Made it to the Pacific

I know it has been a few days since I last posted but things have been a little hectic.
On August 1st we did our usual morning thing and got on the road around 7 AM and headed for Colburg, a small town just north of Eugene.  Four of us rode into Eugene to a bike shop and made arrangements to get our bikes  packed and shipped when we arrive back in Eugene in a few days.  My British friends then went to Fed Ex to find out the cost to ship their bikes home. $550 was a little bit of a shock to them so one is shipping the bike and one is taking it as luggage. Costly either way.
After a nice lunch in Eugene we headed up to Colburg where we camped next to a truck stop and I-5. I-5 is the major North south interstate on the west coast and is a very busy road. We did eat at the truck stop and the food was pretty good. Food at most struck stops that we ate at on this trip has been good. It did not matter about the road noise on this night since I had s moderate case of intestinal distress and made a number of trips to the rest room throughout the evening. I know you wanted to know this.

Tuesday we headed to Salmonberry park which is north and west of Eugene and the riding was typical of Oregon, through a river valley. They even have covered bridges out here and this is Sjef riding from across the bridge. There was a couple of decent hills on today's ride but after what we have done it was easy and we are all pumped up about getting to the Pacific. Salmonberry Park was isolated but nice with very good showers and rest rooms. Our evening meal was delivered to us from a country store a few miles away, Pizza was the meal on this night and it was the best pizza we have had on the trip. We were missing four of our group since they decided to ride directly to Florence today and miss our group wheel dipping scheduled for Wednesday. Their loss.

Well Wednesday everyone wanted to get going early, this is the big day, The Pacific. We rode the thirty two miles to Waldport where some of us stopped for breakfast and then we rode about three miles to Beachside State park for the Wheel dipping.

That's it! The Pacific and I felt fantastic to say the least.

And here are the five Amigo's at the Pacific!

Well we still had a thirty five mile ride to Florence where we were camping for the last night. Now after all of this riding we all rode carefully along the Pacific Coast Highway, RT 101. There were spots where this road was very hilly and curvy with no shoulder on the road and many logging trucks and RVs being driven by gray hairs. oh what a fun thirty miles.

I took this picture along the coast ride and I think it is one of my best on the trip. As I rode into Florence I stopped at the UHaul dealer and picked up a truck so we could drive back to Eugene on Thursday instead of riding.  Our campground in Eugene was at the port and it was typical. I opted to sleep in the back of the truck instead of putting the tent up one last time. We did have a very nice celebration at the local seafood restaurant and it was really a good time with the sharing of lots of memories and stories about the tour.

Terry's wife drove up from Moab, Utah to meet him at Florence and she joined us for the party.

During the tour I carried the table cloth, (plastic of course) and somehow it ended up being a cape for me at the party.  We really did have a good time! The food and wine were excellent but the friendship with the Amigo's is something that I will treasure always!

OK just a couple of stats for the trip. 4,590 total miles ridden, and I rode every mile. We climbed a total of 192,793 feet in 79 days of riding. I was the only person on the tour who did not have a puncture (flat tire) on the ride and I rode on the same tires without changing their  position on the bike.

OK, so you think riding across the country is tough, well when I got into Eugene on Thursday I turned in  the truck and then went to the bike shop to drop off the bike and got that taken care of. Packing and shipping the bike cost $125. This morning (Friday) I took my gear to Fed Ex to send it home.  I wanted to send my helmet and a couple of other things by overnight but that turned out to be $185, so the helmet will not go overnight. All told shipping my gear back cost $150. Crap, this is the most expensive part of the trip, getting everything home. Might have been cheaper to ride back home. Yea Right ~!@#$%^

Bright and early Saturday morning (6 AM) I board a flight for home and should get in around 6 PM.

Life is Great!

Bobo