Friday - Day 6 of Tour - The Road goes on forever but the party never ends!

Well, I suppose at the beginning of all great journeys there is the inevitability that the end will come and all one is left with is memories of the path charted. As I sit, back again, at Laura and Davey's, eating Tillamook Ice Cream, and satisfied from again the most amazing dinner of pork(triple cooked), salad and rice I think back over the past week with such joy and amazement. Was it really just a week ago that the longest bike ride I had ever been on was maybe 5 miles?? Well it was and this past week has brought such wonderful experiences, I hope you've been able to find the enjoyment of our trip through our dissertations each night, because it has been difficult to put into words.

Hey, Dave, quite being all sappy already, what happened today????

Ok, ok, here it goes. We woke up this morning just south of Florence Oregon at the Driftwood Shores Resort. It was mighty cold this morning and many of our compatriots wore pants or tights of some sort as they set out on their ride, Sara and I stuck to out trusty spandex shorts. (Who would have EVER thought that one would become SO accustomed to wearing spandex shorts, Sheesh!) Our ride today was going to be pretty short and flat, mostly an eastern stint into the mainland where we would finish our ride just outside or Eugene OR, GO DUCKS!!!

As we were heading out we flanked a beautiful river with sand dunes on both sides. The road was pretty bumpy though. Apparently there must have been some construction going on at some point because sure enough, I SPEARED a nice long nail right through my tires. pssssssssssssss. My 2nd flat of the trip, first while riding. Just as you pin a button on a shirt, this nail had pierced both my tire and tube. Luckily our trusty guide John was right along with us at that point and he gladly changed out my tire for me with the tools stowed on my bike. He inflated the tire best he could but encouraged me to look out for big bumps until a van came by and we could inflate the tire for real. Well, I did the best i could I promise, but about 3/4 of a mile down the road, I heard a very similar hissing from my back tire again. Somehow, I'd blown the new tube again!!!! GEEEZ! This was not turning out to be such a great ride. But John was super cool about it all, and told me to absolutely not worry about it, it happens all the time. So we called in one of the vans and we quickly changed out tires and I was back on my way. Thanks John and Dave!!!

We finally got along State Route 126 then SR 36 and enjoyed some yet again wonderful scenery as we traced along the Siuslaw River towards Eugene. We stopped about 1/2 way along the road at a great road side cafe/store for a bathroom break and a wonderful 'Date bar' (the fruit), much better than any of the pre-packaged stuff in the van.

We continued out our last 10 miles or so, not wanting it to end, but yearning for the moment we could relieve our rear-ends from the prolonged wear and tear of a 250 mile trip. We finally arrive at a small shaded park just set off the road for our last lunch together. Wilder prepared an EXTRAORDINARY lunch of pesto sun-dried tomato tortellini, salad and fresh watermelon. We all were happy to change out of our riding gear and spend a few casual moments together before packing up the vans and heading up the road.

About an hour up the road we stopped off at a rest area to for a quick restroom break and to say our last "see-ya-laters", no goodbyes here, as each van was headed for different destinations in Portland.

I'm reminded of the last days at Camp Sea-Gull/Seafarer or in college, where each of us are so happy for the shared experiences, sad about leaving one another, but very much looking forward to the times that our paths will cross again. We said 'see ya later' to the other van full and made our way back to Portland.

We gave Laura and ETA of 5:15, and we weren't too far off. We gave our 'till next times' to our van mates and made our way back to northwest Portland, to Laura and Davey's.

When we set out on this journey, we were hoping to create memories that would last a lifetime. Well we accomplished that 10x fold, we each grew in confidence as cyclists, but more importantly we made some wonderful friends, that in potentially no other way would we have come in contact with, and for that we are thankful.

Throughout this wonderful journey, there were many people that we would have liked to have along, but on the top of our list is our brother Brian. Brian was working this summer at the Kentucky Governor's Scholar program and did not have the opportunity to make the trip with us, but never fear B-man this, or something like this SHALL be repeated and you're coming with us, we don't care what you have to say about it!! Love ya man!

