Friday, July 28, 2006

Lovin' Eugene

Hello! We continue to be safe, sound, and well (despite some minor chafing and back pain), and are now comfortably ensconced at the home of Monica and Mike in Eugene (Monica worked at the Bicycle Pedaler in Wichita with Heidi's parents).

Three nights ago we stayed near Monmouth with a very kind Mennonite-Your-Way couple who gave us a tour of their grass-seed operation and took us to some lookout points that gave a view of the farm fields of the Willamette Valley, the Cascades, and the Coastal Range. The Willamette Valley is the grass-seed capital of the world, for those of you who don't know. They raise the grasses that are planted at upscale golf courses and in our families' yards. The setting sun illuminated the Coastal Range and a cool breeze blew over us as we stood looking out over the valley.

The next morning, sent on our way with bellies full of breakfast, we bicycled to the nearby town of Albany. On the way to Albany, I called some friends of mine from the Lebanon Mennonite Church (whom I had met during my year of volunteering). Doris and Berdella Stutzman are sisters who share a home in Albany's Mennonite Village. They invited us to lunch and we had a great time of reconnection. They're in one of the photos posted here.

In the afternoon we pushed off for Lebanon, where I (Liz) did volunteer work the year after I graduated from high school. It was still the same small town I remembered, with the addition of a new Kentucky Fried Chicken and a new *Super* Wal-Mart.

In Lebanon we were offered a night's stay at the house where I had lived with other volunteers. It just so happened that no one was staying there. How odd it was to walk through those hallways and rooms again, and to stay in the bedroom where I had lived 5 years ago. We were able to do some much-needed laundry and work on our blog, and in the evening we went visiting.

We were able to visit my host parents, Chuck and Jannie Bennett. Not only did they make us supper, but they also offered to pick us up from anywhere in Oregon if we have problems ("Once you're out of Oregon, call someone else!" they joked.), and they invited us back to their house for a waffle breakfast yesterday.

Yesterday morning, full of waffles and raspberry preserves, we toured their riverfront property. They have a very interesting yard, full of antiques, different kinds of plants, wood carvings and so forth. They filled us in on the various stinging insects that nest near their house, and we filled our stomachs (and the dog's stomach) just a little bit more with blackberries we picked.

We bid them farewell, then met up with Brent Kaufman, the church's pastor and an avid cyclist, who bicycled out of town with us and guided us through the backroads of the valley towards Eugene. After about an hour of riding, he bid us farewell and we pedaled off with a strong wind at our backs.

As we rode, Heidi and I discussed misconceptions about Oregon...The main one being that it rains all the time and never gets hot. In truth, it does not usually rain during July-August-September, and it can get very, very hot. Especially pedaling through the open land of the Willamette Valley, we both had moments of feeling like we were in Kansas again, and we were very happy to find a fruit stand where we could rest in the shade, scarf blueberries, and read our books.

At the fruit stand, a very sinewy and weathered bicyclist stopped in and informed us that we were a mere nine miles from Eugene! The wind at our backs had really put us ahead of schedule. Inspired by his descriptions of bicycle trails and bike bridges and a riverfront park, we clambered back onto our bikes and sped into town.

Cruising into town, I suddenly heard an odd noise coming from my rear tire, and upon stopping to peruse the situation found a 1.5 inch piece of metal stuck into the tire. So we changed our first flat tire of the trip using Heidi's bike shop expertise.

After that it was smooth bike lane riding to Mike and Monica's home. Eugene is probably among only a handful of U.S. cities where bicycles get backed up at stoplights.

Yesterday evening we lounged around Mike and Monica's home, enjoyed a burrito dinner in the backyard, and met some of their neighbors. So far, Eugene receives an A+ for bike-friendliness and people-friendliness. Huzzah!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Tuesday: Lincoln City to Rickriell to Monmouth

Tuesday: Leaving Lincoln City we had only two options for camping later in the day - Grand Ronde (RV Park) or Rickriell (fairgrounds). When we arrived in Grand Ronde by the mid-aftrenoon, we felt we wanted to get off Hwy. 18 as soon as possible, so we took an hour nap until the trucks got off work, and then got to Rickriell within two hours. The fairgrounds looked rather deserted, so we called some Mennonite Your Way folks in Monmouth who graciously picked us up, drove us to their house, and put us up for the night.


After leaving Monmouth Thursday morning, we continued on to Albany and Lebanon, where we visited friends Liz had made while living here five years ago. We are currently at the Service Adventure house in Lebanon, and plan to continue toward Eugene Friday morning.

