Day 90: 0 miles.
this is funny. Now I have commentary and no pictures. Have to add those later. But it seemed like I should finish up and add our final day before coming back to reality.
In Portland we were bike free! Also, our hotel let me leave my bags there after we checked out Sunday morning. This was a huge help because we had to bang around Portland all day waiting for our red-eye home.
We made good use of the day.
First stop: Voodoo Donuts.
I had the best donut I've ever eaten: maple cream with maple frosting. I also had something called the chuckles, which was a chocolate donut with choc frosting, peanuts, cocoa powder, and caramel and chocolate drizzle. I was in heaven. This was the last big indulgence before we had to go back to eating like normal people.
Next stop: Powell's books.
We walked around in here for an hour. Multi-story, many different rooms, new and used books mixed together. I found lots of old editions of books I read as a kid or in grad school. I restrained myself from the usual buying spree that happens in a book store because we had to get on a plane. I bought a used version of Ann Tyler's Dinner in a Homesick Restaurant. Because it was old, it was a little lightweight paperback. so I could fit it in my bag.
Next stop: Japanese Garden in Washington Park
I can't remember how far we walked to get here - several miles. But it was beautiful and peaceful, and walking everywhere felt really good.
Next stop: Pizza place recommended by a local when we were at a coffee shop a few days earlier. I forgot to write it down, which is too bad, because it was amazing. And we topped it off with a homemade chocolate chip cookie.
Last stop:
Airport!
I don't think I quite realized that I never added commentary for these pics, and our true last day of the trip! We ended up having a great bonus day. I don't think I could quite admit until morning how disappointed I was to have missed the opportunity to "dip our tires" in the Pacific. In talking to others, we realized we were supposed to have performed that ritual way back in Pacific City when we first saw the ocean. Of course that makes sense. But we thought we were supposed to save the ritual until the real end. Not having done it made me feel like we never finished.
The next morning, Deidre and I discussed it and agreed to take our bikes out in Astoria to see if we could find a suitable place to get our tires wet. We said we didn't want to force it, but we'd give it an honest try.
Well much of the waterline looks like this. Beautiful in the big picture, but pretty darn mucky if you want to get into the water's edge.
After an hour or so of poking around, we accept that we won't be dipping our tires in the Columbia River. But it's still morning, and we didn't really have anything to do all day until we took a bus to Portland. So then we admitted maybe we were willing to try a little harder and concocted a plan to ride back to the Pacific: a 10 mile ride to aptly named Sunset Beach.
I worried we were tempting fate, that we'd finally get a flat tire or one of us would wreck, but we made it without incident, and when I saw this view, I was SO HAPPY we made the effort.
I had all of my belongings because I didn't have anywhere to store them (we had stayed with a warm showers host and had already left here house). So I had to unload my panniers at the walkway, which was a little awkward, then find a place to stash them in the sand. Deidre had a lighter load, having shipped much of her stuff home the day before. Anyway, I was finally ready for the walk to the water.
Then we took turns walking our bikes in. I was kind of giddy. It was really fun to feel like we were closing out the trip. I guess that's what we were needing that we didn't get in Astoria, closure. It felt really good.
Our feet and wheels wet with the Pacific, we loaded our bikes back up and rode the final 10 miles of our trip back to Astoria. Once there, we dropped our bikes at a bike shop where they'd be dismantled and shipped home. Then we took a bus to Portland that night.
Day 88: Last day!! 52 miles from Nahalem state park to Astoria
I woke up ready for the last day—really excited -and trying not to be too impatient.
We took our time and went into town (Manzanita) for coffee and breakfast.
This tunnel was a little harrowing!
I arrived in Seaside around 11am. Deidre’s derailer cable had snapped the day before, and her brake cables were stretched, so even though it was the last day, we had to stop for repairs.
The guy at the bike shop was nice, but he didn’t fix the bike until 3:30. Then we stopped at a UPS store so Deidre could ship her bags home. So we arrived in Astoria much later than expected .
This little bridge onto the island was much safer than the other two huger structures, but it still had steel grating in the center.
The Astoria Megler bridge. We didnt ride on this one.
