And so we begin... XC50

 

The Whole Gang

If you wonder about the XC50, this is the 50th anniversary of the publishing of a trans-America (XC -Cross Country) bike route by Adventure Cycling.  So I may frequently refer to this trip as XC50.

Before the rain started

The ride began for real from Astoria, OR and my expectations for the ride were met as we rolled to Rainier, OR.  I had anticipated this to be a wet ride on a very busy highway with many areas with little to no shoulder.  Yup... that is what is was.  Sometimes you just have to slog your way through some areas.  We got in a couple of hours of riding before the rain hit, but it was steady for several hours after that.  We had to wait a while at the campsite for the rain to let up so we could set up our tents and get a hot shower.  Nobody died, so we'll call that a win!

And as an added benefit my Wahoo GPS died in the rain and I don't mean the battery died.  It is gone.  I had enough cell service at the campsite to order a new GPS from Amazon and have it delivered to the hotel here in Portland overnight.  I am back in business with routing instructions on the bike.  Today I used my phone with an ear bud so I could hear the turn-by-turn instructions from the Ride With GPS app on my phone.  Plus, I rode most of the day with Chuck (76) and John(66) and their GPS's were working.  We are by far the strongest riders on the tour.

We didn't get a lot more rain overnight, but it was still cloudy with scattered showers around as we broke camp and headed out toward Portland.  We were still on Hwy 30, but as we got closer to Portland the road improved with either a bike lane or a wide shoulder, but the pickup trucks pulling 5th wheels had been replaced by semi's, so the traffic was still substantial.

As we rolled into Portland we had to cross the Willamette river at some point.  There are a number of bridges, but only a few that you would consider riding a bike across.  We followed the route directions to the Broadway Bridge.  During the route discussion, they kind of failed to mention the "stair climb".  There are several people with ebikes on the tour, so climbing 40 stairs is not really an option.  We have a group text message  set up and I used Google maps to find an alternate route onto the bridge and sent it to the group behind us, which they appreciated.

Right after we crossed the bridge we rode a mile to our next scheduled rest stop.  This provided insight into some of the things the Portland Chamber of Commerce doesn't publicize.  I am pretty sure there was a drug dealer on the street, a number of homeless smoking pot, or something stronger and some very colorful language between the park patrons, etc.  We arrived just as Susan, the guide, showed up to set things up for the snack table.  We didn't hang around very long.  As most of the riders showed up, Susan called the other guide and advised they just pass up this stop since it was only 10 more miles to the hotel.

Tomorrow we leave Portland and head into the Columbia Gorge.  I plan to have dinner with Jim and Heidi.  They will come pick me up from our campsite on the Washington side of the Columbia River and go to a local brew pub which I am looking forward to, plus they will get to meet this cast of characters.

I have found out the ages of all but 2 of the riders.  Dave at 80 is the oldest and Miles at 64 is the youngest (so far).  So I may be a little below the the average at 69.  

The 3 oldest men on the trip (L to R):  Dave (80 and you would guess it), Chuck (76), Glenn (77) - Dave and Glen are old friends, riding ebikes.  Glen has done RAGBRAI 18 times (ride across Iowa)

The back of Susan, one of our guides at lunch.  I wish I had a picture at the end of the day.  Her jacket was pretty much black from road grime.  

The first camp site of XC50 at Hudson Parcher County Park

Back on the Road... Again - The Prologue

It has been 8 years since Beth and I last posted on this blog. A lot has happened since then. A pandemic. Several more adventures that went undocumented here like a "Bike-n-Barge" trip from Paris to Brugge Belgium. A week long cruise on a converted crab boat into Glacier Bay National Park which included adding a bike ride in Juneau, Alaska to complete riding in all 50 states. 

And then the shock of Beth's diagnosis of Stage 4 Vulvar cancer in Oct of 2023. She passed away on March 2, 2024, just 4 and a half months after her diagnosis, while  enduring radiation and chemo treatments through the holidays. So the past 2 years have been very difficult at times and I expect will continue to be a roller coaster. 

