burley trailer and a whole lot more. We stopped at a grocery store and Willie caught up and stopped to say hi. It turns out that Willie has been on the road since 1997. He is a carpenter and stops to work from time to time. He carries his hand tools with him in the trailer. He has been on truck scales that show him and his gear weigh in at 450 lbs. We thought we had a lot of gear. He said he was finally headed back home to Georgia and that he is thinking about writing a book about his travels. Good luck, Willie. You are truly amazing. Before we said goodbye to Willie, Barb and Larry caught up to us again. Man, they are hard to shake (just kidding, you guys are great).
We said our goodbyes and headed towards Gold Beach where Vic, the manager at the Motel 6, had a donated room waiting for us.
Out of Port Orford the terrain got a little hillier but the north winds helped us up the hills and we were back on the ocean looking at beautiful sea stacks. Because of the sunshine we stayed on hwy. 101 out of Ophir instead of heading inland on the Adventure Cycling route (more honestly, we never even saw the town of Ophir to make the turn). We arrived in Gold Beach by 4:00, checked in and hit the hot tub. We hit another milestone today, 5,000 miles, so we decided to celebrate with a nice dinner. We walked just a few blocks into town and enjoyed steak and seafood while watching birds and sea lions in the harbor. We came back to the motel and relaxed and wrote.
Until next time, try to think of ways to simplify your life. Good night.
Willie from Georgia and Marie
Port Orford, OR
Cool house on the shore
south of Port Orford, OR
Miles ridden : 60.31
Riding time : 4:35:48
Average speed : 13.1 mph
Maximum speed : 35.0 mph
Total trip miles : 5030.4
Gold Beach, OR to Crescent City KOA (4 miles north of Crescent City, CA)
We got up at 7:30 and walked about 1/2 mile up the road to a restaurant for breakfast. It was a cool morning and there was fog over the Rogue River and along the coast. We had a nice breakfast and walked back to our room. We packed up and called some hotels in Crescent City trying to get a room donated for tonight -- no luck.
We were on the road just after 9:30. The ride began with a moderate 2 1/2 mile climb out of Gold Beach. The fog had burned off, so we enjoyed sunshine and beautiful views of the ocean and sea stacks. The rest of the 30 miles to Brookings, OR was very hilly. There were frequent 1/2 mile climbs which was O.K. because we got to look at the water.
But about 7 miles north of Brookings we got back into the fog. It felt quite a bit cooler and we could barely see the ocean. It's funny how quickly the weather and your mood can change.
We stopped at a bakery in Brookings (one that John recognized from our 1995 trip) and had some donuts and hot chocolate. That raised our spirits temporarily. We stopped at Fred Meyer's for some groceries, etc. and John got a flat rear tire while leaving the parking lot. When changing the tube he found a small piece of wire in the tire. He wasn't happy! A police car stopped in the parking lot while we were fixing it to let us know where the bike shop is in town in case we needed anything.
We continued riding through the fog to the California border. Another state bites the dust! Hwy. 101 got a little busier at this point and the shoulders got narrower, so we took a side route into Smith River through some farm country. This area is known as the Easter lily capital of the world. We saw many farm fields full of rows and rows of lillies as far as you could see. Yesterday we were in cranberry growing country around Langlois, OR (we forgot to mention that) and today we're surrounded by flowers.
We stopped again for groceries in Smith River and continued on the farm roads for another 6 miles. John now got a flat on his front tire. This one came quickly and he almost wiped out but was able to control it. While changing yet another innertube he found that the valve stem area blew on this one. That's just basically a sign of a defective tube because it's not that old.
We rejoined hwy. 101 and rode about another 7 miles to the Crescent City KOA where the owner, Stephen, donated a tent site for us. We set up the tent, showered and made dinner. Then we retreated to the warmth and light of the recreation room where we wrote and looked at tomorrow's route amidst a group of kids who were very busy recreating. Mist was forming in the air, so we're looking forward to a soaked tent fly in the morning. We're sure hoping we'll see the sun again tomorrow.
