Serendipity...one more time

Hello Boys and Girls and Everyone in between,
I hate to make this a quick entry, but it's been quite a long day, but there have been so many exciting moments that I felt it necessary to share while they were fresh on my mind.

SOOO...we woke up this morning in the beach house near Pacific City and got to a late start because Lani wanted to stretch out and run over to the post office to send some stuff home that wasn't really necessary.  Anyways, I went to Cafe Stimulus again to use the web and drink a bit of coffee, while I waited for Lani to finish up her errands (one of those errands being map procurement...very key).  We shoved off at about 1pm just in time for the clouds to part and the sun to come out, fortunate since the storm the night before really cooled things off.  Our tentative goal for the day was about a 20 miles ride to Lincoln City, but we weren't gonna go crazy with the goal setting because despite sleeping indoors we didn't really catch a good night sleep for some reason and we hadn't really had a hardy meal, mostly just snacks.

Bikin' on the 101

Check the view

We arrived in Neskowin, OR at about 3pm and it was here that we had a decision to make: Do we try to camp around here for the night and attempt to brave the HUGE incline (800 ft elevation) towards Lincoln City, do we try to hitch a ride from someone, or do we take the round about way and go a distance out of our way? TICK TOCK TICK TOCK.  We literally were sitting at the fork reviewing our maps when from across the highway we see a woman flagging us down and waving in the direction of the side road.

After a brief ping pong of exchanges she drove over to us and told us not to even TRY and bike 2 miles up the pass and to just go around it on the side road.  We got to chatting with this woman, Karen was her name, about where we were heading and where we wanted to end up at the end of the day and she GRACIOUOSLY offered to host us in her home just under 2 miles down that very side road.  She wrote the directions down for us to follow to get to her home, instructions that involved passing not one, but 2 meadows and taking various wooden bridges over creeks.

Less than 10 minutes later we were standing outside the amazing home of Karen, meeting her husband Joe and their dogs, Lava and Augusta ( Augusta is actually their neighbors dog, their neighbors being Karen's brother and his wife).  From under the wisteria tree that is wrapped around the support beam of their porch Joe welcomed us into his home, offering us both of the guest beds, hot showers and free reign of the LAUNDRY ROOM!

There was a stretch of about 10 minutes where Lani and I just stared at each other in disbelief, breaking our gaze and slack jawwed amazement only to nuzzle with the kitties, Ash and Scatter, and talk baby to the dogs.  We were quickly showered and settled in and decided to go through the meadow and have a look at Karen's HUGE organic garden, complete with green house, and feast on various varieties of tomatoes, peppers and greens.

Dirt road to paradise

Puppaayz and kittayz

Just a lil' somethin' Joe threw together

Lani and Ash

Me and Lava

HOME

My own bed

Best tomato...ever...seriously

A stroll to the garden

Oh Ash you HAM

Joe and Karen in their kitchen with us.

UNTIL LATER...

Maggie and Lani

Multi-media Post

I didn't have a chance to post this stuff yesterday...so why not now?


View Ride a Damn Bike in a larger map

All mapped out for you!!



Dumb luck



We went up and down that several times...sheesh.

Hello Mr. Pacific Ocean, how are you today?

Hello Team,
Well...we're still alive, big high five to us on that.  If you all have been following my facebook rants you will know that we scraped the initial plans of biking from Portland, to Salem, to Corvallis and then Eugune.   Turns out that biking out of Portland is like trying to escape from David Bowie in the Labyrinth, i.e. fucking impossible. After some extensive research and some heavy contemplation we opted to take the Tillamook commuter bus from Portland to Tillamook, OR near the coast.

On the bus to Tillamook

I know, I know, I know...why didn't we just try and bike it?  Well kids, we spoke with a reliable source by the name of, David, at the Community Cycling Center in Portland and he told us that due to the lateness in the day (it was about noon by the time we got there) and the fact that Portland is a roach motel for bikers, you check in, but don't check out AND our goal is to RIDE DOWN THE COAST, we all agreed that this was our best option.  Call us cheaters, call us lazy, call us whatever you want, but I regret nothing.  At the moment I'm sitting in Stimulus Cafe in Pacific City, Oregon and I feel rather pleased.

