Ready..... Set.....

Well the time is near to officially start riding across the country.  We picked up Nicholas Yaeger, our nephew, at the Portland, OR airport on Monday evening.  Nicholas will drive the RV while Beth and I ride the tandem and we have a bike for him to ride when Beth is driving the RV or while he waits for us to catch up to him.  Beth is planning to ride 40-60 miles/ day and we will be averaging just under 80 miles per day, so there will be plenty of opportunities for Nicolas to ride if he wants.

We really want to thank Holly and Don Schoenbeck for inviting us to stay with them on Monday night.  It was a great dinner and nice to spend the night in a real bed.  We met Holly and Don on our trip to Italy 5 years ago and have kept in touch ever since.  They will also be riding across the US this summer as well, starting a couple of week later with a tour run by America by Bicycle.  They'll be taking a northern route ending in New Hampshire.  So we plan to compare notes as we both ride across the country.



It has been a busy day.  After breakfast with Holly and Don, we made a quick run east of Portland to Multnomah Falls, the second tallest waterfall in North America, then back to Portland to pickup some by bike parts and gear.  The front brake caliper broke on the tandem, so we located a replacement and picked up a helmet for Nicholas and some shoe covers for us (it has been raining since we got here... but it's Oregon, so what do you expect).  Then we made a dash to Salem to the State Capital building where Nicholas and Beth took a quick tour and climbed to the statue on top (while I tried to find a place to park the RV).  Then we headed for Florence, OR on the Pacific coast where will start our ride tomorrow.  Nicholas took over the driving duties after we got off the freeway for about 80 miles and did a great job, even on some narrow winding roads going over the coast range.

We are staying in an RV park about a mile from the coast in old growth forest and listening to the rain come down on the RV... tomorrow could be a very wet start.  80 miles and >3000' of climbing to Eugene, OR (see the route here).  We had a beautiful afternoon today after wet morning, so we are hoping for the best.

I bet you have always wondered.... Where is the Grass Seed Capital of the World???? .... You know, I have always wondered that and now I know.  It is Linn County, Oregon.  I am sure we will have a whole bucket of factoids like this by the time we are done with this adventure... and in case you didn't know, Tulelake, CA was the location of the largest Japanese interment camp during WWII, Home of the Perfect Potato... and Home of the Honkers.  (Editorial correction... Beth pointed out that the largest Japanese interment camp was in Newell, 5 miles south, but Tulelake also had an interment camp as well.)