Day 7 | HELLO JIM, Goodbye washington
Distance
61 miles
Elevation Climbed
1,515 ft
Landscape
Marsh, coastline, small towns
Weather
Partly cloudy, 55-60 F
Jim’s Notes:
Hello I’m Jim Reilly from Panama City Beach, Fl. Today I had the awesome pleasure with my great friends from CT on what is Day 1 for me and Day 7 for Kirsten and Lars. The epic journey down the coast of Washington and Oregon.
My two daughters and I drove 3069 miles in three days to arrive in South Bend, Wa at 8:30 pm Fathers Day Sunday. The Best Fathers Day ever! We woke early to prepare for our 62 miles trek to Seaside, Oregon and departed at 8:16 am. Right out of the gate a half mile down the road we could smell the salt water marsh and oysters. I knew then it would a great ride. The views were spectacular along the way and before we knew it we were in our first major ascent. It was slowly but successfully for me as I have little hills in flat Florida to train on. The scenery continued to amaze us. We stopped for a little snack before what would be an illuminating crossing of the great Columbia River. There are only two lanes and construction with winds and logging trucks to make things interesting.
We came to the Flag woman controlling traffic. To our surprise she said we will stop traffic both ways for us to make the treacherous ascent over the steep steel Goliath. So all traffic stopped and Lars and Kirsten sped up the bridge and I lagged having to walk about half mile before hopping back on and pressing on over. It was only the three of us and it was surreal. As I passed the other Flag man he was all smiles and supportive and then allowed the other traffic flow. It was literally the climax! We now entered Oregon via the Columbia River crossing and continued on for 20 more miles taking a couple smaller side paths though Sunset Beach and to our final destination of Seaside!!
Words cannot not explain the experience or beauty and precious time I was blessed to have with Kirsten and Lars today. The fitting end was Lewis and Clark’s final stop at the Pacific Ocean which was symbolic for me as this was my longest bike ride of my life! Thanks Kirsten and Lars for the support and time today and the one of the best experiences of my life! Look forward to more adventures down the coast!
Lars’ Notes:
How many people have friends that would drive over 3000 miles from Florida to Washington to join our ride along the Oregon coast. Thankfully we do! Last night, we welcomed the arrival of Jim, Kelsy and Erin, after having spent 30+ hours in the car. What a treat to see the crew from Florida. We spent a great evening catching up, enjoying the company and convincing Jim to ride with us on Monday. He was slick in dodging the question, and was strong in his resolve to say “I’ll decide after I get some sleep.” I arose at 5:30 am to a bright eyed Jim. After I hesitantly asked, “what do you think”, he enthusiastically said “let’s do this”! We departed directly from the AB&B in South Bend. The headed south and hugged the coast of Willapa Bay. We stayed close to sea level so the terrain was mostly flat. We were blessed with wonderful views of the bay and easy cruising with minimal output. We had one easy climb, less than a mile in length and no more than 8%.
We stopped at a gas station for a break in the fishing town of Chinook. The guy at the gas pump sported an open shoulder holster with a semi-automatic pistol on one side and a few ammo magazines on the other. The other folks clearly worked at a fish processing facility, it was easy to tell since they all smelled like dead fish! We didn’t stay long.
Moving on, we skirted the coast, passed the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge and ended up at the border between Washington and Oregon. We needed to cross the mighty Columbia River over the Astoria Bridge. This is a 3.7 mile long bridge with a minimal shoulder. It was quite intimidating since the bridge carries huge RV’s, commercial traffic and unforgiving logging trucks. I nervously anticipated this crossing. As we started, I was relieved that there was less traffic and more shoulder than I imagined, but it was riddled with debris and there was a stiff wind from west to east. Additionally, there was construction, the bridge narrowed to one lane, allowing only traffic from one direction at a time. As we approached the construction zone, we met the safety officer directing traffic. She stopped us and said to us “when I release traffic from this side, you wait. I will then stop traffic from both sides while you cross the bridge. We will hold all traffic until you cross”… We literally had the bridge to ourselves. It was a steep climb, 8% or more. It would have been terrifying to cross with two opposing lanes of traffic, but instead, it was an unbelievable experience! I tried to avoid eye contact with the motorists waiting, figuring they would be annoyed. Many likely were, but I focused on the few that simply cheered us on. We were now in Oregon. With 20 or so miles left we alternated between the State HW 101 and some beautiful coastal neighborhoods with magnificent views of the coast. We ended on Sunset Beach in Seaside, OR. This happened to be at the termination point of the Lewis and Clark Trail (very cool). Lise joined us for a few cold beers at a local establishment; concluded a great day.
Kirsten’s Notes:
Dad and I have picked up another biker for (part of) the Oregon Coast! Jim, a long-time family friend, was hesitant to come out with us today after pulling an all-nighter driving for 27 hours straight to come join us but in the end couldn’t resist the pull of the road. He picked a good first day because it was the flattest day we’ve had, was a pleasant temperature with only a little sprinkling of rain, and offered many beautiful, different types of scenery. Along the Washington coast was horizons of lush marshes and sloughs whose stagnant water reflected a shimmery light blue against the sun. The bridge to Astoria’s Columbia River mouth views were only obstructed by the intermittent and fast-moving traffic zooming past us. By the time we were in Oregons blue skies and sunshine showed themselves and our first glimpse of the Pacific from the neighborhood streets of Sunset Beach was the deep blue only possible when reflecting against bright blue skies.
Not just one but two Jim’s made our day enjoyable. As expected, our friend Jim brought positive energy and a whole lot of humor to our ride. Jim 2 generously gave us each a cranberry sage sparkling drink to enjoy while we talked about his marijuana farm, plans for a mushroom and foraging school and the abnormally cold weather of late after regrouping in his apothecary’s parking lot.