Day 1: Fun, hot, weird, cold...rode 20 miles

Hello 3rd graders, friends, and family!

What a great day!  It was kind of weird though.  I will explain.

This morning before I left home I was still trying to figure out where I was going to stay tonight.  I had been looking at maps for weeks and I couldn't figure out the best route to Lincoln City.  The reason I was having trouble was the lack of campgrounds between Portland and Lincoln City.  There are quite a few RV parks along the way, but none of them allow tents, so I never really decided where to stay my first night or second night.  From home to Lincoln City it is 115 miles by bike.  I figured that would take me 3 days since I plan on starting out slow on this trip.  Last night I decided the faster I get to Lincoln City the better.  I could avoid the hot hot weather and figuring out where to stay, which would probably be expensive hotels.  Here's how I ended up in a hotel room in Lincoln City tonight!

I left my house this morning on my bike and it felt so good!  The sun was out and it was beautiful!  I biked across the Columbia River into Oregon.  As I was crossing over the bridge I heard this loud siren.  I thought "what in the world is that"?!  I was about half way across when the barriers dropped in front of the cars, so they could lift the bridge for a boat!  In my head I was wondering if there was any way for the bridge operators to know that there was a lone cyclist on the bridge pedaling as fast as he could to get across.  I imagined every movie I've ever seen where cars jump open bridges.  I knew I could do it if I had to...not really...I would end up in the river and my ride would be over after only 16 miles!  Of course I made it across, which was good because the bridge was up for a long time and backed up car traffic for miles.

One of my plans to speed up getting to Lincoln city was to ride the Portland Max train through the city up to Tualitin.  That would shave off almost 3 hours of riding and possibly save me a $100 or more in a hotel.  Below is a picture of my bike on the train.  It's looks funny!  I could hear it's tiny little voice yelling "WHY ARE WE ON A TRAIN?  I'M A BIKE!  RIDE ME!"  Once we (my bike and I) got to Beaverton where it was 91 degrees we both realized it was OK to take a couple miles off to hurry to get to the coast.  We had lunch and got a wild idea...what if we could get to the coast tonight and avoid three nights of hotels and three days of 90 degree riding?

I really need to name my bike.  I keep typing "us" like my bike is another person.  A former student posted a reply to one of my blogs and suggested naming it Speedy.  I like that, but I was thinking about creating an online poll and let people vote on names.  So far I would have Speedy and The Space Unicorn for names, but I feel like I need a few more to make for a really good poll.  3rd graders if you don't know what a poll is ask your parents. They can be a lot of fun!

Anyway, as you can see below, we found a way to avoid the heat and the three nights of $100 or more for hotel rooms.  We rented a U-Haul truck!  Fun fact: did you know U-Haul was started in Ridgefield?  Interesting stuff!  I put my bike in the back of the truck and headed down the highway toward Lincoln City!  I had ridden 20 miles by the time we got the U-Haul and I was sweating like crazy, so the 78 mile drive to Lincoln City with AIR-CONDITIONING was awesome!  Although my bike was in the back sweating bullets!  (See I really need to name my bike! I could have said "Speedy was in the back sweating bullets!  HAHA!)  We will work on the name thing. 

By the time we got to Lincoln City, turned in the truck, and ate dinner it was too late to get a camp site for the night.  So here we are at a hotel relaxing.  It is so nice to be at the coast.  I wasn't too excited about the three 90 degree days.  When we got here it was 57 degrees!  The high temperatures will be in the lower 60s along the coast.  That will make for some really great riding!  Tomorrow morning we head south!  Only rode 20 miles today, but that's OK.  I'm not in a huge hurry and it's all about the adventure and the fun.  I had both adventure and fun today!