Statistics:

5/31/81-Florence to Elmira-51 miles;

6/1/81-Elmira to McMinnville-80 miles;

6/2/81-McMinnville, Oregon to Longview, Washington-83 miles.

Description of events:

May 31, 1981: Today was a nearly perfect day. It reminded me of what days, at this time of year, are supposed to be like, weather wise. The whole complexion of the trip changed as we headed East and into the interior of Oregon. We headed inland, from the coast, via SR-126. The road followed the Siuslaw River, which ran through a heavily wooded valley that was sometimes interrupted with agricultural landscapes. The sun was shining brightly and it was warm, for a change. The wooded hillsides were lush with growth of many different shades of green. The people were friendly to us and bicycling seemed to be a more normal activity here.

Upon approaching a tunnel, I noticed that it had a message board and a lighting system. As we got closer, we were instructed to press a button before entering the tunnel on our bikes. When pressed, the message board lit up with blinking lights and a notice to motorists that bicycles were in the tunnel. I was impressed, to say the least, and felt a greater degree of safety than I might have otherwise.

Upon reaching Elmira, rather easily, we found refuge in a covered area that led to the locked gymnasium door of the local high school. Nobody was around to ask and we were not disturbed at all during the evening and night. This makes 12 nights in a row sleeping outside. The last indoor accommodations were at Kevin's place in Sausalito.

In 2024, I wouldn't advise trying to stealth camp near a school in the USA. There have been too many violent incidents since 1981.

Tomorrow, we hope to reach the town of Corvallis that we have heard so much about. It is the home of Oregon State University and lies within the central valley where there are a number of farms and farmers markets. I decided to change my diet to include more fruits and vegetables that I seem to have strayed away from in the recent past on this trip. The availability of a greater variety of fresh produce should make that more feasible. 

Admittedly, the first few days in the Beaver State were rather mundane but all of that changed today with the many neat things and nice people we encountered. My opinion of the place went up dramatically.

June 1, 1981: Chalk up another one for the Catholic Church... it really came through this evening. Couldn't have come at a better time because it is raining heavily tonight. We're thankful to be sleeping inside for the first time in 13 days. 

Recapping the day, we got our earliest start of the trip, so far, 6:30 AM. By 7:30 we had put 10 miles down and stopped for a break in a cafe in Cheshire, Oregon. From there, we rode 8 more quick miles to Monroe. Because there was an annoying noise in my drivetrain, I took some time to clean and grease the components. While reduced, the sound was still present and I began to have anxiety over possibly having to spend more money on repairs. 

Upon reaching Corvallis, we found a shop to look at the problem. Thankfully, it turned out to be a loose cotter pin. The charge was One Dollar! That was great news, along with the wonderful treatment of us by the bike shop manager and the employees. Corvallis itself was lively and looked to be a fun place to spend a little time. However, we had miles to go before we could sleep. So we moved on, perhaps too quickly, in retrospect. It would have been a good spot to spend some time and have a good look around.

With my clean and repaired drivetrain, we were moving along at a much faster pace on SR-99W. We ticked-off 46 miles with only a 15-minute break in the afternoon... and with a headwind at times. We arrived in McMinnville at 5:00 pm, immediately located a laundromat, and proceeded to clean and dry everything in our wardrobes. 

An entry in my journal makes me laugh, 43 years later. In it, I relayed feeling ripped off because a pizza place charged us $4.25 for a whole pie. 

From the pizza joint, we went to Saint James Catholic Church, calling in error on the convent. Sister Nicola answered the door and our fortunes got even better. She put us up inside the school gymnasium that was complete with  showering facilities! Additionally, we were invited to morning mass and breakfast with the sisters... an offer that couldn't be refused. Once again, someone was looking out for us.

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June 2, 1981: We covered quite a bit of ground today, despite getting off to a much later start than yesterday. We arose by 5:30 am in order to shower and be ready for mass and breakfast with the sisters of the Saint James Convent, at 7:00 am. The hot shower was great and the sisters fed us like kings while asking all kinds of questions about our trip and listening intently to our stories. These sisters were very nice and seemed a far cry from the disciplinarians who used to rap our knuckles with metal rulers in grade school.

Sister Nicola took us to mass at 8:00 am. Afterwards, we had an audience with the priest. He too was very much interested in our trip. My journal reports that he appeared to be stressed and tired. His many duties were wearing on him, especially since he did not have much help. He told us we were in an enviable position. I had the impression that he would like to have come along with us. I hope he got a chance to have a little adventure at some point in time.

We then laughed and joked with Joe, the school custodian, for about 30 minutes. He wished us well, as we departed around 10:00 am. Three miles down the road, I got a flat tire, but had it repaired and got rolling again in 15 minutes! We cruised through Carlton, Yamhill, and Gaston, rolling up the miles rather effortlessly as we passed through pastoral countryside. 

Approximately 3 miles from Forest Grove, I got another flat. Since we had planned a break there anyway, our timing was not thrown off too badly. We were a model of efficiency during that break. Paul made sandwiches while I changed the tube out. I even had time to patch 3 other tubes. By the time we were rolling again, my tire and tube situation was better than it had been in a while and we had some sustenance as well to get us further down the road. 

The next break point was in Veronia, after we had covered another 28 miles. We had a long and steady uphill incline to get there. It was followed by a long downhill ride for 9 miles, to the turnoff for Rainier, Oregon and Longview, Washington. What followed was a 21-mile ride on a road with very little traffic. As such, we were able to ride side-by-side, conversing the whole way. That made the miles fly by while the time seemed to pass quickly, as well.

Eventually, we came to US-30, at Clatskanie. From there, the road descended a rather big hill where we enjoyed a wonderful view of the Columbia River and the city of Longview. We decided to cross the river, get to Longview, and look for a place to either camp or to lodge indoors. US-30 crosses the river on a long, high, and narrow steel bridge.  From it, Longview looked rather ominous, with smokestacks, large ships, and industrial pollution as far as we could see. Paul remarked, "How are we ever going to find a place to stay in that mess?"

We made it across and into "the mess" and as it turned out, looks were deceiving. Riding up through town on the main drag, we came upon a YMCA, so we stopped. Inside, a pleasant redhead told us we couldn't stay there but then graciously offered that we could camp in her backyard. She called her husband to confirm and sent us on our way with the warning, "He is a motorcycle rider but a friendly sort."

Upon our arrival to the residence, a fellow resembling the leader of a Hells Angels Motorcycle Chapter came to the door.  He let us inside, as the rain began to fall. After some brief conversation, where some mutual sizing-up occurred, he said he couldn't wait to get out of the house and insisted that we accompany him. Russ-S (38 years old) didn't look like the kind of guy you should say no to and besides, he had made us laugh a few times, taking the edge off of the initial meeting. So, we got into his car and were off on another adventure.

The destination turned out to be a local tavern that was having a two-for-one drink special. Before we knew it, the first round was in front of us. Inhibitions fell, stories ensued, and the guffaws were plentiful. We liked Russ and I think he liked us too. He was a good storyteller to be sure and we enjoyed his company.

By the time we got back to the house, Judy (the redhead from the Y and Russ' wife) was home and so were their 3 children. We spent a wonderful evening with the whole family and ended up being allowed to sleep on the living room floor that night. On top of all of our good fortune, breakfast was promised to us in the morning, as well. Longview, Washington wasn't so bad after all. Russ stayed up with us for a while longer, showing us all kinds of photos from his many motorcycle trips. We really enjoyed our time with he and his family.