Woke up at 330 to go to the airport. Arrived in Portland 11am west coast time. While I was on the plane I met a man Named Tom. He overheard me talking to the woman sitting next to me. He was one of the heads of business at VCU. He ended up giving me 200 bux for my trip. After the taxi ride to the shop and a few last minute purchases I started riding. I had to get on the portland "max" train to get out to route 26 which would take me to the coast. That was a huge pain. I quickly found out that hills here are not the same hills at home. Here they have elevation signs. I was feeling it and there were no stores on the sides of the road. Just woods which was nice until I ran out of water. Then randomly there was this stream that had a water pump attached to it for drinking water. It was good. I sat there refilling my bottles for a while and talked to these 3 women from montana also at the water stop. I found out a few more miles down the road that I had a slow leak in my back tire. It made riding even more difficult for me. It was getting dark so I didn't bother to fix it I just pumped it up and made it to the couch surfers house I had talked to around 10:30. He was a marine biologist and lived right on the beach. You could see the goonies rock in his back yard. I crashed pretty much as soon as I got there.
Day 2
This trip is kicking my ass. The scenery is beautiful but the riding is really tough. Woke up at 7am and ate breakfast with Mr. Markham. He knows a lot about the pacific coast. He was telling about how the coast was due for a tsnumi and the last one hadn't happened in 300 years. I fixed my flat tire and then went down and walked along the beach for a while I threw some rocks and took some pictures. The pacific coast makes the atlantic look like crap. I helped Mr. Markham out by getting his lawn mower working and mowing the front lawn. I finally got outta there at 11am and made it to Otis by dark. I ate at the otis cafe and as I was leaving a dude came up to me and asked me if I had a place to stay. He was the fire chief and told me I could camp out behind the station. That was nice because I couldn't find anywhere else. My ass is really sore. Tomorrow I hope to make it to eugine and hopefully farther. I wanna pick up the pace.
Day 3
Oregon is kicking my ass I woke up exhausted but felt better after I ate breakfast at Otis cafe again. I was crawling at like 11mph most of the day. I stopped in Corvallis and got some food then got lost and stumpled on the bike shop. The shop had armadillo tires so I bought a pair because I didn't want anymore flats. By the time they were done I didn't thind Id have time to make it to coburg before dark and after a failed attempt to find a free place to stay I ended up getting a motel for 50 bux. I spent a lot of money today. It was nice to relax in the room. I iced my knee which was hurting a lot
Day 4
Today I woke up at 630am packed up my stuff and headed out. I Immediatly felt the difference on the skinnier tires and the handle bar bag was nice because I didn't have to wear my back pack anymore. It was also flat with a tail wind which made it pretty smooth. I met two bikers who told me to eat at the vida cafe. I did and it was really good. I made it to McKenzie bridge where I ran into a sketch ball. Him and his two friends pulled up in a truck behind me at the store. I usally take forever to get everything I need out of my trailer and I thought it was weird that they were still sitting in the car. It made me a little suspicious but I walked inside anyway. As I went around the corner of the store and out of sight I saw the door of the truck open. I had a bad vibe so I ran back outside and sure enough that asshole was sitting down right next to my bike. I didn't say anything to him I just took my bike and rode down the road I noticed that one of the buttons on my handle bar bag was ripped off. I waited until I saw there truck pass by and then I went back to the store. I talked to a local guy inside who told me about a hot spring where I'm staying rightn now. It took a while to find but its awesome. I'm back in the woods right along the river and I made a fire. My legs hurt really bad. OOO I saw a roadkill cow today.
Day 5
I'm tired and don't feel like writing much. Woke up at 530am and putzed around my campsite for a while and then finally left at 730. The propane tank I got started leaking all over my hand and then sprayed me. IT was coold. Biked up santiam pass this morning after hiking to see this sweet waterfall. The mountain wasn't all that bad. There was snow at the top and it was crazy once I got to the bottom it had turned into a desert. I stopped at a grocery store for lunch and a woman started talking to me. Apparently she and her husband owned a bed and breakfast for cyclists. I would have stayed there but I really needed to make it farther that day. I stopped again in Redmond and after 200 different directions from people found the post office. I mailed home a bunch of stuff I didn't need and it felt really good to have less weight. I ended up stopping at this big lake call lake Ochoka. I set up my tent and went for a swim which was really nice expect I stepped on these thorns called goat heads. They hurt like hell. I think I should be out of Oregon in the next 3-4 days. Its taking longer than I thought.
Day 6
It rained a little last night. Not enough to flood my tent or anything but it kept me awake. I left the lake around 8am and started climbing. I got to Mitchell by lunch which was an awesome little town. I had this awesome hawaiian burger which i suffered for once I started riding again. Next I went into town and found the bear that I had been hearing about that lives at the gas station. The owner of the station keeps it in this big zoo like habitat and will go in there and wrestle with it and stuff. Sadly the owner wasn't there but it was cool to see the bear anyway. I rode from there to Dayville which was probably the friendliest place I've been so far. Everyone was offering me food, water, and even beer. The dude in the coors truck even offered to drop it off where I was staying that night. Todays ride was tough but by far the most amazing so far. Riding through the valleys with these big buttes and mountains is awesome. I have never seen anything like it. I am still incredibly sore but I think I am starting to get used to it.
