2011 Europe - Home Sweet Home

Keflavik, Iceland to Seattle, Washington to Portland, Oregon

Day 90 - Saturday - September 10
The day dawned bright and cool but not so windy, a nice day for flying. Our host, Jonas, was ever so helpful during our whole stay in Iceland. He delivered us in plenty of time to get checked in and through security.

We even had to time to watch a couple of promotional videos before boarding our 5pm flight. It was a very full plane. We couldn't select a seat when we made our reservations in February and had forgotten that little fact in the mean time. So we were both in middle seats though on the same row. Doug's window seat mate was a VERY large man that snored most of the 8 hour flight so Doug spent much of the trip standing in the back of the plane watching the little kids play. Donna's seatmates were much more quiet and/or entertaining. Traveling west we chased the sun so it didn't go down the whole flight. We landed in Seattle at 5:45pm.

It was a beautiful flight from Seattle to Portland. The almost full moon lit our way, shimmering across the lakes and rivers below. We arrived on time, our bikes didn't. In fact, they were still in Seattle. We left the airport with the assurance that they would be on the last flight of the day and be delivered to our hotel soon after. We had been awake for 24 hours by now so falling asleep was not a problem even if we were still on Iceland time.

(A) Ramada Inn PDX to (B) Cameron and Meagan's house to (C) Wilsonville

Day 91 - Sunday - September 11
A Day for Remembering
Turns out that the bikes didn't arrive until 7:00 this morning. TSA had opened and inspected all 4 bikes (2 other young men had arrived on the same plane from Iceland with their bikes. They had been there for 2 weeks. They said the bike trip was memorable, though maybe not enjoyable!). It would have been almost impossible for the inspections to happen and get the boxes to the other terminal in time to be loaded on the right plane last night, since we only made it with about 20 minutes to spare. We finally left the hotel about 10:00 to head for Cameron and Meagan's house. It took us awhile because we ended up talking to other cyclists along the way......we were a little conspicuous with our fully loaded bikes.

Baby Tia and her very happy grandmother! She and I had a lengthy conversation about her coming 2 weeks earlier than expected and adding to our big August birthday list.

Sleeping is still a favorite activity. I'm about ready for a nap too.

We were remiss and didn't get a picture of Cameron but he was a great help by drawing us a map and then offering to guide us out of Portland since we had decided to ride our bikes back to Sweet Home. Megan arrived just before we left and offered to take all our panniers, then meet us for dinner later that evening in Wilsonville, our destination for today. Forgot to mention that it is 95F by now so riding bare bikes was a blessing for our 60F acclimated bodies!

The MAP

Wilsonville to Monmouth

Day 92 - Monday - September 12
Another map to add to the 11.5 pounds of maps that we acquired during this trip. And what are all these clouds doing  here? The forecast said "Sunny"! We were up plenty early as the Iceland clock hasn't been entirely erased yet.

This looks a lot like a French chateau but it is really a fancy horse ranch west of Wilsonville.

Our second crossing of the beautiful Willamette River. We crossed over on Sellwood Bridge yesterday.

Hurray.....the sun is back and we are just zooming along. Amazing how quickly the miles go by when we aren't stopping to take pictures every couple of miles or figure out what a sign means. We stopped at the Jones Farm Produce Stand just north of Keizer and had a monster ice cream cone. They had beautiful fruits and vegetables too. It's worth stopping if you are ever in the area!

We reached Monmouth by 4pm with 59 miles for the day after crossing the Willamette River a 3rd time at Independence. 

Monmouth to Sweet Home

Day 93 - Tuesday - September 13
We followed the Albany/Corvallis Road south out of Monmouth under cloudy, moist skies. It isn't rain really but close enough that it is feeling a lot like what we left in The Netherlands....shucks! We're not going to have to worry about sunscreen.

The adventure continues as this is a road that neither of us has been on before even though we consider this our "home" territory.

What a welcome sight! Only 1/2 mile to home now.

We made it! 2900 miles by bike, 650 miles by train, 750 miles by rental car, 60 miles by bus, 8 ferry rides, 30+ miles of walking, numerous angels of the road and all of you, our home angels, keeping us safe. Let's eat!