Pacific City to Lincoln City

Our purchase of Easy Cheese the first due to desperation at the lack of food available in the national forest turned into a curse as it seemed never ending.


Liz going down the road...


We stopped at a beautiful private grade school off Old Highway 101 on the way to Lincoln City, where the director let us picnic, use the bathrooms and fill up our water bottles.



The valley was astoundingly beautiful, with wildflowers all around.

Leaving the Pacific and off to the Atlantic


Leaving the Pacific, we dipped our rear wheels into the ocean and set off... Then promptly changed our minds and spent another day on the beach, riding down to Lincoln City and Devil's Lake State Park for the night.

heidi hoists her trusty (unloaded!) bike "Betsy" above her head.

Liz and Lou

Dipping the rear wheels in the ocean!


When we reached halfway down the hill in the previous picture (with ocean in background) we suddenly found ourselves in the sand dunes outside Sand Lake, Oregon.




Our beautiful beach in Pacific City. The hill the sun is setting behind was actually a cliff, with a cave near the bottom. All the layers in the rock surface were tilted up. The rock formation jutting out of the ocean in the first picture (Haystack or Chief Kiwanda rock) was quite large and interesting, with a keyhole arch on one side. We spent the better part of the afternoon and evening on the beach.

Day three pictures - Netarts to Pacific City


One of our fellow campers in the Netarts RV park, Robert has built 3000 birdhouses since retiring, all of them different.


Our lone tent among a sea of RV's.


The view from the top of the steep climb out of Netarts, above the state park where they let us in for free because we were on bikes and not staying long.


The ride along the Pacific coast was amazing - perfect weather and beautiful ocean views.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Second day on the road - Gales Creek to Netarts


Liz's first summit ever and heidi's first on a loaded bike!


We took an afternoon dip in the Wilson River...


What?!?

More first day pictures!

We thought we were far from home until we saw this picture!

Okay, so the smoke isn't visible in this picture, but the forest fire we ran into on our very first day was to the left of the bigger mountain. We could see the smoke rising in the distance.

Our first trip meal - dehydrated vegetarian lasagna at Gales Creek Campground.



Camp at Gales Creek the first night. Luckily, we had taken some rain precautions because it began to pour several hours after we fell asleep!


Posing with the french press we brought along - who can ride 55 miles without some good morning coffee?

Our first day on the road!


Leaving Ben's house Friday morning.


We had to take the lightrail out to Hillsboro to avoid the Portland traffic.


To celebrate our first day on the road, we got massive bowls of oatmeal at Elmer's, a local dive.

Finally - some pictures!

Our plane as it flew into Portland!













Unloading our bikes outside Ben's house, all boxed up.

Monday, July 24, 2006

We're still alive!!!

Hello, friends! Unfortunately, we haven't perfected the art of posting photos from our travels, which is very disappointing for us. Never fear! We'll still try to relay a few of our adventures and highlights.

We flew into Portland on July 19, toting our boxed-up bicycles and suitcases stuffed with panniers. Using Heidi's city-smarts, we soon secured a van taxi and cruised a short way to the home of Ben Luginbuhl (Loogs), a Winfield music fest friend of ours.

After a night's rest, we toured Portland with the assistance of Loogs, including eating gigantic, cheap burritos and looking for novels at Powell's Books in the heart of the city. Powell's is a HUGE used and new bookstore that sits on an entire city block. We also visited the main branch of the public library and pored over maps looking for a route to the coast.

Friday morning, after a horrible night of rest in which we both tossed and turned with fear over our impending travels, we set out across Portland with our fully-loaded bicycles on the light-rail train. Despite all of my (Liz's) worst-case scenarios, the trip across the city on public transportation was PAINLESS...because Portland is one of the most bicycle-friendly locales to be found (bike lanes, bike hangers on the trains, groovy locking bike cages).

In Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland, we ate a hearty oatmeal breakfast, then pushed off for the first official miles of our trip. By the by, Oregon is having a Heat Wave, and the temperatures were over 100 degrees on our first day (without humidity, so that made it bearable). Twenty miles in (ish), at the city of Banks, we were hungry, dehydrated, and ready to rest. From our luncheon perch, we observed firetrucks and emergency vehicles screaming down the highway into the mountains (where we were heading), and smoke rising above the distant hills.

We tore ourselves away from our lunch stop and continued plodding toward the mountains. A few miles down the road, though, a friendly couple driving from the other direction hailed us down, and told us that firefighters were turning people around at the summit, because of the fire. We trundled back into town and decided to follow a different route to the coast. However, at the last minute we talked to a fireman who assured us that the fire was small and we would probably be able to get through.

