June 30 - July 2: Sweet Home to Bend

On this leg Doug and Donna truly began their adventure - and it started on the up side, literally. The ride out of Sweet Home went up the minute they left town and didn't stop until they summited Tombstone Pass. And then it went up a little more. Talk about trial by fire. They left home, they left town, they left work. But despite all that they still managed to run into a few old friends along the way. Not only that, but they made some new ones as well.


Leaving home Sweet Home on June 30 after a delicious breakfast fixed by Cameron, who brought all the food too!

Leaving the office.

Leaving Foster Lake behind. This was part of our training route so it wasn't until now that we really felt like we had started THE JOURNEY.

Short Bridge in Cascadia

The Short Bridge fake ghost town

I had to read the signs.

More about the Santiam Wagon Road

Iron Mountain in the background

Iron Mountain is one flank of Tombstone Pass and is famous for its wildflowers.

Ben Miller and his puppy, Mitchell, which he picked up in Mitchell, Oregon on his way from Nebraska. He left 30 days ago and gave us some good info on the roads.

We made it!!!! We were soooooo happy to be here.

Our little campsite at Lost Prairie Campground. Tom and Joanne Albert stopped by on their way back from Bend to visit, which was very nice.

July 1 - Leaving the really tall trees behind and Sweet Home Ranger District.

Looking towards Santiam Pass

We are headed towards that big rock in the background as we ride through the western part of the B and B Fire Complex, which burned in 2004. It closed Highway 20 for a couple of days.

Doug with Hoodoo Ski Area in the background. It looks a lot better with snow on it!

A better picture of the burn

Santiam Pass ... hurray ... it really is mostly downhill for the rest of the day from here.

Mt. Washington overlook.

July 2 - Sisters Bakery, one of our favorite stops whenever we are headed east. It was a great place for breakfast after camping overnight in the Sister City Park campground just a few blocks away.

One our our favorite views of the Three Sisters Mountains.

The Deschutes River with Mt. Bachelor in the background.

We spent the rest of the day in Bend doing laundry, posting pictures and eating ice cream.

The Fortune Cookie Guide to Planning our Bike Trip

2011 - June 1 - 3: The Prologue - Newport to Sweet Home, OR

The first leg of the trip spanned from the Oregon coast back to Sweet Home. Although there were more hills than expected, the leg went by safely without incident; a good practice run for the journey ahead.

Unloading the bikes at South Beach State Park from the back of Jack's pickup on Friday evening June 1st.

Friends Jack and Nancy in front of our yurt. We had a lovely dinner with them before they dropped us off. They are still questioning our sanity but are being very supportive at the same time.

Our official starting at the Pacific Ocean photo shoot. It was a beautiful evening on the beach, a very low tide and hardly any wind. Also nobody else out there at the time to take a picture of both of us together.

Doug trying to keep his bike from getting sandy.

The Newport Bridge, just one of the many lovely spans that the Oregon Coast is known for. We will be crossing it in the morning really early, hopefully before there is much traffic on Highway 101.

Our luxurious yurt accomodations.

7:30 am June 2nd and we are now really starting our journey!

A really, really low tide this morning! Crossing the bridge went pretty well although having a chip truck pass us on the uphill portion at close quarters was a little disconcerting. Stopped for breakfast at Applebee's just a little north of the bridge.

We suspect that we we will see a lot of Highway 20 East signs in the future but this is the very first one at the junction with Highway 101.

One of many covered bridges in Western Oregon. We have visited a lot of them on our rides the last few years.

You just never know where you are going to find the next toilet!

Donna grinning and bearing it in the coastal foothills.

More uphill ... Donna sees this view a lot when going uphill.

We are over the crest of the Coast Range now and things have warmed up considerably. We've done about 40 miles of hills but still have a few left between us and Corvallis, our goal for the day.

Just west of Philomath and a real lunch at a local taco stand. Stayed at a motel right next to the Willamette River in Corvallis. Had dinner at one of our favorite spots, McMennamins then watched the kids playing in the fountain on 1st Street before returning to the motel where we watched Pirates of the Caribbean on the TV way too late!

June 3. Much later start today as we weren't as concerned with avoiding traffic. This is the bridge over the Willamette River coming into downtown Albany.

We followed the Old Santiam Wagon Road through Albany. It is an older version of Highway 20. It begins in Albany and heads east from there. It was a toll road over the Cascades in its early years.

Last time we will see I-5 on this bike trip!

Out in the middle of the Willamette Valley riding through a bunch of grass seed fields ... future lawns of America. The Coast Range is in the background. Hardly seems possible that we're already that far away.

Waterloo is a small village between Lebanon and Sweet Home. We have stopped at this store on for ice cream on many of our training rides so just had to stop today too!

I left my water bottle on the bench at the store and Doug was very kind to ride back a couple of miles to get it. He got a flat right in front of the store so it took awhile......this is him returning an hour later declaring victory over his inner tube and tire.

The beginning of the Cascade Mountains.

Home Sweet Home. We are 108 miles into our adventure ... only 3100 miles to go.

Done for now........in front of our freshly painted house!