August 1, 2021
Day 81 - Nahalem Bay state park, OR to Astoria, OR
The end
Today we slept in until 7: cozy in the thickly wooded forest. I think everyone was moving slower than usual because we didn't want to reach the end. We ate breakfast and started packing but I noticed I had another flat tire. It's the second day in a row with a morning flat, but beats the road side flat. I checked out the tire but assumed it must have been the patch from yesterday. I couldn't find a leak, so I just replaced the tube and finished packing. The temperature range from last night to today was only 6 degrees different, so there wasn't any dew, although it was still humid so my dirty clothes were damp once more. At this point I will have worn both my sets of clothes twice, which is my usual limit, but I kinda have up on washing and taking care of things since we are so close to the end. I think that was a bad choice since it's not the end yet, at least for Mary, Alex and I.
We ended up leaving the campsite after 9 and immediately climbed a huge hill which gave us a great view of the peninsula we camped on.
We Carried on around the coast going through a tunnel and eventually stopping at hugs point.
Someone in baker city, OR told us to stop there and it was well worth it. There were some cool rock features and caves along the coastline where the tide comes in and digs deeper over time.
After this, there were a couple of detours off hwy 101, which was a relief, but they were really touristy areas.
We got back onto 101 for a few more miles before turning onto lewis and Clark road. This was the last road to Astoria, we wouldnt be on 101 anymore, and we kept seeing signs for Astoria counting down the miles. I couldn't believe we were so close to the end. I felt like I was just riding along, trying to savor the moments and all the sudden I saw a road sign: adopt a hwy, rotary club of Astoria. Oh no, we were even closer than I thought. I looked out across the water and sure enough, we were about to cross the bridge to Astoria, another peninsula like formation of a town.
We snaked around the backside and eventually found an extremely dangerous boardwalk/bike path that we were supposed to ride into downtown. There were large 1"+ cracks, rail tracks, and bollards to dodge. We got close to town and decided to reroute to the end. The transam ends unceremoniously in front of the maritime museum. There was no sign and no party of cheering spectators. They just drop you right there. All done. It felt weird and unreal.
We took pictures in front of a giant propeller and went to fort George brewery to celebrate a nice beer and veggie burger.
While we ate, marks friend Zach showed up and we were on our phones the rest of the evening to find somewhere to stay. All the hotels were booked or $300+, there weren't any warm showers hosts, I called two churches with no answer, and the camping area was 10 miles back the other way. We didn't really want to back track and considered camping in a city park. Alex called two bed and breakfast places, and one said we could camp, but as a last resort. We went out for second dinner to try and get some inspiration. During dinner, mark decided he and Zach would drive to a campground to make it easier for the 3 of us to find accomodations. It want ideal since we wanted to have one last night together, but when Alex called the bnb back, she did have a room that would accomodate 3 for $120. We decided to jump on it so we couldn't have to be hobos in the park for the official last day. After eating, we went down to the dock to split an Oregon champagne that Zach brought and we took one last picture.
We said goodbye to mark and gave him one last horn and bell salute.* We were sad as we took our bikes up the hill toward the bnb. We arrived and checked in to find that we had the top floor suite. It was a cool old building and we had a great view of the harbor. We locked the bikes outside and tool turns showering and getting ready for bed. I washed one set of riding clothes and Mary strung up a line between two chairs. We couldn't really reach the wifi, so we went to bed pretty early with the sounds of seals from the harbor in the background.
*Alex and I started with bells. I have a dingy one and he has a cranky one and Mary bought a clown horn in Hutchinson Kansas. We started crazily ringing and honking at other bicyclists and eventually, even people on the road. Mark would usually point and yell, "get him!" and we would. Usually the person enjoyed the cacophony. Mark wanted to contribute, so be bought a beautiful bell in Missoula to join the noise making. At this point we ascended to another level and all other bike tourists were so taken aback. We brought joy to all, sometimes old folks, sometimes kids, sometimes cars and sometimes other cyclists. Sometimes we would do it when leaving It was sad to do one last sound off when Mark was leaving.
Mileage:49
Altitude gain:3k
Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 4,253 miles (6,845 km)
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