I had thought about just starting a new blog, but decided against that.  If you come across this blog you can go back and visit some of Beth and my prior adventures including the original ride across the country in 2013. 

So a few months ago I was trying to come to some decision about what to do this year. One of the last things Beth asked of me was to keep doing what WE had been doing... taking trips that hopefully turned into adventures. 

I was poking around on Google and came across the description of a bike ride across the country from a small company called BIKEternity based in Missoula, MT. It was to be a celebration tour of 50 years since Adventure Cycling of America had published the "TransAmerica" route which was the basis of our 2013 Ride Across the USA with our 16 year old nephew, Nicholas, as our support person driving a 22' Sprinter motorhome.  What an adventure that was!

Terrain map I made of the cross country route

I looked at the route and saw that it included pieces of things Beth and I had done together like riding over Lolo Pass outside Missoula and the Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills. But also plenty of places I haven't ridden including some sections of "Rail-to-Trail". Long story short I signed up and the ride begins today, May 24, in Astoria, OR. The average is 63 miles per day, so not quite the 80 mile per day pace we did in 2013, but I'm 13 years older as well! 

It is a small group of 11 riders with 4 staff. I think, at 69, I may be in the middle of the pack age wise.  I know that Chuck is 76 and a really strong rider, may be the oldest. The youngest I know of is John at 66 and also a strong rider.  There are 4 women and 7 men, so a pretty good mix for a long distance tour and two women guides, so it should be a pretty balanced group. It is an 11 week trip with over 50 nights of camping with a couple of nights in hotels every week or so.  Definitely NOT something Beth would have agreed to do.  The 17 nights of camping on our Africa bike trip were the first and last camping bike trip!

In the past, the blog was a joint venture between Beth and I.  So, I'll try to keep up with posting something every few days, but with cycling and camping I'm not sure how much energy I'll have for keeping up with the blog.  We'll just have to see.  Hopefully there will be some tales to tell!

The Peter Iredale

Today, we went for a fairly short ride from the hotel in Astoria to Fort Stevens State Park, which Beth and I had visited a few years ago on one our trips to the Oregon coast.  It was a beautiful day for spring on the coast.  We rode to the beach where the wreck of the Peter Iredale is located.  After the official dip of our bike tires in the Pacific Ocean we are on our way across the country.

The weather forecast for our first real day of riding toward Maine, is NOT supposed to be so picture perfect... Chilly and rainy all day and into the evening.  It will also be our first night of camping so we'll see how that goes, but that is just part of the adventure.

The women of the tour L to R: Sheri, Marianne, Susan (guide), Jocelyn, Kelly (guide) and Dorothy

John and me

Osaka

March 20 - Travel to Osaka

Imabari Castle

After our eventful bike ride and attempts at drying out our clothes, this morning we had a short time to explore Imabari.  Since it wasn't raining we took the short walk from our hotel was Imabari Castle.  This was quite impressive 5 story castle, very typical of a shogun's palace that is seen in many of the smaller towns in Japan.  It was also a museum with many old shogun army outfits but unfortunately without any English explanations.  The gardens and temples were quite lovely.  The walk allowed us to stretch out our legs before the long day of train rides traveling from Imabari to Osaka.  It was raining again by the time we arrived in Osaka (the weather has turned against us) so after checking in at our hotel, we found a small curry place for dinner and called it a day.

March 21 - Remaining in Osaka allowed us to get a later start to our day.  We traveled by subway to two different shopping centers (covered street malls).  The first was quite typical of what we have seen in other cities and areas of Japan but we did find the 100 yen ($1) store and had fun wandering around looking at the items.  In particular we have noted the laundry hanging from the apartment building balconies as we pass by on the train. 

The "100 Yen" store

We have seen all sizes and shapes of laundry clamps from the typical close pins to some that are a foot long to clamp bed comforters to the balcony.  We wondered where you buy them and now we know... the 100 yen store had a full selection.

