Pics

Barry pics up movie at local gun shop

Yep.

Stace-a-licious?! What are the chances?!

Coast and wine country

We had a beautiful day yesterday as the attempt to vacation continued...granted this also included 85 miles of riding :) we rode out of cannon beach for a coffee stop in Manzanita, a quaint little beach town. Then continued down the coast to Tillamook. Here strawberries were purchased from a fruit stand and the self guided tour thru the tillamook cheese factory led us by the free samples a couple of times...we then headed to the blue heron cheese factory who specialize in brie...mmmmmm! We sampled mustards, jams, sauces, and wine and enjoyed bread and cheese for lunch at a picnic table in the valley. Wine a depressent? Not so...we still had 45 miles to go! We took a longcut out to the 3 capes scenic route where we rode on lush windy roads to a lighthouse and seaside views. And best yet Barry sealed the deal with a new job!!! In spandex and a grasshopper helmet in the middle of nowhere...now that's skill! :) we attempted to camp at a forest campground in sandlake, which it ends up sand dunes are a haven for atv's and gas guzzling. Cruising in on our bikes we realized that just maybe we didn't fit in here. Apparently they ride and party all night, not so great for the tuckered cyclist. A local shared news of a great beach spot, county park, and brewpub less than 10 miles away so we charged up on some smartes coutesy of the tillamook chamber of commerce and adjusted the route to find our happy place. We camped next to some cyclists, enjoyed a beer from the #1 brewpub in the nation (hence the $6 price...crazy!) And slept with hundreds of bunnies. Apparently a couple years back someone thought it would be nice (or not) to drop off a couple bunnies. Well, these bunnies did it like...well u know and a couple years later we have bunnies galore! We woke this morn and headed out on a tree canopied road up and over to the willamette valley and wine country. A nice 55 mile ride until we realized it was 100 degrees and we had reason to complain (high of 109)...don't worry people this did not deter our motivation for wine tasting! We also crashed stacy's friend kendra and new hubby tom honeymoon by hitting up a couple tastings and enjoying a fabulous spanish tapas style dinner together, it was great that we actually crossed paths!! McMinnville has a cute little downtown and is the perfect spot to end the vacation portion of TDL....tomorrow we head back to Portland 1900 miles post departure :)

Lighthouse

Lighthouse

Coastal pics

Cape mears

Haystack rock

Pacific ocean sunset

Oswald west overlook

Pics

Sunset

Barry sunsetting

Heeeey you guuuuysss. Goonies rock

Nighttime pics...

Cannon beach

Jellyfish

Pacific ocean!

Cannon beach

Coastal pics!

Astoria tower

Ayn at seaside coast

Astoria or bust?!

ASTORIA!!!! Well folks, we made it all in one piece. A mere 36 miles from our city park campsite and we arrived. We made a pit stop at "the Logger" restaurant. In Idaho at a huckleberry/cherry fruit stand we ran into some peeps touring Idaho in their classic cars. There were some people who had a breakdown(car) and we entertained them with stories of life on the road and the ventures had. It ended up that one of the couples had a daughter that owned a restaurant near the OR coast, and we happened to come apon it today. Best of all the parents had returned from the trip, met us there, and bought our lunch! We've come across some seriously generous people. We ate dinner at a local brewery overlooking the water and toasted making it here. Are cozying up at a celebratory motel thanks to ma and pa page :) tomorrow we'll be tourists and explore the maritime museum, eat fish and chips out of a boat, and take the trolley. Then we'll head down the coast for a bit more fun!

Happy place

Stacy finds a new book...and her happy place.

Almost there!

After a relaxing day in Portland doing what Portlandians do....drinking coffee, eating from street vendors, biking round the town, doughnuts at voodoo donuts (you can get married for $175 if the ordained minister is in...we didnt) browsing Powells bookstore, and raided the sale rack at icebreakers wool store. A great day in the city! Today we rode out of Portland on their bike friendly streets after Barry fixed a flat tire 2 minutes out of the gate. We rode along the columbia river with lots of logging trucks and mt st helens in the distance! Staying in a city park in clatskanie, less than 40 miles from Astoria. Could it be? Will we actually make it? We'll find out tomorrow ;). Barry pre-sugar high with bacon topped maple iced donut not standing a chance.

