Erich’s Journal -- Leg 04 – Northwest USA – Mt. Vernon, Washington, USA, to Brookings, Oregon, USA – July 31 to August 10, 2001 – 11 Days.

Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - Day 47 – Residence – Home of Sheppe & Marika Cutler Mt. Vernon, Washington, USA - cycled 47 miles / 76 km (See Washington Map)

It’s been over a month since we entered Canada. Although it seems so long ago, the days seem to be passing quickly. The day was leisure one. We woke up early traveling with Allan & Maggie Pendleton to catch the ferry across from Sydney BC to Anacortes, WA. After a long breakfast and barely making the ferry on time, we have a two-hour journey across. (See photos 0351, 0352, 0353, 0354, 0355, and 0356 )

Shortly after, we stopped for lunch on the Swinomish Indian Reservation at a casino. The idea was to eat at an all you can eat buffet but the buffet had closed prior to us getting there. By then I had broken another spoke on my newly fixed wheel. (I broke three by the end of the day) I think I’ll just start replacing the spokes myself… It’s cheaper and just as effective. Sounds like the new wheel will happen sooner than expected.

The ride ended after we overshot our destination by 8 miles and had to backtrack. We are now at the home of Sheppe & Marika Cutler (and William their son). Also very hospitable people with a comfortable atmosphere. Delicious steaks for dinner. (See photos 0357 and 0358) Tomorrow we hangout long enough to get the computer shipped off to get fixed and we’ll be on our way. A shipping service is coming here to pick it up between 1:00 & 4:00 so we’ll definitely have a late start.

Wednesday, August 1, 2001 -- Day 48 – State Campground – Fort Townsend State Park, Washington, USA - cycled 47 miles / 76 km

The Washington coastline amazes me. The narrow coastal highways are thick with traffic, but the local roads are virtually empty. (See photos 0359 and 0360)There are old farms mixed with wealthy houses. It is quite a mixture. It was a very comfortable ride today. I daydreamed often and the pace felt right. Our ride today took us to Whidbey Island then to Port Townsend by Ferry. (See photo 0361) It is our first night of camping in 5 days since Whistler. Our first bit of rain since then too! We stayed just outside of Port Townsend in an old army fort now turned in to a state park, Fort Townsend. (See photo 0362)

Thursday, August 2, 2001 – Day 49 – Campground – Elma, Washington, USA – cycled 99 mi / 159 km

A great day with a strong headwind. We came down the west side of Puget Sound passing through several small villages. Very beautiful. We left earlier and stopped more frequently. Feeling very good today! (See photos 0363, 0364 and 0365)

Friday, August 3, 2001 – Day 50 – Residence -- Kelso, Washington, USA – cycled 87 mi / 140 km (rode in car to Vancouver, Washington about 120 miles south of Kelso and stayed at a Luke’s, a friend of Brian’s. After our stay, we rode back by car and resumed)

Being in the lower 48 sure has added comfort to our lifestyle. Having a feeling of being “normal” is great after dealing with the mosquitoes, the truck’s and RV’s flying rocks. Currently we are in Vancouver Washington staying once again in a house. We cycled close to 190 miles in the past two days to Longview / Kelso, WA to meet Brian’s friend, Luke, who is one of Brian’s best friends. Luke picked us up and took us to his home for the weekend. Luke and his girl friend Lindsey were very hospitable. They showed us a great time and Lindsey even had a little party for us when we arrived. (See photos 0366 and 0367)

Saturday, August 4, 2001 – Day 51 – Residence – Vancouver, Washington, USA – Rest day.

Sunday, August 5, 2001 – Day 52 – Campground – Cathlamet, Washington, USA – cycled 27 mi / 43 km (See Oregon Map) (See photos 0368 and 0369)

Monday, August 6, 2001 – Day 53 – Campground – Manzanita, Oregon, USA – cycled 76 mi / 122 km (See photos 0370, 0371, 0372, 0373, 0374, 0375, 0376, 0377, 0378, 0379, 0380, 0381, 0382 and 0383)

Tuesday, August 7, 2001 – Day 54 – Campground – Lincoln City, Oregon, USA – cycled 82 mi / 132 km

The Oregon coastline has beauty like no other place I’ve seen. A combination of pine trees, sand dunes, & huge rocks that protrude from the water.

