Day 2, 5/10/10 In Brief: Biked almost 40 miles from Astoria, WA along US 30 -hilly, logging trucks - but beautiful. Quick lunch in Svensen, pie and ice cream at the Berry Patch in Westport where we stopped for pie on our OR Coast bike ride in 1995, then onto the Wahkiakum County Ferry (the only remaining ferry on the lower Columbia) across to Puget Island and Redfern Farm B & B. Turned out there are no restaurants on the Island so our biking mileage for the day includes an unexpected 10 mile round trip into Cathlamet on the other side of the river for grocery shopping for Tuesday lunch and dinner and our Monday dinner at the Riverview restaurant. A P.S. FROM RILEY: Over 2500' of climbing total for the day!!
Day 3, 5/11/10 In Brief: We are spending a layover day at Redfern Farm, learning more about using our netbook and adding photos and links to the blog - Riley has also created his first Google map of Day 1 of the ride; he hopes to map much of the route as we go along. Highlights of the day have included a lovely breakfast with broccoli omelet and homemade cranberry scones and a wonderful tour around the farm. Winifred Lowsma, our hostess, has 20 acres here - she bought the house (built in the 1940s) and its 20 acres about 20 years ago and has a wonderful place: 3 angora goats (she spins their wool), a dog, several cats and LOADS of fruit trees - many varieties of apple, plum and pear, even kiwis - and many other fruits and vegetables, a little koi pond, bees - et cetera!
MORE - FOR THE DEDICATED READER ONLY: Here are some additional highlights.
Monday, 5/10/10:
We chatted with the manager at the Crest Motel where we stayed in Astoria and noticed a wood stove behind the desk. She told us they had some very stormy weather and would lose power and she could even cook on the stove. Once the wind blew 120 mph for 20 hours straight. They had no power for 7 days and no cell phones or Internet (?) for 9 - the stove came in very handy! YIKES!
As we left the motel we heard a maid tell some other guests "They're going to bike all the way across the country!"
This was a very hilly day. Our Adventure Cycling Lewis & Clark Bicycle Trail map includes route profiles with elevations - somehow we misinterpreted it and thought we were on the next-to-the last climb, with the biggest yet to come - and then saw a sign for Clatsop Summit, 650' - YEA! (The 650' is deceptive - there are lots of ups and downs which add to the total climb.)
Waiting for the Wahkiakum County Ferry from Westport, OR to Puget Island on the WA side, we got to chatting with John Eilertson, also in line for the ferry. He had a bike in the back of the pick-up. Turns out he owns a tugboat company based in Alaska - Southeast Marine Transportation, Inc. Years of working on boats, using gasoline as a solvent for cleaning machinery, has left him with a severe case of lead poisoning but he is battling it relentlessly and is biking on his good leg, hoping to build up the other most affected by the lead poisoning. His grandfather was a sailor who established the first sea turtle cannery in the Galapagos; his father fished off AK.
Tuesday, 5/11/10: We're about to make some lunch and hope to spend the rest of the day reading, with a break or two to re-organize our panniers so that we know where things are. We are reading a couple of books from Redfern Farm's library: Riley is reading In Full View, about Lewis & Clark's approach to the Pacific, and Becky is reading Sky Time in Gray's River by Robert Michael Pyle, a naturalist living in Gray's River, a small town in southwestern WA.
Day 3, 5/11/10 In Brief: We are spending a layover day at Redfern Farm, learning more about using our netbook and adding photos and links to the blog - Riley has also created his first Google map of Day 1 of the ride; he hopes to map much of the route as we go along. Highlights of the day have included a lovely breakfast with broccoli omelet and homemade cranberry scones and a wonderful tour around the farm. Winifred Lowsma, our hostess, has 20 acres here - she bought the house (built in the 1940s) and its 20 acres about 20 years ago and has a wonderful place: 3 angora goats (she spins their wool), a dog, several cats and LOADS of fruit trees - many varieties of apple, plum and pear, even kiwis - and many other fruits and vegetables, a little koi pond, bees - et cetera!
MORE - FOR THE DEDICATED READER ONLY: Here are some additional highlights.
Monday, 5/10/10:
We chatted with the manager at the Crest Motel where we stayed in Astoria and noticed a wood stove behind the desk. She told us they had some very stormy weather and would lose power and she could even cook on the stove. Once the wind blew 120 mph for 20 hours straight. They had no power for 7 days and no cell phones or Internet (?) for 9 - the stove came in very handy! YIKES!
As we left the motel we heard a maid tell some other guests "They're going to bike all the way across the country!"
This was a very hilly day. Our Adventure Cycling Lewis & Clark Bicycle Trail map includes route profiles with elevations - somehow we misinterpreted it and thought we were on the next-to-the last climb, with the biggest yet to come - and then saw a sign for Clatsop Summit, 650' - YEA! (The 650' is deceptive - there are lots of ups and downs which add to the total climb.)
Waiting for the Wahkiakum County Ferry from Westport, OR to Puget Island on the WA side, we got to chatting with John Eilertson, also in line for the ferry. He had a bike in the back of the pick-up. Turns out he owns a tugboat company based in Alaska - Southeast Marine Transportation, Inc. Years of working on boats, using gasoline as a solvent for cleaning machinery, has left him with a severe case of lead poisoning but he is battling it relentlessly and is biking on his good leg, hoping to build up the other most affected by the lead poisoning. His grandfather was a sailor who established the first sea turtle cannery in the Galapagos; his father fished off AK.
Tuesday, 5/11/10: We're about to make some lunch and hope to spend the rest of the day reading, with a break or two to re-organize our panniers so that we know where things are. We are reading a couple of books from Redfern Farm's library: Riley is reading In Full View, about Lewis & Clark's approach to the Pacific, and Becky is reading Sky Time in Gray's River by Robert Michael Pyle, a naturalist living in Gray's River, a small town in southwestern WA.
No comments:
Post a Comment