The second shopping street was devoted primarily to kitchen and restaurant ware.  Every small dish, plate, bowl, etc. that we have seen throughout our meal journeys was available for purchase along with the charcoal grills, bamboo steamers, knives, octopus ball grills, restaurant signs, lights and anything else one might need to set up a restaurant.  It was a truly amazing collection of restaurant equipment and supplies.

"Clothes pins" of all sizes

We had planned to make a trip to Kobe from Osaka (about 40 minutes by train) as Ted has some good memories of his time there but we are both getting tired of the crowds in the train and subway stations.  It's hard to imagine millions of people using public transportation on a daily basis.  The images of packed subway cars and pushers to get as many people on as possible are all true.  It is pretty much a game of frogger just navigating the crowded subway and train terminals as 6 tunnels merge into one large intersection and people hurry on their way to their next train.

Tomorrow we return to Tokyo and will depart early on the following day to return to Albuquerque.  This has been quite the trip and a fascinating vacation.

A sampling of knives available at one of the kitchen supply stores

Hiroshima, Cycling the Shimanami Way

This is not on sale... a $100 cantelope
Perfectly grown fruit is given as special gifts in Japan

Before we move on, we have to back up a little because we forgot to tell you about our "fire sale" dinner.  We had written about the large grocery stores located in the bottom of the department stores at train stations and the choices are quite overwhelming.  The stores close at 8PM so at 7:30 or so all of the pre-made items are put on sale (often at 1/2 price) because they will not resell the following day.  So for dinner in Kyoto we experienced the "end of the day fire sale".  We got a great beef bento (lunch) box, meatballs, sweet and sour chicken and steamed buns all for about $20.

The following night after visiting Nara, we found a yakitori (stuff grilled on a small wooden skewers) restaurant just around the corner from our hotel.  It was a real hole in the wall type place with maybe 15 seats total around a small bar/kitchen.   Initially we were the only customers but the two workers welcomed us in and even provided us with an English menu.  There were a few set dinner menu combinations and a couple of "let the chef pick", but in general you just order items by the "stick".  There were some odd items like chicken feet, beef tongue, lots of intestinal parts, so letting the chef pick might be a little risky. So we started ordering items, one by one to sample all kinds of grilled and deep-fried meats.   It was a great experience and great food!  This place must have a regular customer base because there was one price listed on the menu for walk-ins and a slightly lower price for members.

March 19 - Hiroshima

A-Bomb Dome

Even taking the bullet train from Kyoto to Hiroshima, it was a two hour journey, mostly in tunnels or troughs so not much to see.   Hiroshima is, of course, known for the first atomic bomb used in war, so the must see places include the A-bomb Dome and the Peace Park.  The A-bomb Dome is portion of a public building that was near ground zero which withstood the blast.  The covering of the dome of the building was blown away, but the steel structure of the dome and most of the building remained.

We found another small Korean-style barbecue (small charcoal grill at your table) for dinner and enjoyed grilling our own meat and vegetables on the table top grill.  Again, the staff was great providing an English menu and helped with ordering.  Ted has noticed that finding limited English speakers is more common than his previous trips.  English is taught in the middle and high schools, so most young people speak at least limited English and feel comfortable talking with us.  Also, the widespread use of the internet has probably helped as well.  Just like in the states, everybody is glued to their phone on the sub-way, train or bus.

March 20 - Cycling the Shimanami Way

Beth modeling her $5 rain coat

After breakfast we arranged for our luggage to be transferred to Osaka where we will be staying on the 21st.  Then with our backpacks loaded for one night, we took two local trains to arrive at Onomichi, the beginning of our cycling route.  We'd been watching the weather all week and the rain prediction was correct.  The morning started with spitting rain which continued all day increasing in intensity from around 1PM on.  Although we had brought raincoats with us, we found out early on the trip that they weren't very water-resistant any more.  So we spent some time in Hiroshima looking for cheap raincoats.  At the ever ready convenience store (FamilyMart) we found 500 yen ($5) clear plastic raincoats and they really saved the day.  And yes, we found one that fit Ted,,the sleeves were a little short, but it sure beat nothing and did the job.

