89.8km out of 939km so far

I took advantage of the motel bed and overslept by a bit. As I hadn’t unpacked all my stuff, I didn’t need that much time to get ready anyway. Made some microwaved breakfast, ate my banana and off I was on the road again. On the way to cross Columbia bridge again, I had a second look at the “campground” my map indicated and verified a motel was the right option.

I crossed Columbia river again via the steel bridge over the industrial area and headed south to Portland, via highway 30. Along the first few kilometers, all I could see by the river was piles of logs and steaming factories processing them at an unimaginable scale. The shoulder of the road around this area was full of wood chips and big pieces of bark from all the passing trucks. Maybe Longview is not exactly a city a tourist would ever visit, but I always find it fascinating to see this parts of our world.

The rest of the ride didn’t have any particular highlights. I was plugged on my audiobook and was riding endlessly. I was surprised that after cycling for 5 days in a row I was still feeling strong and the legs were kept going. I definitely need a day off, but over the past couple of weeks I’ve noticed a substantial increase on my endurance and strength which is a good sign for the next couple of thousands kilometers I have to cover.

Today I also had my first fall. At some point on the road, I saw a smaller path running parallel to the road thinking it may be a cycling route. I was trying to get a better picture  over the bushes on my right, when I went slightly off-road and as I tried to come back on route, the front wheel didn’t manage to climb the tarmac which was a bit higher than the gravel. Without much time to react, bike and myself landed on the ground. The fall was more comical than dangerous, as I wasn’t going fast at all. I got up with just a small scratch on the knee. I put the chain and the panniers that popped off back to place and off I went again. The only little casualty was that the left gear shifter loosen up, which I will probable check in Portland. An awakening call to be a little more careful on.

At around 5pm I started approaching the city of Portland. I first went through its industrial area by the train yards and then I caught the road by the river to find the one of many bridges to cross to the east side of the city.

Even though I can comfortably go around my whole trip without a GPS, entering or exiting big cities is always a little problematic, so I had to ask a few people for directions. I’ve been to Portland once before, so minutes later I came across familiar places that helped me orient my self.

I headed to my friend’s flat, where I will be spending the next couple of days to rest and spend some time with them. Lindsay and Gregory are not coming back until tomorrow, but luckily they have another friend over looking after their dog Lola, so I was able to get in.

I had a shower and then we headed out with Veronika to the nearby food cart for dinner. I wanted to meet some other friends as well, but by that time the tiredness and the food coma was kicking in, so I called it a day.

100km of 840km so far

Once again, even if I woke up early I didn’t manage to hit the road as early as I wanted to. For a good reason though, as Whitney and Jamie offered me some breakfast, which of course I couldn’t turn down knowing that I had a long distance to cover. They were planning to do a few hikes around the area and possibly go surfing at the beach nearby.

I left the site and I still had to cover the 10km back to Astoria before heading further east. My plan was to be in Portland by Sunday to meet some friends, so I had to spread the distance over two day. I cycled over the small bridge again and this time I wondered around Astoria a little bit, looking for lunch supplies.

I had about 80km ahead of me and it was already noon, so I made sure I had everything I needed for the day to avoid any stops on the way. I started heading east and took a bike path by the coast that run for several kilometers along the old port, the marine museum and some other old buildings. Along the seawall path, I started hearing some weird sounds and I was certain they were coming from seal. They were indeed seals, but not just a few, but hundreds on top of some old pier. I was pretty stunned, as I had never seen so many of them in the wild. Someone told me they were all males coming each year from California.

The rest of the ride didn’t have anything spectacular in particular. It went through some forests and farmlands. I was prepared for a solid ride, so I had loaded my mp3 player with an audiobook to keep my mind busy along the way. The ride went actually pretty fast. On the way I stopped at a fish hatchery for my lunch break. It was exactly what I was looking for. A quiet place, with a few benches, a washroom and running water to refill my water bottles. I had my deli sandwich and couldn’t resist a short power nap. As I woke up, I noticed that the clouds started breaking up and within minutes the sun finally came out again. Happy days!

I went off again for the last section of the ride to Longview where I was planning to spend the night. The road was mostly in land, going over some fairly steep uphills, followed by fast downhill runs.

At some point as the road turned right going down the hill, Longview suddenly appeared at the distance, across Columbia river. Even though I was looking forward to get there, I was instantly disappointed as I wasn’t expecting a heavy industrial city. It seems like all the trees from the cut down forests I was seeing over the last few days, were taken there to be processed. The view of the city across the river, was nothing more than huge steaming factories, huge stacks of logs and trucks going back and forth. I was rather tired after 100km and no day off since Seattle, so I went in regardless. The crossing of the river, was once again over another massive bridge.

My map indicated a campsite right off the bridge, which made me laugh after seeing this whole area. There were barely any people walking around the streets, other than trucks. At some point I did see an RV park, but it looked more like a post-apocalyptic vehicle based neighborhood, rather than a place where anyone would want to pitch a tent. I asked around a couple of people and there was definitely not a campground in the area. I ended up going to a motel, which wasn’t such a bad deal for a change.

After a quick shower,  I went out to a nearby restaurant for some dinner and a couple of local beers. After all it’s Saturday night! Cheers…