Dolly's Bike Blog

Today’s “shakedown” ride was intended to be sure our tandem was in good working order. For us, it was also an attempt to figure out Garmin tracking (moderate success).

Prior to the ride, Tour leader Bill McCready gave a briefing in the park across from our hotel – notice the waving hands.  Then we set off across the Columbia River on a pedestrian/bike bridge beside I-5 – must say I hung on tight along the narrow passage.  When the Garmin track wasn’t working, we followed other tandem bikes.

We negotiated into Portland, frequently following signed bike routes and green highlighted bike paths. We stopped at West End Bikes for a few items and enjoyed the salad/hot food bar at Whole Foods for lunch.  We crossed the Willamette River on the Tilikum Crossing bridge dedicated to bikes, pedestrians, buses, and trolleys, then followed the east side of the river back north to Vancouver, again surviving the narrow walkway/bike path.

Don and I left Carmel on Sunday, August 13, around 2 pm, after a farewell lunch with Tom, Molly, Ana and Yoseph.  We drove to St. Louis, MO, spending the night and visiting with Don’s college friends Hillary Debenport and Roger Debenport.  Monday we drove to Kansas City, KS, visiting Don’s brother Dave and sister-in-law Judy, playing 9 holes of golf, then yummy BBQ dinner.

Our longest day on the road was from Kansas City to Denver, CO, on Tuesday.  We were rewarded with a delightful dinner with our nephew Richard Craft.  And early the next morning we experienced sunrise from the Red Rocks Amphitheater, thanks to a recommendation from East Coast WT friend Patricia Morrison.

We decided to drive through the mountains, rather than north to Cheyenne and across the high desert.  Lots of winding roads, even some views of snow.  A quick stop in Vail, then on to Salt Lake City and overnight in Ogden, UT.

After a view of the great Salt Lake, we continued into Idaho, stopping for lunch in Twin Falls and enjoying the Shoshone Falls.  Another quick stop in Boise before spending Thursday night in Ontario, OR.  Not much to do in town, so we went to the local Reel Cinema and saw “Dunkirk” – powerful!

We took a mid-morning break in Pendleton and found the free tour of the Pendleton Woolen Mills most interesting.  Much of the drive on Friday was along the Columbia River, with several stunning views of Mt. Hood.  Arrived in Lake Oswego to stay 2 nights with my brother Parm and sister-in-law Terry.  Also a visit from Sarah, Matt and Mason on their way to the Oregon Coast for the Great American Eclipse.

Tomorrow, we join the Santana Columbia River Excursion.  I’ll try to be more timely with my posts.

I am off on another great biking adventure!

In mid-September, after some exploring and tandem riding with Don (see below), I will begin my next epic bike tour down the Pacific Coast, from the Canadian border in Washington State to the Mexican Border in Southern California. I will again be writing about my adventures here on my blog, including photos of the sights. You can sign up to get email notification whenever I publish a new post in the sidebar.

For this tour, I am raising funds for Outrun the Sun (or, in my case, OutRIDE the Sun), in honor of our friend Jim, who was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma earlier this year. Continue Reading →