Party time!

Dumpster diving portland style...

Score! Marci's got some new chairs.

Rest day in portland!

We made it! FYI if you ever want to go to Portland via backroads and Missoula its about 1615 miles...but whose counting? Mostly downhill into town from our lunch spot. Kris's/barry's friend, Marci, and her roomies have welcomed us with open arms! We couldn't ask for a better place to stay :) Last night we relaxed for a bit, celebrated with a local beer(or in Barry's case a mason jar full of whiskey goodness), and then scarfed down some Thai food. Although marci and the servers remained polite they were clearly in awe of the ability of TDL to pack it away! Marci's house is great and we cozied on the floor and fell asleep to the lull of barry's snore rather than the flowing river...hoping to sleep in we awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed in the early six o clock hour, apparently our bodies are used to the abuse. Barry dream breakfast FINALLY came true and we no longer have to anticipate the beloved scotch eggs bc he enjoyed not one, but two this morn for bfast. What's a scotch egg you may ask? Picture this...hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage, breaded, and deep fried. No doggie bags were needed for the bearster. So we're off to enjoy the sights, tasty food, and people of Portland....tomorrow we head to astoria! Barry and stacy after espresso at the top of the mt hood pass. What hills?

German tourist?? Hawaiian cruise?? Nope Barry enjoys a night on the town :)

Day 22 continued...

Welp...we made it to our campground in mt hood national forest! We had beautiful views of the hood as we cycled in, gorgeous! We continued our day riding to Madras and enjoyed a tasty burrito at Pepe's. 5 min after we walked in raindrops started to fall and the power went out...we made it in the nick of time. This was nice as it cooled off the rest of the day so we were in peak form with no excuses not to continue ;) we rode down into an indian reservation and then climbed, and climbed, and climbed out of it. Always a joy. We then entered pine forests and soon after mt hood area. what seemed like hours later, or maybe it was we finally came across a campsite alongside a lake. It was almost as if we got a glimpse of life on the Oregon Trail, with only the blue mountains in our way...except we didn't have oxen to eat in a pinch, but we did have each other ;) Grand total(drumroll please)...136 miles! Barry took a "shower"and then informed us that the soltice is the 22nd?!?!? He knows us well because if he told us earlier, we'd have found a place to stay 50 miles ago. So we celebrated the day before soltice by riding from 5am to 9pm. This seems like one of those things you do once and call it good. Believe it or not, we'll be in Portland tomorrow! Up at 4:45 with the sun for "solstice"

Riding towards mt hood...sweetness!

Super solstice style!

After staying in the great city park of mt vernon we hopped on our bikes and headed thru central OR and fossil beds...up up up. We passed about 60 cyclists going down the other way who were with america by bicycle. Lucky for them they had sag wagons so it was just then on their road bikes speeding downhill. It was a pretty hot day so it was nice to have all the bikers pass and wave and get some motivation. We desended into a little town called Mitchell and stayed for free in the lions club park. Even had water and electricity and bathrooms! Town had a store and a cafe and that was about it. Oh yes, and Henry the local caged black bear. Henry was going to euthanized and was born on a bear farm in Iowa...declawed and caged since birth he'd get eaten by a badger if released to the wild so instead he lives in a cage in mitchell. give me liberty or give me death! Henry got screwed. So in honor of summer soltice we decided rto try something new...get on our bikes and ride all day long!! We woke up with the sun and had departed our lovely park before 6. We're 50 miles in and its not quite 11:30. We're less than 150 miles from Portland! Its a much cooler day today and we made it over our big pass for today earlier this morn so we'll see how far we get, stay tuned as the adventure continues! We are departing the transamerica trail from here and barry will finally get the sense of adventure he's been waiting for! Look closely dem der are real live cowboys!

Henry the black bear...he's a biggun. To save for winter he'll eat 45 pounds of food a day and gain 5 pounds a day!

More pics

Stacy enjoys view too...purdy mountains (mom note triangle...safety first!)

