From Sea to Shining Sea!

On Sunday night, after a fun game of Let's-Make-Dinner-From-The-Convenience-Store, we did get an edible meal on Sunday night at the Dayville Presbyterian Church. That night we ended up sharing the church with a young British couple. They were touring the states for a while, then planned to head to Mexico, hopefully allowing for a stop at Burning Man later in the year. Overall, they were a lot of fun.

Monday morning we woke up really early and rolled out of the church by 6:30 to beat the heat. We climbed slowly but surely for about 30 miles, then hit a huge descent into the little town of Mitchell for second breakfast.  The climb wound through old John Day fossil beds and painted rocks, making for a lovely scenic ride. The climb back out of Mitchell was considerably less fun. That one was 6-7% steep for a while. Though it started warming up on us, conditions could have been much worse. The road passed through a recent forest fire area, which had burned so hot part of the road had been melted and needed repaving.
The ride down the other side required some pedaling, a free ride by no means. Nearing the end, we were all getting pretty tired. At mile 83, when we were a mere two miles out of our Prineville destination, we saw a car pulled over on the side of the road flagging us down. The owner of the car introduced himself as Walt. Apparently he had hosted other cyclists at his house over the years and was offering to let us spend the night with him and his wife. Dad was quick to accept this offer, so we turned around and rode the two miles East to his house. Mom and I were a little hesitant about agreeing to stay with this guy, not knowing what to expect and being completely out of food. Once we arrived though, all of that changed.

With Walt, Pat, Manny, Moo, and Tiger

Walt and his wife Pat were a great couple, no strangers to cycle touring, nordic skiing, and scuba diving. Both were retired teachers, and Walt had taught 9th and 12th grade English classes. Convenient for Shelby and I. They were the most gracious hosts. They and their three dogs welcomed us into their home, let us sleep in their basement, and made us some delicious chicken and corn for supper. It was real food. Walt also had a fairly extensive banjo collection, and was pretty good on the guitar, so the rest of the night was full of old-timey music and song. The total for the day was 86 miles, and we slept soundly in the cold basement, away from the stormy night.

We got rained on again.

Though the morning looked clear, the radar showed some storms approaching. We got up and headed out hoping to beat the rain at least to the town of Sisters. We were only 2 miles from town when the skies opened up. By the time we made it to a restaurant, we were soaked. Just as we started attempting to dry off, a waitress came outside and told us we couldn't eat there because it was a bar and Shelby and I were minors. So we had to brave the rain one more time to find another restaurant that would put up with us. By the time we had finished eating, we were shaking from sitting in cold wet clothes, so we headed to the laundromat to dry out and warm up. During the entire time we were at the laundromat, the rain stopped and the sun came out. When we were finally finished and ready to head up McKenzie Pass, the rain started again. This time it didn't look like it would stop, so we pulled into the first hotel we saw and got a room for the night. The day ended up being only 45 miles. It rained through the night.

On top of McKenzie Pass.

On Wednesday morning when the alarm went off, Mom and Dad checked the weather and determined that rain was inevitable and climbing & descending over the Cascades in the rain would be irresponsible and dangerous. Shelby and I finally woke up on our own to realize that no one was moving and were told that it would be a rest day. It was disappointing to hear that so close to the finish line. We weren't exactly thrilled. To add some salt to the wound, it did not rain in town until evening.
The day was saved by a visit from our friend Scott Mizee from Portland. He was in Bend on business and stopped by to have lunch and catch up with us. The day wasn't completely wasted that way. He also informed us that it had been raining on top of the pass, which made the decision to stay a bit more reasonable.

Thursday we woke up to really cloudy skies and 100% humidity in Sisters. We rode up the pass, gaining about 2,000 feet of elevation. McKenzie Pass is the old back highway over the Cascade mountains, so it was virtually empty. It was also the scenic route, ending at the top with winding roads through lava fields. Typically one would have a great view of the mountains from the top, but it started raining on us at the top. We put on all of our warm clothes and prepared for a freezing descent. Our hands and toes were going numb, the road was slick with water, and the corners were tighter than we've seen all trip long. It was good that cars don't typically take McKenzie Pass, because there was no shoulder available, and the turns were so tight we were way out in the middle of the road on the way down.

McKenzie dropped us down about 4,500 feet from the top, thankfully warming up the farther we went. The road started getting loud as we rode on towards Eugene and the coast. Our day was longer than we expected, putting us at 108 miles to get to a campground on the west side of Eugene. All we could find for breakfast on the way were some convenience store peaches, so we picked those up on the way. When we arrived there, Mrs. Kuklinski, a wonderful family friend and our Boise transport, flagged us down and welcomed us in. We all went to bed pretty quick, exhausted from a long day.

Friday we hoped would be our final day of the tour. We hurried to pack and eat our peach so we could get to a town with real food as soon as possible. Bike tourists are always hungry. Apparently, my peach wasn't very good, because my stomach rejected it an hour later. Dad started getting worried that I either had the flu or food poisoning and wouldn't be able to ride. I was afraid that he would put me in the car for the last 60 miles to the coast just so he could finish the ride. Thankfully, after that one system reset, I was good to go. So we took one more bike ride for the trip.

Around noon, we made it to Florence, Oregon. A truly momentous occasion. Our next order of business was to head to Mo's for some clam chowder on the coast, then to the beach for a tire dipping. The beach was more fun than we expected. It was finally real. It's fun to stand in the Pacific Ocean and tell the world that you just rode your bike there from Maine. We rode our bikes right into the water. Sea to shining sea.

We didn't get around to leaving the coast until about 3pm Pacific Time. Sadly the 9 hour drive took longer than we hoped, and we didn't get home until 4:30am. We drove almost all night and dragged Mrs. K through it, so we're all extraordinary thankful that she puts up with us. She's the definition of a great friend.

Now, we're home in Boise, safe in our own house with our dogs again. It's going to be a bit strange trying to transition back to normal life. Whether its getting back into work and school, time apart from family, or even just trying to eat less as we exercise less, it's a lot different.

If it did anything, this trip allowed us time together, uninterrupted. Even if we got on each others nerves every once in a while, being forced to be together was a good thing. We spend so much time in separate lives, especially now, that this trip was important for us. All I can say now is that I have an awesome family. We made it.

Thanks to all for following our adventure!

Love,
The Galinats

For the statistic nerds in our lives (we know you're out there), here's some info on how far we went, how many times we camped, how many times people crashed, what songs we sang, etc: Statistics