Hello everybody! This is Molly here to give you the details of our final glorious days on the open road. I'm happy to report that we made it safely to the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail in Seaside, OR and are now moved in to our new sublet apartment in Berkeley, CA with the help of our awesome family and friends. So here's how our last few days as crazy cross-country cyclists played out:
Day 61: Today the majority of the riding was top-notch. We followed the Historic Columbia River Highway which was constructed in 1913 specifically to "find the beauty spots, or those points where the most beautiful things along the line might be seen from the best vantage and if possible to take the road in such a way as to reach them," as said by the road's engineer, Samuel Lancaster. Lancaster truly fulfilled his vision as it was breathtaking and we had fun riding our bikes on his masterpiece! The highway zigzagged up the hills of the Columbia River to an incredible viewpoint and then rolled gently back down. The road showcased old tunnels, intricate stone guard rails, scenic pull-over areas, and there was even a section in the middle that was closed off to car traffic and was bustling with weekend cyclists and joggers. We were in biker heaven! At mile 27 we rode happily down into the town of Hood River, the windsurfing capital of the northwest. However, unlucky for the surfers and lucky for us, the wind was unusually calm today. We enjoyed the afternoon with a beer at the local Double Mountain Brewery (a couple locals were impressed with our long ride and bought us a beer), a picnic lunch and an hour of lounging by the water before finishing off the day with 8 miles on the other highway (the busy expressway one with lots of scary semi-trucks). We camped at a state park, built a fire, and soaked in our awesome day. We were happy campers as we drifted off to sleep wishing the trip would never end.
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| View from the road |
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| Overlook at the top of a big climb |
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| Happy Biker! |
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| Tunnel! |
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| Camp |
Day 62: We had a leisurely morning reading, cooking breakfast, and packing up before hitting the road. The first few miles were on the scary expressway again (boo!) but after that we were on back roads but had to work up a pretty steep long hill. Once at the top, we coasted down to the town of Cascade Locks, we had lunch at the ice cream stand, explored the riverfront area where Natives were fishing for Salmon- only those with Native American blood are allowed to fish this part of the river. We bought some smoked Salmon out of some guy's pick-up truck and set back out. We were treated to several more miles of 'bikes only' Historic Highway that twisted through glowing green old growth forest. At the end of the trail we had to haul our bikes up 3 flights of stairs and finished our 25 mile ride with our final few miles on the scary expressway. Nick and I were extremely happy and relieved to have completed the last of our interstate riding- no fun! We camped at the pristine Ainsworth State Park. After getting to camp, we went on a 4 mile hike to a waterfall, had hot showers, and cooked up a delectable smoked salmon and broccoli pasta for dinner. Life sure is good out here! We are REALLY enjoying these last few days. It's fun to be living a simple life- relying on only our bodies and our bicycles to travel through such beautiful, beautiful places.
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| Riverboat at Cascade Locks |
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| Sexy Sacagawea |
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| No cars allowed! Yay! |
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| Nick checking out the salmon hatchery |
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| Hauling the bikes up lots of steps |
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| Waterfall Hike |
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| Nick under the waterfall |
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| I like this leaf! |
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| Nick eating our fresh salmon right through the plastic |
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| Our masterpiece! |
Day 63: When we checked the forecast last night, they called for rain all day, so we were happy to wake up to a dry morning. Our ride started on old Highway 30 which ran through rainforest and passed about 5 waterfalls which were all visible from the road. After about 10 miles we rode up a long gradual switch-back climb to Vista House. Halfway up the climb it started raining, so our vista was basically just a lot of clouds. But Vista House has an awesome lookout tower, rest stop, and little museum for the Historic Highway 30 that I've been raving about. We got a capaccino and rested a while before heading down into the mist towards Portland- we can't believe we are almost in Portland! We were all smiles until POP goes Nick's tire. Nick got it patched up while I made us salami sandwiches for lunch which we ate in the rain by the side of the road. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. It should be noted though that Portland really is the most bike friendly city ever- bike lanes and bike paths everywhere! After 45 miles we were greeted in Portland by our great friend Wes who took us out for some awesome BBQ- he must have been reading our blog to know how much we like BBQ! After that I was recruited to play on their local kickball league game as half the team was at a My Morning Jacket concert and they needed girls. We didn't win but I did get to first base- and for me- that was pretty good! We enjoyed the rest of the night catching up with old friends and laughing and smiling more than usual- we love you Brittany, Chris and Wes!