The cycle ride started with renting bikes in Onomichi and then a very short ferry ride to cross over to the next island.  About 4 miles into the ride, Ted had a flat.  The rental bikes had no spare tube or pump.  We saw several more cyclist, but none with a pump.  We

Bike "selfie" climbing up to one of the
 bridges...  had to keep thinking...
"ride on the left!"... just like the UK

were a long way from any bike terminal, but were fortunate enough to have a friendly Japanese bike rider, with a reasonable amount of English, stop and use his phone to call the emergency number.  After a lengthy conversation in Japanese, describing the problem and our location, he ended the conversation and indicated it would be about 30 minutes but we would get a new bike.  Ted's first bike was small for him and the next one was even smaller.  He raised the seat to the maximum and was still probably 2 inches short of being tall enough, but he made it work.

One the early bridges we crossed

In all, the ride is 50 miles linking multiple islands by 6 suspension bridges. Although the route is generally flat the climbs up to the bridges were not!   Despite the rain, the views were spectacular and well worth the ride.  It would be simply stunning in good weather and in better weather many of the small towns had temples and castles that would be fun to visit.  The last bridge, the Kurushima Kaikyo, was 4 km long and has 6 towers, the longest suspension bridge structure in the world.   By then it was raining harder, the wind was picking up and getting cold but we endeavored to persevere and made it all the way to the Imabari rail station to turn in our bikes.

Sadly, we walked into the nicest hotel in Imabari (4+ star) looking like dripping wet dogs covered with road grime.  After dripping all over the check-in counter, we slogged our way to our room to shed our wet clothes and clean up.  That night our bathroom was a sauna, what with trying to dry out all the wet clothes, our backpacks and shoes using the hotel hair dryer.  As tired as we were neither of us wanted to go out to dinner (in the rain) so again the ever ready convenience store (Lawson's) a block from the hotel provided dinner.

The Kurushima Kaikyo bridge is 4k long and fades into the fog.  The bike path spirals up from near sea level on both ends to get to the bridge.  It is an engineering marvel.

Kyoto and Nara

Friday - March 8

Our origami handy work.  The card say "Ted" and "Beth"

Our day today was packed with activities! 
We were met this morning by a guide dressed in full kimono from the Women's Association Of Kyoto who took us to our host's home by taxi for a lesson in origami.  What fun to actually see a typical household and to spend some time with several local women folding paper.  The instructor's "It's easy" was not quite true but we ended up with some reasonable creations.  Our guide spoke excellent English, her husband had been a middle school English teacher (now retired), our instructor and the other observer spoke reasonable English; definitely more than we spoke Japanese.

Our guide and observer then took us by taxi to Nijo castle where they left us to explore on our own.  The castle was built in 1603 as the official residence of one of Japan's first shogun leaders.  It is famous for its "nightingale floors"  that squeak as you walk across them.  They do sound like birds, but were actually designed so no-one could sneak up on the occupants.

After a lunch in a local cafe, our next stop was Nishijin Textile Centre - a museum dedicated to the
weavers who for decades created the textiles used by the Imperial family.  We took in the kimono show, which showed kimonos for the four seasons.

It was then a walk to the subway and back to the hotel before heading out with an evening tour with Peter MacIntosh.  He is a professional photographer and world-leading expert on geisha culture.  Peter is probably most know as working as a location scout for the movie "Memoirs of Geisha".  The walking tour of about 90 minutes took us through the giesha districts.  Peter is a characher himself and had great stories to share.

Peter was raised in Nova Scotia and had a short lived professional soccer career 25 years ago.  So before joining the everyday work world, he decided to tour several countries which included Japan before settling down.  But as fate would have it, he never made it past Japan and has lived in Kyoto since.  He became a bar owner with an ex-gisha, then a professional photographer and is one of the few foreigners with personal knowledge of the gisha culture.  He knows many of the people in the district and is frequently used to photograph the gisha for ads or promotions.