When the sun is out in the summer, I see why people flock here. Occasionally though, the clouds & rain moves in and thee temperature drops significantly. We are not the only ones basking in this beauty. There are dozens of other cyclists on the roads and in the campgrounds. We’ve been hitting the state campgrounds because they are considerably cheaper than the RV Parks and because of the Hiker/Biker sites that allow us to meet other cyclists. Hiker/biker sites are sites where cyclists are guaranteed camping for $4.00 per night. Can’t be turned away – which is good because we’ve discovered that most – if not all of the campgrounds are full. (See photos 0384, 0385, 0386, 0387, 0388, 0389, 0390, 0391, 0392, and 0393)

We are excited about our new terrain that we’ve hit, and are really looking forward to the next three weeks of riding to Dana Point, CA.

Wednesday, August 8, 2001 – Day 55 – Campground – Carl G. Washburn State Park, Oregon, USA – cycled 63 mi / 101 km

Thursday, August 9, 2001 – Day 56 – Campground – Charleston, Oregon, USA – cycled 72 mi / 116 km (See photos 0395 and 0396)

The days and nights have been somewhat damp since we’ve hit the pacific coast of Oregon. It seems to get wetter inside the tent that out each morning.

We’ve been bumping in to the same set of bikers for the past 4 days now. It’s quite the common adventure. One particular cyclist, named Cathy Summers, wants to join us during our Latin America Trip. When we first mentioned it to her on Monday, she was quite inquisitive about our trip. By Tuesday she announced to us that she wanted to do the trip.

Her plans now are to meet up with us in southern Arizona – perhaps Tombstone, perhaps Rio Rico – depending upon where we will be at the time. The trip just became more interesting!

Last night I could hear the seals and sea lions barking in the distant shore. It was muffled against the wind and waves.

I figure we have two more days of traveling in Oregon before we depart to California. This leg of thee trip is bringing back a lot of memories from the last time I did this trip back in the summer of 1996 with my nephew Tim and friend marc. We’ve even stayed in some of the same campgrounds.

Friday, August 10, 2001 – Day 57 – Campground -- Humbug State Park, Oregon, USA – cycled 61 mi / 98 km

As you head south out of Port Orford, you can see a magnificent coast line, one of which pictures cannot do justice. Tall spires shoot up out of the water. The coastline has mountains meeting the sea rather than a long sandy beach. (See picture 401) The coastal route, hwy 101, is cut right in to these mountains overlooking the Pacific. Then the highway cuts in to a valley next to Humbug Mountain just 6 miles south of town. It is here where we camped.

Today’s ride also brought us in to the town of Bandon, where we stopped off at the Bandon Cheese Company. We had heard from Becky, one of the others in our cycling group, that it was a “must see.” (See photos 0397, 0398, 0399 and 0400)

We were glad we did because they were giving out free cheese samples. Basically it was a help yourself kind of set up with toothpicks, little cubes of about 20 different kinds of cheese. It was enough to make a meal out of. What also made it worth stopping was the ice cream. For $130, I got a single scoop (which was more like a triple) of huckleberry Ice cream in a waffle cone. Great Lunch.

Our cycling group is now consisting of 7. Ian, Becky, & Mike are traveling together from Ashland Oregon. Cathy is from Colorado. Jeremiah is from Fairbanks. We also met a 57-year-old from Florida who was traveling from Vancouver to Tijuana. We met another man named Rob (Originally from Tucson, but now Colorado) who had been on the road almost as long as we have. He is cycling and spreading Cancer Awareness as he goes. The ACA is sponsoring him as well. He started in Colorado and is working his way to Los Angeles.

Tomorrow will be our last cycling day in Oregon. (See photos 0401, 0402, 0403, 0404, 0405, 0406 and 0407)

Saturday, August 11, 2001 – Campground -- Brookings, Oregon, USA – cycled 50 mi / 80 km

Another beautiful day – in fact one of the prettiest coastal areas we’ve encountered to date. The 101 highway had very little traffic. There was very little development on the route, which was nice. We had a light trip – got in early because we wanted to have a day of hanging out with our new cycling group – most of which were finishing today. We got in to camp at Harris Beach at about 3:30 and basically just relaxed. (See photos 0408, 0409, 0410, 0411, 0412, 0413 and 0414) We went in to Brookings and had a nice Mexican dinner.