Friday, July 23, 2010
Greetings from Yachats, Oregon–a cute little coastal village south of Astoria. The bike trip is over and I actually made it the entire way across our beautiful country! The final mileage total is 4,230 miles–and I pedaled (or pushed) the bike over every one of them!
The last week was a pretty nice one but included some pretty tough cycling.
Friday, 7/16, we made a 2,000 ft. climb and ended in the tiny village of Mitchell, OR, then continued the next day to the larger town of Prineville, making yet another 2,000 ft. climb in the process. We were getting used to 2,000 climbs by then and as long as there were only one of them a day they didn’t seem too bad. I had an interesting experience in Prineville.
I was staying in a small, primitive cabin at the County Fair Grounds and right next door there was a horse-race track. I was told by one of the racing participants that there was a race that night. He told me the track was what is called a “Bush Track” as the horses are all local (in state) and the purses are somewhat small compared to larger tracks. I spent my Sat. evening watching the races and even won $10 (of course, I also lost $30).
The horses all looked like fine specimens and it was enjoyable to see them try to outrun each other. In one race one of the horses unseated its jockey and ran loose around the track. It had to be caught and brought in by a couple of local young cowboys and it was fun to see how they headed off and corralled the runaway. The evening was an interesting look at the local culture–the stands were filled with young and old and it made for an eclectic mix.
Sunday we continued to Sisters, OR and spent the night, then, on Monday had the last mountain pass climb of the ride over McKenzie Pass (2,000 ft., of course). Mount McKenzie is a volcanic mountain and the landscape at the top was completely lava flows. It looked like the far-side of the moon!
We rode to Eugene over the next two days and on 7/21 started the 81-mile ride to Florence, the end of the trail. We rode through a beautiful area of Oregon with low traffic and smooth roads for 65 miles, then started the last 16 miles on a busier highway with a wide shoulder. I could just about smell the Pacific Coast and was thinking “Just keep on pedaling.” when, three miles from the end of this almost three month adventure, I got a flat tire. By now, however, I am pretty good at fixing them and I got this one done in record time. Three miles later I was in Florence overlooking the Pacific Ocean and realizing that my journey was finally over! What a great feeling that was!
I am now in Yachats, OR, having used my law-enforcement connections to catch a ride with an off-duty Florence police officer for the 25-mile trip up the coast, and am using the vacation house of a friend from St. Paul until I leave for home. Steve had gone a different way the last several days to see his nephew in Corvalis, OR so he rode down from the north and met me here.
So, that’s it, the adventure is over (except for the train-ride home). It’s been quite the experience and has just reinforced what I already knew–this is a great country with great people!
For the last time I want to thank all of you who supported me throughout the journey, you really did mean a lot to me and I am looking forward to seeing you all again.
Bruce