Yearly Archives: 2017


Bed Bath and Beyond

Hello friends,

We write to you from Langlois, Oregon, “Home of the world famous hot dog.”  We have a lot to tell you about since Lizzy published our last bit in Newport.  While Lizzy was writing Kyle and I (Timmy) walked to get coffee where we met Willie, who told us all about his personal life, asked if we were homeless, and even after we told him what we were up to (not homeless, biking) still gave us great advice on the food bank and where to get free meals.  Thanks for looking out for us Willie.

Back at the library we snugged up in our warm clothes and readied ourselves for the rest of our day south.  Our plan was to get to Seal Rock and perhaps find some more dugouts or other convenient shelter but strong head winds slowed us down to a bit slower pace than we’d planned for…  After a quick map viewing meeting in a day use state park area bathroom (rain… wind… shelter…) We saw a few options ahead nearby.  Shortly after we pulled off the road to Ona State Park.  We found some large trees that provided limited shelter and agreed that we could put the tent up there.  But not before a quick walk around the park to look for special camping spots (i.e. something less “normal” than camping in a tent on the ground).  Kyle showed a special sheltered area he’d found a Lizzy something less conventional- the state park bathroom.  Now don’t jump to conclusions, this was a LARGE bathroom.  Locker room size.  And now if you imagine it without the toilets and urinals what do you see? A shelter right? Anyway it was decided- we’d stay in the bathroom that night.  If this all seems a little crazy, use the fact that we slept in the bathroom to indicate how rainy and wet the day really was.

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Bed Bath and Beyond

Our night in the bathroom was great- we had 11 hours of cozy dryness and weren’t even disturbed by anyone needing a restroom.  We were glad that no park employee kicked us out or came to lock our little paradise shelter, and in the morning we were well rested.  We’ve began referring to our shelter as Bed Bath and Beyond.  We had one toilet user in the morning, and he was the “beyond” of our experience.  Poor guy had to go #2 in a bathroom with three bike touring weirdos.  He probably came in and thought, “gee this place is smelly.”

We bundled up, as per usual (knowing that sure enough that in 5 miles we’d be drenched in rain on the outside and sweat on the inside).  After a nice morning ride of 20 miles or so we stopped in Yachats at a coffee shop called the Green Salmon.  To mine and Lizzy’s surprise this place had a wide array of vegan treats and lunch dishes.  We all had coffee. I added a bear claw, Lizzy a scone, and Kyle pulled out his home-dried bananas.

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Lizzy writing postcard after large coffee

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Banana boy

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Yummy Bear Claw

Way to go Green Salmon.  Our destination this day was just south of Florence, Honeyman state park, with a hiker-biker camp and even with showers.

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Area north of Yachats as we climbed Oregon’s cliffs.

Leaving the cafe we went through our first tunnel and then began climbing steep hills with surprising views of Oregon’s cliffs and powerful ocean below.  Even more powerful than the ocean were the hundreds of seals we saw (and heard), over the roar of the ocean down below.

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Looking up and down the scenery was impressive.

The climbs near Cape Perpetua were well worth the views and traffic wasn’t too bad.  Everyone we’d talked to so far had said something like “be safe out there,” or “they don’t look for bikers well enough around those turns near Florence,” but on our trip we’ve only really encountered respectful drivers.  Following the cliffs North of Florence the landscape changes abruptly to dunes, which made for great views descending the high roads.

Looking south onto our new landscape

Looking south onto our new landscape

Kyle cruises out of the cliffs and into the dunes.

Kyle cruises out of the cliffs and into the dunes.

Tall Tall Lizzy cruising along

Tall Tall Lizzy cruising along

Besides the dunes we were met with heavy hail and rain.  Enough to the point that we were no longer just passing through Florence, we were going to a laundromat in Florence.  The laundromat turned out to be a very special place.  There we were able to eat our snacks and wash/dry clothes; There was even a cat for entertainment, and even more, and young girls whose mother was doing laundry, to chase the cat.  “MEOW MEOW MEOW!” she bellowed.  I got the impression that the cat had had enough attention for this weird small human and was not coincidentally hiding between a row of several washers.  Kyle made Meow noises of his own to aide the feline in it’s hiding as lizzy and I made small talk with the child.  We also got the impression that the mother of this girl was 1) not into her daughter’s enthusiasm for this cat, and 2) not into the fact that her daughter was talking to some strange bikers.

Happy biking family.

Happy biking family.

