Brian and Pam Started their epic journey to cross the great United States on their tandem bicycle on May 18, 2009. Their route includes Adventure Cycling's Lewis and Clark Trail, the RAGBRAI , Adventure Cycling's Great Rivers Trail, and Adventure Cycling's Trans Am Trail. This is the start of their daily diary of their ride.
 Sunday May 17 We arrived in Portland Oregon to 80 degree weather with blue skies in the evening on our one way ticket from Orlando, FL. Monday - May 18, 2009 Today we left Portland, OR, at 6:30 a.m. on our rental car
exchange excursion… They wanted $140 to
rent a car one way from Portland to Astoria. No way! We rented a car for $35 in
Portland and another in Astoria for $35. Then we found out that the six hours
of driving back and forth from Astoria to Portland to save $70 on a rental car
drop off one way was definitely not worth the monetary savings. Lesson learned!
We picked up the bike from the bike shop, Bikes and Beyond,
here in Astoria, OR, at 2:00 p.m. The
bike assembly went off without a hitch.
Brian did this in two hours. We
left our hotel at 6:30 p.m. to ride the eleven miles from our hotel in Astoria
to the Pacific Ocean. It was slightly
sprinkling when we began our day’s test ride, and by the time we arrived at the
ocean the sprinkling became rain and then quite a bit more. We were able to get a few photos and some
video of our “rear bike tire dipping” at the Pacific. This begins our 4,600 mile journey across the U. S.! This is definitely Lewis & Clark country as you can’t ride even a few miles without seeing signs for various Lewis & Clark sites, parks, scenic drives, etc. On our way to the Pacific we noted a Lewis & Clark trail site just outside of the town of Warrenton, OR. The Lewis & Clark State Park is near Astoria.  Wow! Something very strange just happened just a moment ago as I was writing this log (9:00 p.m.). The rear tire on the bike just blew out! It sounded like a firecracker going off here in the hotel room. Not sure what caused the blow out as the bike was stationary (and has been since we arrived back from our test ride at 7:30 p.m.), and up on it's kick stand... Better to get the flat out of the way on the first day! Day 1 Stats: Miles - 11.2 Weather 51’F – Rain Tuesday May 19, 2009 Miles today – 56.2 Daily ride time – 4 hrs 35 min Average – 12.4mph Daily Climb – 2,054 Total BRAA mileage – 67.3 Weather – Rainy and 50’F Word(s) of the day – “Groundhog Day”. You know how on February 2nd if the ground hog sees his shadow how there is supposed to be six weeks more of bad weather, and if he does not see his shadow there is supposed to be a mild spring???? Well that is what we are hoping for since we definitely could not see our shadow and could use a few days of drying out for the next 6 weeks!  We stopped at 7:30 for breakfast at “The Lumberjack Restaurant” and Brian ordered the He Man omelet, you know 5 eggs, filled with bacon, sausage, ham, green peppers, cheese, onions, tomatoes – you know – the works – with a side of cottage cheese. That hit the spot and off we went. At 9:20 we arrived for the ferry to cross the Columbia River to find it only ran once an hour – at 15 minutes past every hour – just missed it! So we decided to get out of the drizzle get Pam some coffee at a restaurant a mile from the ferry. At 10:15 we had our very own private ferry to take us across the river for $1 – how do they do it??
 We met up with Art Birkmeyer just before 11:00 who was riding his bike up the road to meet with us. Then at 11:20 we had our second flat tire of the trip. You know we normally only have a flat every 1,000 miles or so we only brought two spare tubes and now we have used them both and only 40 miles into our ride. Oh well…. Then at 12:05 we had one of our bike chain idler pullies just break in half. Now that we did not have a spare for and we had to do some creative engineering to get us the remaining 20 miles to Art’s house. We arrived at Art’s house in Longview Washington just about 2pm but not before the last 30 minutes of totally downpour rain (Art tells us it does get worse) just soaked our bike and us. We looked like drowned rats. After throwing the clothes in the dryer and ourselves in the shower things started to get ‘normal’ for us again. Art turned out to be one of my personal heroes – he has done over twenty rides of one week or longer including last year doing the Northern route across the US. (and in his 60’s!) He was a helicopter pilot in the Navy and we have been to many of the same places around the globe. Half a day was not nearly enough time to spend milking his great knowledge of long distance biking. (and other topics) Thanks Art! Until tomorrow - Brian Wednesday May 20, 2009 Daily Stats: Mount Hood from Portland as we turned onto Marine Drive  Daily ride time – 6 hrs 5 min Average – 13.6 mph Daily Climb – 1,043 Total BRAA mileage – 148.8 Weather @ Start cloudy and 48’F – Weather @ finish sunny and 65’F Bright (well a little overcast) and early this a.m. at 05:56 we began our ride. Thankfully there was no rain, and none in the forecast. It was, however, 9 degrees Celsius so just a bit nippy. We quietly left Art and Mary Birkmeyer’s home as they were still sleeping. What wonderful people! We stopped for breakfast at the Country Inn located just outside of St. Helens, OR. Great food, and our waitress, Connie, was above and beyond helpful and kind. Just after leaving the parking lot after breakfast we noticed the rear tire was losing air… again! Just before we ate breakfast we stopped at a Wal-Mart to pick up Slime for the tire. So… Brian put the slime in the rear tire, and we finished out the day’s ride without an issue. 