Marie at the sign for entering California
Miles ridden : 52.12
Riding time : 4:37:32
Average speed : 11.2 mph
Maximum speed : 34.5 mph
Total trip miles : 5082.5
Donations collected : $101.00 - this includes a $100 check mailed in by
Dr. Lonstein from Minnesota who we met on Whidbey Island, WA and who took
a digital photo of us there. Thanks!
Crescent City KOA, CA to Patrick's Point State Park, CA
We had a nice quiet night in a nice secluded spot in the woods. We rolled out of the tent at 7:15 and found that the tent was pretty dry. It was a cool morning so hot chocolate and pancakes were on the menu. We packed up and were on the road by 8:30.
We hopped back on hwy. 101 and rode through Crescent City. These first 8 miles were a breeze and the sun was shining. It was a Jekyll and Hyde kind of day from here on. just outside of Crescent City we ran into a 2 1/2 mile hill that took us up into some fog. The shadows from the sun trying to break through the fog and the huge, towering redwood trees created quite an eerie scene.
Once we crested the hill the sun was back out and things were looking good again. We did a few rollercoasters and then started our descent back to the ocean. The fog kicked back in and became very dense. There were times when it became quite dangerous to be on the road. We made it down safely but were freezing from sweat and wind chill. We took a very short break and agreed to stop in Klamath 7 miles further for a hot lunch.
Well, by the time we got there the sun was back out and we weren't feeling quite so cold. We did stop and have a bagel with peanut butter and honey lunch out of the wind and in the sun. Nice and warm.
After lunch we encountered another long hill that took us to the Newton B. Drury Parkway and a continuation of the hill. Here we entered a scenic drive through the magnificant redwoods. The roar of traffic was gone and once we crested the hill we had a pleasant ride down to the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park campground called Elk Prairie. We camped here on our 1995 ride. This is supposed to be an elk refuge, but we didn't see any.
We hooked back up with hwy. 101 and a couple of miles down the road we saw a few bull elk and some cows along the side of the road. We ran into a head wind for a while and a couple of more hills before we reached Orick where we stopped in a restaurant and picked up a couple of cinammon rolls for dinner.
We continued on up and down several more long hills until we finally made it to Patrick's Point State Park campground. We had heard that the hiker/biker sites in California's state parks were only $1.00 per person but didn't really believe it until we saw the fee schedule. Now that's more like it. The showers, however, are coin operated. Of course, they do separate you from the "regular campers" just like they did in Oregon. It wouldn't be so bad except that you have to take a major hike to get to the bathroom and showers. We talked to the campground hosts and they said pick out any site you want because the campground won't fill tonight. We did just that.
We immediately took nice hot showers and then set up camp and made dinner. We cleaned up just in time to make it down to the beach to watch the sun set. Back at camp we wrote and relaxed as a skunk walked right under the table that we were sitting at.
Until next time, remember sometimes it is not all about you. Good night.
Sunset at Patrick's Point State Park, CA
Miles ridden : 62.65
Riding time : 5:53:14
Average speed : 10.6 mph
Maximum speed : 36.0 mph
Total trip miles : 5145.2
Patrick's Point State Park, CA to Eureka, CA.
With only a short day planned today we were able to sleep in until 8:15 A.M. Mr. Fog greeted us again along with another front flat tire on John's bike. This is getting to be too much and we can't wait until Wednesday when we will get a new set of Vittoria tires which have two kevlar belts. Hopefully our punctures will end. Keep your fingers crossed. We had breakfast, fixed the flat and were on the road by 10:00 A.M. We continued on scenic Trinidad drive, through Trinidad and along the coast. This route took us off hwy. 101 and was at times a one lane road. We had sporadic views of the ocean although the fog kept a lot of it hidden. We stopped at an overlook that had a narrow path out to a head with sheer cliffs on either side. We decided to have lunch here.
