Retirement, anniversary and a road trip

June 12 We are approaching a turning point or at least a big deal. That is, retirement occurring on the same day as our 45th anniversary. The next day Kelli and I leave on a 3 week road/bike trip out east to visit friends and brothers. The bike trip is also a mini celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the cross country tour for both myself and Jim Smith who we'll visit in Maine. So I am thinking I would like to resurrect the bike trip blog, even though only 4 or 5 days of the trip will be biking. Jim Smith and I will doing a bike tour of the coast of Maine for 4 days while Joan and Kelli do some exploring in southern Maine. Then we will roll down to Delaware to visit Steve and Kit. After that it's over the rivers and hills and through the woods to Jack and Linda's in the Appalachian foothills of Kentucky. This is a test to see if I can actually make a post to the blog using my iPad. If I can maybe we'll do some more of this.

Empty sail in Hood River

Day 12 Hood River, OR

We started the day in northeast Portland.  It always takes time to ride through and or out of a city and today was no exception.  Once we did we were on the very scenic Old Columbia Highway.  It was Saturday and this is a popular cycling route so we saw many riders flying by us as we lugged our loaded bikes up and down the rolling hills.  The peak of the experience was a spot called Vista House where there is a beautiful building and a spectacular view of the Columbia Gorge.  An amazing site.  Then there was a very long descent to the gorge floor.  The next incredible sites were two wonderful high waterfalls, the largest be Multnomah Falls which is hundreds of  feet high.

We finished the day riding on I-84 for about 15 miles.  In MN it is never legal to ride on an interstate but in Oregon, at least on this one, it is.  It is the only road which connects Cascade Locks with Hood River.  There are accommodations for cyclists so it is not as bad as it could be.  There is a tunnel on the interstate and bikes are directed to a bike path off the interstate to bypass it.  The only draw back is a set of very steep stairs, probably 50.  It is not at all easy to get these loaded bikes down stairs.  At least we did not need to go up the steps.

As we rode along today I felt a real lack of motivation and my legs felt tired and heavy.  I struggled up slight grades that should have been easy.  I knew that the huge mountains ahead were going to be at least as challenging as the previous ones and I thought more than I could handle.  To my very great regret I made a decision that I can not continue the trip.  It was very difficult telling my great riding partner because I know he really wants to continue on.  I can not.  I think this is the best decision for me and I will just need to deal with it and hope that it will work out OK for Jim.  

Having made that decision we stopped in Hood River, OR.  We had planned to go on about another 20 miles or so.  At this point Jim wanted to continue to ride to finish in Reno, our original destination.  He knew he could not, or at least should not, continue alone on the route on less travelled roads going over the high passes that are on the Adventure Cycling route maps we use.  He spent the evening on his laptop with topographical maps looking for a more direct route.  Eventually he had it and proved again his resourcefulness on the fly.  

It is supposed to be fun and it is very much fun.  When, for some combination of reasons, it does not feel like fun one needs to reflect and make a decision that is best for yourself.  That is how I feel about this.  As much as I do not want to abandon or disappoint my riding partner I need to make the best decision for myself, and Kelli, of course.  So, for me this is a big deal.  It means not finishing a project I spent months planning and invested a lot of energy and resources.  It is not what I want but it is what it is, something which has to be. 

Getting back on course, I hope

Day 11 Portland, OR

Nice town.  I am not going to see much of it and I should not even be here.  But we spent the day getting back toward our intended route.  The ride today was flat and unspectacular except for the distant views of Rainier, St. Helen's and Hood.  They are awesome even from a distance.  

We had the most amazing second breakfast in Longview, WA shortly before crossing the Lewis and Clark Bridge from WA to OR.  It was cinnamon bread French toast and an egg and bacon. There was enough French toast for three people, literally. This was Stuffie's which I guess is famous for very large portions.  It was just a lucky choice on our part.