Nothing says family dining like women and bikinis!

Day 20: baker city to Mt Vernon

Left the lovely Lynne and headed back out on the road. 92 miles later we are at a state park campground. Climbed 3 passes today amidst the OR forests and streams then coasted downhill the last 25 miles or so...not too bad :) stopped at a cute little place called austin junction where homemade cobbler and ice cream were enjoyed to help us make our way...rumor has it riding south to north along the coast is just plain crappy with the wind factor. So, we're thinking of cutting thru Portland on our way to Astoria and then heading down the coast for a bit and up thru wine country...will keep u posted as we progress. Here are some pics from todays travels! Barry learning a little history.

Ayn enjoys the view after climbing 3 passes!

Pictures link

Here are some newly released photos from the trip, check them out at (or click on the title link above)...

http://www.flickr.com/barryslife

We are enjoying a rest day in Baker CIty, OR. Lynne cooked us up some french toast and peaches for bfast and we're heading to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center for some history lessons. Ayn is excited for some "market research"! We realized this morning that riding an average of 70 miles for 18 days straight may be a little extreme...even for TDL. Ayn helped clarify this point in dramatic fashion yesterday....as Barry mentioned to Ayn post ER if she had wanted a rest day that bad, she could have just said so :) Oh, never a dull moment on the Tour. Ayn is feeling much better today, but very sore, especially her neck! Enjoy the pics!

TDL

Day 18: hells canyon to emergency room

Welp...let's just say OR got more interesting after a relaxing lunch in Richland...as you can see in the pics we were some smiley folks. Don't fret too much, all is OK! After a hot afternoon of riding in hells canyon we came out of the canyon to a nice headwind. Stacy and Ayn drafted for about 10 miles when the shit hit the fan...so to speak. Ayn day dreaming of a rest day nicked stacy's back wheel, lost control of the bike, went to the gravel, and skidded to a halt in the roadside ditch while hitting her head, lacerating her ankle, and scaping up her elbow...did we mention hitting her head? Kinda scary. Stacy pretended to be a doctor and grabbed wet wipes, water, and a granola bar. After flagging down the first vehicle in sight the bikes were tucked into the vans of 2 nice guys, john and elliott, who worked for a fire company who saved the day and dropped us in town after driving up the road in search of speedy barry.. one ER visit and a catscan later it was determined that for the first time ever...ayn is "normal". We celebrated with a mexican dinner and ice cream. And, better yet a rest day tomorrow! We are all very glad that ayn is alive and well...lesson for the day...WEAR YOUR HELMETS!! We'll relax in Baker City tomorrow and have been graciously taken in by a friend of barry's dad. So in that sense its good that the incident happened here where there is a bed to sleep in, a car to borrow, and even a hot tub...quite the change of scenery from our campsites the past few nights :)

Relaxing in richland OR

Jazz hands

Tan lines finally

Road scores!

Another garage sale anyone?

In oregon

Hopefully they'll be time to post later, but for all you faithful onlookers (moms and dads ;) we crossed into Oregon this morning. Not sure quite why but we did another 100 miler yesterday...we're excited to be in another tax free state.

BT

100 mile days make a person darn hungry!

What day are we on?

Still early morn here but got up early and biking by 6:15...earliest morn yet! Had a climb up to new meadows, ID still riding along the river. Barry has enjoyed lots of road jerky. A nice sunny day again. Crossed the 45th parallel we are directly in between the equator and santas workshop. Sweetness. Ayn calling home from what looks like her home.

Tents are fun

Stacy discovers the meaning of life by night...

Ayn blocks stacy out with her ear plugs...sometimes stacy wishes she could use them as nose plugs ;)

Camping it up!

View from site along river

BT whipping up his famous tuna surprise!

The crew

In riggins, ID...still more to go. HOT and sunny today, better than snow tho. Here we are right after we took a cat nap in the park and apllied sunscreen.

Pics

Lupus is a real killer

View from ernie's BBQ pit during tasty dinner, granesville, ID. Red sky at night sailors delight, red sky in morning, sailors take warning. PS...we're not sailing, but tomorrow should be another good day :)