Current view, so suck it

Between Portland bus waiting and now we've seen pretty much every type of climate you can imagine.  We arrived in Tillamook last night at about 5pm to a steady downpour.  After a few confused moments of gathering our whits we happened upon a campsite.  We meet Barbara, a lovely older gal, who seemed a little shocked to find 2 young ladies inquiring about campsites, in the rain, on bicycles.  She told us we COULD pay for a patch of land for the night out in the open OR we could walk 20 feet and post up under the bridge.  HMMMM...that was a tough one....dry, free and directly next to us??? OR pay money to camp out in a field where cows graze, in the rain.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Fast forward 10 minutes later>>>>>
 Tents are erected, camp stove is set up and vegetable parmesan is on it's way to being rehydrated for our eating enjoyment.

Bridge Life

We had some extra special luck since it steadily rained all night and we have yet to scotch guard our tents SUPER well....again...I know, I know, I know.

I set up my 1 man tent and Lani set up her 2 man tent and off to bed we went.  It didn't take long for me to realize that sleeping under and bridge in a one person tent next to creepy, old, rusty lawn furniture and network of spider webs COMPLETE with enormous spiders wasn't going to fly and I subsequently knocked on Lani's tent to bunk up with her.  A decision we were both extremely pleased about.  I mean...if we're gonna sleep under a crazy bridge, in some town we've never been to under the advice of some stranger (even one as kind and demure as Barbara) we we're gonna do it within inches of each other.

We woke up to the sounds one might hear if you were to be, say, sleeping under a bridge...the thudding and whooshing of cars, trucks and the occasional big rig flying over us made for an interesting night sleep to say the least and I use the term sleep liberally.  Though neither of us slept well or really wanted to get up we decided to pack up camp and make some really nasty dried eggs for breakfast, in the hopes of finding greener (and quieter) pastures.  

We hit the 101 about 11:30 and headed south.  For the most part we were in farm country, nesteled in a valley between the Cascades and some hills near the coast.  The smell of cow pies every hundred feet or so really reminded me of biking through parts of rural MN... fantastic. 

Oregon or MN?

We decided to deviate from 101 after 15 or so miles to head west towards Cape Outlook, on the recommendation of David from CCC in Portland.  After 5 minutes on this road we quickly realized we MAY have made a mistake.  It was a steady climb for the better part of an hour an a half, making almost no progress and feeling like I might keel over and die at any point.  Still determined, we trudge up and up and up and up, until finally we had to stop to catch a breath, eat some food, drink some water and have a deep conversation about what the hell we were doing.  We kept experiencing extreme shifts in temperature, from high humidity to freezing head winds to SAND DUNES??? and we seemed to be making no progress.  

Wait....sand dunes?

Heading up hill....sucks.....

We reviewed the map and learned that we were on the only road in and out of the Cape Outlook region and then we really got pissed.  We were trudging up this hill only to take a picture near this spot and then ride back down again?  Apparently that's the case, we even confirmed it with a car we flagged down that was heading up to the cape.  We saddled back up and headed back down the hill we had been painstakingly climbing up with 100+ pounds of shit for the last hour and half.  

.....

2 minutes later we were back on track and heading south again towards Pacific City.  We maxed out at top speed of 31 miles per hour on that fucking hill...even with a head wind.  After a few more hills and stops to try out my "you go girl" pee funnel we landed in Pacific City, OR and have landed a nice little spot to camp for the night with a resident of this fair city named Don.  He offered to let us camp in his yard/on the beach, which turned out be free reign of his BEACH HOUSE that was under construction.

Ocean...Ocean...Ocean...and 2 nerds

That's where we are for now kids.  Tune back in for more adventures on a god damn bike.

-Marge and Lawn Gnome

Steady as she goes

Hello my lovelies,
We are into day number 3 here in Portland, OR and things are clipping along nicely.  We decided we wanted to take some extended time to explore Portland since we've heard such wonderful things and we have a hospitable host willing to put us up and put up with us for several days.

Yesterday Lani and I hopped on the bikes with the intention of heading southeast towards the Portland Zoo about 6 miles away.  It's nestled in Washington Park which is situated several hundred feet above Portland proper.  My understanding was that we would take the light-rail (the MAX) up the hill and then spend the better part of an hour careening down the hill. Kyle's girlfriend, Caroline, mentioned that it would be quite the undertaking to actually try and bike up it since it's steep and long.  Lani thought it would be an excellent training opportunity to actually see how far up we could get before we couldn't go any further.  With skepticism in one have and hope in the other we set off....only to get REALLY REALLY lost.  This city is set up to make non-Portland natives look like assholes as they happily giggle while gaining speed down one of the many hilly areas only to realize you've gone several miles in the wrong direction.  I blame my iPhone for not being equipped with a warning bell that tells you when you've gone off course, but I also concede that I could just be poor with directions...you be the judge.  After several attempts to make it across the river we just packed up shop and headed back to Kyle's feeling a little defeated, but still optimistic about our navigating skills (well...maybe not optimistic, but in denial for sure).