SO, we turned back towards the mountains, and another friendly firefighter let us pass through the blockade and continue on the now-trafficless road into the mountains. What a relief! No more RVs and huge pick-ups roaring by us as we began our first climbing of the journey.

For ten glorious miles we dealt with very little traffic. However, I began to freak out as the climbing intensified and the day drew on. Our first camping option, the one we'd been counting on, fell through, and so we had to keep biking up toward the summit. We were saved by Gales Creek State Park, where despite masses of weekenders we were able to find a comfy camping spot next to a icy, rocky mountain stream, beneath the tallest pine trees Heidi had ever seen.

Thus ended day 1. Day 2 we spent a few miles getting to the summit of our first mountain, then had screaming downhills to another state park where we joined the locals and their dogs and children for a quick dip in the frigid waters of a stream. Day 2 took us to the town of Tillamook. We bought Tillamook brie and astoundingly cheap fruit and vegetables at a little Mexican grocery.

Although tired, we went on to Oceanside, to actually get a view of the big drink. Oceanside didn't offer camping, so we had to continue on to Netarts, two miles down the road. I was being a big, whiny tired crab by this time, as we had done some horribly steep climbing on our "Three Capes Scenic Route."

In Netarts, we discovered that there were no camping options, and all the hotels were full. However, some locals suggested the RV park. We pulled in, looking worse for the wear with dirt-covered limbs and helmet-hair, but soon a kind RVer offered us a tent spot on her site, and soon after that the park owner created a site for us to pitch a tent. He lowered the price, threw in free showers, and folks gave us laundry soap and cooking oil. Divine! We feasted on couscous and vegetables, then crashed out for the night.

Since the Netarts ride was 55 miles, we took a more relaxed pace yesterday, in order to enjoy the ocean. A friendly ranger let us into one park for free, so we were able to enjoy second breakfast on the rocky beach overlooking the ocean. After another steep climb which we completed in .20 mile steps, we had sweet downhills into Pacific City.

Which is where we are now. Our internet time is rapidly ending. We'll post again soon, we hope.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Le Tour

It's a little scary to make your first and last fully-loaded training trip a mere 3 days before heading off into the *vast unknown* of the western United States. The darkly-tanned California-bound cyclists we met as we headed out of Newton inquired through their (parched and sun-weathered) lips where this training trip fell in our regimen. "Well, it's our only fully-loaded training ride," we replied, then set our stony faces East into the sweltering Kansas afternoon. A few miles down the road I thought to myself, "Rempski, this ain't half bad." Let us all give thanks that the feeling didn't dissipate as we tooled along.

Although I have driven to East Lake countless times, the route felt completely different when taken in from the seat of a bicycle. I suddenly felt very sorry for the cattle standing woefully under the late-afternoon sun. I became aware of the low rolling landscape, the patches of trees along the road providing a break from the wind, and the smell of wet earth blowing over us as we crossed a small bridge.

The tall Cottonwoods shading the shore of East Lake were a welcome respite from the sun, and the ride home as the sun was setting provided a completely different perspective on the Kansas landscape. Suddenly the land seemed damp and lush, and the sharp edges of the afternoon were dulled by the dimming light.

Test run

On Sunday we loaded up the bikes to ride to East Lake for a trial run. We met some cross country riders going west at the gas station by Newell's on our way. It started to feel a bit more real, especially when we realized we were biking directly into the wind and that even at 5 pm, the thermometer read well over 100 degrees.

For dinner on our wood burning Sierra stove, we made pasta with tomato sauce - our first meal on the road.



Close up of the stove

































Liz models the day-glo safety vest going home.

heidi, Ruth (heidi's mom) & Liz

With heidi's grandpa, Laverne


Harvey County East Lake, here we come!

Some initial pictures...

Our fully loaded bikes outside heidi's grandpa's house in North Newton.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Here it is....


heidi, here. Well, I got the map loaded so now our route is easier to see. Only a few days to go! We're starting at the northernmost dot in Oregon (Astoria) to take in as much of the coast as possible, for those who are curious.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Adventure Cycling

This is Liz writing. Heidi and I are now less than one week from a one-way flight to Portland, Oregon...Yee-haw!

Many of you have asked us about our route. I am hoping to post a picture of the map on our site at some point; however, I haven't figured that out yet. If you're interested in reading more about the route we are taking, check out http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/transamerica.cfm.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement!