Flew into Milwaukee yesterday and decided to just take it easy. My friend Mike Levin was already here attending his high school reunion , visiting the town he grew up in, Delvin, and visiting friends.

He arrived about 10 pm last night.

We each organized our gear.

The van picked us up at 9 am sharp. After picking up the other participants we drove to the starting point on the edge of Lake Michigan.

There are two guides and 9 participants.

All different abilities from someone who hadn’t been on a bike in decades to folks that have ridden hundreds of miles a day for multiple days in a row.

The riding was very enjoyable, being paved,separated from traffic with sun and cool breezes.

We had lunch in a park, that the guides had prepared and then continued riding to our hotel for the night in a picturesque town named Cedarberg

This is architecture!

The buildings I sawseemed to use the latitude and longitude for their address If not it is a nice feature

My favorite building….

Plant you fool!

The whole Main Street that I saw was populated with beautiful buildings

Until tomorrow

Paul

Yesterday was the last day of riding for this trip.

Started by leaving my rabbit camping companions

Was listening to to Van Morrison’s “Into The Mystic” ,while viewing scenes like this.

Roads were fairly quiet on this Sunday morning.

Came to the town of Neskowin. Town we had heard a lot about from our neighbors The Bugge’s. Pronounced boogie.

In Neskowin the is a great store next to the beach called Neskowin Provisions.

All kind of goodies there.

So I refueled and about a mile down the rod made a left onto the old highway 101.

The day before a guy I was riding with at the end of the day had told me about it.

The current 101 goes straight up and over the hill. This gem ,small two lanes wind its way through green forests,

Over creeks and streams

In an hour I saw 5 cars.

It was idyllic riding.

The climb was gentle and it almost felt effortless.

Yes near the top I was in my climbing gear, but the lack of traffic was so welcome. That’s the Frankenstein duo of the Oregon coast.heavy traffic with these stunning views.

I later in the day took a road that the same guy had suggested and it too was much quieter.

Its other side was that it was this series of 200 yard steep descents and climbs.

It was like doing intervals. There was a heroin high element to them.

If you built up speed going down you could climb up the next easily. the problem was often you couldn’t get as high, so you still ended up working to get to the top.

Of course that didn’t stop me from trying again!

One of the climbs took you off 101 onto a small road with a nice gradient.

It was one way and there were a few cars but they were going 25mph.

Heck this coast is so spectacular it even has Bonsai

To Marc and Jeanine,remember Dad and Mom’s trip here to golf?

Towards the end of the day and stopped to do some whale watching. The day before we had seen spouts in the ocean.

I saw one arching in this spot.

To my recollection everyone I’ve met on this trip has been generous and helpful.

I think of the the conductor who helped me get my bike on the train when I had no clue about bikes on trains,thetwo young scientists I met on the train ride up here, the people in Bellingham, who pointed me toward Blaine, the campground host on the last night, when I was so tired, who gave me the camp spot to the hotel manager here at Rodeway in Newport who helped me with my reservation mix up.

Contrary to what you see on tv there are wonderful people doing little things everyday to help one another.

I know because I’ve just experienced it.

Go out you door and find them

Paul

Wendell and Vaughn who made the trip SO MEMORABLE

Many we ride together soon

Woke up day yesterday to cold overcast weather.

Got moving, when one of the other campers told me rain was coming.

Got about 5. Lies and knew there wasn’t any town for another 24 miles.

Found a bakery and holed up for an hour.

The rain was pretty light and within a half hour the rain jacket got put away. By the time I got to Cannon beach.

Here was what I had to deal with.

The climbing commenced in earnest after lunch.

At one point there was a 12% grade that went for over a mile .About 2/3rds of that got walked.

The reward were views like this.

And

For those of you who build with stone here is a Michaelangelo.

Oh look toys to play with…

The day finished with a 6% grade 2 miles long that felt exactly like the earlier one. About 50% of that got walked.

I ended up in a county park, where a very generous camp host gave me the last spot.

Here are some of my camping companions

Until next time

Paul

Yesterday was a day off.

My trusty steed was having issues of not shifting into certain gears.I had done all I could figure out, to no avail.

So I found an Uber that would transport the bike and went into the only bike shop in Astoria.