   The Coventry Cycle Works was relatively easy to find in Portland. We made our way there through beautiful residential areas in order to avoid heavy traffic. Springtime in the Oregon/Washington area is OUTSTANDING with so many varieties of blooming trees, flowers, and shrubs. Just before we found the bike shop we happened upon a Whole Foods store and decided to pick up some additional Chia bars as they are very hard to come by (had to get some G.T.’s Kombucha too). The bike shop had the parts we needed. They also recommended a pizza place around the corner that is bike friendly (kind of crazy sky diver/free fly looking staff, but awesome pizza). This place delivers pizzas on bikes. Very eco friendly. Portland is the best bike friendly large city that we’ve ridden in so far. The Adventure Cyclist map states this, and I believe it. Lots of cyclists on the road this afternoon. Outside of Portland on our way to Troutdale we rode for about 8 miles on a wonderfully beautiful bike lane just north of Marine Avenue right next to the Columbia River. Mount Hood was visible in the background with lots of snow. Gorgeous! We arrived in Troutdale, OR at a Motel 6 around 3:30 p.m. Pam Thursday --- May 21, 2009 Ferns along the CRH The official CRH sign. Bike path made from old abandoned CRH - no Cars!
Immediately out of Troutdale we were in the deep forest of the Columbia River
Highway. Pam and I had made a pact that we would stop at every point of
interest along the way. Our average mph for the day reflects that since we were
stopping and starting so much. During the first hour we must have already
stopped a dozen times. Historical points of interest, waterfalls, Mount Hood,
and scenes we are unfamiliar with (being from Arizona) keep making us both yell
“stop, stop, stop…” We did not even seem to care that we had to climb over
1,000 feet in the first hour of our day.
Friday May 22 Today was a day of rest in The Dalles. With 3 movie channels and two naps everything went as planned.
Saturday --- May 23, 2009  Daily Stats: Miles today – 21.0 Daily ride time – 1 hrs 25 min Average – 14.5 mph Daily Climb – 509 Total BRAA mileage – 250.0 Weather @ Start sunny and 74’F – Weather @ finish sunny and 78’F Today’s 21 mile ride went by in a flash! At home we usually ride 25-30 miles every day, so today was a piece of cake. We ate our lunch at the Ixtapa restaurant in Dalles, OR, at 11:00, and began our journey a bit after noon. We didn’t want to arrive in Biggs, OR too soon, so we opted to relax a bit more this morning prior to our ride. The first 10 miles (half of the day’s ride) was on I-84. Lots of trash and debris along the shoulder of the road, what a shame! Once we left the freeway, and entered highway 206, the debris lessened, and the peace and quiet of the countryside was with us once again. We stopped for a few photos at the Deschutes campground (cyclist friendly) as they had a gorgeous area manicured for everyone’s enjoyment. There was a covered wagon at the entrance, and lots of flowers.    middle photo: wildflowers at the Deschutes entrances photo at right: Brian (barely visible) standing next to the windmill blade.  At 1:38 p.m. we rolled into the parking lot of the Nu Vu motel in Biggs, where we were greeted by an extremely nice lady who was in awe of our bike ride. The Nu Vu motel turned out to be a gem of a motel, very clean, Direct TV, extra pillows, and oversized rooms to park your bike in.  