On to Cape Disappointment........mouth of the Columbia River

September 4 - Thursday - Aberdeen to South Bend. We had a very pleasant breakfast with Anne, one of the cyclists from Santa Barbara. She told us about Ireland and we told her about the San Juans and Victoria. The 2 guys were biking to Astoria on Hwy. 101 today while she drove the scenic route with all the luggage. The good news was that they paved the road last night so it was pretty easy getting to the bridge so we could head west on Hwy. 105.

So what could be so interesting at this spot?

Guess it must be low tide.

It was pretty overcast until we got here. The winds were calm, the road was mostly flat and the traffic was light, a nice start to the day.

There are people way out there working the oyster beds.

It is quite a difference between high tide and low tide.

Taking a break near Westport and checking out the guidebook for what's next.

What's next!

Lots of sand...........

........the big blue Pacific, sunshine and no wind.........you can't ask for much more!

Coast Guard helicopter just cruisin' by.

One of the more creative gift shops along here. The shop dog wasn't too happy with us though. There is something about 2 wheels that really sets off some canines.

We ran into 2 other couples bicycling the coast route when we stopped for a break. One couple was from Missouri and the other from Montana. They were all headed for San Diego. This young fellow is carrying his mandolin on his back.

The best sound of the day...........waves gently sliding up the beach.

Welcome to the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation. This reservation is tiny but they have a pretty big casino.

We decided to stop for lunch.

That is a traditional handcarved cedar canoe above the door. We had a buffet lunch in a rather dark dining area accompanied by the sound of slot machines, quite the contrast with our first sound of the day, the sunshine and the nice landscaping outside.

Now we are headed away from the open ocean to the east end of Willapa Bay.

Headed towards Raymond making good time with all this flat road. Is this really the coast?

Raymond.....known for its whimsical metal sculptures......there are lots. We had 50 miles in by now so a DQ Blizzard sounded sooooo good.

There is a really nice paved path through town with many of the sculptures along the way.

Hard to draft off this guy as he doesn't cast much of a wind shadow but Donna thought she would give it a try!

Outdoor exhibit next to the museum.

That is one long mural on the side of the hardware store.

Catch of the day.

The first of many old cars and hotrods that are on their way to Long Beach for the Rod Run Weekend. Makes us wonder a little about finding a place to stay/camp the next couple of days.

We pulled into South Bend just after 4:00 with almost 60 miles in for the day and decided that was good enough...........almost. Doug insisted that we tootle around town for a mile or so to make it an even 60 after we checked into the motel. We stopped for dinner at Riverview Oyster and BBQ Restaurant and ordered pizza. Imagine our surprise when the chef/owner passed our table with said pizza in hand and went outside with it. There he inserted it into a 55 gallon barrel BBQ and cooked it. It was delicious!

One more night of Dirty Harry - #4 - Sudden Impact - Clint/Harry is really grouchy now, especially when they assign him a female rookie for a partner. We hadn't seen any of these when they originally came out and it has been interesting to see how the sequels evolved and reflected some of the current issues of the times. Since we plan to stay at a campground tomorrow night we will miss the last night of Dirty Harry week and his trademark "Make my day.......punk."

September 5 - Friday - South Bend to Cape Disappointment State Park. We got our smell of the day right off the bat as we passed the oyster processing plant on the west edge of South Bend. It was pretty pungent in the calm, foggy air of early morning.

The road made up for the flat yesterday with 6 miles of mostly uphill starting right outside of town. We passed the 500 mile mark about here, a Weyerhouser plantation. The sign says we are leaving America's first tree farm. It isn't so obvious right here but we saw lots of evidence of the damage caused by last winter's Big Wind in the forest along the road most of the morning.

Taking a break to use their nice restroom and learn something about the area at the same time.

This was across the road from the wildlife refuge visitor area.

We have reached the Long Beach peninsula now. Donna is getting up close and personal with the cranberry bog.

Not very ripe yet but Thanksgiving is still a couple of months away.

We stopped for lunch in Ilwaco then headed the 4 miles out to Cape Disappointment State Park, hoping there would still be a site open after all the traffic that had passed us earlier. Not to worry.......we were the only bikers using the hiker/biker site. And it was a very nice spot.This area was one of Lewis and Clark's campsites when they first reached the Pacific Ocean.

Waikiki Beach...sure doesn't feel like we are on Oahu?!?

That is the mouth of the Columbia River beyond the point with the lighthouse. They have done a really nice job of interpretation in this part of the park.

After exploring for awhile we headed back into town for dinner and the special event.

What are all these cars waiting for?

It is the Ilwaco Slow Drags! Whoever crosses that line (a fire hose) across the road last wins the round. There is another line up the road. They cannot accelerate or brake after they cross that first line and the rear wheels have to go over the 2nd line. Several cars got the front wheels over but didn't have enough momentum for the rear. Loud groans from the crowd!

We saw just about every type of classic car and hotrod imaginable. Thus our sound of the day was the rumble of glasspack mufflers. We went into the Pelicano Restaurant fairly early so we got a very nice window table.

The window looked out over the road where all the cars were waiting their turn to slow drag. It made for an entertaining dinner.

The meal itself was quite the show too.This was a quite delicious meal of sea scallops.

Well-nourished, with bare bikes, the ride back out to the campground was easier than we had anticipated. We never did see the sun all day despite the forecast. We only knew the sun went down because it got dark! So much for a sunset on the beach but it was a very nice day so no real complaints.

