June 30, 2022
All Aboard, Next Stop Portland Oregon
Our final day on the train is slowly coming to an end. But in this case slow is not bad. We’re traveling through Oregon and with no disrespect to 49 other states, Oregon is the most beautiful state. If not for little Ian and Zeke, we’d still live there.
We’ve met some really cool people on this first leg of our journey. Train passengers are way nicer than plane passengers. One gentleman from Ohio gave us maps of Yellowstone and some route suggestions. Another, Glenn Ellis, shared his cycling experiences and his plan to ride up the coast of Oregon and to the San Juan islands in Washington. He was funny as he thought he was old…but I was riding my first two wheeler before he was born. There was a woman from upstate New York who was traveling to visit her grandson. She asked so many thoughtful questions and was worried about us having enough water and eating too many peanut butter sandwiches. And then there was Danny and Julie (the couple seated in front of us on the train) who listen intently as Dan and I were dialing for campsites and offered us suggestions (e.g., Lutheran Churches tend to be very open to helping folks like us and would most likely allow us to camp on their property). Lots more good people and honestly no jerks…can’t say that about most planes I’ve been on.
As for actual trip planning…what the heck! We couldn’t get a campsite reservation at the place we originally planned so we’re calling our first audible. Instead of starting in Astoria, we’re starting in or around Seaside and camping at Cape Lookout State Park. The kind woman I spoke with there said “we never turn away hikers or cyclists, they’ve earned a campsite”. So day one (July 2) pedaling is planned at around 60 miles or whatever we decide feels right. For night two, we were directed to Bare Farms http://barefarms.com as a potential option. I spoke to Sage and he unconditionally invited us to join him and his friends/family camping at the farm over the 4th of July weekend. So we now have at least 2 nights of camping set up…only 75-80 more nights to figure out.
Thanks for reading and being interested in our journey. More cycling stuff as the ride begins and progresses.
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3 months ago