James Taylor's 'Country Road' is playing in the background here at the house and it seems like very fitting song to wrap up the tour. I hope any and all of you who chose to follow along our journey have enjoyed keeping up with us, I will tell you that the words written here didn't even scratch the surface of the enjoyment of our trip, but it may have helped to give a small glimpse.

Look forward to seeing all of you soon!
David Heyburn

Songs of the day:
Re-mix to Ignition - R. Kelly
Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay-Z
Country Road- James Taylor
Road Goes on Forever - Robert Earl Keen


Beer:
Bridgeport Blue Herron Pale Ale
New Belgium 1554

Thursday - Day 5 of Tour - Foggy Mountain Breakdown

Today was another high-mileage day in the saddle, but by this point in the trip, hey we're pros right??....riiight!

We woke up to a beautiful, crisp, and sunny morning in Newport, which we welcomed since we feared serious cold after the chill-(brrr)-ly night before. We knew we had a long day ahead of us, something like 56 miles, which may have been our longest day yet, but today was not going to be as hilly as Tuesday. After a nice breakfast and the realization that I had lost my sunglasses, AHHHH!!!!! (NEVER buy expensive sunglasses, for just that reason, I ended up borrowing some from the tour guides that had been left over from a previous trip, pheww) Sara and I headed over the Newport Bay bridge and headed down Hwy 101 for to set out on our day's trip. Hwy 101 is a the road that extends from Seattle down through most if not all of California. It can be fairly busy, so we have to be especially careful with all of the traffic going by us. We look out for each other, Mom, so don't worry. I'm here writing about it aren't I?

The morning was a very nice ride, not too many hills, mostly just the roll of the coastline. We stopped at Seal Rock which was one of many of the nice stop offs along our entire trip. While we had our camera out, all of the rest of the group was taking group shots, and after about a million pictures, or so it seemed, Sara and I opted to get a photo emailed to us, so we gathered up our things (or so we thought) and headed along our way.

We arrived in Yachats (yah-haht-s) for lunch at the State Park (just down the street from the Landmark Restaurant, the place with the WONDERFUL Clam chowder, mom and dad, remember?). Sara called to me over to the coast with all of the crashing rocks and said "Hey, come get a picture!". So I scurried over to my bike to grab the camera, and I looked in the bike pouch... no camera. Sara had stuffed her jacket in the pouch at Seal Rock, so maybe its bundled up in her jacket... no camera.. All possible places... No Camera. NOT AGAIN!!! This was the 2nd time we've mis-placed the camera if we didnt say that in a previous post. So you know me, I"m freaking out and so p.o'ed at myself. I knew I'd left it back at Seal Rock... 10 miles back. AHH. Sara tried to calm me down, assuring me someone behing us probably picked it up and will have it for us when they arrive. Well, I'm just a wreck, you know me, when somethings wrong I have a hard time calming down until it's fixed. And sure enough while we're finishing up our cookies, our 2nd rescue ranger of the trip, Dave (another Dave), starts asking people if they left a camera. ME!!!!!!! sure, enough, just as Sara had suspected. I hate it when she's right!

So anyhoo, we finished up lunch and headed down the road. We stopped off briefly at Cape Perpetua, which was one of my favorite places the last time we were out to Oregon, but opted not to climb a 1 1/2 mile nearly straight up on our bikes, we simply looked at the cove, the tide was out so was not as spectacular as before, but still nice. so we headed on. As got beyond Cape Perpetua, we started the climb for the day, and as we got further up in elevation the fog off the ocean started to creep in around us and boy was it cold!!! Both of our chapped lips and nose were causing a bit of discomfort all around. We made it to Haceta Head park with the trailhead up to the lighthouse, but again with our funky cycling shoes, we opted against a bunch of walking and again thought towards getting on the hotel for some hot baths and naps :)

As we got beyond Haceta Head we hit our only tunnel of the trip, where we had to hit a button that set out flashing lights at the beginning of the tunnel notifying drivers at the entrance of the tunnel that we were inside, but no cars came while we went through, phew! We continued up the mountain through the fog, trying not to think about our chapped faces, and then we hit a construction stop!! The were doing some resurfacing on part of the road, so they had the 2 lanes down to one. We waited until the guy gave us the go ahead and booked it through the construction zone as not to aggravate the drivers behind us.

