Getting Started

The start of the great bicycle adventure started 6 June 2015. The truck and trailer were loaded, the truck filled with gas, and away we go.

I stopped in Redlands, CA to visit some friends. I stayed in the area a few days then headed north. Three days later I arrived in Sacramento, CA. I'll be here until the 29th. Sacramento has a bike path system that parallels the American River and the Sacramento River.  There is alot of wildlife along the bikeway including turkeys, deer, hundreds of squirrels.

The bike path is relatively flat, over the 52 mile out and back from the campground there is only 1100 foot of elevation gain. There is one spot that is a little steep.  

After a few days of riding I loaded the bike with all of the equipment I will be taking on the tour. This is how the bike is setup. 

note the solar panel, I hope will keep my phone and tablet charged if I can't find some place to plug into

Tuesday 14 July

I left the campground around 6:30ish and stopped for breakfast in the only restaurant in Chinook. I had a fresh crab, bacon, Swiss cheese quiche. It was excellent! Along the road to get to the bridge that crossed the Columbia river, a few pictures.

this is the Washington end of the bridge

the middle of the bridge 

The Oregon end of the bridge

The bridge is 4.2 miles long. A single lane of traffic in both directions with almost no shoulder. It was suggested I get to the bridge and cross it early.

This was taken from the Oregon Side

There was construction on the bridge near where the road reached the apex. The road was down to one lane. As I got to the construction area I was the last vehicle through so when I got past the construction area I could stop, catch my breath, and take a picture.

Once I got off the bridge there was a little coffee shop where I got a cup of coffee and bagel. I was to Astoria early, my motel room wasn't ready so I went to the Maritime Museum. A very interesting place. It covered the history of the Columbia river and the shipwrecks in the area. The history of the Coast Guard in the area and development of rescue boats. 

Steve and Barb Watts drove down from Oregon City. We spent the afternoon walking around Astoria, had a good lunch at the Wet Dog Cafe we then rode the Astoria Riverfront Trolley. The trolly was built in 1913. Instead of overhead power the trolley had a separate car that contained a generator that supplied power to the trolley.

Monday 13 July

I have been complaining about the weather but it could be much worse. Looking at different weather apps the weather north of me has been getting lots of rain so I need to count my lucky stars.

As I was leaving South Bend there was an information board



More scenery


Outside South Bend I took a detour to get me off Hwy 101. The road quickly turned into gravel. I rode this for about 2 miles before turning around.


I should have turned around when I came across these leg bones😊




And more scenery



Sunset from the campground in Chinook

Friday 10 July to Sunday 12 July

Friday

I have not had a good internet connection for the last few days. It has become difficult to update the blog when the internet signal is weak. I have written several paragraphs, and downloaded pictures when the signal is weak and somehow the file gets corrupted and the blog deletes the information I have input. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, so instead of fighting the system I'll just wait until I have a good internet connection. 

Ever since I started riding on Hwy 101 I have been waving at all of the logging trucks that have passed me in both directions. Today on three separate occasions logging trucks that have been coming up on me from behind have blown the horn so I knew they were coming not sure if this is a coincidence or they were just being friendly. 

After breakfast I headed down Hwy 101.  A few miles down the road I caught up with the two guys I met at the restaurant last night. We rode together for a couple of miles until we came to the intersection where I headed to the coast and they were going to stay on 101 which was the shortest route to the bike shop. If the repair was going to take long I would see them at the bike shop at 9 Saturday morning.

Along the Moclips Hwy. Looks like they used some type of machine to cut back the trees 

Along the Moclips highway I stopped at a salmon hatchery.  They were raising Coho and Steelhead salmon. A tank comprises two of the narrow tanks.  There are 6 tanks for each type of salmon. 

 The salmon are about 2 inches long. There are about 125000 salmon in each tank for a total of about 750000.  At 9 months old, the fish are divided into 12 tanks and at 14 months, 24 tanks and at 18 months they are released into the river behind the hatchery.

