Cycling with Sally

After catching the Amtrack train from Portland back to Longview, we collected our bike from Steve and Bonnie’s house and we were off again.  Not only was Bee feeling miserable with a cold, the weather was the same way.  We cycled on the Oregon side of the Columbia River to Astoria, which is on the coast.  There was a really cool Glass Blowing place that had people working away while we were there.  They were making heaps of pumpkins in preparation for Halloween. 
We fortunately had a place to stay with Robin, who is a Couch Surfing host.  While Bee convalesced in the comforts of a house with two rag doll cats, Roland and Robin took in a local band and a pub meal.  Robin loves to play scrabble and has connections to Burnaby (Roland’s home town) so we got on well.

 

The next day was stunning so we made the most of what Astoria has to offer: the Goonies house, Astoria is also the location used where Kindergarten Cop and Short Circuit was filmed, very noisy sea lions on the fisherman’s wharf, the Astoria Column which overlooks the town, port and a crazy several mile long bridge that connects Washington and Oregon.  Only about six miles south of Astoria is Fort Clatsop where the famous American explorers (Lewis and Clark) spent a winter after traveling over from the east.  Unfortunately the video quality of our “take” on how Fort Clatsop life was is poor, however Roland got camera shy after the first take!  Plus, he was drawing a crowd!

 

That night we stayed only 20 miles from Astoria in Seaside and was once again able to stay with Couch Surfing hosts, Lindsey, Mark, and Becky’s home.  We drooled over all of Becky’s intricately made clay jewelry.  We got to stay in a caravan (much like the one my Mum and Dad use to own) and Roland enjoyed some local Dungeness crab in his pasta.

 

The next day we were kindly made an omlette by Mark and had brandy in our hot chocolate to “keep us warm” on our cycle ride.  Although the weather wasn’t brilliant we enjoyed cycling next to the coastline, with the highlight being Cannon Beach (a funky coastal holiday town) where you could see monoliths coming out of the water.  We also met another pair of cyclists there (Meredith and Alex), they had heard about ‘Big Bird’ and recognized him parked out front of the bakery we where in!  We also had a quick look through the Tillamook Cheese Factory that makes all sorts of dairy products and enjoyed the free samples and tour.  That night we tented on the lawn of a house we were passing.  We were trying to get to Pacific City but got dark on us and so we had to improvise.  The two older ladies were really lovely about it and said that many other cyclists have also stayed on their lawn.  So they went about suggesting which tree was better to pitch our tent under!  It rained super heavy that night and we woke up to a little lake under our feet but considering our soggy state we both had a really good night sleep.

 

The rain continued on into the day and by the time we reached Lincoln City, we need to take towels into the restaurant we stopped at for lunch to keep mopping up the puddles.  We had a great lunch at McMenamens, with our waitress (Aura) sitting down with us to have a coffee.  We ate at this pub because we had a’ two for one’ voucher or so we thought.  When Roland pulled the voucher out I glanced at the name and it was for Mulligans not McMenamens.  I alerted Roland to this and his argument was that they both started with ‘M’!  We ended up giving the voucher to our lovely waitress to use!  Fortunately, the rain eased up and so we headed back out on the road.  We had just taken a picture of the statues you see in the picture above and had only just got started again and we suddenly came to a crashing holt.  We found ourselves in a water drainage grill that had no cross bars and our front wheel got totally jammed in it.  At first it looked like our front panniers had come loose as they were sitting at a 45-degree angle but then it became apparent the problem was more serious.  Our front fork was bent!  After repairing the flat tire and with Roland’s brunt strength, he straightened the fork to a satisfactory state (dude, my husband’s strong) and we were able to keep riding, albeit conservatively – boy were we lucky.

 

Once in Newport (another funky beach town), we stayed with another super awesome Couch Surfing host, Peggy.  Although she was super busy she still was able to have us and her kind daughter and her partner where waiting for us.  We had a studio all to ourselves and was able to dry off, warm up and relax a little bit.  We had a really great ride that day, cycling inland to Corvallis.  The only stinker of the day was the tortilla’s we had for lunch (just because they were a bargain doesn’t guarantee they’re gonna taste any good) and Belinda still not getting any better so started a course of antibiotics.  That night we stayed with Bee’s sister Emily’s old boss, Bettina and her husband Jeff.  It was so great to again spend time with people that had a connection to New Zealand and family.  We thoroughly enjoyed our evening with this couple and had very contented bellies as we were filled up with a delicious meal carefully prepared by Jeff.

 

The next day we made it to Eugene, where we spent a couple of days resting, volunteering and getting our bike seen to.  We stayed with some Warm Shower hosts, Shane, Missy and their six-month-old daughter, Isadora.  Once again, we were showered with wonderful hospitality and found it very hard to leave.  Highlights of our time with Shane and Missy were sharing wonderful meals with them, sharing cycle touring stories, carving pumpkins and being included in the craft evening, watching a DVD (Away we go) and generally just hanging out.  Thank you so much to the MacRhodes family for having us to stay!