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| One of the waterfalls along the route |
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| Nick on his way up to Vista House |
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| Vista House |
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| Our foggy view |
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| Inside Vista House |
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| Our bikes having a nice rest |
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| Nick fixing his 2nd flat tire of the trip |
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| Hello Portland! Hello Wes! Hello good beer! HELLO BBQ food! |
Day 64: Although we could have easily stayed in Portland to eat and drink ourselves silly for days on end, we packed up in the morning to set off on our FINAL 3 days of biking. We rode out of Portland with no problem thanks to the abundance of bike lanes and bicycle friendly drives, We did a fast and easy 43 miles with the help of our long-lost friend, a TAILWIND! We pulled into our camp for the night at Goble's Landing and were soon joined by my Dad who drove an impressive 11 hours today from San Francisco to meet us. Is was sooooo good to see him and even better when he started unloading the seemingly endless supplies of food he brought for us! We cooked up a feast of Dad's Homemade Chili, fresh veggies, strawberries, cookies, and hot chocolate and talked all night about our adventures and our upcoming move to San Francisco. We took a walk by the water and viewed the wide and misty Columbia River from the ends of creaky piers. It's becoming bitter-sweet and very exciting- only 2 days left!
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| On the road again- we love wide shoulders like this! |
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| YES fish guts! |
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| Nick and my dad cooking up an EXCELLENT camp dinner |
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| Dad and I on one of the docks |
Day 65: We were up at the rooster's crow (literally), had a power oatmeal and fruit breakfast and packed up. But today, we had the luxury of riding our bikes without all of the bags on them. My dad drove all of our stuff to our next destination, Astoria, OR (where GOONIES was filmed!) then rode his bike back to meet us for the second half of our ride. So we set off, Nick and I on bikes and Dad in the car- and about 20 minutes in, it started to rain and Nick and I got soaked as we rode up a long hill then back down. The combination of cold rain, busy roads, and lots of oversized logging trucks made for a stressful ride! We met Dad for lunch halfway through- and we had an awesome meal complete with pie for dessert at the Berry Patch restaurant. As we all rode into Astoria to finish our 50 mile day, the sun came out and so did our smiles. It was fun to ride with Dad. He is quite impressive and could actually kick our butts! I asked him what the hardest ride he's ever done was- and he told us about a race he did in France which was 750 miles over 3 days! Now THAT is crazy! We stayed at a hostel in Astoria, and Nick and I had a beer at Fort George Brewery (the BEST brewery I have ever been to- you all have to go!) while Dad did a little exploring around town on his bike. After dinner, Dad drove us around to see the sights around the town that we otherwise would have been too tired to ride to on our bikes. Astoria was a great place to spend the night before finishing the final 25 miles of our 3,000+ mile journey. The end is near...
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| Morning at Goble's Landing Campsite |
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| Dad's new friend |
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| Don't know if you can tell- but we got wet! |
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| Lunch at the Berry Patch |
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| Amongst his biker friends, my Dad is known as the Animal... |
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| We made it to Astoria! |
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| Lookout tower at the top of Astoria |
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| View from the top |
Day 66: We woke up with lots of excitement. We loaded up our bikes today as we wanted to finish the way we started. Dad drove to our final destination so he could double back to meet us. Nick and I set off and enjoyed the calm sunny weather as we rode over a couple of bridges on our way out of Astoria. We stopped at Fort Mandan where Lewis and Clark spent a long rainy winter before heading back east. They had a great visitors center and a full size replica of their fort as well as costumed tour guides. We watched a cool presentation of the guns they used and it was fun to hear the stories of bear hunts and to watch them load and fire these very old and loud rifles. Dad met up with us at the fort and we set off for Seaside to meet at last, the Pacific Ocean. We felt great as we rode through those luscious green trees and kept repeating "I can't believe it. I can't believe we are almost there". It was surreal climbing our final big hill knowing that at last we could finally say, "it's all downhill from here." Nick and I rode together down the final descent (I got stung by a bee on the way down!). A guy rode past us about a mile from the coast- who asked where we came from and told us that he did a cross-country bike ride in the 70's and it is still one of the highlights of his life and one of the best things he ever did. These were great words to hear, as we were thinking about our own accomplishment and what it would mean to us. We saw the Pacific, tears in my eyes, and rode along the Promenade to the statue of Lewis and Clark that reads "The End of the Trail". Dad was already there and got a guy with a guitar to play some songs for us as we pulled up on our trusty bikes. Lots of high fives, hugs and kisses, and a few minutes later, Nick's Dad and Brother showed up and offered their warm smiles, wows, and congrats. We took some pics then pushed our bikes down to the water to dip our tires in the Pacific to signify the end- we could go no further. It was an overwhelming feeling of pride, excitement, exhaustion, joy, and a touch of sadness- the adventure was over. But there was more celebrating to do! We got some lunch and a celebratory beer then headed to our campsite right by the beach. We then went on a great beach tide pool hike in Cannon Beach, had a yummy seafood dinner, watched an amazing sunset, and laughed A LOT. It really was the best possible ending to the last day of our bicycle journey. It was so nice to be able to celebrate with our families. We love you guys!