With full stomachs we continued on to Arcata. Here the route followed back roads that took us through farm lands, one lane roads and bikepaths and finally into Arcata. We stopped at a hamburger stand and ordered some onion rings and a Coke. The fog burned off and we stripped down to our short sleeve jerseys and shorts. It has been a few days since our arms and legs have seen some sun.
From here it was a short ride to Eureka where we had planned to get a hotel for the night. We settled on a Best Western since they have been so supportive in the past. We checked in and then Marie went grocery shopping and John went to the bike shop to pick up some more innertubes. Hopefully the last!!! We met back at the hotel, started some wash and then hit the hot tub. We had a fierce game of swimming pool basketball (it was like HORSE, but at the rate we were making shots we shortened it to HO). Marie walked away with the title. The rest of the night was spent relaxing with another round of hot tubbing.
Until next time, give your kids and loved ones an extra hug and kiss today. Good night.
Miles ridden : 31.78
Riding time : 2:50:19
Average speed : 11.1 mph
Maximum speed : 30.0 mph
Total trip miles : 5177.0
Eureka, CA to Burlington campground, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Weott, CA
We got up about 7:15 and walked to the restaurant next to the hotel for breakfast. It was cool (49 degrees) and foggy. We packed up and were on the road about 8:45. We rode to the south end of Eureka and then climbed a big hill off route to get to the Safeway for some groceries we needed. By the time we cruised back down to hwy. 101 it was about 9:30.
We rode our first 15 miles on hwy. 101. There's not much to say about that. It is a busy freeway with on ramps and exits which are challenging, but the shoulder is very wide so the traffic isn't much of a problem. The noise does get to you after a while, though. About the only cool thing in that stretch was a field we passed that was full of Canadian geese and egrets. The egrets are large white birds and they really were a contrast to the foggy landscape.
We exitted at Fernbridge and took sideroads for the next 15 miles. The first 10 of these miles were heaven, going through some serious dairy farm country on very flat roads. We enjoyed looking at some of the old farmhouses that people had fixed up or were currently working on.
The last 5 miles were a different story, though. The road became a wild rollercoaster with a few very steep climbs. It was sort of a shock after the flatness of the first 10 miles and it was frustrating because you could see the traffic on hwy. 101 running parallel to the road we were on and it looked pretty flat. Oh, well.
We rode through Rio Dell and then into Scotia, a lumber town, where we stopped at the market, bought a few lunch items and sat at a table in their deli section to eat. After lunch we called a woman who our friend Marie Nemec, the amazing woman who rides anually to raise money for Huntington's disease (see the link to her website from ours), hooked us up with. Her name is Helen and she is going to host us tomorrow night in the town of Leggett by opening the church for us to cook and sleep in. She has even promised to let us watch the Packers on Monday Night Football at her house. She sounds very nice and we're looking forward to meeting her. Thanks, Marie!
We connected back up with hwy. 101 just south of Scotia and as we rode toward the Avenue of the Giants the sky began to clear and it felt quite a bit warmer. This is what happens in these parts when you start to head inland.
5 miles later we exitted onto the road to the Avenue of the Giants. This road parallels hwy. 101 and takes you through the beautiful giant redwood forest. We have both driven this road a few times and ridden our bikes through here in 1995, but we both still had to say "Wow" when we saw these beautiful trees. These coastal redwoods can get to be over 300 feet tall and are the tallest living things in the world. It's truly breathtaking to be dwarfed by them.
The sun was shining, the road was smooth and the traffic was light. There were a few climbs, but overall the ride through this area can simply be described as pleasant. After a quick 14 miles we were in Weott. There we stopped at the Marin Garden Club Grove hiker/biker campground. Yesterday when looking at our route we both thought that this was probably the campground we stayed at on our bike ride in 1995 but weren't sure. Once we saw it we knew that it was the same one. We opted to go another mile up the road to the Burlington campground in hopes that it had showers.