Right after the construction zone we finally hit our down hill and took in some yet again amazing views of the coast, with beach, craggy rocks and a few lakes just off shore. When we hit the bottom on the flats, the fog had lifted, or we left it behind and the sky was clear and were again able to enjoy the beautiful day!!

As we turned off Hwy 101 and headed to our hotel for the night, the wind off the ocean really kicked us in the face and made us work for the last 2 miles before we finished up for the day!


After some nice hot baths, that were so earnestly deserved, both Sara and I hit the hay from some serious napping. Its not like we've been active at all this week right?? Oh, was that great!

We finally came to, and got dressed for our group wine and cheese party. We all gathered in the guides room which was nice and spacious, for some nice social time with the group. We've really made some wonderful friends on this trip, many of whom we plan to keep in touch with. They've all been great about listening to all of the happenings in both of our lives and kind about giving advice and insight. The people have just been great! During the party we played a game that Sara and I throughly enjoyed, and you'll see why! Most everyone brought 3 $1 dollar bills to the party and our guide Dave gave us the instructions. He had 3 die, but not normal dice, these had a black dot on some sides, an 'L' on some sides, and 'R' on some sides and a 'C' on the other, the game was you roll as many die as you have dollars in your hand with the max at 3 (that's all the dice we had) and if you turn up a black dot you keep a dollar, turn up an 'L' you give 1 dollar to the person on your left, and an 'R' give one to your right, but if you turn up a 'C' you put on dollar in the middle, the 'pot'. With the idea being, we go around the circle as many times as it takes until only 1 person is left with money in their hand, and they win the pot. Well I quickly had 0 dollars in my hand, and not to long afterwards Sara was empty handed as well, but by the nature of the game, since other people can hand you money your not out of the game until the game is over. Anyway, it all made sense while we were playing. A few people racked up a lot of cash during the game then for some it quickly all went away, some how towards the end of the game 1 dollar started creeping around the circle towards me. and just as Joan, who was sitting to my left rolled and 'R', therefore handing me the dollar the only other person in the game with a dollar, turned up a 'C' and I WON!!!!!!! HOLY MOLEY!!!!! I WON!!!!!!! 54 dollars!!!!! And while Sara will claim that since I borrowed the 3 dollars to play the game from her, she owned part of the pot, I kindly split the pot out of the goodness of my heart with my beloved sister. You pick which story you want to believe.

After the wine and cheese party, we had again a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant. We sat with Grace and Larry, a super-'cute' couple who we've come to know fairly well over the trip. We had a great time getting to chat with them again over dinner about anything from AAA baseball (Tucson Sidewinders) to Grace and Sara talking about love and faith.

We're winding down after another wonderful day, looking forward to tomorrow although we will certainly be saddened to bring the trip to a close. It has been beyond wonderful so far, we will certainly milk it for all its worth.

Until then....
Cheers!


Songs of the Day:
Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin
Perfect Time of Day - Howie Day
Money - Pink Floyd

Beer:
McTarnahans Amber Ale
Bridgeport IPA

Wednesday - Day 4 of Tour - Take it Easy Now

Tonights posting is scribed primarily by Sara, if anything to mix things up a bit, but David is still trying to battle off the last bits of the sniffles and as most of his previous posts have been stream of consciousness thoughts, his stream of consciousness right now is a bit like molasses!!

