Oregon

A typical grocery store sign in Oregon

Some stats as of this week:

Have cycled – 778 miles (1322kms)

Punctures – 2

Camping at campsites – 11

Wild camping - 2

Warm Showers host houses – 7

Staying with family/friends (Vancouver) – 7

Other accommodation (e.g. yurt) - 1

Swims in the sea – 4

Average daily spend on the trip so far – €15.34

Portland to the coast

I took the Max light rail from Portland out to the western suburb of Hillsboro. There are 4 bike hook ups in each tram, two at either end. I was imagining myself back in Dublin, being able to take my bike on the Luas. Sadly not a possibility. I chatted away to the girl who had hooked up her bike beside mine. Her recommendation for my 'coastal' ride was to go crabbing. She explained how you fish for the crabs, then measure them with a calliper to see if they are big enough to be taken out of the water. You then have to turn them upside down to see if they are male or female. The females go back in the water but the males can be eaten. 

After a night with a WS host in Hillsboro came the toughest day of climbing yet, up and over the mountains to the west of Portland. 10 miles of uphill were followed by 60 glorious but freezing miles of downhill following the Nestucca river to the town of Beaver. Beaver was one of those one horse towns. I was expecting a lovely little farmers market type shop and all there was was a petrol station and a car mechanic. One expensive tomato ($1.36) and tin of tuna later and I was off again - to the coast.

Camping at Dovre campsite high up in the mountains west of Portland

Porridge direct from the pot. A little baked apple (picked directly from the trees)

Warm Showers hosts in Hillsboro, proud of their legal marijuana plant growing in their back garden.
It's legal in Oregon.

And then there was two

I hadn't really met any cyclists in the three weeks of cycling up to this. And then one morning there was Rob from Bristol/Bath/London, standing at a viewpoint in his high viz jacket, bright blue smurf coloured leggings, with plastic bags in his shoes. He looked a little odd but I thought it would be rude not to at least say hello. 

So off we headed together cycling along and trying to chat through the wind and rain. We were both going south. Both of us had started in Vancouver and neither of us had met another human cyclist. So I think we were both delighted to chat. It was so nice to be able to rock up to a campsite with another person and pick out a good spot together. And then best of all, open two food bags and see what we had between us to rustle up some dinner. I had a bag full of fresh stuff (or 'produce' as they call that here) and Rob had a bag full of treats from the dollar store.

Rob with plastic bags in his runners on the Oregon coast

My photos don't do the coastline justice at all. It's a bit like Ireland but not at all.
Noone was ever IN the sea. No swimmers, surfers, people walking on the beach.

Camping in the State Parks in Oregon

The dollar store

You may not think that discovering a pound shop (known here as the dollar store or to be precise the Dollar Tree) is worth having its own heading. But believe you me when you find a shop where you can buy fresh milk, 12 eggs, 12 fresh wraps, huge packets of biscuits, a pack of mini twix, ready made pasta and rice dishes, ground coffee, gnocci, pack of 10 frankfurters, porridge oats and werthers originals sweets….. it’s a big deal. I'm trying to keep within a budget of about $10 per day. I haven't succeeded quite yet, but I'm getting there.

I went completely crazy on my first outing to the Dollar Tree, spending $17 and then of course realising that I had way too much food and would need to haul it around with me for 5 days before I’d need to restock. Now we go to the dollar store each day where I calmly spend 3-4 dollars picking up some delights. I will be forever grateful. Thank you Rob!

The other tricks I picked up from Rob was a nifty way of having a hot lunch. Up to this if I had the time I would get out my stove and gas at lunchtime, heat up some hot water and make myself a coffee. A real treat especially on a cold soggy day. But Rob simply finds a Safeway all of which have a Starbucks, asks at Starbucks for a large cup of hot water, which they give him for free, no questions asked, and then he just pours this into his instant noodles (10 portions for $1 at the Dollar Tree) and bobs your uncle. Hot lunch. Starbucks also has great free wifi.

Rob also taught me his trick of bringing a packed bike right into the store.
Here are the 2 bikes inside the Dollar Tree store.

Rob is not travelling with a mug so he picks up a fresh cup in Starbucks each day

Genius idea. As a cyclist you can press a button before entering the tunnels and bridges
which sets off flashing lights. This way cars know there are cyclists ahead.

And then there was three
And sure no sooner had I met Rob and we had settled into a lovely routine of travelling and sharing than we bumped into Mike on a cold rainy day hanging out under a tree at the side of the road. Mike is from Alaska, travelling border to border – from Vancouver to Mexico. Mike sleeps under a tarp each night. So it has been great seeing these wonderful daily inventions he creates. Although this below pic doesn’t seem like much, it is actually a tarp held up with nothing more than a bicycle.

Mike from Alaska

Mike sleeping soundly under his tarp. 

Bike is being held up by putting the pedal on the helmet. Tarp ropes are tied to the handlebars. Inventive!