We continued on and were happy to find a beautiful campground nestled amongst the giants and there were showers. And even though this campground didn't list a designated hiker/biker area, we were allowed to choose any site we wanted and pay only the $2 hiker/biker fee. Everything was working out well.
We chose a site and set up the tent. The temperature was so pleasant and enjoyable, even for Marie the freezy cat. Marie was feeling tired, so she retired to the tent for a nap while John showered and caught up on e-mails. When John woke Marie at 5:30 he reported that there were mosquitoes in the area. We knew it was too good to be true, but we will certainly put up with a few manageable mosquitoes to have more comfortable temperatures.
Marie showered and then we had dinner. By the time we finished cleaning up around 7:00 it was already dark, so we got to try out the new candle lantern we bought yesterday in Eureka. We figured this would help us from going through batteries like crazy in our headlamps. The store we bought it from was out of the light reflectors, so we used one of our cooking pans and it seems to work pretty well for reading and writing outside in the dark. We do have to sit very close to each other, though, so it's a good thing for those showers.
Marie mentioned feeling a little run down and John admitted that he had a sore throat for a few days, too. We both agreed that we are exhausted and hope we can survive just 3 more days of riding until we get to Andrew and Brigette's place near Booneville for a well deserved couple days of rest.
We didn't forget but just thought that we would wish John's brothers, Tim and Dan, happy birthday in one report. Take care, guys. Have fun, be careful!
Marie at sign to the entrance of the Avenue of the Giants
Miles ridden : 51.32
Riding time : 4:32:21
Average speed : 11.3 mph
Maximum speed : 35.0 mph
Total trip miles : 5228.3
Burlington State Park (Redwoods) to Leggett Presbyterian Church, Leggett, CA.
It stayed a little warmer last night and the tent stayed dry. We crawled out of the tent at 7:30 to partly cloudy skies with just a hint of fog. Pancakes were made and enjoyed before we hit the road by 9:00 A.M.
We continued on the Avenue of the Giants for 16 miles. It was a very pleasant ride with gentle grades and very little traffic. Once we merged back onto hwy. 101 the grades became steeper and we ran into a head wind. We passed up Garberville and stopped for lunch at Benbow State Park picnic area. The sun had come out and it felt quite warm sitting in the sun and eating our bagels and peanut butter and honey sandwiches.
After lunch we followed a side road out of Benbow for about 5 miles until it met back up with hwy. 101. Here the road narrowed to 2 lanes and became very winding and shoulerless for about 3 miles. Just before exiting onto route 271 we met a woman from Germany who is 61 years old and is riding from Vancouver to San Francisco by herself. Amazing. We talked to her for a bit and then continued on.
It started to cloud over and it looked as if it might rain. This is the first time we have seen this kind of sky in quite some time. We stopped at "Confusion Hill" tourist trap to call Helen to let her know that we were about 7 miles out of Leggett. She was home and said she would meet us at the church in about an hour. We arrived a little early and waited for Helen. She showed up shortly and let us in. We went to her house to see if she could get a TV station that carried the Packers vs. Redskins Monday night football game. She had satelite TV but didn't get any of the network channels. So we will try to find it on the radio later.
We hung around her house for a while and then went back to the church where Helen had a meeting to attend and invited us to the dinner after the meeting. We stopped at the store on our way back to pick up some food for the morning and snacks for tomorrow's ride.
The meeting was conducted while we worked getting caught up on business. When the meeting was over dinner was served which consisted of enchiladas, salad, bread, potato chips and cookies for dessert. Any time we don't have to set up the tent or cook dinner is a treat for us. After everybody left we found the game on the radio, relaxed and finished writing. It rained a little bit while we were eating but hopefully it will stop before morning.
Until next time, take time to take stock of all your little blessings. You will be surprised how blessed you are. Good night.