He plans the tour so that we may have the opportunity to see some of the girls as they head out for dinner appointments.  His timing was impecible and we were able to see several gieko/maiko leaving the houses to go to their evening's engagements.  We learned that a maiko is a gieko in training and that it takes 5 years to make the transition.  Most girls begin their training around the age of 15 (the end of compulsory education in Japan).  They must interview with a "house mother" who will invest close to $500,000 dollars in a maiko's training, kimonos and education.  The young girl must sign a contract turning over all of her earnings for the 5 years to the "house mother".  At the end of her training, the now gieko can choose to work for herself or, more typically, request sponsorship from any of the house mothers or tea houses.  This is a true job, they have a union and a pension plan.

Saturday - March 17

Beth gave this girl some rice crackers to feed the deer.

Our schedule today was a day trip from Kyoto to Nara.   We are seeing Japan's capital cities in
reverse order.  Nara was the first capital of Japan.  While the guide book says that Nara is relatively unchanged, in our opinion, Nara is a major of a tourist trap.  Nara Park is famous for the Sika deer, supposedly wild, but really tame and fed so much by people that they are quite determined you feed them if you've purchased the deer rice cakes.  The deer are considered quite a "must-see" but if you wander anywhere in the park you can't miss them.  Inside the park are many temples and shrines, the most famous, the Todai-ji Temple, which has the world's largest Buddha.  It was quite impressive.

Why do Japanese hold up the "V" or peace sign in photos?
Google it.... but they all do it all the time!

As we walked around Todai-ji Temple, there was a massive support post that had a hole cut in the
base.   Mostly it was kids that would get down and crawl through the post but there was the occasional adult who felt the urge to see if they could squeeze through... frequently with embarrassing photos being taken as they tried to squeeze through.  Maybe they were reliving some childhood memory or something?  Beth did catch a great photo of a very young girl who just peaked out of the whole before she backed up to the other side... too many strangers out there!

Where's mom????

Really big Buddha!

Kyoto

Stairway in Kyoto Station that produces images at night

Weds., March 14 -
Time to say goodbye to Fukinomori Ryokan and start the 3 1/2 hour train trip to Kyoto.  We started with two local trains to Nagoya and then onto the bullet train to Kyoto.  The local trains filled up quickly and the second train announcements were only in Japanese.  Up until now the amount of English (written and spoken) on all of the trains, buses and subways has been impressive and made the travel quite easy. 

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years up until the 1860's and remains the most culturally important city in Japan.  It has 1,700 Buddhist temples and 300 Shinto shrines, as well as palaces, castles, canals and gardens.  But you would never know that when you pull into Kyoto station.  The station is a large, modern, glass structure built in 1997.  It is an 11 story building and includes a hotel, shops, restaurant, access to the subway station and the bus station.  Our hotel is located about 0.7 of a mile from the station and only 1 subway stop away.  We walked to the hotel, checked our baggage and took the subway back to the station to find lunch and explore.  It is very convenient that the subway card from Tokyo also works in Kyoto as well as 8 other cities.  We still had several hundred yen of credit on our cards from Tokyo so we are using them here as well. 

One of many very old temples in Kyoto

Surprisingly large grocery stores are located on the bottom floor of department stores at the train stations.  And of course there is a large department store in the train station, so it was a lot of fun wandering around to see all the selections.

We returned again to the station for dinner and to see the "Big Stairway".  In an open-air area in the center of the building from floor 8 to floor 11 is a concrete stairway with LED lights that create changing and moving pictures.  The top of the station offers terrific views of the city from all angles.

Thursday., March 15 -
Our schedule for today included a private half-day tour of Kyoto by bike organized through the Kyoto Cycling Tour Project.