Rain
And then it started to rain. For four days and four nights it rained. It’s quite the crazy feeling waking in your tent, putting on your damp hat and head torch, then your damp waterproofs just to be able to go outside your tent… in order to take your tent down and pack it away as a soaking soggy mess. But this went on for four days. As an Irish camper I felt strangely ok in these conditions…. But each day you are just hoping and waiting for a little break – to lay down the tent somewhere at lunchtime to dry it out perhaps. And constantly looking for somewhere with a rood, the gable of a church or a bus stop - just to get a little relief.

But nevertheless the coast of Oregon was great. I don’t know for sure but it probably took 8 days of cycling. When the sun shone and sparkled on the water and the road led downhill. There was no better feeling. At viewpoints tourists we often talk to us and ask where we started and where we were going. They asked how these ocean views compared to Ireland. One of the starkest contrasts I kept mentioning was that in Ireland people use the sea - i.e. there would be surfers on the surf beaches and load of people walking dogs, you might see a wind surfer or a sea kayaker and the odd person going for a dip. In all our days cycling along the coast I never saw anyone in the water. Not even a fisherman.

Hanging wet clothes up overnight in the loos of a campsite 

Wet tents in the morning

Wet tents NEVER dry in damp forests

The Oregon coast.

Whale spotting

Some Chinese tourist jump out of their car, and launch their drone
to take pics of the Oregon coast.

We spotted whales four times in Oregon. There were view points every few miles so we would hang out and hope to borrow binoculars from the passing giant campervan drivers. The giant referring to the campervans (called RV) and not necessarily the drivers... although sometimes... The binocular trick usually worked. It’s such a treat to see a whale perhaps within 100m of the shore spouting water from its blowhole.

The Oregon coast

Wild camping.. finally 
As we were three, I was really keen to wild camp. So for two nights on this coast the three of us set about trying to find wild camp spots on the beach. It’s not at all as easy as home. Here all the land is privately owned. So a road that leads down to the sea will be covered with ‘Private Road’ and ‘Don’t trespass’ signs.

On one particular night we had set up camp on a dramatic headland. Mike working his tarp magic yet again and me rustling up a dinner of lentil and spud stew. It’s not easy cooking for three in a small pot. From my Chile days I always travel with a trowel. But I hadn't yet used the trowel as a trowel... so the trowel has now become the pot stirrer. 

Just as light was fading on this particular headland a small group of people came to take some pics of the setting sun. They complimented us on our choice of camp spot and asked if we needed anything. An hour later they came back with a cold 6 pack of beer. A lovely gesture that topped off a great day.

First proper wild camp spot. On a beautiful quiet sheltered headland.
Where is the wind I keep asking myself?

Marking the first 1000kms

The first day we met Mike, he had a bright idea of sleeping in a yurt in a State Park. It cost $40
per night to share. And it was DRY! 

A chalk marking on the road. This was a day of climbing.

Sofas by the fire on the beach

On the second attempt of wild camping.. there we were… the three of us cooking up a storm directly on the sand of the beach as the light was fading. Just as it was dark, about 100m from us a pick up truck arrived. My natural instinct was to be terrified. If they didn’t see us and they started playing Evel Knievel on the sand with their supped up pick-up truck… we would be flattened. 

But all they did was take a couple of large logs out of their pick-up and set these down against a huge piece of dry driftwood, throw a can of petrol over it and start a fire. They then went back to their pick-up and hoisted a sofa from the back onto the beach beside the fire and sat there beside their fire for about 30 minutes. They then drove off never to be seen again. So we scurried over and sat on this sofa by the fire on the beach for the rest of the night. Rob is a musician and is travelling with his guitar so we even had a few tunes. Random. But great.

Fire on the beach

The morning after the night before. A random sofa on the beach.

Highlights:

1. Meeting Rob
2. Rob introducing me to the dollar shop (I spent $17 on my first visit)
3. Sleeping in a yurt
4. Proper wild camping
5. Random guys rocking up to the beach and setting up a couch by a fire
6. Seeing how Mike can make a tarp stand up by using a helmet to prop up a standing bike… and then attaching his pully ropes to the bicycle handlebars
7. First drone selfie taken of us by some random Chinese tourists
8. Listening to the All Ireland GAA final on RTE radio online. Poor Mayo.
9. Finding a bike shop just there, at the end of the bridge where I had my little accident…. The shop owner popped Sherpa up on a bike stand, unbent all the bent bits and charged me $5
   
   

   

   The bike man unbending bits of Sherpa

Low lights:

1. Camping in forests in the rain. Nothing dries in a wet forest.
2. Falling off my bike after crashing into the sidewalk on a narrow bridge. Ripping one of my front panniers, bending all sorts of bits of my bike.
3. 4 days of rain – waking up in a wet tent, putting on wet clothes, cycling in the rain, putting back up a wet tent. Praying that the next campsite will have electric hand dryers in the loos.

Enjoyed listening to: RTE docs about a female Iranian author, An Open Verdict. Enjoyed also the documentary about the bodhran player Peadar Mercier.