Well, today was our 'lay-over'/'easy day', and it certainly was easier, though I would hesitate to truly call it easy. We still did cover a good 27 miles, riding from our hotel in Lincoln City all the way to Newport. It was one of the prettiest days yet however, which had us all eagerly jumping on the bikes after a bit more leisurely start (9 instead of 8am). The morning ride was full of breathtaking ocean cliffs, majestic views of the Pacific in all it's finery. We saw such spectacles as The Devil's Punch Bowl--a rock formation where the ocean waves come in to a little rock inlet and spray forth at will, making a scene that amounts to something close to a witch's cauldron right off the ocean. We stopped by two magnificent light houses on our journey today. One, the Yaquina (yuh-quinn-uh) Head light house which had a great path around the light house that gave information about its history and some details about types of birds gathered on the rocks that sat just off shore. We also saw the Yaquina Bay light house that guarded the entrance to the Port of Newport. This light house was more like a house that had a lantern on top of it, very neat! The whole ride was up and down the mountainside next to the coast, with a near constant view of the water. The sun was out from the time we started, and though we were all a bit mellowed by the big ride yesterday, it was most enjoyable. After a relaxing lunch at cute little cafe in Nye Beach, David and I ambled our way on bikes to the Old Town section of Newport. Here we took in the shops, enjoyed a steaming bowl of clam chowder from the famous Mo's Cafe (thanks to Brad's travel agent tips!), and checked out all the fishing boats coming in and out of the harbor there. We even stumbled upon a sea-lion/otter swimming belly up in the port, we could tell that he must be on vacation as well!! It was so nice to have some free time, and we soaked it up without hesitation. After making our way back to the hotel for hot showers and a little 'feet-up' time, we shoved off on foot, braving the ocean winds that had brought the air temperature down drastically since our morning ride, and headed back into Nye for a low key dinner. We had some terrific fish tacos and Rogue American Ales at another cute cafe in town. After a quick post-tacos walk however, we both readily admitted that the stomachs were just not topped off yet. Truly our father's children, I suppose! Though someone on our trip with a heart monitor informed us yesterday that most riders burn about 4,500 calories a day on these trips, which might have had something to do with our rumbling tummies....In any case, since it was so cold by this time--8:30pm--we headed back to the hotel for a great oceanside seat in their restaurant and chowed down on some chicken and cheese nachos! Not only that, but we had perfect seats for the sunset, which was mesmerizing, as expected on a perfectly clear night like this. Finally feeling fat and sassy, we've come up to the room for an early crash-night, as tomorrow starts bright and early with breakfast at 7am, followed by a strong 57 mile ride over the course of the morning and afternoon. Whew! It will be our last big effort though, with only a half-day on Friday and lunch before busing back to Portland. Sad to think it's almost coming to an end!!












Favorite Beers of the Trip:
Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Black Butte Porter
Fat Tire
Rogue American Amber

Songs for the day:
Smooth Rider - Dave Matthews Band
Set Me in Motion - Bruce Hornsby
I am a Lighthouse - Nickel Creek

Tuesday - 53 miles - Day 3 of Tour

***Sara's comment's in BOLD face type--and a qualifier: I tend to spend a good bit of our limited evening room time talking to Mr. Northcut, so my thanks to Dave for taking the lead on our updates! I do play editor-in-chief, as well as commentator however. And all the smiley faces are mine as well, shocker.)

Greetings all. Before I begin our daily recap of the day, I will just say that tonight's posting will be significantly shorter than our previously verbose posts for a couple of reasons. After 59 miles of riding, one is significantly more tired than on other rides, and we have an opportunity to sleep in tomorrow, so the chance of getting some much needed rest is a priority. Also, I have caught a bit of a cold over the past day that I am trying to fight off, so again rest will play a major part in the overall enjoyment of the trip and in our ability to then relay our wonderful experiences back to our friends and fam. :) We really concentrated on cycling today, so our picture taking was limited, plus we thought the camera battery was about to die.

Last night we spent the night in Tillamook, a big dairy farming area. Now for those of you who realize that milk has many steps before you pick it up from the grocery store, you would quickly realize that 'dairy farm area' will bring thoughts of certain.... aromas shall we say. So we quickly learned how to breathe out of our mouths and headed out of town, post haste!! Though only after a seriously kickin' breakfast at 7am. Omlettes were the order of the day for us both--mine with spinach, tomatoes, and Gruyere, David's with ham, mushrooms and cheddar--all cheese from the local dairy farm that we'd visited the day before. Hashbrown cassrole was perfect accompaniment to cheesy eggs and toast! Mmmmm. Eating might be my favorite activity, second only to cycling of course, on this trip. Well, and sleep.