After a nice long nap in the tent and some regrouping Lani and I walked to a neighbor and pal of Kyle's for some actual peer to peer contact, vis-a-vie a PAAAAAARTY.  We were 2 of the 6 party goers and that was all the party we needed since it had been a long day of trudging up hills and getting haplessly lost.  After a few hours we called it a night and walked back to Casa Drake.  Feeling adventurous I camped out in the tent in the backyard while Lani posted up on the couch.

That brings us to today...after some milling around and shaking off the failures of the day before we once again mounted our bikes and headed out.  We decided to keep our goals within reason today and biked around the neighborhood.  Despite the short ride we both were incredibly tired due to lack of an actual meal being eaten. Until then we had been grazing on snack type foods and whatever was free for the taking (i.e. party snacks and free coffee at my AA meeting) All and all, not super nutritious and we were FEELING IT, especially me, since I have been trying to overcome my nervous tummy since departing from Minneapolis on Monday.  After a quick jaunt to the local grocery mart we came home and Lani whipped up some amazing Asian style turkey burgers.  We got a bunch of other meal-type foods and swore to ourselves to eat healthier and with more frequency.  It's only been a an hour since the meal and I already feel like a new person.  So...lesson learned...eat often and eat well.

GET IN MY BELLY!

Until our next encounter,

Marge

P.S. Lani and I are setting out on the open road tomorrow mid morning so until we find another hot spot with WiFi we might have some radio silence.  Fear not, we'll be back.

Stump Town Stompin'

Hey Gang,

So much has happened since I last wrote, but the anticipation has built to a fever pitch and BLAM...here's the deal.  So, on Monday we got all geared up and headed east from Plymouth to the St. Paul train station.  Our friend Jesse was super awesome and drove us and all our gear to the station, he also brought our Bon Voyage caravan of Mark and Sarah to send us off in style.  My parents and brother also decided they wanted to send me off at the station so basically for about an hour we took over the train station with our antics and tomfoolery.  Admittedly, nerves were getting the best of me and I was feeling sick ALL day.  Nausea and headache and "other things" were plaguing my poor body so I was feeling out of sorts to say the least.  BUT I was determined to suck it up and have a good time.

Just keepin' it real

Lollygagin' around in the Amtrak station

Faking it with my brother, Ryan.

Bro's gettin' emotional, Oh Sarah.

"Help me Lani"

Yes we took turns boarding the train

LAAAAANI

After some tearful goodbyes (ahem SARAH ahem) we boarded the train and hunkered down for a long haul. We should have realized that an 11:15pm departure time translated to "quiet time" once we boarded, but the excitement of the trip was getting to us and we were quickly told to shut up or move to the lounge car if we wanted to chat.  Erring on the side of caution we dove into our books and then quickly fell asleep for the next 10 to 12 hours (i.e. we slept through the Dakota's...THANK GOD)  Lani and her lanky physique found it difficult to find a comfy position on the train seats, so she hatched a devious plan to spread out on the floor for maximum sprawling.  BUT HOW?? Well we were seated in the last set of seats before the stairwell meaning there was a little slice of real estate just behind our chairs and she was able to lay diagonally, with her legs just under our seats, and not create a safety hazard for people walking by:  See picture:

Nesting

You all might be thinking, but what about you Maggie?  Well, with Lani on the ground I was free to flop around the 2 seats, any which way I desired without a care...pretty ideal, cuz I'm a flopper.  All in all it was a pretty sweet train ride, despite the 3 year old ginger boy with the duck tail who was just finding his voice, but not his volume control...I mean...he was at least cute and not TRYING to be annoying, I don't think, and his mom tried to take him to the lounge car whenever he got too crazy.  Oh and someone threw a bottle at Lani's head while she was on the floor, mistaking her for a trashcan I suppose.

Shhhhhh....