A little trivia

Once I reached the town of Moclips  road turned south.

Do you think the wind predominately comes off the ocean?

The weather today has been overcast with periods of very heavy drizzle. After a while I was cold so I stopped in Copalis Beach and got a room in a small motel.  After a long hot shower I went to the only restaurant in town for dinner.  The special of the day was prime rib, baked potato, and a large salad for 14.99 and the piece of prime rib was huge. I met one of the locals and we played pool after dinner.  Neither of us were any good but we had a good time chasing the balls around the table.

Saturday

I heading to the bike stort in Hoquiam. I start out in a light rain the it stopped then started again for about 10 miles. Rain jacket on then off, wind jacket on then off for the rain jacket on then off.... I was going down a long hill and there was a big drop in temp then gully washer of very cold rain. Wind jacket was on AND the rain jacket went on. I rode that way to Hoquiam. Stopped for a quick breakfast took off the wind jacket. The bike shop owner was very nice and he had the master links I was looking for.  He informed me the two guys that were in his shop yesterday for the shifter repair paid for the master links. What a pleasant surprise!

The remainder of the day I rode with my rain jacket on. There was a very heavy mist, light rain for about a hour after leaving Hoquiam. Then further down the road, every 3 to 4 miles the heavy mist would instantly start then stop 5 minutes later. I got to Westport soaked and ready for a hot shower, 30 minute nap and I'm ready to go out exploring.

Westport. Lots of restaurants and tourist shops. Lots of charter fishing boats in the marina 

 

Gray Head lighthouse. The tallest lighthouse on the Washington coast. 

Sunday

Headed out with a heavy drizzle again. Then I came across this sign and I say to myself "self it is going to dry up in 4 miles 😊 

lots of people fishing along the coast 

A strong wing from left to right,  the tide flowing right to left, sand bar about a mile offshore created some interesting waves

Lots of great scenery

All along the Washington coast there have been lots of wild blackberries. Great free fruit. I'm sure I have been getting my daily allowance of fruit in just blackberries.

South bend Washington area claims to be the oyster capital of the world.   One of the information boards in town says one of every  six oysters taken world wide comes from this area. This is just one of many piles of oyster shells

Thursday 9 July

The ride today started out in damp conditions. Not really raining but thick dew.  My glasses needed windshield wipers and every time I stopped they fogged up. Todays ride continued along the coast.  Lots of the trees in this area have a burl groth on them. There was a path that went through a grove of Spruce trees.

To give you a relative size on the size of the trees and these burls, there is a root going between the two trees directly behind the information sign. The ocean is located in what appears to be a clearing behind the trees.

Elsewhere along the road on a path that lead to the ocean was this Hemlock growing out of and over a Cedar log

The log is about 3 foot in diameter

The road today, in some cases had a very narrow sholder

or would go away at bridges

I stopped at a saw mill that made Cedar shingles. I got a tour of the process.  It is very labor intensive. The mill buys the wood precut into 16 and 18 inch lengths.

There are 6 work stations like this one. The guy on top cuts the shingles from the log. The guy below him, cuts the imperfections from both sides and sorts the shingles into Grade 1 (only streight grain) or Grade 2 which is everything else. The guy on the bottom stacks and bands the shingles. There  no protective guards on any of the saws. The foreman said it is a very dangerous job.  Anyone working there more than 6 months has lost at least one digit. 

A few miles from where I was planning on staying the fog/mist started to roll back in. 

This is Lake Quinault

I was going to camp on the south shore of the lake but as I approached the south side it started drizzling. Being a whimp camper I found a room instead. The room was nice and the people gave me a few rag towels so I could clean the bike.  It all worksout in the end. At the restauranti ate at for dinner I met two guys from Seattle that were cycling around  Olympic Peninsula.  One of the guys had a broken shifter for his rear derailleur. I told them of the bike shop in Hoquiam that Steve found for me. We will probably meet there early Saturday morning.