Miles ridden : 48.78
Riding time : 4:32:04
Average speed : 10.7 mph
Maximum speed : 34.5 mph
Total trip miles : 5277.1
Leggett, CA to Russian Gulch State Park, CA (just north of Mendocino)
We heard the pitter patter of raindrops on the church roof last night as we were falling asleep. When we woke up at 7:30 it was cloudy and we couldn't really tell if it was raining, but there was water dripping from the roof. We made some scrambled eggs and toast in the church's full kitchen and as we were cleaning up we looked out the back window facing west and the sun was shining!
Well, right off the bat this morning we faced the famous Leggett Hill. It is a 4 mile long, 7% climb that most California coast cyclists fear. We did it in 1995, so we didn't fear it. It is grueling, but at least we had sunshine while climbing. We actually had our tights off and were in our short sleeve jerseys today by 9:00. It's been a long time since that happened.
We made it to the top sweaty and with our hearts beating pretty hard, but it really isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. We put all of our overclothes back on for the descent which was much longer than both of us remembered. We cruised down pretty much all the way to the town of Rockport (which consists of only a single building, the original school building, that can be seen from hwy. 1) which is about 14 miles. The ride down is pretty tricky because of the grade and the extreme windiness of the road. The pavement was wet today, too, so that added to the treachery. We ran into some cloudiness and a few patches of fog on the way down, but at Rockport it was sunny again.
Now, the mean trick about this route is that everyone makes a big deal about this first hill and you never hear any mention of the second hill. It starts right after Rockport and lasts for 2 miles at about the same pitch. Last time this hill really caught us off guard because we didn't know about it. This time, at least, we expected it. That really doesn't make it any easier physically, just mentally.
We pumped up that bad boy and then started coming down. This is a cool descent because at one point you round a curve and there is the ocean again. We followed this section of hwy. 1, which they call the Shoreline Hwy., in beautiful sunshine and temperatures in the 60's. We consider ourselves extremely lucky to have had indoor accomodations last night when it rained. What timing. Maybe it was divine intervention of some sort since we were sleeping in a church. Thanks again Marie and Helen!
We stopped at Westport Union Landing Beach State Park and ate lunch at a picnic table overlooking big blue. It was a very pleasant spot. From there we rode about 4 more miles into the town of Westport. There's not much there, but we stopped to make a phone call.
Our cycling map said to plan accordingly for the 28 "arduous" miles between Leggett and Westport. This tends to make us think that the going will then be easier after Westport. Wrong again! It's just a different kind of arduous. I guess it's hard to measure arduousity or arduousness, whichever term is correct (we were coming up with all kinds of them all day today). We hit some shorter, very steep hills that just kept coming one after the other. The trend of this coast road seems to be to stay along the water and climb up and down along the cliffs for a while and then descend sharply away from the water, make a big curve at the bottom of the descent (which you of course have to slow way down for) and then climb sharply back up to the waterside cliffs. This activity seems to use a whole different group of muscles than the long, slow grind up a mountain and definitely requires a different mindframe and shifting strategy.
We survived the climbs into Fort Bragg along with one very close encounter with a logging truck. John ran into the Outdoor Store in Fort Bragg to see if we could pick up a reflector for our new candle lantern. They generously donated it to us. We grocery shopped and continued on down hwy. 1 which finally leveled out a bit and made our last 7 miles seem easier. We arrived at Russian Gulch State Park at about 4:30. After registering for a campsite at the entrance we went down a very steep hill for about 1/4 mile. All we could think of was what a fun wakeup call that's going to be in the morning when we have to climb it to get back to the highway.
We picked a site and showered. The showers here were extremely hot and felt so good. We set up and made an unusual dinner for us. Since we aren't too far from Fort Braggs, we were able to buy milk and some artificial crab meat (things we wouldn't normally get since they require refridgeration) and made crab alfredo. Just having the milk and crab made this a special dinner. Yes, we need to get out more! We also bought a slab of German chocolate cake for dessert and were totally packed by the time we finished eating all of this.