From the train we saw some pretty amazing sights and managed to capture some of them on camera, sadly it was just starting to be dusk when we were going through Glacier National Park in western Montana.  We met some hippie guys from Missoula, fresh (or not so fresh) off the festival, jam band, "I haven't showered in weeks" circuit who proclaimed that eastern Montana should just be called "West Dakota, cuz I'm not claimin' that shit, hell no".  Sadly, I'd have to agree,  there isn't much to be said for the prairie portion of Montana, at least not the parts we saw, which isn't saying much because anything off an Amtrak line isn't all that rosy. 

Woke up to this site somewhere in Washington

This is my life now

Are we in Oregon?

GORGE-ous 

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park again

"Wait, I think I see a mountain lion!"

Gearing up after we got off the train

Look who made it to Portland, OR....THESE GUYS!!

We were surprised to be greeted by Portland's sunnier sun, until about an hour later and then it rained

That's right gang, we actually did it. We are currently seeking refuge from the start of the rainy season here in Portland in our former classmate, Kyle Drake's, home on the northeast side of Portland.  So far he's been a more than gracious host and his roommates are quite delightful.  Kyle met us at the train station only moments after our arrival on his break from work, so kind that gentleman.  After giving us a run down of where he lived we rolled through the city and managed to find his house and set up our tent in the backyard.  After a few moments of organizing and screwing our heads on straight we were introduced to Kyle's roommate, David, who offered to make us breakfast.  Now...if this situation were reversed, I would probably not just be coming home from yoga on my morning off and offer to make a salmon, kale and egg scrambler for some strangers who pitched a tent in my backyard claiming to be "friends" with my roommate. I would be still be sleeping and if I happened to be awake it would be coco puffs for all in breakfast department.  Fortunately I am NOT the host in this scenario and salmon and kale egg scrambler it was.  David also made a very detailed set of directions to various spots in Portland that might be of interest to ladies such as us.  On a full tummy and with directions in hand we unloaded our bikes and set off, only to be bombarded with rain.  Fortunately we packed our rain gear and were relatively ready for the wetness. After some exploratory hours on Hawthrone street and me realizing I was on the brink of exhaustion (I lost Lani in a book store and almost called 911) we headed back to Casa Drake, just in time for Kyle to come home from work and whisk us off to dinner at one of the local food cart spots in Portland.  Apparently there is a BUSTLING food cart community in Portland and we feasted thanks to that.  Some crazy french fries with gravy and cheese curds and REALLY amazing pizza with homemade cane sugar soda and salted caramel shakes and baby we was ALRIGHT.  Since it was raining and Kyle is very gracious we took advantage of the indoor sleeping arrangements and managed to stay nice and dry. 

That's the adventure thus far.  Today should be a nice relaxing day, with perhaps some exploring depending on the weather and our energy level.  We've heard good things about taking the lightrail up to the zoo and then riding the giant hill down...could be fun...or this could be my last entry.  I guess you'll find out.  

Lani and Kyle and FOOD CART MAGIC

I'm sure Lani is glad she opted for the Marmot rain gear vs. the bag she was planning on taking with

Check the Flickr photostream to get the full picture experience.  Until we have an internet connection again!!

-Maggie and Lani (mostly Maggie though :o)

Reader Support TIME!!

Hey Gang,
With only a few short days until we launch we have been scrambling to find contacts and firm up some spots to potentially stay along the way.  We plan on camping as much as possible, but with uncertainty of weather and availability of camping site we want to have all the bases covered.

We are hooked up with some organic farms to work and stay on in southern Oregon and even a micro farm in northern Cali WITH GOATS!!! We just want to put out an A.P.B. for anyone who is willing to toss out some contact info for people from Portland all the way down to San Diego who might be up for some cool, but potentially smelly ladies to sleep in their yard or  maybe on a pull out couch.  We have a profile on Couch Surfers under my name (Maggie McDonald) and are getting decent responses.

STILL...we like the warm fuzzy feeling we get from being with friends of friends or whatever cuz being murdered or violated by strangers isn't a part of our plan...EVER.

ALSO...if you have some points of interest you think we NEED to check out then CHIME IN!

Send all the feedback and tidbits you've got to oldshoesnewfeet@gmail.com or leave a comment to this posting.

5 more days!!!!!!

Best,
Maggie and Lani

T-minus 1 week and I'm lookin' real good.