2008 Pacific Coast Part 1 - Back to Oregon and home Sweet Home

A (Ilwaco) to B (Astoria) by bike, B to D (Portland) by bus, and D to E (Cameron and Meagan's house) by bike, then back to Sweet Home in our own truck.

September 6 - Saturday - One of the groups camping nearby partied until 3 am and the fog was pretty drippy most of the night. We still got up at 7:00 and decided to do a little more exploring before we loaded up the bikes.

One of Doug's experimental pictures.....trying to make Donna look faster.

"Men appear much satisfied with their trip, beholding with excitement the high waves dashing against the rocks & this emence ocian." William Clark at what is now called McKenzie Head.

November 18, 1805 William Clark and 11 men camped near this spot.

This installation (as well as several others) was designed by Maya Lin and has an Native American creation story engraved on top of it. The seagulls seem to really appreciate her art as well judging by all the "gifts" they left behind. Made it a little difficult to read the story.

We decided that we didn't want to wait until 10:00 when the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center opened. Instead we decided to head into town for breakfast #2.

It's a vortex..........all roads lead to Ilawo.

Today the road between the restaurants and the marina is filled with Saturday Market. Breakfast at the Harbor Lights was quite the big breakfast burrito and quite entertaining people watching. We left town about 11:00 hoping to cross the Columbia River while most of the traffic was headed north towards the Rod Run. It is only about 20 miles to Astoria.

A boat of a car???

Looking across Baker Bay on the Columbia River. Somewhere in that fog bank is Cape Disappointment State Park.

At the entrance to Fort Columbia State Park.

This tunnel was another reason we were glad most of the traffic was going the other way.

St. Mary's McGowan, built 1904. This little church only holds services from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We are a week late.

Here comes the bridge..........the Astoria Bridge...........4 miles across the mighty Columbia. The state line is about where the sail intersects the bridge.

This is Rachel. She is from Bristol, England and came over to do the same coastal tour as the pair we met in Aberdeen. The tour leaves tomorrow so she decided to do a little touring on her own today. The trouble is she had no map and crossed the wrong bridge on her way to Fort Stevens. She is surprised when we tell her that she is in Washington not Oregon. We gave her one of our maps and sent her back the way she had just come after a very nice chat.

Goodby Washington..........

......hello Oregon!

This is one long bridge across one big river!

One of the real advantages biking across this bridge is that you can stop and take in the scenery and take pictures. Cars are expressly prohibited from stopping on the bridge.

And we took full advantage of the situation.

This sand bar is in the middle of the river.

One more hill to climb to complete this part of our journey.

More brothers of the road.

The view from the top.

The road makes a big circular descent, part of which you can see behind the signs. It felt like flying and it was a pretty exciting ride.

This picture gives you a little different perspective of the bridge descent. Doug is standing on the tracks for the waterfront trolley.

The Waterfront Trolley, a very nice way to travel from one end of Astoria to the other, with commentary on points of interest along the route. Later we rode it all the way to the end of the line and then back to our dinner spot.

Maritime Memorial Park, a monument to all those lost at sea.

The old waterfront lives along side the new waterfront all along the river. The path and trolley have made the whole waterfront very much a public space and there were lots of people strolling about taking in the sunshine.

The shipping channel is quite close to the riverfront along here.

Besides lots of big ships, there is also a fair amount of barge traffic.

The ships stop here to change from a bar pilot to a river pilot or vice versa. The Columbia River bar is one of the most difficult in the world so these pilots are a big business here in Astoria.

A seagull hotel.

The sea lions, not to be outdone by seagulls, have their own hotel.

This was our sound of the day and what a sound it was......dozens of barking sea lions.

We had dinner at the Wet Dog Cafe, one of the local brew pubs. It was quite good food and there was live music, a guitarist playing 60's and 70's tunes. We walked back to the motel as the fog was rolling in from the Pacific. It was a very nice way to end our last night on the coast.

September 7 - Sunday - A couple of days earlier we had found out that we could acquire a ticket from the Amtrak bus driver as long as we booked the train from Portland to somewhere, so do not have to pedal back to Portland. We told the ticketing agent that we were going to Vancouver, WA. We made sure that we were at the Transit Center plenty early. It is closed on Sundays so we were glad that it was a clear sunny morning for waiting. Only 3 other people boarded at the same time as we did which made stowing our bikes in the belly of the bus a fairly simple affair. Turns out that the Amtrak bus is the only public transportation available on Sundays on this part of the coast and takes everyone who needs a ride. We made a lot of stops between Astoria and Cannon Beach, dropping off almost as many people as we picked up. Also turns out that he doesn't issue our ticket either, we just get it when we arrive in Portland. So much for centralized information call centers!

Back at Portland Train Station. The ticket agent cancelled our reservation to Vancouver since we really didn't need it anyway.

This was the first time we had to put sunscreen on our legs the whole trip!

The gate to the Classic Chinese Garden., a Portland icon.

It was quite the hot day and the Portland riverfront was like one big party with live music in several locations. We got to Hawthorne Bridge, one of the bike route bridges, only to find out it was closed for the day for maintenance work. A kind local biker directed us back downriver to another bridge.

This turned out to be a nicer route across the river anyway since the non-motorized traffic has its own totally separate deck.

The Eastbank Esplanade, heading upriver towards Cameron and Meagan's house, our truck and the end of this journey.

Just a few blocks left to Cameron and Meagan's house and this was a Donna magnet for sure. And what better way to end an adventurous 2 week, 590 mile bike journey than downing a really cold glass of lemonade on a hot day acquired from 2 delightful entrepreneurs. Hope you enjoyed the journey too!