Date: 2007-06-08
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Miles today: 0.0

6-5-07Eugene, Or93 miles today3998 miles totalI forgot to mention in yesterday's journal that we met 3 eastbounders. Two of them had an RV for a support vehicle and they weren't carrying anything on their bikes. The guy's last name was Savage and he said he is keeping a journal on Crazyguyonabike.com under his name.We weren't in any hurry to get ready this morning, so I made two pots of coffee and had the continental breakfast at the Best Western in Sisters, Or.Our plans were to go about 66 miles today, then ride into Eugene early tomorrow morning.The weather called for a 60% chance of rain with up to 1/4 inch. That didn't sound too bad.We got packed and headed west towards McKenzie Pass. There was an elk ranch with hundreds of elk. I got a few pictures, then we headed on.It was in the low 40's and cloudy. It started raining by the time we got about 5 miles. It was a cold rain, but we were climbing, so that kept us warmer.It kept getting colder as we got higher up the mountain. The road was closed to vehicles, but bicycles were OK to travel over the pass.It started snowing and raining at the same time when we were about 10 miles up the mountain, but it soon changed to all snow.It's hard to believe that we were in 100+ degree weather just 48 hours ago. The temperature had dropped to 34 degrees. That wouldn't have been bad if it had been just snow, but we were drenched from the rain on the way up.I was OK on the summit in my jacket and bike shorts.We got some pictures where we crossed the PCT, then more pictures on the summit. It was snowing and the summit sign was holding the snow on the face of it.We didn't hang around too long. I did get some pictures of all the volcanic rocks. It was a beautiful forest on the way up, but the summit was nothing but black volcanic rocks everywhere you looked.We started down and I started getting chilled, so I stopped and put on some tights and an extra pair of socks. I also put on my windcap and winter gloves.I was comfortable, but Mrs Gorp was very cold.The brakes on my bike are finally worn out. We had a very winding, switchback and steep 4000 foot downhill. The roads were wet and it was snowing until we got to about 4000 foot elevation. The summit was 5320 feet high.It was all rain below 4000 feet.Mrs Gorp got so cold that she had to walk for a while to try and warm up. That worked and after about a mile, we started riding again.It just kept on raining all the way down the mountain...a cold rain.We got to McKenzie Bridge and Mrs Gorp had a hot chocolate to warm up and I had a coffee. There was no restaurant, so we rode another 3 miles to the cafe and had a late lunch. It started raining really hard, blowing hard and then the rain turned to hail.That was perfect timing because by the time we were done with lunch, it was back to the steady rain like we had been riding in all day.We rode on and got to Vida. The place we were going to stay at had a closed sign on it.That was not nice to close down and leave us in the cold rain. :-(( We had rode 66 miles and were ready to get warmed up, but it wasn't going to be any time soon. We had to keep riding because there wasn't anything else around.We stopped at Leaburg and I had a soda. When we asked about places to stay, we were told the closest was in Springfield, which was another 25 miles. It was still raining, but had warmed back up to the upper 40's, so it wasn't too bad.I really didn't want to ride another 25 miles in the rain...and it was raining harder again. :-((I stuck out my bottom lip in my best pouty look and got on the bike.It wasn't all that bad once we got moving again. We were already soaked and moving helped warm us up.We kept riding and it kept raining. We had about a mile left to a motel and the sky let loose with a very heavy rain and lasted all the way to the motel.We checked in and by the time we walked back out to our bikes, the rain had stopped.We turned the heat on in the room and left it on until it got so hot that we couldn't breathe. That heat felt really good. :-))We walked next door to the Denny's and I had a roast turkey dinner.Today turned out to be the wettest and the coldest day of our entire trip. It wasn't anywhere near the coldest temperature wise, but with us being drenched all day and the temperature ranging from the low 30's to the upper 40's, we were the coldest we've been on the entire trip.All in all, it was another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))6-6-07Eugene, Or10 miles today4008 miles totalI knew today would be a long day, even though we weren't riding many miles.We had breakfast in east Eugene at a Denny's, then rode 10 miles to west Eugene and found Co-Motion...the place my bicycle was born 6 months ago. :-))It really felt strange riding this far and ending up where the bike was built so I could get some warranty work done.I had talked to Dwan a number of times over the phone, but we finally got to meet today.I hate to have to get warranty work done and I really wasn't looking forward to it, but Dwan took me back into the warehouse and he started working on the freewheel. As I was talking to him, I found out that he's the owner of the company which he had started about 20 years ago.He took everything apart in the rear wheel and ended up replacing some parts.He got that working the way it's supposed to, then he had Spoon, one of his employees, work on the crank on the bike.I was expecting them to just replace the right crank arm, but he took the complete thing apart...both crank arms, the chain rings, the complete bottom bracket with all the bearings and they replaced everything!!I walked away from Co-Motion with new respect for Dwan and his company and it really made me glad I bought my Co-Motion. I did have a few problems with it, but nothing was ever about the bike itself. It was all about