Day 7
1 week in. I felt it again today. 3 mountain passes made it pretty rough. Im happy to be in Baker City. This morning I wok There weren't many places to stop for food and water today. I had to eat at a McDonalds for breakfast which has some liquified repercussions on my way up one of the mountain passes. I ran out of water at one point too and while I was looking at my map a guy pulled over and started talking to me. I ended up getting 2 bottles of water from him and a bottle that will filter water. It was really awesome. I got really windy and it was right in my face so it took my a while to get to Baker City. I roled in and went to the bike shop and got my tires pumped up. I got some laundry done and then ate a ton of food at subway and pizza hut. Ill be in Idaho tomorrow.
Day 8
Biked through Hells Canyon today. My knee is on fire. I can't extend it fully it hurts so bad. I'm a little worried about it. I biked through richland this morning and stopped for breakfast. Then I headed to hells canyon. I stopped at a store right before the canyon. The clerk was really funny and remined my of Anna Schmitts mom. She yelled at me and told me to take off my shoes but then made me a free penut butter and jelly sandwhich. The canyon was amazing. It was really hot but it was awesome scenery. I was pretty bummed when I found out that I had to climb out of it. I was really bummed when I had to climb for 13 miles. It was awful. SO hot. I finally made it would and had a nice downhill but then I stared passing these huge beehives. I got stung 3 times. Once in the face. After the bee attack there were these weird grasshopper bugs 10000000000s of them. and they were all in the road. I must have run over 1000 and there were creepy blood streaks from the cars that ran all of them over. The covered the entire road it was bizzare. My knee hurt so bad when I stopped in Cambridge I wimped out and got another motel. I iced the crap out of it and I hope it feels a little better tomorrow.
Day 9/ Day 10
My knee doesn't feel any better. I woke up and ate breakfast at the cafe motel. The ride today was pretty flat but my knee was still really hurting It got to the point I just wanted to quit. I got to new meadows and talked to my dad. I decided to bike 12 miles out of the way to go to the town of McCall it was right on a lake and it was the only bike shop until Montana. The whole ride to McCall was uphill which really sucked. I ended up staying an extra day in McCall to rest my leg. All I did was eat, ice, and sleep. I felt a lot better for the most part but my knee continued to ache. I need to relax. Its not a race. I just miss everyone already.
Day 11
I wanted to quit this morning. I have never felt so unmotivated in my life. I started riding and my knee began to hurt again immediatly. It was so frustrating that day off did nothing. Then on my way down the hill I got a flat tire on my supposivly flat proof armadillo tires. I was pissed. It even left a hole in the tire which the tube could show through. As I was taking the trailer off of my bike it jack knifed and when I went to put the trailer back on the attachment arm on one side had bent and it wouldn't reattach to the bike. I almost lost it. I seriously thought about finding a greyhound station. I was ready to quit. I eventually was able to force the arm back into place so it fit back on the bike. The hole in my tire makes me really nervous though. I didn't have anymore spare tires and I had a few hundred miles to Missoula, the next bike shop. I met up with an older couple doing the trans am trail. It made me feel a lot better talking to them. They were going really slow and were just enjoying themselves. I kept going and stayed in a town called white bird. It was very small and pretty racist. It made me a little uncomfortable. I took it really slow today but my knee is still hurting. I dont care about it at this point Ill just keep going slow until it gets used to it. I can't stop thinking about it though. I hate being hurt. I don't have any phone service here which sucks becuase I don't want to talk to anyone in town. I snuck into the showers at the trailer park which was nice and then I set up my tent in the small in town park. The guy across the street is really creeping me out. He looks like a 6 foot 5 santa claus with camo pants and rainbow suspenders. His dog keeps coming up to me and I keep petting it and he just gives me a dirty look. I even tried to talk to him and ask him about the weather but he just grunted at me a few times. Fuck him. I'm in a bad mood.
Day 12
Woke up and climbed white bird. It went really well actually it was a solid 12 miles of climbing and the pain in my knee didn't increase. I dipped out of the city park really quick this morning. That asshole in the rainbow suspeneders came out this morning and turned on the sprinklers. I made it to the top of white bird and stopped at a cafe for lunch. I talked with a bunch of people who were staying outside and one guy took a picture of me to send to my mom. I biked up into a campground along the river and started setting up my tent. I ended up talking to this dude Roger who was there with his wife and her parents. He offered me a beer but I declined. After setting up my tent he then asked if I wanted dinner. I went back to his father in laws giant RV and they had a huge thing of spagetti on the oven. It beats raw ramon noodles and pbj's. Anyway they had already eaten so I was basically there trash can. I ate everything that was left over. It was so good. After dinner and talked to them for a while I got offered his last beer. He said you know what you have earned this. I thought about it for a second and I just took it graciously and drank it like I had been drinking beer forever. It was a Moose Drool dark ale. It tasted awful. I thought about it and not only did I not want to be rude but I decided that I really don't need to be imposing any rules on myself. I am a hippocrit for breaking edge after giving people a hard time in the past and feel foolish for that but this trip has made me feel differently about a lot of things. straight edge is what defined me when I was younger and I just don't feel that I need it anymore. I probably will never be the same person now that I'm not but I don't think that is a bad thing. I thought about it a lot after dinner but I am glad that I did it. I sat by the fire with them for a while and then headed to bed. I had a really good day today. I should hopefully be in Montana tomorrow.
