We wrapped up Washington by riding along Willapa Bay and across the Columbia River into Oregon.
After a quick stop for groceries and the last of last year’s postcards, we headed south out of South Bend. We passed the fish processing district, where one facility was unloading a fishing vessel. The fish were run up a conveyer through the roof, where I could see them flopping down into whatever comes next. They weren’t looking very lively, though.
Anne’s bike computer somehow lost today’s route. But that’s why we have alternates, like the cue sheets. Today’s route was also super easy. We stayed on our friend 101 all day today. It was in its country road mode, with a single lane each way.
We rode along a series of sloughs, which gave way to forests in various stages of the harvesting cycle. Some were recently cut, with big piles of branches and practically no green. Some had brush starting to grow in. Some had trees maybe eight or ten feet high poking above the stumps. And some had full sized trees. A few had logging trucks exiting the gravel roads running through.
We delayed lunch, both looking for a good spot, and to put as many miles in the “morning” as we could. We stopped at an old schoolhouse in Nemah, built in 1917. It had seen some recent attention, with fresh gravel on the driveway, and the area semi mowed. The paint was well aged, a bench was flipped on the entryway. We figured we could sit on the steps and eat without disturbing anything.
We took the turn west, following 101, through the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. It’s low traffic and quite pretty with some neat bridges. Ruth decided to play a game where she (and Anne) would both get on bridges first, and get off them. So we had a series of races. I can sprint faster, but it takes some time to get accelerated. We didn’t have any formal start point, one of us would just start cackling and pull off, leaving the other to play catch-up. Max got in on the growling noises, too. Good times, except the one where we winded ourselves right before we needed to climb.
Ruth also wanted to play I Spy. We’ve done this on rides before, and been surprised at the sophistication of some of her choices and hints. It also gives us a chance to work on spelling and word sounds. She likes to consult her toy laptop for making guesses, then is disappointed when we didn’t pick either the English or Spanish word for a given letter.
We stopped in the Refuge’s visitor center for a break. I took Ruth on a short walk through an art trail set up. Weird sculptures, and not-so-weird sculptures were enjoyed.
As we climbed out of the Refuge, Ruth wanted to play yet another game, Restaurant. We play this at home, where she seats you, takes your drink and food order, etc. When adapted for bikes, evidently, it’s just the talking parts. The rest is imagined. Today, the restaurant was out of almost everything. “People came and thought it looked good, so we solded them all” was a common excuse, no matter what was ordered. The best part was when she took Max’s order. “What will the little boy be having? What does the little boy want to drink?”
We took the bypass to skip Ilwaco. When we rejoined the highway, traffic picked up a lot. We were also getting close to the Oregon border. We went through a short tunnel that featured a “bikes in tunnel when blinking” sign with a button for us to press. Anne and Ruth were both very excited.
On the other side of the tunnel, the Astoria-Megler Bridge was on display. The cantilever bridge is over four miles long, and has a fairly steep hump on the far side. After some nice views leading up to it, it was time to finish Washington.
The sole bicycle facility on the bridge was a sign indicating that bikes might be on the bridge. At least it told us unambiguously that we were allowed, and where. The bridge has one lane in each direction, with an undersized shoulder populated with dead seagulls and other debris. The traffic was light enough that people could pass us without too much trouble.
The bridge was pretty intense. On one hand, it’s just a road that has hard cutoffs for the shoulders. But bridges feel different, and four miles plus a climb is pretty long. It offered nice views, especially at the top, looking down on the harbor. But, with nowhere to stop, there’s no way to take pictures.
Then it was time to repeat for the bridge to Warrenton, except with a crosswind. It was shorter, and a lot less climbing, so it wasn’t so hard.
Once we got to the hotel, we had time to go to the pool, while every other article of clothing we had was in the laundry.
Today was much easier somehow than yesterday. I’m still somewhat sore in places, but not nearly as much as yesterday.
Tomorrow is our last biking far before the next rest day. Hopefully we can keep everyone entertained.