We took our power loungers and walked down to the beach to watch the sunset. The beach was situated in sort of a cove, so we couldn't actually see the sun set behind the big rock cliff, but we sat and watched some huge waves break off shore a bit. The ocean is just fascinating and I could sit and watch the water for hours.
We had to cross a small stream in order to get to the beach and we both made it across the small rocks both ways without falling in. We walked back to camp and read and wrote to the soft glow of our new candle lantern, light reflector and all. The night is cool and clear. Hopefully this weather will hold one more day for us to get to Andrew and Brigette's tomorrow.
Marie is feeling guilty because when we registered to camp we realized that today is September 25th, Marie's dad's birthday. She always calls him on his birthday, but we couldn't find a phone anywhere in the campground. Our guess is that it's up at the top of the BIG hill, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow. If you're reading this, dad, please know that we were thinking of you on your birthday.
Leggett Presbyterian Church, Leggett CA
Miles ridden : 53.69
Riding time : 5:06:59
Average speed : 10.4 mph
Maximum speed : 34.0 mph
Total trip miles : 5330.8
Russian Gulch State Park, CA to Boonville, CA
It was sunny and cool when we woke at 7:30. We ate and packed up with the thought of that big climb out of the campground in the back of our minds. We started toward the hill and John thought that my back tire looked like it needed some air. Either the pump wasn't working properly or the valve on that slime innertube was clogged, so we ended up letting more air out than we put in.
The hill was bad but not nearly as bad as we were expecting. Of course, meeting Wendy who was jogging up the hill made it a little more enjoyable. We talked to her about our trip while slugging up the hill. She was very pleasant (obviously a morning person) and encouraging. Before meeting Wendy we saw a turkey vulture perched at the top of a tree with its wings fully spread out to dry. Pretty cool!
We continued south on hwy. 101 to Mendocino. We exited the hwy. and rode down a road along the ocean in the Mendocino Headlands State Park. We stopped and walked out on one of the big rocks and watched the ocean for a while. There were some clouds out over the water, but they seemed to dissipate once they hit the land.
We then took a tour through town and stopped at a bakery/coffee shop for some added energy. From there it was a challenging ride up and down a lot of hills until we reached route 128 where we headed inland towards Andrew and Bridget's. The clouds that we saw out over the ocean this morning were now over us and it felt quite cool.
The ride up 128 is a great ride. You go through a grove of redwoods for 11 miles following the Navarro river. The road is fairly flat and, like in 1995, we had a tailwind helping us out. Just before stopping for lunch we saw two men taking pictures on the side of the road. As we rode by, one of them took our picture, so we had to stop to do our duty and ask for a donation. One of the men is from the U.K. He was very interested in our journey and gave us a nice donation.
We stopped and had lunch at a campground in the redwoods. Then things opened up and we were riding through the vineyards. Everywhere you looked you saw rows and row of grapes growing and lots of rolling hills. We also saw a little fall color in the trees and in some of the grape leaves. The sun was shining and we could feel the temperature rising as we made our way inland further and further.
We called Andrew when we got to the town of Philo which is 5 miles west of Booneville. He said he had to go to the market in Philo to pick some things up, but for some reason John said we would ride into Booneville and meet him there rather than just staying in Philo and waiting. Oh well, what's another 5 miles.
The 5 miles into Booneville went very quickly, so we sat at the market waiting to get picked up while sipping a watermelon slush. It felt so good to feel warm! Andrew and Maia, his 4 1/2 year old daughter, came shortly and we loaded all of our gear into the truck. We drove back to Philo to get some steaks for tonight's dinner and then to the post office in Yorkville to pick up the boxes we had mailed from home. Everything, including our new bike tires, arrived in one piece. Thanks again to the mailing committee.