Honestly, the end was anticlimactic because how could it not be? But also, the trail ended along a hazardous bike path with spaced out slats of wood where your tire could fall in. There was a sign saying “walk your bike.” We were like, walk our bike for the last half mile of a 4200 mile trip? No way. But then my bike went into one of the cracks. Thankfully nothing broke on me or the bike.
We finally reached the anchor, which marks the official end of the trail. We took pics but all I could think was “where’s the beach?”
We told ourselves it was okay because we had to—it had to be. But the oversight colored our evening. However, we also met a woman who was so excited for us she offered to buy me a beer. She told everyone in the place that we had just ridden from VA. She was great fun.
And guess what? That’s Oregon! 😀
Day 87: 52 miles from Cape lookout to Nahalem Bay state park
This day was only supposed to be 44 miles, but we decided to take an alternate route to climb up to Cape Meares to look for seals and whales. That part was good, but the road was closed at the top, so we couldn’t descend—had to double back. Aargh! That was frustrating for me after my 12 mile mistake the day before.
But still, the ride up was amazing.
And the top was very rainforesty. A magical place.
It had this “octopus tree.” No one knows why this tree grew this way. It was huge.
It was very cloudy when we arrived, but the fog cleared while we were looking out.
A not too impressive lighthouse. But it was apparently really difficult to construct.
Later, we rode thru little seaside towns that felt quaint and lit by, like they were stuck in the 70s. In a good way.
These clouds came over the mountains like a wave.
We arrive at our last campground!!
Another well done hiker/biker site by Oregon state parks. And it was crowded! Which was nice. I enjoyed mtg the other crazies!!
Day 86: 78 miles from Rickreall to Cape Lookout
Sunrise in the fairgrounds where we camped. It was a little dusty and desolate.
Just a fun mushroom along the way.
This was supposed to be a 66 mile day, but I made a wrong turn and didn’t realize for 6 miles. So I went 12 miles out of my way!! 😭
We arrived in Pacific city and had lunch, knowing the ocean was nearby but not really getting it that we had ARRIVED. We ate lunch in a little restaurant at the top of a hill not knowing there was ocean front seating down the hill. People kept congratulating us and we weee like, “thanks, but not there yet.” One couple even bought our lunch for us! The. We went down the hill and saw this ocean view.
We both got emotional and realized we had made it. We were at the pacific, even if we weren’t yet at the end of the official trail. So we had a woman snap this pic of us. We did t realize this is where we were supposed to dip our front tire in the ocean. We I te too ally did t do that thinking we were supposed to save it for Astoria. 🤦♀️
The. We kept riding thru view after view. We also had to climb a 3 mile hill that was unexpectedly really steep before we could get to our campground.
The top of the mountain was all sand, which was weird.
When I reached the top of the climb, that was Cape Lookout, looking down on the park where we would be camping.
Oregon has the hiker/biker campground down. We had little individual sites with fire pits, lockers for food storage with outlets for phone charging, bike tools, a pump, water, and access to the campground bathroom and showers. All for $8!
We were also a stones throw from the beach. Which was beautiful.
We sat and watched the sun set before bed. It was so peaceful.
Day 85: 65 miles from Coburn to Rickreall
Well, we are in our final week!! Hard to believe. But not too much on that yet. Still feel like we have to keep our head in the game.
We left our little RV park early this morning (6:15) because we had a 70-ish mile day and had to be to our campsite by 2:30 to check in. The RV park wasn’t as cute as its sign. 😂
The smoke in the East made for a hazy sunrise.
You can see how dry it is— This guy is turning over topsoil and it’s just flying away as dust. At one point I got stuck in one of these clouds on the road. It was so thick I had to pull over because I could not see the road or the traffic.
Sunflowers always brighten a day.
The haziness in the east got worse as the day went on. In one town the smoke was so thick I thought maybe somebody was barbecuing. That sounds dumb now, but it came on fast and I was surprised.
We are camping in Rickreall at the fairgrounds.
It’s dry and Dusty but it’s a pretty impressive facility. We have bathrooms and a shower. And there are places to store our livesstock and even show it if needed. 🐖 🐄
We are actually camping at the edge of the grounds.