In addition to the young girl’s convincing cat imitations, she told us, “I’m not kidding!” as if we believed that she was not serious about finding the cat once more.  Before we knew our clothes were dry and we were back on the road, headed to Honeyman, just south of Florence.  We arrived, set up Lizzy’s new 2-person tent, and made a dinner of refried beans (kyle dehydrated beans and they’re delicious) with corn tortillas and taco bell hot sauces.  As it turns out the lid of my stove works wonderfully for warming tortillas (by the way we had a similar dinner the previous night).  Olives were our appetizers, and it was great to use up the last bits of our heavy canned foods; thanks YCAP dumpster.  Even in the dark we could hear people driving their dune buggies or ATVs on the nearby dunes.

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Don’t let the glare fool you, it was only a glimpse of sun.

Kyle and I took free warm showers in the state park bathroom- that was a pleasure for reducing nighttime stickiness, and for warming up. In the tent we did our nightlies of reading and writing and reading and thinking and lights were out early.  Before we fell asleep a powerful hail storm moved through that was louder on the tent walls than I’ve ever heard.  We all couldn’t help but laughing without any words.  Today is March 6th, day 5, of our trip, and we’ve had hail everyday!

The next morning we slept in a little later than previous mornings.  After the ritualistic bundling up we headed off to find hail covering the roads and rather thick in some spots.  It was a neat scene to see hail built up on the divets of the sand dunes.  The roads were wet and hand and feet were cold- but we were fine.  Kyle and Lizzy have been sporting some sort of sneakers, and I’ve been wearing rain boot cut offs.  While my feet sometimes stay dry I think I have the worst circulation.  Our first 16 miles or so were definitely challenging, but it’s hard not to have a good attitude when you’re riding with such funny looking people.  Apologies for the lack of pictures here; I think if we could insert a graph with the weather on one axis and the amount of pictures taken on the other there’d be an obvious correlation.  We stopped in Gardiner (16 miles) at a gas station for coffee and snacks.  There’s nothing to boost morale like caffeine, a little overappreciated warmth, and gas station snacks.

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Tim’s

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Corn Nuts

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Surprise surprise. She’s back at it again.

At the gas station we checked our phones to get updates on a potential warm showers host in Coos Bay. We remained hopeful…  I also bought a pair of yellow latex gloves (you know, those for cleaning) for keeping my hands dry/warm. I doubted their success, but spent the $2 anyway.  Caffeinated, snacked up, and with Coos bay in our optimistic sights we left the gas station.  The diagonal rain reminded us even from inside what we were heading into, but like I said, we were caffeinated.

I will leave off here, as the library we’re visiting is closing soon.  Team Dynamix is great (this is our team name).  Team dynamics are also great. And I’ve gained a whole new perspective on all the banana peels I’ve thrown out the car window.  Thanks to those who’ve contributed Watsi donations already! Here is the link for those interested.

All the best,

Tim


Back at it again! 5

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Timmy, and his trusty steed, Hi Horse

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Kyle, and his stunning shades

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Lizzy, with an apparently tiny bike?

Hello friends and family. Long time no see. It’s been just over a year since we finished up our mega tour through the 48 states, but there’s nothing quite like it and you find that you have to get back at it. This time around, it’s Timmy, Kyle, and I (Lizzy), who will be riding down the Pacific coast. Kyle is heading out around Coos bay to head inland and meet up with his folk, but Tim and
I are in the long haul, heading for Santa Barbara, to catch a train on the 27th to get back up to Portland (somehow I didn’t feel it’d be good to take two months off work… maybe I’m a homebody now).

Tuning up...

Tuning up…

ANYWAYS, so, well, we’ve already left. I didn’t really post a “Getting Ready for Tour” post, because, well, I was very busy getting ready for tour. Fixed up my bike real good at the Community Cycling Center, my favorite non-profit bike shop in Portland (conveniently just a mile from my house?), and pack up all my gear, trying to pack “light” this time around. Haha. I’m riding a 2014 Trek 520 these days, as I got hit by a car and irreparably damaged ol cyclescoot last February, and let insurance foot the bill for a slick new touring machine. It’s been quite useful for toting around all my tools for work this past year, as I began working in deconstruction, and traveling all around the city with about as much weight as I have for tour now…

Good Boys.

Good Boys.

Yum. Also: heavy.

Yum. Also: heavy.

I conveniently drove Timmy’s sister’s old car to Mac on Wednesday, as it needed to be there anyways, and also happened to save me a three hour bus ride, or four and a half by bike… Timmy, Kyle, and I all met up for the first time to plan, and quickly (vaguely) hashed out some details over a cup of coffee. We scooted out the to YCAP non-profit bike hub to check out all the work Timmy has been up to, volunteering there the past year, cleaning up and organizing the bikes, parts, and tools. We hit the food bank dumpster on the way out and scored copious amounts of heavy cans of beans and such. Good deeds.

A SPECIAL VISITOR. Hi Linsday.

A SPECIAL VISITOR. Hi Linsday.

