Leaving the Coast

Wednesday, May 30, 2012 - Day 14

I slept pretty well last night considering we were camping in the middle of a city.  We road down the street and stopped at "Pigs-N-Pancake" breakfast place.  It is a chain restaurant along the coast of Oregon.  It wasn't the best breakfast place we ate at during our tour but it was edible.  After eating we headed east on Hwy 18.  It had a really nice shoulder and was basically flat with some rolling hills.  And there were no headwinds!  During our ride we met a woman who was beginning her solo tour across America to Virginia.  She was looking for a road that was listed in the Cycling Adventures map but the entry wasn't coming up on her Garmin she had on her phone.  James always carries a hard copy of a map, got it out and showed her that it was best to stay on 101.  Our recommendation is to always have a hard copy of a real map -- James cuts out sections of the Gazetter and keeps them in Gallon sized Ziploc bags.

We stayed on Hwy 18 and rode through the Mountain pass that took us out of the Coastal range into the valley that had a lot of vineyards.  The mountain pass was very reasonable and it had a gorgeous river that we were able to ride by for awhile.  The shoulders had disappeared but the traffic wasn't bad.  We made our way toward McMinnville, OR.  McMinnville is located at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Yamhill River in the Willamette Valley. It is about 35 miles southwest of Portland. The city is home to Linfield College and the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

It has a very cute little historic downtown area and we stopped at Serendipity Ice Cream store.  It was the first time that I've felt discriminated against.  There were two women running the store and I went to the counter and they turned their backs and whispered to each other...as if they were flipping a coin to see who had to serve me.  I know I didn't look great but I always put a skirt over my cycling shorts and a bandana on my head.  They finally came over and took my order.  I made sure I paid in cash and left.  I wouldn't recommend this place -- the ice cream wasn't that great, it was overpriced, and the service wasn't good.

We kept going and rolled through a small town called Dundee, OR.  We didn't stop but it looked like it had some interesting art and good restaurants that served locally grown food.

We made a stop in Newberg, OR at the local bike shop and the manager and employers there were super nice!  We asked for guidance for the best way to get into Portland, OR and to our friend's house where we were staying until our flight left town.  We were advised to go up Hwy 219 to get to Portland.  It had some climbs but he said it was a really pretty backroad that the locals rode frequently.  We also asked about where we would go to get food and he recommended a place a few doors down from the bike shop.  The food was really good and they gave a very generous portion.

One of the things that has taken us by surprise is the behavior of people who are driving cars.  They actually stop to let us cross the street and give us the right-a-way.  In fact, we were at an intersection on the side of the road looking at a map trying to figure out where to go, we looked up, and every car at the intersection had stopped and was waiting for us to cross.  That is something that would never happen in Pennsylvania or anywhere we have lived on the East.

We decided to camp at Champoeg State Park (pronounced "shampoo eee" that was a few miles southeast of town.  It was easy to get to and it was a pretty ride out there.  The hike/bike area was in a really nice location in the campground.  It was near an open meadow and the nice part was it was warm because we had moved inland. This was the first night we didn't have to run to the bathroom and put on our wool leggings, wool socks, and wool base layer to stay warm as soon as we rolled in.

I can't believe that tomorrow we will be in Portland and our trip will be done in two days.  It seems like yesterday we were riding with Ian and Ronnie into Samuel P Taylor campground for our first night on our bike tour. At the time I was a little envious of them because they were completing their tour.  Now I wonder if they were envious of us since we were just starting ours.