In our morning 'route talk' Johnny told us that today was going to be the most difficult day of riding on the trip, and he was right!! At mile 8 we had a SERIOUS 2-mile steep climb up to a state park viewing area. Since it was cold and I was fighting back the sniffles, I decided to save my energy for the miles yet to come in the day as it warmed up a bit, so I took the van up the 2 mile hill while Sara chugged out the hill in the saddle.... (and was first of the group to make it to the top, ahe, ahe). Now for those of you calling me a wuss, don't worry I made up for it later.

The viewing area at the top of the hill again gave us some wonderful views looking out over the cliffs. The cliffs literally fall off into the ocean. Cliffs that were 100-200 feet STRAIGHT UP!!! The park area also had a tree that Johnny called the "octopus tree" It was crazy!!!! 8 or more limbs that are as big around as most regular trees.

After the views we took off for a 30 mile ride before lunch through all sorts of, yet again, beautiful country, though not without a good bit of difficult terrain that fully initiated us into the cycling community. Sara and I commented that we can no longer say that "we are just getting into cycling." We're into it, and it's SO MUCH FUN!!!!

There were some fairly difficult climbs, and wonderful declines, which I'm thinking may have led to a bit of my sniffles. You really work up a sweat climbing the hills, then the wind is almost cold as it blasts by you on the way down.

A lot of the morning ride was along the Pacific coast, which made for great distraction from what work was going on from the torso down..... (don't even go there, you know what I mean)

We had a great pub-fare lunch at the Pelican Pub in Pacific City, right on the beach with volleyball players (yeah, Brad!), kite fliers and other people out enjoying a Tuesday afternoon. (where and when do THEY work?? I want to fly a kite and play beach volleyball on Tuesdays at 1:00pm. WTF???)

Anyway we headed out for a 20+ ride in the afternoon with yet more challenging terrain, including some climbs that elicited a few "COME ON DAVE" blurts from me. When we did have some flats Sara and I always took advantage of the chance to get some quality brother/sister talk time. On one such occasion, as we were chatting away, we were also quickly approaching our tour van that was parked along the side with other cyclists hanging around. We figured they were all just getting things on their bikes checked or what not... so we hollered, waved, and subsequently whizzed by them, heading for the gargantuan hill looming in front of us. It looked like a big guy, so we tried to gain as much momentum as possible at the bottom to help us on the climb to the top. Did I mention already that this was a tough hill? Well, we were really concentrating on keeping efficient pedal strokes and attacking this hill with all we had in us. I mean, the sooner you get to the top, the sooner you down the other side. We got probably about a mile up the hill, when we heard "Hey!!!!.......SARA!!!......HEY!!!!!!!.......TURN AROUND!!!!!!" coming from behind us. Steve, another cyclist in our group, had chased us up this HUGE hill to tell us that... we were going in the wrong direction, slump! Sure enough, we were supposed to turn left at the van, and had been told at the route talk that "if you find yourself going up hue-!*#$*@#$, long hill.... you're going in the wrong direction" WHOOPS!!!!

So when we finally got back down to where we supposed to turn, my odometer matched exactly with were our course chart matched up with that directive. So any of the mileage lost by taking the van the first time... I made it up, SEE!!! THERE! Right. navigator extraordinaire. Did he mention who is the one keeping track of directions for us as we ride. Uh, huh. I'll give you a clue. It's not me. :)

But nonetheless, we got going in the right direction again, and promised Steve that we would buy our rescue ranger beers at dinner. And so we carried on. Finally, we entered another state park, where the climb lasted FOREVER!!! A solid 8 miles of gut-check climbing. When we at last reached the top, we both expressed sighs of great accomplishment. To the tune of savage crys of joy let loos acorss the mountain top. Followed by belting out lines from some of our songs of the day. We then met up with our group outside of the Otis Cafe in Otis, and hopped in the van to our hotel for the night.