The mechanic was able to work on it right away.

The is quite higgeldy pigildy. But he know his stuff.

He found a bunch of gunk on my chain and derailleur. to my embarrassment.

He did all the things I could think of.

He then rebooted the program that makes the derailleur work .

That helped a lot but did not completely solve the problem, that will have to be done when I get home.

His price as very generous.

Got back to camp and was cooking dinner,when another guy on a gravel bike gets into camp.

He looks familiar but I can’t place him.

He sets up his camp,then comes over to visit. The lights go on in both our heads at the same time.

He is a mechanic at Big Dave’s Bikes, and we had talked in the shop about the trips we had coming up.(Originally I was going the east coast).

He has had quite a trip through central Oregon and now was working his way up to Washington . Ya just never know.

I’m in Cannon Beach and found this private library to charge devices. It was created by the ladies in the picture.

So phone is recharged and I’m on my way to tonight’s campsite.

T Bid

G Dave’s Bikes

Woke up to the sound of metal stakes being driven into the ground.

It was the fisher folks setting up their rod stands.

The King salmon are running up the Columbia. This particular couple were using a Kayak to take their bait out to the middle of the of the river where the salmon are running deep.

The day before this lady had caught a 25 lb salmon and her husband a twenty.

I was on the road in search of water and 12 miles later I found it.

Pretty weird to have a county park without potable water, but the campers were generous.

Took a short ferry ride.

Then was back on highway 30.Had one of the longer climbs of the trip.

The rest of the day until Astoria was up and down.

It would take 15 minutes to climb and 4 minutes to reach the bottom. Repeat!

Arrived in Astoria about 3 then a 12 Mile ride to Fort Stevens State Park.

A beautiful park and HUGE

500 camp site.

This is the Hiker Biker site

Met a couple in camp who were here from Nashville.

They are hiking the Oregon costal trail for 30 days.

John Van H. Have you heard about this trail?

Today is a rest day.Tomorrow will head south.

Paul

Tonight I’m camped on the Columbia River.

With big time boat traffic.

If not for the waves you might not know they are there.

Today was a long day due, to close to 7 hours riding.

When I arrived at the camp ground, the surprise was no potable water.

Of course I had finished my water,20 minutes earlier.

The closest water that I see is 12 miles away.Luckily I was able to get some water from several of my neighbors. That will get me through to the next town

For tonight I’ll fall asleep to the sound of waves lapping against the bank.

Hopefully I spend tomorrow night in Astoria

Paul

Monday was going to be a long day due to lack of places to stay.

I haven’t worked up the nerve to start asking at firehouses.

They will often let you pitch a tent on their grounds.

I go about 100 yards only to discover a leak in the rear tire.

I had bought expensive tubes with sealant, so I reinflated the tires and they held.

I knew I was on borrowed time because these products are meant to “get you home”.

Well they got me 30 miles when they flatted again , so unloaded the bike replaced the tube and was on my way.

I’m glad I didn’t look at the map graphics this morning because I would have seen a wall of climbs coming.

Luckily I was done,for the most part, after a few hours.

Then I was going through flat woodlands,and farm land for the rest off the day. Lots of places with multiple abandoned vehicles.

Ran across my first area of clear cut logging.

Ended up in Centralia, after a pretty quiet day

Paul

Had a Relaxing day off yesterday..

Found a bakery with Calamari I could eat.

Did some house keeping,some bike maintenance.

Then got rolling about 8 Am today. The roads were quiet with good shoulders. Seems like I was weaving amongst various lakes.There were a couple of steep climbs, that were Thankfully short.

As I was rolling along I heard someone calling. I looked down a saw this guy., who looked like he was having a tough go of it. So he got picked up and was given a bath, when we got to the hotel.

Probably going to need a name. Suggestions?

In case you’re wonderful what the ride looks like.

One yellow bag has sleeping equipment, The other has clothing.

One front has food and cooking equipment. The other has tools

Handlebar has daily needs while riding

Tent is on the rack.

Have a good evening

Paul

Had an enjoyable evening,complete with hot shower.Visited with camp neighbors,who are native to Washington.

They shared good info about the area.