We left Stuffie's and asked directions to the Lewis and Clark Bridge from Washington to Oregon.  That was quite a climb up over that one and a great view of the Columbia River with ocean going vessels in the River.

We then road a mostly boring route on US 30 to Portland, found a motel, a place to eat and started to look at the maps and plan for the next days of riding.  The climbs are as long or longer.  The history we have with the weather and getting over the high mountain passes led me to have some trepidation on the balance of the planned trip.

Tomorrow is another day.

Elk Pass. Oh no you won't

Day 10  Cascade Rocks, WA

So.  This is an interesting story.  One of those that can only happen when you put yourself out there and hope for the best.

We finished our bad day yesterday at an RV campground between Packwood and Randle, WA.  We both slept well although I was awoken by the loud hoarse bleating of some kind of deer that hangs around the campground.  We did our usual camp breakfast of oatmeal, green tea or coffee and Jim has some rice pudding cup he favors.  We were off by 7:30.  We had at least one and perhaps two major climbs ahead of us so we stopped at the One Stop in Randle.  We talked to someone in the parking lot and the very friendly attendant in the store where we should get 'second breakfast'.  This is the idea that if you ride for a while and you have a big day ahead, more breakfast is good.  

Both fellows recommended the Mount Adams Cafe.  Walt, the attendant said to tell Will the cook that he sent us.  So we did.

We had a very nice breakfast and very good service, I must say.  We each took our turns in the restroom after we finished and as Jim was doing his thing, one of the locals sitting at the counter next to us asked where we were headed.  Over Elk Pass I said.  Oh no your not said the three in unison.  Why not I said.  Because the road is closed on account of 3 feet of snow they said.  Oh really I said.  So how can we get where we are going?  By then Jim had joined us for the news flash.  We spent a half hour or so studying maps with the guys and determined our only option was to continue west on US 12 to the I-5 corridor and take the side roads down to the Columbia River and then west to where we want to be.  It would add a 70 mile detour to our route but it is do-able.  The route is flatter, though not flat, than the one we had planned.  We should be able to make better time and find a place to stay for the night.  

Off we go, in the direction we did not anticipate.  There was one quite big climb, perhaps 3 or 4 miles, but not too bad compared to White Pass. 

We had planned to get to a town, Toledo, about 50 miles down the road.  We looked to see what accommodations there were there and found none listed on Jim's Garmin GPS device.  We got to another town and noticed their library with WiFi and stopped in to inquire about lodging or camping up the road.  We finally, after a lot of searching and questioning, found an RV campground about 20 miles further than we had intended to go.  It is an upscale one, in contrast to where we were last night and it has WiFi available at every campsite.  Whew!

One of the troublesome questions we have had is how we negotiate the I-5 corridor, without going on I-5.  So, fortuitous event number two for the day, we ran into a cyclist at the library who had just completed the route we were thinking we needed to follow, in the opposite direction.  She had her cue sheet of directions and was done with it and would be happy to give it to us.  So we had a plan.

We rode like crazy to get here.  Stopped along the way to take a picture of Mount Rainier in the distance.  We had not been able to see it yesterday, although we were much closer then.  The ride was great.  Almost all flat and even a tailwind for part of the way.  

We sat down to figure out tomorrow and discovered a much simpler way to get where we are going using a different Adventure Cycling route, they make the maps we are using, which will take us back to our route, which is the Sierra Cascades route.  It should work slick and I will get to ride some of the Lewis and Clark route which will be fun.  The L & C route follows the route they took in 1803-1805 to find a water route to the Pacific.  It is an amazing story and the bike route commemorates it.

So, started at breakfast, before we really knew what our day would be, saying this is going to be a good day.  Turns out it has been, though not the day we expected.

Jim and Gary's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Day 9  Outside Packwood, WA

Dear Friends,

Today was a hard day.  I am tired.  We rode over White Pass which is over 4500 ft and more than 30 miles up the road.  The winds were not favorable, it was cold.  We did not reach our desired destination. Things will look up tomorrow and I will say more then.  

