The end of the road

We have arrived! Two by bike and one by car (Scott sold his bike in Portland!!). It was a day's ride to the coast, but we took some time to explore Portland before finishing. Approaching the west coast is pretty different from our experience in Virginia. With just fifteen miles left, we were still climbing a mountain range! We celebrated our accomplishment and slept under the stars in what we thought to be a discreet stretch of sand. We were awakened by curious beach goers and found we had picked a spot right in front of some condos.

The past two and a half months on the road have been unforgettable, but I must say I am excited to have a roof over my head again. Adam is staying in Portland and seeking employment, Scott is off to make a home in San Francisco, and I am headed back to South Bend. As for bicycle touring, I dig it. I think I just might take my bike out again sometime.

Thanks so much for following the adventure and this, my inaugural blog.

Over and out,
Katie

A lovely start to a horrible day

The sunrise was beautiful, but about as good as it was going to get for us on our final day in Washington. Our situation was this: a stolen phone, stolen ipod, and five flat tires, all before we left the campground parking lot. Though the culprit of the theft was unclear- the two items were snatched from the bathroom where they were charging- the flats were the fault of a certain brier bush called goatheads. We fixed the flats and looked warily at our small stash of spare tubes. We were also running low on cash. It turns out that Visa wasn't everywhere we wanted to be and we'd encountered two broken atms. Then came the wind, which grew worse as the day wore on, eventually holding our speed to around 5 mph. At that point you feel you could be walking the route faster. To sum up, diminishing cash, diminishing parts, diminishing energy, and diminishing spirits. We threw in the towel around 5pm after being blown into the guard rail for the third time. Oh, and Adam had a flat. It took all our remaining energy to put on bright smiles at an exit and quickly score a ride into Portland, but we were picked up pretty quickly. Not exactly a triumphal entry, but friends with couches were waiting in the city.

We've been riding along the Washington/Oregon border, where the wind howls persistently up the Columbia River gorge. The conditions make it a destination spot for wind and kite surfers from all over the country. I don't recommend it for cyclists. We took the Lewis and Clark highway up the Washington side of the river. River rafting, I believe, was the great explorers preferred mode of travel and at the time it seemed like a pretty good idea to us; the current does all the work for you, right?

The highway is desolate, with some 80 miles between stops. Across the wide river you can see RVs rolling along the interstate, resting at travel plazas. We camped with some surfers at Roosevelt, WA, where we stopped after a long 75 miles against the wind. They were a friendly bunch, interested in what we were doing, and they had valuable information on wind forecasts. We left the next morning wishing each other the best of luck, though we were hoping for opposite conditions.

O Idaho

Idaho! A brand new state for me; I've never been, and wasn't sure what to expect. We entered Idaho at the top of Lolo pass. They had a nice vistors' center with free hot chocolate and a film on Lewis and Clark. They are really into Lewis and Clark out here. Their figures are on road signs all across the northwest, always pointing at things. I guess that's what explorers do. The next 100 miles took us down through a canyon that runs along the Clearwater River. Enormous fir and pines blanketed the mountains that rose up on either side. I can't really explain just how lovely and rich the sight was. It didn't really fit in a camera lens either, but I took a video anyway.