 

Eugene happens to be where our bike was made so we made a beeline for Co-Motion on arrival.  We got to meet the great bunch of guys and even got a tour of the place.  They were so good to us and we couldn’t be more impressed with the service they provide to their customers.  They fitted our bike out with a brand new fork and also gave Big Bird a necessary tune up.  We would really like to thank Dwann and the rest of his dedicated team for being so kind to us and enthusiastic about our trip.

 

Crib score:

Belinda 35

Roland 49

 

What have we seen on the road:

• An inflatable raft
• TV remote
• A dead deer and raccoon
• Lots of buckets
• We are still waiting to find a gazillion dollars in a duffle bag with our names on it!

 

What is Belinda grateful for?

• Knees and neck haven’t been sore since Vancouver, B.C.
• Feeling so much better since starting antibiotics and discovering Throat Coat herbal tea.

 

What is Roland grateful for?

The sun!

  We would like to say “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going,” but this has not been the case. True we have been subjected to some wet and lousy weather and some mechanical troubles with out gears, but to be honest the hospitality and kindness we have been drenched in has been amazing.

From Sequim we made our way in Union bay were we met the Doyle family, Daimon, Katey, Danny, Sam and Joshua. We stayed in a beautifully made home with such welcoming people and got to see Sam take the school bus for the first time.  This host family was really excited to host us, since close friends Alan, Donna and 9 year old son Lewis Jackson had just complete a bicycle tour across the USA.  Thanks to Daimon’s hand drawn map and attention to detail, we managed to squeeze in a very scenic cycle to Shelton taking some back country roads that displayed the incredible fall colours and finished with a yummy cup of cocoa with Donna Jackson and heard some real stories from their cycling adventures.

Olympia ended up being somewhere we didn’t want to leave.  Once we arrived, the lure of staying an extra couple of nights was too enticing.  We stayed with the Sutch family, Pete, Beth, Toby, Jonah and Emma.  This couple lead exciting and full lives, with one of the highlights being cycling around the world for three years in the late 1990’s.  We were treated to all things wholesome and homemade: pizza, apple cider, grape juice, pie and the list goes on.  We thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with this family and being included in the daily running of it (except when we lost a very competitive game of crib).   We were asked to speak to Toby’s class at school which was a first for us, although Roland was very much in his element talking with a room full of six year olds.  We left the kids thinking I had a funny accent because I was from Pluto and needed to apply thick makeup to cover up my green skin!

After another very scenic ride to Chehalis down back roads, we had the pleasure of staying with Katey’s (Union Bay) parents.  Randy and Betsy made us feel very special, with wonderful conversation and a candlelit dinner.  The next day was Sunday and so we took the opportunity to attend church with them, which Randy happened to be the Pastor there.  We got on our bikes about 10.30am and had another pleasant cycle to Longview.  Bonnie and Steve took good care of us in Longview.  They have a wall full of DVD’s (Jon you’d be very impressed) and so we enjoyed some down time watching ‘The Visitor’ after a busy day volunteering.  One of the things we really like most about staying with other like-minded people is you get to learn about their dreams, achievements and different hobbies.  Next time you’ve got nothing to do, look up Glaccading on YouTube.  Our bike is kindly being stored by Bonnie and Steve while we are in Portland.

We took the one hour Amtrak train down to Portland as we really want to be cycling down the coast but didn’t want to miss the opportunity to experience the most bike friendly City in the USA.  We had the privilege of staying with our good friend Alex’s mum, Virginia and her husband, Chris.  We have managed to see a bit of what Portland has to offer, which included: Pittock Mansion, Cupcake Jones (Belinda could talk about this place for a long time), lunch at the Laughing Planet Café which does awesome burritos and has dinosaurs to play with, thrift store shopping at Good Will, a touch of Skinnidipping, dinner at a local brewery, wandering around the enchanting Japanese Gardens and the downtown area and checking out the cool loft where Chris works (he’s a Copywriter).  There was also a exhibit (Emily, I remembered the word) on with locally made handbuilt bikes involved in a competition to come up with the best all round commuter bike.  It was pretty cool.  Next to it was also an exhibit from the Netherlands about bike culture.  The rest of the time was spent hanging out with Virginia and Chris, watching some good old reality TV shows, eating good food (very important) and talking with friends and family back in New Zealand – what a treat!

It’s now 11pm and Belinda is feeling scratchy as her throat is sore and has an early train to catch back to Longview……so the saga ends here for now….until next time……


Things found on the side of the road:
*life jacket
*A beach ball
*CD's
*two-thirds of a caravan top
*Several Washington State license plates


Crib score

Roland 42

Belinda 29 (she doesn’t want to talk about it!)

 

What is Belinda loving right now?

The crunch sound of the bike tires going over gravel.

 

Interesting facts:

*It is illegal to pump your own gas in the State of Oregon, USA.

*The Chandelier in the Capitol building of Washington State could fit a V-Dub inside it – it’s that big!