Over.

Moving on up the road

Day 8 Windy Point Campground, Wenatchee National Forest, WA

It was a two person parade down Main Street in Ellensburg this morning as we headed out on our route.  Not often the route goes on Main St. but today it did.  This lead directly to Canyon Road, which continued on for almost 30 miles down the Yakima River canyon.  The road followed the river very closely so it wound around quite a bit and looking at the map we thought there would be a lot of wasted time and effort making the distance twice what a straight road might be.  But no, it was well worth the extra miles as this was as scenic a morning as we have had.  Just spectacular.  Talking with touring cyclists who have ridden cross country, or in a lot of states, they often will say Washington is the most scenic.  It is tough to say but Washington is definitely right in the running.  Especially at this time of year when the rivers and creeks are running full and the water is cascading down the mounatains it is hard to say what would be better.  

Tonight we are at a Forest Service campground hard by the Tieton River rushing full drowning the near-by US 12 traffic noise with a cascading stream down the mountain-side just across from our campsite.  Today riding through the canyon and then up 12 to White Pass we have been treated to miles and miles of mountain goat terrain (saw no goats, except little ones in a pasture).  Huge rocky outcrops and geometric granite walls.  Across the highway from us is  quarter mile or so of natural rock columns that look like some Greeks or Romans must have been here before us.  The rock as formed in columns without a gap between them with random heights.  See the picture above.

We rode for 45 miles before we had a place to stop for lunch.  We always look for a cafe for lunch.  This was in the very western looking and very adorable little town of Naches, WA.  We climbed several hundred feet and descended that same height at a much steeper grade to get down in to town.  On the road out to Naches we had passed a woman on her bike headed the other direction.  As we arrived in Naches, not sure where to look for lunch, she caught us and said she had hoped she would catch us so she could find out where we are headed, etc.  She had been on an out and back ride and lives in Naches.  She got us to the Sticky Fingers Cafe on the main drag in Naches and we had a great lunch there.  

The roads passed by, other than mountains, ranches and miles and miles of cherry orchards.  The apples have definitely given way to cherries and grapes.  It helps me to understand where all that fruit comes from and how there can be so much.  It is hard to convey the immensity of the growing activity past which we have peddled.

From lunch we headed out on Old Naches Highway for 5-6 miles until it connected to US 12 and then for about 8 miles we climbed the very manageable grade toward White Pass to our campground.  Tomorrow we will go over White Pass and continue on toward Mount Rainier.  We are not going to Rainier but will be passing by and if the weather is favorable should have some fairly up close views.

So far we are on schedule and the riding, other than Rainy Pass has been quite good.  We can hope for more to come and hope the winds stay favorable as they were today.

Resting in Ellensburg

Day 7 Ellensburg

Rest.  It is a good thing.  This is the 7th day.  You know what that means.  

I have heard of my brother Rick's troubles with heart rhthym so it has not been a totally restful time but for bike riding a day of rest.  Rick and I are sharing a problem of atrial fibrillation, which is usually not debilitating but is a problem which needs to be controlled.  Mine has been controlled so far and I keep my fingers crossed and pray that the very same will be true for Rick.

This day we enjoyed lazing about Ellensburg, a seemingly very nice little town with a fairly large university.  We recommend the oatmeal at the Palace Cafe, the service at Recycle Bicycle Store and the beer at the Iron Horse Micropub (well, I recommend the latter).  We wandered around town to the campus and then through downtown to the outdoor store for a headlamp for Jim and did some bike maintanence to make sure all is well to continue.  We did find some issues with the bikes so it is good we spent the time.  That is what days off on a bike tour are for.  

Tomorrow we head south and into some more mountains, hoping for favorable winds and moderate temps.  

Hopefully the legs will react well after a day off of riding.

We are headed toward Mount Rainier so the scenery should be more and more spectacular for a flatlander.