A final note before I sign off. Even though the high temperature for the finish of our ride indicated 78 degrees the thermometer on our bike read 91 degrees. The sun was extremely intense on our bodies today! Lots of sunscreen in use, to say the least. Happy Oregon Trails! Pam Sunday --- May 24, 2009  Miles today – 85.2 Daily ride time – 5 hrs 42 min Average – 15.1 mph Daily Climb – 2,093 feet Total BRAA mileage – 336.8 Weather @ Start sunny and 68’F – Weather @ finish sunny and 81’F Woke up and checked the TAF’s and “surprise” winds predicted are 12 gusting to 24 knots – TAILWIND! So we started at 5:35 as the sun was peeking up over the hills. Our first 5 miles was over 1,000 feet of climb out of the Columbia River Valley at a painful 5% up grade. The 5 miles took us 48 minutes. At the one hour mark our average speed was 7.7 mph. We stopped to take our last photos of Mount Hood. We had stocked up on food and water today as our map indicated no services today and as we left town a BIG sign said next gas 84 miles. They weren’t kidding. Even though we were still following the Columbia River, we crossed over to the Washington side for 98% of our trip today and the two (so called) towns we went through looked like ghost towns. Each of the towns had a restaurant but since it was Sunday we were eating our own today.    Photo left: One of the many Oregon Trail signs. Photo Middle: Our final view of Mt Hood 70 miles East Photo Right: Back into Oregon and the visitor center
 The last hour the winds shifted out of the South so our tail wind turned to a cross wind so the average started to creep back down. We arrived into Umatilla at 12:30 and the first hotel we inquired at had a room ready for us. The hotel suggested a bar down the road for lunch and we had a taco pizza that could not be beat! Yoo-Hoo!
 Memorial Day --- May 25, 2009    This junction is where we met up with Holly, the reporter from KEPR Action News, Pasco, Washington. She met us at a campsite located just off these two highways, and did an interview with us of our bike ride across the US for this evening’s news. I asked how she found out about our ride (quite a surprise last evening when we received an e-mail from her for this interview), and she said someone (not quite sure of the name) had e-mailed her with our website. I guess one of the people we’ve net this past week may have contacted her. What a lovely lady! See the video from KEPR - http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/46023792.html (click on the video icon below Holly's name)    After the interview we had another 30 miles to ride to Walla Walla, Washington. We arrived at the Whitman Mission National Historic Site at about 12:15, and called Dan in Walla Walla so that he could ride out to meet us and escort us to his home where we will stay overnight. He and his son Gus greeted us on their Burley tandem bike and the Mission, and we rode about ten miles to his gorgeous home in Walla Walla where we met his wife Alison and daughter Sonia. Last year the four of them rode their two tandem bikes across the US! Their second tandem bike is a Rans Screamer like ours.
 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 Miles today – 66.0 Daily ride time – 5 hrs 37 min Average – 11.9mph Daily Climb – 3,367 Total BRAA mileage – 463.2 Weather – Sunny, low of 55 and high of 74 Word of the day – “Hills”. We started out at 5:08 this morning to beat the heat, sneaking out of Dan and Allison’s house not to disturb the dog, cats, and people trying to sleep in after a long night of entertaining us. The hills just outside of Walla Walla were brutal. 5 and 6% upgrades of LARGE long rolling hills. The RAGBRAI should be a piece of cake after traversing these monstrosities. In the first hour and 48 minutes we had only made it 17 miles. We both were stating how glad we were that we had started so early before the heat. Quote of the day - - after hearing some strange noises coming from the back seat…. Brian, “Are you ok back there??” Pam, “Yeah, I am just trying to burp without throwing up” Brian, “Thanks!”    At 7:30 we stopped in at Waitsburg (pop 1,212) at ‘the’ restaurant, the White Stallion, and had one heck of a breakfast. Pam had ordered the side of ham and out came this 9” in diameter slice that the both of us had trouble finishing. It was well needed after the morning warm up.  Until tomorrow! Brian
I wanted to add a sidebar to yesterday’s riding experience. After the bathroom break (actual rest area
with bathrooms, not just a tree or shrub) just about eight miles east of the
town of Delaney, we noticed an odd smell.