Dinner was our "nice dinner" of the trip so we all donned our semi-dressy-yet-rugged-reflective apparel and headed out for another surf-and-turf dinner. The food was wonderful, again with a spectacular view, yet the creeping exhaustion still came over us, and we were 'thinking kindly of our beds.'


Today sets up to be a relaxing day, with a short ride and time to hangout around Newport, will be ready for a little respite and recharge.



Songs for the day
Carry on My wayward son - Kansas
Crosstown Traffic - Jimi Hendrix
Ride - G. Love
Let it Ride - Ryan Adams

Monday = FUNDAY!!! Day 2 of Tour!

Item of note: Tonight's Blog entry is a joint-venture entry. Both of us contributed because between the 2 of us we have the energy of 1 at this hour in the game. Dave's story is in black, Sara's additions in Green. CHEERS!!! - DH

As Sara and I wrap up day 2 of our trip here in Oregon, we are both dead tired from a day of multi-sport vacation activities!!! We woke up this morning prepared for a hike!!! Yes we actually do a few things other than cycling on this trip. I have to make a quick comment about our tour guides: our three tour guides are John McIntyre (Johnny Mac), Dave, and Wilder.... yes that's his name Wilder. All three of them have been beyond awesome and talented in their own repects. Johnny leads the charge with his high energy, Dave... the culinary wiz and just completely laid back guy, and Wilder the recent college grad who is all into outdoor activities and is totally hitting his stride as a tour guide. Their attention to detail has been SPECTACULAR!! All the details are taken care of, and all we have to do is kill it each day in the saddle.

But anyway, we woke up this morning to a foggy mist, and set out for our morning hike. The waiter at dinner last night had overheard us talking about the hike, and chimed in that it was an awesome trail. We arrived at the trailhead, were given the basic directions (one foot in front of the other and follow the trail) and we embarked on our hike. Now I've not really been much of a hiker, walking through the woods hasn't always appealed to me. This hike made me a TOTAL convert!!! This was the most spectacular adventure through the coastal mountains of Oregon. With the morning fog hanging through the trees, the feeling was completely ethereal. A cathedral in the woods, with trees instead of columns, and God's beautiful creation in all it's majesty. God is quite a gardener!! (insert Sara): My favorite of the wildflowers has to be the purple foxglove--I think that is what it's called. I made David take a trillion pictures of it b/c it's so intricate, bright, and plentiful around here. Like little purple bells. The conversation on the trail was almost as spectacular as the scenery. Though we'd made friends with nearly everyone on the trip from the get-go, something about trekking through nature in all it's majesty in the early morning, brings people even more together. Maybe too much so...One of our lovely compatriots expressed utter amazement when she found out we were brother and sister, not husband and wife, exclaiming "I don't believe it! You're way too nice to each other to be related!" So there you go, Mom--kudos I suppose:) Ok, back to D's story: Walking along with brush on all sides, all of a sudden, for a few paces, we would be able to look out over the ocean, for miles and miles, until the sea blended with the fog. Such a feeling to be on the side of a beautiful mountain, feeling so minuscule in the vast beauty around us. We arrived at one particular clearing, when Wilder notified us that we could continue around the bend on the most heavily trodden path, or we could scale up the side of the hill and meet up with the path on the other side, so of course we went straight up! When we made it to the top, we found an metal ammunition box filled with notes and mementos of other hikers who had been in the same spot, so cool.

As we descended the face of the mountain, towards our lunch spot, the views of the cliffs and the ocean, yet again were indescribable. I felt like from where we stood we had a special and unique view of God's wonderful creation, bringing a sense of humility over us.