 First up, we didn't take pictures in Vancouver until we got to the Hilton which was at the end of our stay but we were having a break so no complaining! 

While in Vancouver we stayed with Len for the first two nights, Roseanne, Derek and Christina for four nights and last night four nights at Ryan, Mirella and Mia's house.  We would like to say such a huge thank you to all of you for putting us up for that time.  Not only was it a great way of spending time with you but it really made our stay that much more pleasurable staying with family and friends.  Thank you for all the rides and meals ..... and settler fun too!  We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Roland's Dad for all the running around he did with us.  It saved us a lot of hassles and we really appreciated your calming influences on the few occassions we ran around like chickens!

Summary of our time in Vancouver:
Tons of great meals with family and friends and hanging out, a ridiculous amounts of Settler games, learning a new board game (Puerto Rico) with Steve and Cherie, waiting in line from 3am for the MEC Swap Sale, dog walking with Fred, Muriel, Dudley and Brodie, window shopping with the girls, going to the Smallville TV show set and getting a tour as Sally does makeup for it, spending a bunch of time on public transport (boy is Vancouver a big place or what!),  meeting Gwendal and Tanya who have done the same trip as us but from south to north, Belinda getting a dread maintenance done (boohoo - Roland's hair still too short for dreads but again thank you very much to Knotty Boy), getting Chiropractic adjustments done on Belinda's neck - amazing - thanks Simon (see sponsors page for more detail) and getting chores done - BORING!  It was great seeing a bunch of people in Vancouver - we had a really excellent time - thanks everyone!

To be continued..... going to eat homemade pizza ...... yummy!

On our final night we were treated to a night in the Hilton near the Vancouver International Airport.  Roseanne (Roland's sister) kindly donated her gift certificate she'd won at a fun run for one nights' accomodation.  We had a great night there and slept so well on the king sized bed, we even got a little bit of room service - so sophisticated!  The next day we really enjoyed meeting up with another one of Roland's lovely Auntys and Uncles (Terry and Bob) and sharing a meal together with them and Roland's Dad at good old Whitespot.  After that the ride to the Twassen Ferry Terminal was a little frantic as we got held up with Friday afternoon Thanksgiving traffic.  Fortunately, we got our tickets with no time to spare - a literal dash to the finish line (I felt like I was on the Amazing Race!)

We had only night on Pender Island (in Roland's family's log cabin) which is apart of the Southern Gulf Islands.  It's a super hilly place to ride - if you're not going up then you're going down.  By the time we had got groceries on the island after getting off the ferry it was dark.  Although we had lights on the bike, it was hard to see very far ahead as this is a very remote island with no lights along the road.  Just after talking with a local about this, we headed towards the cabin.  After dogding the many deer about the island and negotiating the tricky terrain, we reached our final downhill hairpin corner where we didn't end up turning in time (due to low visability and not having our drum brake on) and ended up totally ploughed into the verge with some kind of prickly 'ouchy' plant breaking our fall.  Mental note: Cycling in the dark not so much fun - try to avoid it where ever possible.  In saying that, we couldn't have asked for a better weekend, particularly as going to Pender ended up being a last minute decision as our original plans of going to Victoria on Vancouver Island fell through.  Also, we felt ready for a wind down as our time in Vancouver was rather manic.  Our friends, Simon and Melissa joined us the following day and we shared a fun-filled weekend of crab catching, cycling about the island, climbing Mt Norman, lots of Settler's, sleep-in's, good food, farmer's market, Belinda finding the dog she wants (a Bermese Mountain Dog), fish and chips at Port Browning Pub, Roland air-tromboning Simon, and pumpkin pie and icecream for thanksgiving (no turkey this year).  Unfortunately, Monday came around to quickly and it was time to leave. 

We caught a ferry to Swartz Bay (Vancouver Island) and cycled the 30km Lockside Trail into Victoria.  It was an excellent cycle path that hugged the coast, then went through some farm land and pumpkin patches and finally through scenic urban streets.  We managed to briefly say a hello to Adriano, his daughter and his mum and mum-in-law before catching the Black Ball ferry to Port Angeles, Washington, USA.  There were about 40 other cyclist on the same ferry that were about to start a Lance Armstrong ride down to Texas to raise money for Cancer.  We then had another short ride to Sequim where we stayed with a Warm Shower host, Courtney Keith.  The highlight staying with her was having a soak in an outside hot tub under the stars.  Thank you so much Courtney for your easy going hospitality.

We are currently in Olympia, WA but will do another blog for our stint from Sequim to Portland once we get there..... so hold tight! 

Please note we have separated out the cycling and Salvation Army journal to make it a tad easier to navigate around.  We hope you like it.  Also, we have removed the 'Lovely People' page.  Not because those people aren't lovely anymore but we realised that everyone we have met so far has been awesome in a different way.  So not to accidentally exclude someone we have decided to remove it.  We have been so blown away by family, friends, and strangers' generousity and genuine kindness in wanting us to have the best possible time.  We truly are blessed.  Thank you to everyone who we have crossed paths with.