the components and those weren't installed by Co-Motion, they were installed by a retail shop I ordered the bike through.I want to thank Dwan for making everything right on the bike even though we both know it wasn't their fault that I had these problems...and I would highly recommend a Co-Motion bike to anyone.We left the Co-Motion warehouse in a van that Mrs Gorp had rented. The rest of our day was scheduled to get the bikes tuned up and ready for the return trip. That's right, for anyone who hasn't heard, Mrs Gorp has decided to ride her bike back east to her home in Vermont. I'll keep going on to Maine before I park the bike for a late season walk that I'm really looking forward to. :-))Eugene is a BIG bicycling town and there are lots of bike shops...busy bike shops. Dwan called and got us scheduled with Hutch Bikes, so we were able to get the bikes worked on today. Mark at Hutch said it usually takes a week to get a bike in, but made an exception for us since we were in the middle of a long bike trip.Mrs Gorp got a full tune up, but I only needed brakes. My old brakes were worn so much from coming down McKenzie Pass that they would hardly stop me anymore.After we got all that done, we headed up to Corvalis in the van. Mrs Gorp hiked part of the PCT with Liz 9 years ago and they have been friends since. Liz and her husband, Tom, live in Corvalis and invited us over for the night.We got to look at all the pictures on my camera on Tom's 20+ inch computer monitor. That took a lot of time because I've taken quite a few pictures. :-))We also went out for Mexican food and ended up not leaving till after 9pm.That put it well after 11pm when I finally hit my bed. I slept like a log starting about 17 seconds after my head hit the pillow...all the way through the night.Another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))6-7-07Florence, Or77 miles today4085.89 miles totalWE DID IT!!!!!!!WE RODE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES!!!WE ARE NOW LONG DISTANCE BICYCLE RIDERS!!!! :-))Today start early, but it started nicely. I heard foot steps in the hall about 5:30am and thought it was probably Liz getting up for work. A few minutes later I heard a knock on my door...it was Mrs Gorp and she had brought me a cup of coffee!!I think that should be the way Mrs Gorp greets me the rest of the mornings on this bike trip. :-))I drank some of my coffee, then went out and talked to Mrs Gorp, Liz and Tom while I finished packing.We thanked them for their hospitality and we headed back to Eugene to turn the van in and ride our last few miles to the Pacific Ocean.We got the car returned and got dropped off where we had rode to yesterday, then started riding west....the last day we will ride west.There was a real nice bike path for the first 5 miles, then we got onto the road again.All we had eaten for breakfast was an egg McMuffin, so when we got to Low Pass and saw a cafe, we couldn't resist.It was Joe's Place and Joe Wieler was there to greet us. We also talked to Tricia Howard and her husband, Gayle. Tricia got our pictures for their scrapbook. :-))I ordered my breakfast while Mrs Gorp arranged a way for us to get out of Florence tomorrow.Joe said something about his cafe being for sale. I said I didn't need his cafe, but I would love to buy the poster on his wall.It was an old Prefontane poster. Anyone who's known me for a while, knows that even though I backpack a lot and recently have been riding my bicycle for a while, my true love is running.I'm not sure why it is, but I love running and even though I'm a slow runner, I would run about 35 road races a year before I started backpacking...anywhere from a 1 mile race up to marathons.Well, Prefontane is one of the runners from the past that I really admire.Joe said he couldn't part with that poster, but that Anita, Prefontane's sister would come into his cafe once in a while and she gave him a poster from this year's race...and he GAVE it to me!!!That poster will be with me where ever I live for the rest of my life.Thank you Joe!!!I wrapped the poster up in plastic because it looked like rain. We found a PO in another 5 miles and I mailed it home...taking care to package it so it wouldn't get damaged.Turns out the place they make those little photon lights was right next door to the PO. Mrs Gorp talked to the daughter of the guy that invented them, but I was to focused on getting my poster mailed to talk. :-))We headed on and I was really glad I got that poster mailed because we got rained on some.We kept padaling and enjoying the day's ride. Mrs Gorp had gotten ahead of me and when I pulled into Florence, I saw her at a liquor store. :-))She stopped to get some champain for our finish celebration. :-))We rode to the Pacific, then went and got a room. :-))I opened the champain and we drank the whole bottle!! We were hungry, so we walked to a seafood restaurant.That champain made my eyes feel funny and my balance wasn't as good as normal...but I found the seafood!! :-))It's hard to believe that we just rode all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific...and it was easy too. ;-))Oh yeah, the winds kicked up right at the end of the day and was probably blowing 30mph right in our faces. Those danged winds better keep blowing easterly for the next two months...or, ummm, I'm going to be upset!! I want some tailwinds for our ride back east. :-))Our plan is to take a few days off before starting from Anicortes, the western terminus of the Northern Tier Bicycle Trail. I have some very good friends that live in Yelm, Wa and I'm going golfing. :-))We are also going to eat lots of salmon and dungeness crabs while we're here on the west coast,To sum up our 4,085.89 mile bicycle ride heading west....it was a piece of cake. We had nothing but beautiful warm weather and smooth roads the whole way. ;-))Another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))