August 10,
2001. Blue River to Eugene, Oregon. (58 mi.) Mile 4182
Almost
there!
We
are in Eugene, OR tonight, almost a stone's throw from our goal. We have only
ONE MORE DAY of riding. We feel as if we can almost smell the familiar Pacific
Coast. Eugene is the largest city on the TransAm Bike Trail, home of the
University of Oregon, and laced with a network of bike trails and bridges. We
are enjoying a motel again, to make use of the phone and data port this
evening.
Eugene
is a bicycle friendly town.
This
morning the Pooles joined us for a fast bike ride 20 miles down the road from
the campground to the Vida Cafe for breakfast, another cafe on the route noted
for good pie. The Logger Cakes there were so big that only two at a time could
be made on the griddle, but in true bicycle tourist style, nothing was left on
our plates when we were done. After saying goodbye and many thanks to John and
Karen, we continued to follow the McKenzie River into Eugene, arriving in
plenty of time to visit a few more bike shops. So far we have visited 24.
Since a number of bike related things have worn out on this trip, we have been
drawn to bike shops to check out the merchandise, and Eugene has many bike
shops.
"2 eggs and 2 pancakes, please."
Logger cakes at the Vida Cafe with John and Karen Poole.
You can tell by our outfits that we are all bicyclists.
While
we were riding around Eugene, we saw another cycle tourist who called out to
us, "Hey! Where are you headed?" We yelled back with enthusiasm,
"To Florence, and the Pacific Ocean!". He replied that he had just
ridden to Florence a couple of days ago, in order to accompany a young woman
named Jen, who was riding solo across the country and whom he had met at a
Eugene campground. It was our friend Jen Saks, whom we had last seen July
26 in Missoula.
She had ridden from Sisters all the way to Eugene in one day, a distance that
took us two. She was doing well, excited to dip her tire in the Pacific, and
complete her journey successfully. It was good to hear this news.
We
also received email from our German friends Peter and Maren, whom we said
good-bye to June 15 in Kentucky. They had been enjoying their bicycle trip across
America until Maren stepped off a stair in Colorado and broke her
ankle. Peter writes, "..in our hearts we are sad, that we had to stop our
adventure." We are very sad for this too. However, they have rented a car
and are seeing the country this way. They plan to take us up on our invitation
to visit us in Washington in a few weeks. We are glad for the opportunity to
see our new friends again. Maren can now walk on her ankle and has done some
easy hikes around Yellowstone.
And
finally, here's the plan for our own Grand Finale tomorrow: Marilyn's
parents have already arrived in Eugene from Seattle. They came down to see us
finish tomorrow. Our daughter Zoe and son-in-law Sam are on their way to
Eugene from Washington and will arrive late this evening, getting a motel room
too. They are bringing grandbaby Braden, who turned 1 year old two days ago.
They will join us in celebrating both his birthday and the completion of our
trip on the coast. They are making this a holiday. Our son Colin is also
meeting us at the coast and bringing our car so we can use it to get back
home.
We
are feeling strong and looking forward to the ride to Florence, about 70
miles. We are lucky to have sunny weather. Temperatures have been hot in the
afternoon, so we plan an early start.