We split after that. I saw some family, worked on patching up my old tattered clothes that I opted to bring on tour (for comfort and style). My pal Linsday from Portland drove down for one last hangout and joined Timmy and I for Winco grocery shopping to get the snack situation in order (very very important). We went and saw my brother’s family, and then met up with Timmy, Kyle, and Timmy’s sister, Kristen for a final drink on third street, wherein we hashed out some final deets. And also accidently almost decided to go three days out of our way to go get vegan ice cream and gluten free treats from Back to Eden up in Portland. (Yes, we are a traveling crew of dietary restrictions). After much debate as to the merits and the hilarity of bucking our only plan right off the bat, a consensus was agreed to actually head south. and maybe redecide in the morning.

SAFETY FIRST. (I'm wearing a helmet this time around!)

SAFETY FIRST. (I’m wearing a helmet this time around!)

Come morning, we all met up at Timmy’s, bright and early. Kyle’s mom rode with him and gave him a good send off, and soon enough we were hitting the road.

SUCH PLEASURE!

Kyle found some sweet roadside fashion one-armed sunglasses. Nice.

Kyle found some sweet roadside fashion one-armed sunglasses. Nice.

It all came immediately back to me. We rode out the door and onto familiar roads, stopping for lunch break at the casino halfway though our day. Got some letter writing and journaling done, and also maybe drank large amounts of free coffee and made lemonade water mixes to get us over the upcoming coast range.

We stopped at the post office just down the road in Grand Ronde to mail that first sweet postcard, and pick up more stamps. While I was inside, Timmy and Kyle started chatting with a woman and when I came out she looked totally familiar. We each listed names and places and times and events for about five minutes, but eventually just chalked it up to small town goodness. She also handed us a box of vegan gluten free pies ??????? YOU ALL KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT PIES. Super perfect.

Anyways, we moved on, and the lemonade water did it’s job. We headed out and quickly reached the top of the range, no issues, just smooth sailing. Just passing the last peak, it began to sprinkle and I knew that it was gunna be a soggy ride the rest of the day (maybe even week??) (March is not the best weather on the Oregon coast), so I donned rain gear and was quite thankful.

It was more easy riding the rest of the way into Lincoln City, where the steepest hill we climbed was the one to get into the Grocery Outlet (Groc Out, and it has been lovingly deemed by many) and stock up on MORE SNACKS. I even hit up the dumpster and pulled a fine bag out apples out from certain doom. Yum. Free.

We looked up where a nice place to sleep might be, options including a secluded church parking lot, or dish out cash for a hiker/biker spot at the state park, but en route to a church deemed worthy, I saw the real prize: dugouts.

so dry and sheltered. home sweet.

so dry and sheltered. home sweet.

These were nice ones, walled, roofed, and most importantly, DRY. We rolled in, and made ourselves at home, taking advantage of the community center across the street for a warm atmosphere and flushing toilets. Made an easy dinner of two cans of foraged refried beans and warmed up corn tortillas. Delicious. As we were prepping for bed, a small head of deer dashed past us and continued to graze the manicured lawn.

Sorry for ugly picture. It was dark. and far.

Sorry for ugly picture. It was dark. and far.

Thankfully, we weren’t disturbed in the night, and got a full night’s sleep, cozy and dry for our first night on the road. Soon enough we were climbing out of bags, and rolling up our lives, ready to get back at it. We stopped at a moving sale a few miles out of town and filled water bottles, as well as eyed very reasonably priced goods that I KNOW I would have bought if I didn’t have another thousand miles to go (sorry knick-nack shelf and whirly popcorn-popper). I asked about the house, which was this lovely beachy old mobile home with the coolest round vintage kitchen you ever did see, and found that roofers had broken all the trusses last year while doing repairs, and they had to get rid of the place. Turns out, my brother’s girlfriend, Ashley, works in the plant in McMinnville that the lady had custom ordered her new home from. She’ll be there working on it!

Saying goodbye, we headed back out and to Newport for lunch break (and blog writing, always more blog writing), and had a bit of a time, with heavy headwinds and light showers the whole way, but quite happy and worth it, especially with grand views of the coast to our right, and many sights of lazy ol’ seal flopping around on the rocks below.

Anyways, glad to be back at it, and I hope you folks will enjoy the adventures. I’ve set up another Watsi campaign to raise funds for patients in need along the way, so you might consider heading over there and checking it out: Within Biking Distance Watsi campaign Also it’s at zero right now and looks sad. Just saying. That may be because I only just secretly set it up. Whatever.

LIZZY OUT

<3

Oh. p.s. Ghost rat beefie is joining us for the journey. I’m wearing my Travelin Rattie Beef shirt as we speak, er, I type.

see him there? on the down tube?

see him there? on the down tube?

Okay, bye for real.