June 20, 2022
3 Bridges and a Roadhouse
Sweet Home to Springfield
Although the chance of rain today was much diminished, (7% for most of today,) the sky was overcast as we walked down to Subway for a quick breakfast. We all had flatbread breakfast sandwiches of various sorts-mine was absolutely terrible! The prefab egg thingy tasted weird and it wasn’t toasted enough. The lone guy working was trying hard but his managers were in the store in a booth going over paperwork so I didn’t have the heart to take the sandwich back for more toasting. Also, this Subway did not have coffee. It’s hard to imagine how any place open for breakfast could not serve America’s favorite breakfast drink. Fortunately the motel had weak in-room coffee that I fortified with some Starbucks Singles that I carry just for situations like this.
As we left town we had a roughly 300 foot climb right out of the box. A real wake-up call for the legs and lungs. I think we all coped with it well though. Then we had a nice little downhill and some rollers to cool down on.
At the bottom we picked up an extra bridge brought to our attention by Wayne Estes-the Crawfordsville Bridge. It was literally only about 0.5 miles from our route.
The bridge was built in 1932 and spans the Calapooia River, adjacent to Oregon Route 228. It was named for Philemon Crawford, who settled in this area. The town of Crawfordsville was established in the 1870’s on some of his land. The bridge was by-passed in 1963 and has been repaired several times.
Shortly after we left the bridge we started our longest climb of the day-about 3 miles with an elevation gain of about 800 feet. We were still on a pretty busy highway and were passed by several logging trucks and semi’s, in addition to a few local yokels who passed too close.
After regrouping at the top of the climb, we had a nice, long fun downhill and at the bottom turned off the highway. Shortly we reached the Earnest Bridge.
This bridge crosses the Mohawk River and was built in 1938 for a cost of $2,449. It replaced another covered bridge called the Adams Bridge. This bridge appeared in the 1960’s movie, “Shenandoah”, filmed in the Mohawk Valley.
After viewing this bridge and eating a snack, (during which several of us finished off our remaining Crumbl cookies from a couple of days ago,) we continued down a quiet country road running roughly parallel to the highway. After a couple of miles we turned left to complete a short out and back out to the Wendling Bridge.
The Wendling bridge was built in 1938 and was named after George Wendling, a director of the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company, who established a nearby post office.
Once we left the Wendling Bridge we rode back towards the highway. As we approached the town of Marcola, we decided to stop for lunch at The Marcola Roadhouse.
From the extensive menu, reasonable prices, good strong coffee and very tasty food, this little cafe was a find.
With only 10 more miles to go, we continued down the road towards Springfield. The rest of the ride was slightly downhill with a pleasant tailwind. Most of the route was on side roads; off of the highway.
Our approach to Springfield was pretty straightforward and we rode directly to our hotel. We are staying the next 2 nights at the Village Inn Hotel. The room is comfortable but not luxurious. It is a bit pricey relative so some of our other accommodations. But it does look like there are several restaurant and shopping options within a short distance.
Tomorrow I need to spend some time cleaning up my bike and making a few adjustments as my indexing is a bit off and I have picked up a few noises that shouldn’t be there. Also, we should be meeting Wayne Estes tomorrow night as our tours overlap here.
Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 310 miles (499 km)
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2 years ago