Konichiwa internet pals,

We are just a WEEK AWAY from launching this here thang.  In preparation I have been doing a lot of sleeping in and indulging in food I find in my parents pantry.  Yes, I'm living at home now, in this last week before the trip.  Two weeks with no job or apartment leaves one a bit limited in the options department.  My friend, Pete, who also cut my hair, was gracious enough to hook me up with an air mattress last week in his guest room.  I'm trying to spread the Marge love around and have now decided to spend the remainder with the folks.  I think mom's real happy about that, love you too mom.

It's coming down to the wire and I know my heart is a flutter with anticipation and anxiety.  We've had some last minute changes, additions, subtractions and substitutions to the gear roster.  Most notably, the sleeping bag I was borrowing from my dad was discovered to have a bum zipper, so out it went and I'm awaiting a new Slumberjack Tourlite, it's rated for 40 degrees, but I tend to run a bit hot when it comes to sleeping bags so less is more in my book, plus I'll have lots of layers should it get a bit frosty out, which we are realizing it probably will be.  The sudden drop in temp in the last week from the mid 80's to the low 60's, really had me racing around looking for all the long johns and fleece jackets I could muster up.  If there is one thing worse than being over heated, it's being under heated with no recourse.  Suddenly the spandex shorts and cut off t-shirts aren't looking so appealing and instead I'm contemplating strapping a radiator to my bike, but...where would I plug it in?

Comfy

Lani ended up getting a different sleeping pad since they were on sale at REI and she felt like the extra support would be nice.  She went from a stingy half inch pad to a plush 1.5 inch pad.  Well done my friend.

Since Lani decided against the bivy tent she initially bought for herself, that left us with 2 bivy tents and a rather tough decision for me...which bivy do I take?   The coleman bivy I had been rocking worked great and handled itself well on our overnight trips, but with one flaw.  It built up a lot of condensation INSIDE the tent toward my feet and that's never fun to wake up to, a cold layer of dew on your feet.  Blah.  So I'm opting to take her Eureka Bivy tent that is ALL mesh on top and then has a rainfly that covers the whole tent, leaving a BIT more airflow.  

Something like this

What else?  Alright, full disclosure time again.  Initially starting out Lani and I had all these convictions about retaining our own identities and no succumbing to the lycra and spandex and flourecent gear that most people take on an endevour such as this. So...we would wear our own clothes, rock some janky bikes, ditch the dayglow, and the hell with helmet mirrors.  Slowly, as more research was done and fears of unpreparedness crept in we abandoned our youthful ideals and bought some goddamn Teva sandals. 

Everyone is doing it apparently

Sure it was fine when we both bought cycling shorts, with padded crotches, and yeah, so what, I bought a flashy colored REFLECTIVE rain jacket, and OF COURSE we need helmet mirrors, it's just the SAFE thing to do.  We did all this and still maintained that we were being true to our original mission statement.  Gritty, hardened, stylish, urban biker types....and then...well....we sacrificed a huge slice of street cred when we bought these little GEMS.

Lani's version...oy.

I mean, if there was one threshold I was NOT willing to cross it was the Keen/Teva sandal threshold, but then I tried on a pair and....well....they are just so functional.  Lani bought hers before I got mine.  I was at my last day of work when I received a text from her throwing herself on the mercy of the Maggie court and divulging her (then) treasonous act.

We went on that ride to Baker and the onslaught of insults and snickers directed at her footwear were as abundant as the mosquitoes.  Then I got to thinking about how functional these shoes could be...I mean they could serve so many purposes, they could act as a flip flop, like for showering in questionable rest stops, or like a hiking shoe when we venture off the bikes to explore a bit.  We're about to be in Oregon and if my childhood taught me anything, at some point I'm gonna need to ford a river or fight off bandits or retrieve some of my lost oxen...and I'm ashamed to admit it, but these are the shoes I need with me during such an event. 

I guess the only consolation I can make to you, my dearest readers, is that you won't EVER see a picture with me wearing these abominations with socks.  I will try my damnedest to keep this promise, but...times are rough out there and you never know what can happen when faced with the cold, hard facts of life.

5...

4....

3...

2...

1....

FAILURE...

AND VALOUR PANTS???

 Until the next embarrassing thing I do,

Maggie

P.S. New videos from the Baker trip and my life without a job are up on our YouTube channel (linked on the right side there, and also more Flickr pics added to the photostream)