We finally did arrive at the bottom with stomachs hungry for lunch. However, lunch was still being prepared, so it was suggested that we take another small trail towards the beach, so we decided to seek it out. WHAT AN AMAZING PLACE!!! The beach was an inlet cove that drew a lot of surfers from around the area. The water is freezing cold, so they all had full body wetsuits. The beach extended for several hundred yards with tide pools and driftwood all around. This trip is much about putting all cares away and doing whatever brings us joy at the moment. So what did we do? Cartwheels of course!!! Yeah, getting 6'4" inverted in a circle is quite an adventure in and of itself. What fun to act like a child!! Maybe its not acting like a child, maybe its just being ourselves and we've just pretended to grow up. S: And let's not forget my stellar handstand--on the sand no less--nice. :)

Lunch, yet again, was DEE-licious, cold-cut sandwiches and fruit (S): scrumptious, juice-filled fresh peaches). When we set out on our ride in the afternoon we were yet again welcomed with breath taking ocean views and great countryside roads. Its hard to keep saying that the view we are seeing are indescribable, so I feel like I can't really keep talking about them. But they truly are some of the most wonderful, calming, pristine, any other slew of adjectives here, views.... WOW!!!!

I, David, experienced my first injury of the trip. After a quick error in reading the directions and deciding what direction to go, my shoe didn't come out of my clip right and I toppled over, scrapping my calf on the pedal crank... ouch! But a gauze and wrap later, we're on our way.

Another long ride along the backside of the coast which we (S, now, David is much too exhausted to continue) are too exhausted to describe with real justice, so check out our pictures. They speak for themselves. But a quick note about our pleasant stops along the way--first a quaint vineyard then a dairy farm for cheese and ice cream that was out of this world. One thing about this trip--you never stop moving, so bottomless pit syndrome is in FULL effect. Dinner was great too, speaking of eating. A little place called Pirates' Cove where we filled up on fresh Halibut, warm bread, potatoes, and the like. Not shabby, but now so ready for bed it hurts! 'Til tomorrow...when the gas gets going again--early and often from the look of the itinerary. Hope my little legs can hold up!


Cheers!! D&S

Songs for the Day:
Superfreak - Rick James
Here Comes the Sun - George Harrison (Beatles)
Blue Skies - Willie Nelson
Blue Sky- Allman Brothers

Sunday - Day One of Tour, WOW!!!!

Day 1; AMAZING!!!! Sara and I woke up this morning to another wonderful meal by Davey and Laura: bacon egg, and more of Laura's fabulous homemade bread; great fuel for the adventure ahead. We met up with our van at the Courtyard Marriott by the airport, met our energetic Head Tour Leader - Johnny Mac, and made a few introductions to our fellow tourmates. We loaded up our van, full of bikes, luggage and people, then headed into Portland to meet up with our OTHER VAN of cyclists. We have 24 touristers on this trip and we pack 2 vans with trailers full!

Once all were assembled, we drove 2 hours up to Astoria, Oregon. The time passed by very quickly because our typical Heyburn desire to get to know everyone kicked in and we had a great time meeting all of the neat people that were along for this adventure with us. We have a standout group of people, who hail from all over the United States. We've met a dynamite foursome from New York; a 'traveling team' comprised of 2 sisters and their husbands (who incidentally look like identical twins--the husbands, that is). Some folks from Virginia--- WAHOOWA! A number of people from California, and the list goes on. We are definitely the youngest tourists on the trip, but everyone has been really great!

When we arrived in Astoria, the 3 guides on our tour went into overdrive getting all of the bikes ready, getting everyone adjusted properly, attaching pedals, pumping up tires, quick shifting tutorials, etc... BUT WOW WAS THE SCENERY AMAZING!!! We couldn't ask for better weather to kick off our trip. Crystal blue sky, a wonderful breeze, a beautiful lake to look out over. I mean heaven might be on earth, and I think it's in Oregon!

Once we were all properly fitted, we took a 12 miles ride around the Fort Stevens State Park, which took us along the beach to check out an old ship wreck, along the Columbia river for a bit and through some great trails. All in all a very valuable, let alone fun, warm-up orientation ride. We only got lost once.... haha.











We came back to the park, for a most wonderful lunch with a great fruit salad, chicken salad with chinese noodles, PB&J. A wonderfully tasty lunch that didn't sit too heavy for the upcoming ride.

