Dolly's Bike Blog

(The internet connection on board the boat is not strong….thus I have abandoned efforts to upload photos until we are back on terra firma.)

Overnight the boat moved from Astoria to Skamokawa and Vista Point Landing, where we were picked up on Wednesday morning by buses.  They drove us to the Johnston Ridge Observatory (U.S. National Park Visitor Center) where we heard a most informative presentative by a geologist on the events prior to the eruption of Mount St. Helens.  Also saw a film on the eruption and the resulting damages.

The buses then took us 15 miles downhill where we retrieved our tandems and began the downhill ride back toward the boat.  The first 7 miles were at least a 6% grade and I held on for dear life.  Don was able to maintain control and keep us upright despite winds and speed, luckily few cars.  Our maximum speed was 39.69 mph, quite fast for us.  Once we hit an area that required us to pedal we felt as though we were dragging heavy weights.  It took us several miles before we could get into a smooth cadence.

The downhill continued, with intermittent uphills, into Castle Rock, and we decided against cycling another 25+ miles down to the river and opted to put our tandem on the shuttle truck and ride the bus back to the boat, docked at Kalama.

Our boarding of the boat was delayed by another paddlewheeler using the desired “dock” area – their passengers were less-active, slow moving senior citizens.

We had made reservations for dinner at the River Grill and enjoyed a delightful meal with Kris and Larry from Norco, CA.  After enjoying a delightful show in The Show Lounge, Don and I sat on deck and watched the boat cruise past Vancouver and the Willamette River to our overnight dock at Troutdale.

37.86 miles, 4590 ft. of descent!

Since our bikes were stored in trucks since our tour of Portland on Sunday, it was time to reconnect.

The boat docked early this morning at Vista Point Park near Skamokawa, WA.  We had initially intended to ride 60 miles, but altered our decision when we were told about the many sights to see in Astoria, our end location.  So our bike was transferred from one truck to another and we were bussed to Naselle, WA.

The first miles were through Willapa National Wildlife Refuge and along Willapa Bay.  This Bay leads directly into the Pacific Ocean – and it was low tide.  Lots of mud visible.  Signs suggested it was a popular area for migratory birds, though this isn’t migration season.

After 20 miles we arrived in Long Beach, a good place for some lunch.  Long Beach is also the home of Marsh’s Store and Museum of Oddities, not particularly exciting but apparently it has some notoriety.  There was a Kite Festival going on in town, but sadly not very many kites in the air as we biked along the beach.

For the next 10 miles or so we followed the Discovery Trail, along beach dunes and through rain forest areas.  The trail was named for the Lewis & Clark Expedition of Discovery – very different than anything we have ridden before.

We then rode along the coast through the fishing towns of Chinook and Ilwaco, before crossing the Columbia River on the 4-mile long Astoria-Megler bridge.  The first section has a slight rise, followed by a long causeway, before ending in a significant uphill and an equally significant downhill.  The road had a slight shoulder, but traffic did give us room.  Still a bit of a harrowing end to the day!

We quickly changed our shoes and went to the next-door Maritime Museum, with a 3-D movie about hurricanes and lots of information on the salmon fishing and Coast Guard rescues.  The mouth of the Columbia River into the Pacific Ocean can be treacherous due to the sand bar combined with the ocean wave action.

I also wandered into Astoria to see the replica of Fort Astoria and the Liberty Theatre before returning to the boat.

44 miles – 1990 ft of climb, though we started at sea level and ended also at sea level.

Many others have better photos of this spectacular event than I do, and I look forward to seeing them posted over the next few days.

Our group left the Vancouver Hilton at 5:35 am, headed to the REI store north of Salem, OR, about 50 miles away.  The organizers wanted to be sure that we arrived in plenty of time…mission accomplished, we arrived about 7:20 am, for an event scheduled at 10:19 am.  Note the long lines at the Starbucks, as many others had chosen this mall area to view the eclipse.

We did enjoy the wild blackberries during our wait.  With our special glasses, we began to see the moon moving across the sun shortly after 9 am.  We chose to stand on the top of the highway overpass, hoping for horizon views.  We were somewhat disappointed as the sunset effect was diminished when the street lights all came on.

Just with my Canon point & shoot at totality I took a few photos.

Within 15 minutes of totality, we were back on the buses.  The return trip took an hour longer, much better timing than was expected, but enough for a box lunch and a nice nap.

We were able to board the ship at 2 pm.  After the mandatory safety drill, we set off up the Columbia River into the Willamette River and onto Portland.

Along the Willamette, we passed under numerous bridges, once telescoped into a second tier, another raised only one side.  And we enjoyed sunset near the downtown area.

Sadly, I am having difficulty uploading photos, so text will have to suffice for now.