We drove up the menacing ranch road (a 4 1/2 mile windy, steep dirt road that climbs 2000 feet), unloaded and got a tour of Andrew and Bridget's place. We saw the goat palace, the pond and the playing field, all new additions since the last time either of us had been here (John was here in 1998 to build an addition onto the barn). We showered and settled in and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner of bread with freshly made goat cheese, salad, mashed potatoes and steak. Sorrel, Jay, Shelly and Jay & Shelly's 14 month old daughter, Hannah, joined us for dinner. They all live in part of the building that used to be the barn. Shelly and Sorrel help out at Bridget's school. After this wonderful dinner, we all turned in early.
Miles ridden : 43.93
Riding time : 3:41:45
Average speed : 11.8 mph
Maximum speed : 30.0 mph
Total trip miles : 5374.7
Donations collected : $15.00
A rest day at Andrew and Bridget's house. Our first day to rest and relax. We slept until about 7:30 and had breakfast with Andrew, Maia and Zeke, Andrew and Bridget's almost 7 year old son. Bridget was teaching today and both the kids had school. John and I took the truck into Cloverdale to take our bikes in to be checked over. We got some other errands done in town and left the bikes at the shop to be picked up tomorrow or Saturday. We did laundry and some other chores the rest of the afternoon and then got in the carpool going down into Booneville for dinner. A nice group of us had dinner at Lauren's Cafe and left in time to make it back to the house to watch the season premier of E.R. No miles ridden today.
More rest at Andrew and Bridget's house -- this is good!
Andrew got up early to take the truck into Santa Rosa for a repair. He took the kids with him. John and I slept until about 8:00. Bridget was around for a while but then went over to the school to do some work. We ate breakfast, put together a box of clothes and other things to send home, plunked around on the computer for a while and just hung out.
After lunch we took a walk down to the knoll and then up over the knoll back to the ranch road and eventually back to the house. It was a beautiful day. We tried to get Noche, their 10 week old blue healer puppy, to come with us but she didn't want to.
We took a nap. Andrew called around 3:00 and said that they hadn't even looked at the truck yet. We waited for Shelly to get home and then had wild pig sausage pasta for dinner. Andrew and the kids didn't get home until 8:30.
Another rest day at Andrew and Bridget's house.
We had breakfast and drove down to Booneville with Andrew and the kids. The kids had soccer games at 9:00 and 10:30. We dropped them at the soccer field and then we drove the truck to Cloverdale to pick up our bikes from the bike shop.
We drove the windy, nauseating road back to Booneville, watched Maia's team play and then went back to the house. Bridget's mom and aunt were visiting, so we had some lunch and talked a bit. After lunch we drove over to Fred Wooley's place with Andrew. He is a neighbor who John had met when he was there in 1998. He needed help holding some long boards in place to nail them up on the horse shelter he was building. Marie got stung on the back by a yellow jacket that flew up her shirt while standing around chatting after the work was done.
When we got back we spent some time working on our bikes, putting on the new Vittoria tires and cleaning the chains and gears.
Before we knew it it was dinner time and Bridget made us some delicious latkas, a Jewish dish of potato, zuchini, garlic and egg. We also had some grilled pork to go with it and it was a very delicious meal.
A little more socializing, then we hit the sack.
Another day off at Andrew and Bridget's house.
Our original plan was to start riding again today until we sat down the other day to plan out our riding days for the next few weeks. Because we have a donated gift certificate for a very nice hotel in Seaside, CA that is only good Sunday through Thursday, we decided to spend another day relaxing here which will put us in Seaside on Sunday rather than Saturday.
Today was truly a day of leisure. It was a very hot day, so we spent most of it watching football and baseball games. We couldn't see the Packer game, but we got to see the highlights of their third straight victory.
We had quiche for dinner and enjoyed lots of interesting conversation on a beautiful moonlit night.
Andrew, Bridget and Maia giving Noche a bath
Donations collected: $101.00