Molly's
Apartment , Oakland CA, USA, 29-09-08
From the hippies on the lake (Nelson-Canada)
to the hippies by the sea (Astoria-USA): 14 cycle days;
1072km; 9766m:
Part 2: near Ellensburg to Fort Stevens: 6 cycle days;
489km; 4347m
Ellensburg to Selah (40 km; 263 m)
Selah to Rimrock Lake (75 km; 674 m)
Rimrock Lake to
near Randle on NF25 (100 km; 975 m)
near Randle to Cougar (86 km; 1076 m)
Cougar to near Clatskanie (109 km; 785 m)
near Clatskanie to
Fort Stevens (79 km; 574 m)
What a welcome indeed
Rising late, we amply dawdle over a breakfast of fried
onions, tomatoes and melted cheese on wholemeal pita,
finished off with black coffee and a few peanut granola
bars. One of the best parts about cycling hard each
day: you can eat just about anything you want and you
don't put on weight. It's when you stop that you really
have to watch it. Then you tend to want to go on gorging
on high energy food for at least three subsequent days. The canyon road leading into Yakima
is a must-do cycle route. Totally dramatic scenes and
a tailwind to ease you up and over the couple of hills...
Tip of the month: the everyday cotton tea-towel for multiple uses
Okay, you are thinking, what
do you need a tea-towel for with all that
microfibre out there these days?
Well actually, some things are just good
the old fashioned way and our cotton tea-towel,
a seasoned 6 years old when we left, has
remained strong throughout its further 2
year bashing on the road.
So, we use it roadside as a picnic cloth,
for making sandwiches on or just plain sitting
on. It hangs almost permanently from a bungi
cord on the back of my bike so it's always
accessible and this is how it usually dries
as well. Also, when preparing pasta or rice,
we cook it halfway through and then wrap
the saucepan in the towel for the other
half of the cooking (soaking) process and
while we get the sauce ready. It keeps the
pot piping hot. And then at the end of the
day, it works well for drying your dishes
as well.
Ellensburg (WA) - Oakland (CA, USA)
Kilometres: 1834 kilometers and 230 meters
Riding days: 21 days
Alti meters: 17,388 meters !!!!!!!
Weather: a lot of fog, but also a lot
of sun; and we were told many times we were
so lucky with the weather...
Best accommodation: Many of the hiker-biker
sites were pretty good, but Patrick's Point
State Park, CA gets our vote this time,
even though no-one else was there except
for us and Jim.
Special thanks to:
Rabobank for sending us via express post a replacement
random reader, no questons
asked • Helsport for the new zippers and tent poles, totally free
of charge • Brad, Angie and the boys for making us feel
right at home in Selah • Jim Varndell for the beers, the oatmeal and
smoothie breakfast as well as some pretty
interesting and open conversations about everything and
anything • All the people we met and cycled with along
the Oregon and Californian coastline.
There are way too many to mention here, but extra special wishes
to Paul, Ben, Jeff, Brian, Dani and big sloppy kisses to Jim Abraham,
who kept us all laughing the entire length of the journey • Molly for letting us set up house in the lounge room
of her Oakland apartment and for
use of all those mod cons, including her life saving sewing machines • Adriaan, for ever in your debt!
Breakdowns:
06: broken spoke (Son)
10: flat tyre (Ali)
27: new bottom bracket (Son & Ali)
28: new tyre & tube (Son)
28: new derailler screw fiited (Son)
30: new Ergon grips (Son & Ali)