Not sure where this smell originated, but each time we smelled it (a
mixture of burned popcorn and sage spice?) there was a small farm field with
purple flowering plants. The strong
quartering tail wind was coming from this field direction. Of course there were usually farm animals in
and around these fields too. Who knows? Pam      Take a look at the pictures as the animals
are a bit difficult to describe in words…
About two to three miles out of town we noticed a place where a semi
truck and trailer had rolled off the road the night before. The clean up crew was picking up all the 2 x
4’s and other pieces of wood that he dropped off the cliff from his trailer.  Pam
   About an hour into our ride we started to see pine trees on the South side of the road and river. The further we pedaled the more trees came. We came across many people fishing for salmon and were able to witness some pretty big catches. At 10:15 we made it to  Leaving Orofina the wind started to die down. I checked my speedometer; we had averaged only 11.8 mph – not too great. But the trees were multiplying and we could smell that fresh pine smell again. By 1pm we reached Kamiah (the last town with cell phone service and last town with over 1,000 people until we get to Missoula) and stopped off for a smoothie.   We arrived at Kooskia just after 2pm and quickly found the house where we are staying for the night. Kooskia (pop 735) is surrounded by pine trees and other trees and the house is on the bank of the river. When Laurie’s Grams passed away they left the house as it was and it is filled with all kinds of nostalgic items. Its almost like staying in a museum. We keep finding so many cool things from yester year – yup we have our entertainment for the day – they can keep their closed museum in Orofina! THANK YOU LAURIE! It is really great to know that somebody will offer their summer home for us to stay! Well Pam’s out of the shower and it is my turn so until tomorrow!  Brian Friday, May 29, 2009 Miles today – 24.2 Daily ride time – 1 hrs 54 min Average – 12.8 mph Daily Climb – 692 Total BRAA mileage – 605.6 Weather Start – Cloudy 82; Weather Finish Sunny 85 Another short ride today. We decided to ride to Lowell, ID, today, and stay one night to break up the long steady climb up to Lochsa Lodge and Lolo Pass. We are now only about 120 something miles from Missoula, MT. We didn’t leave Laurie’s home in Kooskia until after lunch (around noon). The scenery turned to pines shortly after we left town. What a lovely, refreshing ride following the Clearwater River. Even though it was quite warm in the sun, we experienced a cool breeze from the river quite frequently. It felt like 70 degree air conditioning as we were pedaling away!
 
   We arrived at the Wilderness Inn here in Lowell, and the
sign in front read, “Population May the pine scent remain with us, and blue skies too! The view from our motel room in Lowell  Pam
Saturday, May 30, 2009  After about two hours of riding, we stopped at a pull off toward the end of the construction area to eat a snack and rest a bit. We rested the bike against a huge iron bucket from the construction crew, and stretched our legs while we ate. The Lochsa River area is gorgeous! The river here is running full force, as the snow is melting fast. At times the water noise was loud enough to drown out just about any other sounds, including traffic. Fortunately traffic was extremely light.  After another hour and a half we stopped at another pull off, unloaded the bike, and put our plastic trash bags down on a bit of grass. We used our luggage as head rests and stared up at the pines for a bit to just relax. We ate another snack, and shared a little with the ants and other flying insects that came to visit. Brian didn’t like the ants around our area, but this area is so remote there aren’t really any other choices for rest and relaxation. We wondered where all the picnic tables went as the past couple of days we saw plenty available… but of course we didn’t need them at that time.  We pedaled on, continuing to look for the elk, moose, or any other wildlife. We happened upon a wild turkey earlier in the morning, and several geese walking across the road, but no large animals. We’ll keep looking. Today’s journey offered four “pack bridges”, constructed for hikers to access the many trails that this area has to offer. We saw two entrances from Highway 12 for the “Lolo Trail” which is a 70+ mile mountain bike/hiking trail that the extreme adventure seeker may want to experience. I’m sure that’s where all the wildlife can be found. We stopped another couple of times to stretch our legs and read some more historical markers before arriving at Lochsa Lodge. And not a moment too soon! The heat does take its toll, and with our steady climb on today’s ride we were both ready to end the biking day. Fortunately we were in luck and they had lodging available. Will stay here until Monday a.m. Yeah! Until next time, Pam Sunday, May 31, 2009      A day of rest. No TV channels but they had a DVD player in our room and you could get a couple of DVD’s from the owner. We also met Brian & Pat from Ft Collins Colorado who the day after school got out decided to ride their bikes (not road or touring, just regular old bikes) to Portland. Brian & Pat had no money and would stop in at hotels and lodges and ask for a day job every day to get fed. They both had one more year of college and did not know what they wanted to do but loved to travel. Brian had even spent last summer down in Honduras so had been to many of the same places Pam and I had driven to back in the 90’s. Lazy day and interesting people at the Lochsa Lodge! Continued on JUNE page |
