WOW! Good food. I would give it 10 thumbs up.

I didn’t ride very far today. Only about 22 miles, but I got a lot of things done. I got a GPS unit. I was tired of having no idea what my altitude was. It is important when you are trying to bike over a mountain range.

I also picked up a new digital camera. The old one was ok, but it used AA batteries. A lot of them and they were expensive and more importantly HEAVY. The new camera is smaller, lighter, much better, and uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. I figure I am going to take this trip once, I had better have good pictures to remember it.

I also did laundry. My fellow humans thank me.

Now, back to this great meal and then sleep. I plan to dream of the open road and very, very short mountains. Mt. Washington

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Ok, I am intrigued. I went looking for an internet cafe to upload pictures in what I thought was a dusty town that time had passed by and found a most charming town. It is a mix of the old and new, but all well kept. A beautiful new library, nice city hall, wonderful park with lake lined with gracefully weeping willows all nestled in turn of the century buildings. The downtown business district was large several blocks on 5 parallel streets. Intimate cafes and trendy coffee shops all happily coexisting.

Very nice surprise…but, I am not sure I understand how it works. I kind of want to stay an extra day and see how it all works.

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The sign reads “Summit Santaim Pass Elevation 4817″

Whoooooohooooo!
From 0 to 4817 in about 170 miles over 2.5 days!!!

I have been staring at the sign for a while now, and it is still great.

I feel unstoppable! I just saw a sign that said downgrade next 6 miles..Now that is what I am talking about!

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Koosha Falls about 75 miles east of Eugene. Gorgeous. I have a lot of other pictures to upload. What a view.

So far, today has been all up hill. I am about 4 miles from the pass at 4817 ft. Can’t wait to ride down hill for a while.

It rained all night last night, but the tent was good. I was dry in the morning.

I am experiencing my first food and water crunch of the trip. It has been 2 days since I have been at a store. So, the oreos and pringles are almost gone. Luckily, the town of sisters is about 25 miles ahead and is down hill from what the map says.

Biking=fun

biking + mountains=not as fun.

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I rode a lot further than I had planned today, 61 miles. I thought that I would be heading into the Cascades. I am in the Willamette National Forest about 1 mile east of where 126 and 242 split. I believe I will make it through the pass at 4817 ft. tomorrow. I don’t know my elevation right now, but I do know that Eugene is at 431 and night before last I was at 0. (the ocean) I would guess that there are a lot of hills in my near future.

For most of the day I followed the McKenzie river.pic WOW! What a clear, cool mountain river. If you close your eyes and think of what a pure mountain river should be, this is what it is. The river’s personality would change every half mile or so. One minute it would be rushing white water over jagged boulders, then the next placid, mirror smooth. I think I now have a better understand of some of the John Denver songs.

Along the way I stopped at a fish hatchery. Neat. The fingerling were jumping out of the water trying to swim up the filling pipe. They were ready to go. pic I also saw a covered bridge. pic

It rained a lot today. Not hard, just enough to keep me cool. I was looking for the rainbow all day and finally found it just before I stopped.pic When I set up camp it rained even harder. I am surrounded by large pines and there is a cool mountain and the sound of rain on my tent to put me to sleep.

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Ok…So, I am back in Eugene, but this was the plan. I rode back from the coast yesterday. It went very well. I was worried about the mountains that I was going to have to cross, but it was almost easy. I was back in Eugene by about 3:00. Total miles for the day 70.3 (right inline with my 70 miles a day goal).

Today is not going to be as easy. I will be climbing to 4813 feet from 431 for the next two days. I plan to only do about 42 miles total for the day, but we will see.

I did a quick calculation. I am about 15 days from Yellowstone, there are about 14 days to my birthday. Maybe if I push a little bit I can be there to celebrate.

Anyway, not peddling into the wind is great! Although peddling into the wind was great training.

In other news, I think I saw an otter in the river yesterday. It was hunting. I saw it chasing a fish that finally jumped out of the water trying to get away. I am sure I saw an osprey at the ocean. I saw a very large eagle (maybe a young bald eagle) and lots of baby guarder snakes (the green sided ones) along the road.

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Better Pic

The dipping of the back tire complete, I set off east. Made it 4 whole miles before I stopped for breakfast

This is going to be a long ride.

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Today I made it to the coast, again. I am watching the sunset from high atop a grass covered sand dune. pic The ocean roaring below me. It is breath taking.

I had some time to reflect today. Life is amazing. I have seen so much in the last week. I have also met great people. What an adventure. I am truly blessed.

Tomorrow, I start the trip east in earnest. I was wondering what meeting, sights, and challenges it will bring. I hope for nothing more than what I have already had. I would like to ride to the Atlantic, but the road is for the journey, not the destination.

So, everyday, I will savor, and when I am done, if I am at the other coast, all the better.

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Ok. Well I got stuck in Eugene last night. The train was 5 hrs late and I missed the bus to Florence. That is ok. I had planned to take a later bus anyway. I had some other stuff to pick up in Eugene.

I got a new bag rack and new bags. They are smaller and made for bike touring. I haven’t got everything into them yet. Some hard decisions need to be made. I think that after about 60 miles of lugging this stuff on my back, I will be in a better mind set to part with some of it.

I found a nice biking jacket in a second hand store. $5!!! Almost exactly what I was looking for. The bike shop down the street was selling them for about $80.

I also went to this killer used book store. WOW! I wish I could have loaded up on some books (books are my weakness) The store was in an old brick building and had 2 floors. There were shelves about 11 feet high and books everywhere. I would have to say it was one of the nicest used book stores I have ever been in. I picked up some maps for about 5 states there. $.50 a piece..

Also, I am working on an image gallery. It is not done yet, but you can see the pictures. The link is on the right hand side of the page. ENJOY!

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larger

I made it to San Francisco. What a city! I would have to say that of the cities I have been in so far, this is my favorite. pic1

While here, I stayed with Natasha and Matt. What nice people! They took great care of me. Great conversation in a great city.

Anyway, I rode across the Golden Gate Bridge tonight. It was a spectacular ride. The wind was wicked, but the view. WOW! The view.

Tonight, I am hopping a train to Eugene, OR. Then I will take a bus to Florence, OR on the coast to start the trip. It looks like the trip will officially start on about the 9th.

In other news, the pack rack broke while riding across the Golden Gate Bridge. Funny, there was nothing on it. 300 miles with all that weight, not a problem. Then an 18 mile ride with no weight and it just couldn’t take it.

So, I think that it is time to do some more soul searching about what I really want to take with me on this trip. I really enjoyed riding the bike with out the bags on it. I think that I am going to go light weight and look into some real bike bags and loose some more weight from the bags. It is all a learning experience.

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