One of them is a cyclist, he told me of some alternative routes that are off the main roads. He said that it is beautiful and there are “some hills”.

I rolled out of camp went a quarter mile bam! My first hill of the day easily 15%.

For the first time I was standing on the pedals. My 200 yard long wake up call.

I wasn’t even out of the park.

It was a clarion call for the day.

Within an hour I was pushing the bike up the hills.

That said the views were worth every pedal stroke and step.

First picture was from two days ago, I just thought it was an iconic building.

Took the ferry to Port Townsend and the got on the Larry Scott Memorial Trail, hard crushed gravel with minimal foot and bike traffic.

.

The picture doesn’t reflect it , but it felt like I was riding through The Fushima Inari Tori gates in Kyoto.

You’ll have to look up that reference as I don’t know how to import it.

I’ll go out on a limb and call it mystical.

I still wasn’t sure where I was spending the night,hoping for a hotel.

Stopped at a diner for dinner, in Port Haddock. They had a couple of suggestions, that didn’t work out.

The reservation agency had some ideas, IF I wanted to spend $400.00, yes the decimal point is correct, a night.

So ok there is a camp ground s few miles ahead.

When I arrived at the turn off it was 6 miles out of the way, down hill.No thanks I’ll go to the next town, 10 miles further.

I arrive there to discover ,no camp ground there.

I look on the map,there is one 7 miles aheadIt’s now 6:15, I’m watching the Sun.

It hasn’t been flat since Port Haddock.

I proceed a mile or so,only to discover,I went in the wrong direction, so I back track

An example of a smaller hill.

Now I’m walking many of these hills, watching the sun., praying that cramps don’t decide to raise their ugly specters.

Of course there is one last hill to the camp ground and at 7 pm I gratefully pull into the camp ground.

I sent a garbled text to my wife.

For all my whining, I can’t explain how grateful I am I am to be here.Two years ago this month,I was in London ,with a back that had gone out. I couldn’t walk 1/2 a block using a cane without stopping to catch my breath.

Marlina was infinitely patient, and working her backside off to help me, when she was suppose to be enjoying a vacation.

I am a very lucky man!

Speaking of which, I got up this am,went to the restroom in the park and it was locked, found another and on my way back to camp, I meet this Von who with his brother is camped next to me .

He and his brother are riding from Canada to Mexico.

We start talking a before you know it,we’ve blown through 30 minutes of conversation .

We say good by and hope to meet on the road.

Later that morning I run into Von and his brother Wendell in an underpass.

There goes another 20 minutes.

“Luke trust the force”

Tonight I’m in a hotel room and taking tomorrow off .

Hoping all,ya’ll Sleep well

Paul

Started the morning on a road that was built on the side of a mountain at the edge of the bay.

Beautiful twisting,tree covered road with very little traffic.

After 7 miles it descends onto a flat marshy plain that is swallowed up when the tide comes in.

I had been promised an excellent bakery in the hamlet of Pow, but alas it is only open Thursday through Sunday.

So I had to ride a mile further to Edison where I found an excellent bakery,blueberry danish and croissant were the order of the day. The croissant made it to dinner.

The riding was flat for the morning,after my jaunt in the hills.

As I approached AnnacortesI rode over a mile long causeway over a tidal flat.

I kept noticing all these broken shells on the causeway.

Thought to myself, hmm, seagulls at work.?

Sure enough a few minutes later this seagull hovers drops an oyster shell it hits the causeway and shatters, “Oyster on a half shell my dear” in swoops the seagull for lunch.

So it was a shell cracker instead of nut cracker..

Had lunch in Annacortes at the recommendation of a couple I was talking with. very nice lunch, my main meal of the day.

I seemed to have developed a penchant for steep mile long climbs after lunch.

Had a feeling when I read the sign Mt Elias vista 1.4 miles ahead.

The rest of the afternoon continued in that vein.

If it is to be believed,my Ride GPS app aside my average grade for the day was 12%.

I am doubtful.

I ended up here in deception state park . As I’m checking in I hear the roar of fighter jet’s ,very close.

Turns out I’m right next to Widby Island Naval Base.

Maneuvers are continuing as I write.

Last night trains and automobiles,tonight planes

Ah nature!

Let’s see what tomorrow brings

Paul