On our bike tour in front the Heian Shrine

Our guide, Hideki, spoke very good English, having spent some time at Boston University.  He took us through the back streets of Kyoto stopping at many points of interest along the way.  Our first stop was Higashi-Honganji Temple, a very large Buddhist temple.  Our second stop was a smaller Giesha area, followed by the much bigger and busier Gisha area of Gion.  Then we wondered our way over to the Heian Shrine, a Shinto shrine.  We biked to Imperial Palace along a canal, and saw our first cherry blossom tree in full bloom.  Parking our bikes we toured the Imperial Palace and gardens before returning to Kyoto station area where we started. 

Ted was worried that it would be hard to find a bike to fit him but he ended up with a Cannondale Mountain bike that was only about 2 sizes too small, but rideable with the seat extended to the limit.   He liked the kickstands on the bikes so well that after a quick and tasty lunch of Raman noodles(nothing like the packaged stuff) at one of the many restaurants in the train station  and dumplings we went to Bic Camera to purchase a bike stand to take home.

We are a little early, but there are a few Cherry trees that are starting to bloom

Hiking the Nakasendo Way

Monday, March 12 and Tuesday, March 13– 

Our bed is made up while we are at dinner

Our journey to Tsumago was a slightly convoluted one, but we got to see more alpine scenery and the Kiso Valley.  We took 4 different trains to make it to Tsumago ending up at Nagiso station where we were picked up by our hotel’s shuttle.  

Our hotel, Fukinomori, is a traditional Ryokan about 3 miles out of town on the mountainside.  We are sleeping on tatami (mattresses on the floor), enjoying public bathing in the natural hot springs and eating traditional kaiseki food.  Here is one evening's one-and-a-half hour, 9-course menu:

This is just the appetizers...

1. Zensai (Appetizers):  Umeshu:  Japanese Plum wine; Koi no umani:  Boiled down carp fish with mixed soy sauce; Otaguri:  Boiled own horse’s intestine with mixed miso and soy sauce; Wakasagi no Nabanzuke:  Rolled deep fried smelt fish wrapped in Japanese radish; Soba-gome Goma Tofu:  Sesame flavored buckwheat tofu; Sijimi no Tosani:  Simmered freshwater clam with dried bonito

2. Yuki-masa no Sashimi:  Local yuki trout

3. Kamo Nabe:  Hot pot dish of sliced duck, tofu, vegetables and buckwheat noodles

4. Yurine Manju:  Steamed lily bulb with mixed soy starch sauce

5. Shinsyu Salmon no Yuanyaki:  Grilled Marinade shinsyu salmon

6. Wakasagi no Tempura:  Deep fried smelt fish and vegetables

7. Rino-wagyu no Salad:  Japanese style salad with sliced wagyu steak (cold)

8. Iwana no Kamameshi:  Cooked rice with Iwana fish, pickled vegetable and miso soup

Traditional Japanese breakfast with salad and a filleted fish

9. Dessert:  Custard and greentea coated gelatin

Today after a traditional Japanese breakfast, we walked the Nakasendo Way from Magome to Tsumago. This involved taking a shuttle from the hotel to Tsumago and then catching a local bus to Magome.  

The Nakasendo Highway was established in the 8^th century to link the areas around the capital, which at that time was in Nara. This was an attempt to unite the growing empire.  It became several highways during the Edo period in the 1600's, by which time the political center for the country had moved to what is now Tokyo.  

Start of our hike in Magome

The highways served as a link between Kyoto and Tokyo and as a way to move messages, goods,  personnel and spies across the empire. Villages were chosen to be post towns, responsible for the upkeep of the road and to provide food and lodging for travelers. These are steep mountainous roads with many streams, so they were most likely frequently washed out.  We had to walk through a number of muddy areas on our hike.

Although the highway covers 531 kilometers, we only walked 8k between the 2 towns.  We added another 3k to the Tsumago castle ruins and back.  All in all a long day. 

The view from Tsumago Castle Ruins back toward Nagiso where we arrived by train yesterday.