After lunch, our REAL trip began. The first stop was at Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark weathered their last winter at the end of the long cross country discovery. Our funky cycling shoes aren't too easy to walk in and the Fort tour was going to require a bit of walking, so Sara and I decided to take our chances and take off on the next part of the tour on our own. We had directions, we're both decently intelligent.... LETS GO!!! If we get lost, we get lost together.


The ensuing ride was absolutely incredible!! We had such a great time, taking the flats easy allowing wonderful chat time, making sure to take in the immense beauty that surrounded us. We rode through wheat fields, an old dairy farm, up hills, around bends, with views that leave you faltering for adequate descriptive phrases. It seemed like every turn we came around one of us called to the other, "can you BELIEVE THIS!?!?!?!" Stunningly beautiful the whole way. The experience of taking to the open road upon your two legs is a wonderful feeling. The road is yours (except for the few cars, of course) but you truly feel connected to the scenery around you. I felt like I was cycling through a painting for much of the day. Since the mountains on the west coast literally fall off into the ocean, the decline into Seaside was quite a thrill, coasting downhill most of the way, wind rushing through your hair, and yelling "wEEEEEEE" just like we're 9 yrs old.




When we got to the hotel, sure enough, beers we're waiting for us. SWEET! Did I mention it was Fat Tire, among others. We welcomed the other riders in and enjoyed a few moments reminiscing about the wonderful ride we'd all experienced, each of us enjoying it differently, but not a frown in the group!



A nice hot shower later, we headed to dinner at a nice little cajun restaurant, Lil' Bayou. The food was wonderful. I got a shrimp jumbalaya (spicy!!) and Sara got a repeat performance of salmon--though not quite up to the Laura/Davey standards--but then, how it could it be? In any case, we enjoyed wonderful company and wonderful food.

A nice after dinner stroll up to the boardwalk, and it's time to call it a wrap. Peace out my friends. Editorial Note: though this is written in the first person (David), I (Sara) am adding commentary and notes of my own--definitely joint venture--though David gets the lion's share of the credit--isn't he the best?! :)

Songs for the day:
I want to ride my bicycle - Queen
Goin' in the right direction - Robert Randoph
Feels just like it should - Pat Green

Saturday!!! Arrived in Oregon

TOUCHDOWN!!! Friday has been a WONDERFUL beginning to our trip in Oregon, and all thanks needs to be given to our wonderful family, Laura Dalton and David Renner, our gracious hosts for the evening.

Both Sara and I had stops that we weren't expecting in our flights out. Sara was in Phoenix
and I layed over a bit in Chicago. Once we did arrive on the West Side, the vacation chords were chiming instantly. Davey took us to a hill on our trip home from the airport where we could see Mount Hood and Mount Helena, both majestic bits of this country. I'm struck by the beauty of our world by being here in Oregon, the feeling is much different than that of Kentucky or Tennessee. The foliage here is lush and there is a feeling of cleanliness and intentioanality. People are really in tune with the environment around them--awsome!

Laura and Davey live in a great home in nortwest Portland, that totally fits their personalities and interests. Minimalist yet very intricate in is functionality. Laura and Davey maintain nothing short of their own eco-system in their back yard. From catching and utlizing rainwater, to keeping and raising chickens, growing asparagus, apples, tomatoes, and oh yeah their own Bee-hive!! Its really cool to see that passions that they have put into their property.

Sara put Davey to work in his utiltarian skills by assembling her bike for her, which she had shipped out here to Oregon. Davey got it together very quickly, and Sara gave great support. Hey, at least Sara pumped up the tires. And we all took it for a spin around the hood to just to be sure all parts were a go.








To cap off the evening, Laura and Davey treated us to a dinner fit for KINGS(--and Queens, ahe)!! Freshly caught salmon out of the Columbia river along with steak, a wonderful salad, homemade bread and then a Laura Dalton delicacy: FRUIT PIE!!! YUMM!!!!!! We are fat and sassy as we wrap up the night. The anticpation and excitement for our forthcoming adventure is palatable. And tastes DEE-licious. :)