Portland to St. Helens, OR
We
spent our time in Portland with our good friend, Abigail Tjaden. She
took us out to an awesome Indian street food restaurant called
Bollywood. Afterwards, she treated us to ice cream at Salt & Straw.
It was a very "Portland" establishment, the kind where they name their
dairy cows, experiment with flavors like lavender with honey and pear
with blue cheese, and make a product that is 1% milk fat away from being
butter. It was awesome!
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| Highway 30: Like a dream! |
We
spent the night in "Fort Awesome" where she lives. No joke - she lives
in a house with a name, and a historical (sort of) sign to vouch for it!
The
next morning was a slower start after Abby made a couple of fresh
quiches for her neighbors, and even shared with us. We had an easy day
out of Portland and made the most of the designated bike lanes and
bridges as we left town. Our route took us by the University of
Portland, where I had attended my freshman year of college. The area was
also familiar to me because we followed about miles 19-24 of the
Portland Marathon - something I remember all too well from running it
with my friend, Kristin, in 2007. As we biked, we would remain on
Highway 30 until we were nearly at the ocean. Highway 30 has an awesome
shoulder, and the stretch we were on is actually part of the Seattle to
Portland annual bike ride.
As
we approached our destination of St. Helens, WA a strange car pulled in
front of us and waved us down. It was, of course, David's parents who
would be joining us for the remainder of the trip. We were so glad to
see more familiar faces, and maybe a little excited to hand them our
heavy bags and trailer. Over dinner I explained to everyone how St.
Helens is actually the hometown of my good friend, Katee Sackhoff, who
you might know as Starbuck from Battlestar Gallactica. So yeah, I was
pretty stoked about that.St. Helens to Seaside, OR
The
next morning we made quick work of the 70 miles to Astoria. We felt
great and were FAST on the relatively flat and wide-shouldered Highway
30. We met my dad and step-mom in Astoria, where my dad was saddled up
and ready to join us for our FINAL leg of 23 miles to Seaside, OR and
the Pacific Ocean. Earlier that day, a truck driver asked us where we
were biking to. "The ocean," I said. When he asked where we had biked
from, I couldn't help but grin. "The other ocean." Yep, the glee was
finally starting to sink in!
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| Our final mileage was 3,060 miles |
My
dad kept pretty good pace with us as we took off, eager to see our
journey's end. The only thing louder than his protests at how fast we
were was our own bike's screams of agony. We had opted out of a pricey
and lengthy repair in Portland and our bike was hurting because of it.
She kept jumping gears, especially as we climbed the bigger hills, and
the grinding ca-thunk of metal on metal had me shuddering every time.
Towards the end I began stroking her frame and coaxing her towards the
ocean. "We're so close, girl! I'll carry you if that's what it takes,
but we are making it to that ocean!" Once we hit our last hill and began
our fast downhill cruise into town, I knew we were golden.
The Pacific Ocean
It felt fitting to have our picture
taken at the statue of Lewis and Clark gazing upon the Pacific. The
statue marked their journeys end, and after following their route for so
many miles, I felt a little bit of comradery with them. We were at our
journey's end too. Except we had a room in a Shiloh Inn. And that inn
(this is for you, Rita!) had a steam room. So yeah, maybe a little
better off than good ol' Meriwether - who probably also didn't have
parents to take him out for scallops and champagne.
Anyway,
it felt weird, being done. Some people have likened our arrival at the
Pacific Ocean to the end of Forest Gump's jog across the country, where
he stops in his tracks and says "I'm pretty tired... I think I'll go
home now." We had run out of country to cross, so we supposed might as
well go home. And we did. Keep an eye out for a future post: "We're
Done... What Now?!"