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| Nick taking a rest at Fort Mandan |
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| Demonstration of the Flint-lock Rifle |
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| The final stretch! |
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| We made it! Us with our Welcoming committee |
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| The highest five of them all! |
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| Exploring at Cannon Beach |
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| Starfish |
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| My dad checking out the rocky beaches |
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| Nick's Dad posing for a Patagonia ad |
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| Brett looking good as usual |
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| Nick enjoying his celebratory seafood dinner! |
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| The sun sets on one big adventure |
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| A happy ending. |
Epilogue: Now that we were just normal people, we slept in the next morning, and instead of packing up our bikes, we tossed everything in the car and after some more beach hiking, ice cream, and headstand lessons, we DROVE all the way back to Portland. We had an awesome cookout with our friends and reverted easily to our old ways of eating till our bellies hurt and taking multiple shots of whiskey- who cares- we don't have to bike tomorrow! It was great getting to hang out with our dads, nicks brother Brett, and Brittany, Wes, and Chris. We stayed up late and had brunch the next morning before heading to our new home in Berkeley, California.
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| Nick's dad enjoys a capaccino ice cream sundae! |
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| More beach hiking |
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| Pretty |
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| Teaching the boys a thing or two about headstands |
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| Back in Portland to continue our celebrations |
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| Cheers! Go Bobcats! |
We have been in California for a few days now and have been busy seeing the sights, unpacking, buying a car, grocery shopping, and adjusting to our new beautiful surroundings. We love it here so far. Next week we will be back in Ohio for a couple days for my friend Kerry and my cousin Kevin's weddings. Nick's brother joked that it took us 2 and a half months to ride our bikes out here, and we will fly back in 5 hours- but we are glad we took the long way! Then it's back to Berekely and back to work for Nick and I will continue looking for a job for myself. It's the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next.
It feels good to be on the other side of the country now and on the other side of a great goal we set for ourselves. It's as if I can just look east and see the long stretches of road with not a soul in sight, see the days and nights we spent overwhelmed at what was ahead, not sure if we could overcome the thousands of things that could have gone wrong, and I can see the fist pumps we made at the tops of the highest mountain passes, and I can hear the crazy hoots and hollers of excitement and pure joy as we flew down the winding hills. And I can see the contented smile on Nick's face because he was in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nature where he feels so at home and so at peace. All of these things, I hope, I will never forget.
It has been a true adventure and we are so happy you all came along for the ride. We never could have made it with out all of your love and support. Until the next big adventure, we are signing off. I will leave you with the poem below that was written by a fellow adventure cyclist, Sue Gray. And check our site later as we are going to add a link to many of the pictures that didn't make it into the blog. Adios Amigos!
UPDATED: LINK TO ALBUM OF TRIP PHOTOS
SEEING THINGS
(one of Dr. Sue's Rhymes From The Road)
I rode my bike.
I went real far.
I met a man who drove a car.
He said; 'Hello! How do you do?'
I said; 'Fine thanks. How are you?'
He smiled and gave a nod.
Then he said something
that I thought quite odd;
'Do you get to see much
of the view that way?
Or do you just have to stare
at the road all day?'
I said; 'Sir! Let me set you straight!
The view that I get from my bicycle is great!
The things I've seen you could never know,
For to see them you must be going r-e-a-l s-l-o-w.
I've seen elk and moose, and eagle and deer
And what's even better; I can also hear!
All day long
can be heard
The cheerful song of every bird.
And the smells! Oh! The smells of the wildflowers so gay!
It's one long
beautiful
rolling
boquet!
I 've seen springs that seep
And rocks that weep
And waterfalls near and far.
I've seen all of these sights
That one misses outright
When traveling by car.'
'So you see sir;'
I finally said
To put the matter to bed,
'While you zoom right past
With your two-hundred horsepower,
I make the views last and last
By going ten miles per hour.'
