First three days!

We're at the end of day 3 with our first computer access of the trip. Here's a quick re-cap of the first three days.

Day 1: Florence- Eugene OR, +70 miles.
We got up at 5:30 to drive four hours to the beach in Florence. Everyone touched the water, and we baptized the back wheels of our bikes with Pacific ocean water. We then started our ascent up into the Cascades, following Hwy. 126 through the Willammette Valley towards Eugene. We biked on narrow shoulders through rolling hills and large douglas fir forests, moss hanging from many branches. Logging trucks, semis and the occasional supportive honking car whizzed by continuously.

We went through a tunnel that notified drivers when bikers were inside, which we thought beforehand would be cool. Instead, the concrete magnified each car's engine by about a thousand, so that the entire experience turned out more hellish than anticipated. About twenty miles outside of Eugene, Dan's front derailleur came loose and fell onto her chain. We discovered the bolt was stripped, and Dan courageously biked the last hour and a half with only seven gears.

We arrived on the outskirts of Eugene right in the middle of rush hour, making the final miles nerve-wracking as the distance between our panniers and passing cars shrunk considerably. Our day ended at the University of Oregon, where we met Christina and Jess Schueler, friends of Amie, who directed us to Thai food and our night's lodging. The house we stayed in had very comfortable couches and beds, if otherwise a chaotic mess of stale beer, the remnants of a cake fight, and the result of a seeming holistic lack of dresser drawers. College kids are the same everywhere.

Day 2: Eugene - Blue River (Delta Campground in Cougar Reservoir) 55 mile total

First thing in the morning we took Dan's bike to Paul's Bike shop to check out the front derailleur. The mechanic informed us that her derailleur had been heliocoiled in the factory- meaning that they stripped the female bolt partand mcgiver'd a fix by widening the hole and placing a spring to replace the shoddy threads. Needless to say, it didn't last long.

We had to bike across Eugene to a second bike shop to pick up a new front derailleur for Dan. Eugene is a maze of quiet one-way streets and small, brightly painted houses, many with well tended front yard gardens and hanging house plants. Getting the new derailleur didn't take long, and we continued on to grocery shop together for the first time at a local Safeway.

We exited Safeway in good spirits and under budget. On our way out, a man stopped to inform us (and Tamara, for the second time) the precise difference between good and great mothers (the answer wasn't particularly sensical but it was a joke he enjoyed greatly himself). We made our exodus from Eugene around 12:30, biking through a wooded trail on the banks of the Willammette. Finally we connected with Hwy. 126- the road we will be biking on until Tuesday, and began our day's trek.

The pavement was smooth and the weather, though cloudy, held the entire day. For lunch we stopped at a metalwork sculpture gallery in Leaburg. Behind the main building was a manicured lawn and a metalworked chariot- a pagoda with a stained glass roof, and an odd re-working of the cinderella pumpkin chariot. We spent a good amount of time taking photos.

Around four we came to Blue River, and stopped at the Midway Mtn. Resort to ask for directions to the closest campground. A woman with a pale, tan, loose flowered blouse and matching slacks appeared behind the counter and noticed us outside her locked door after we thought to ring the doorbell. She directed us to Delta Campground in Cougar Reservoir four miles up the road towards McKenzie Pass. There we found a beautiful campsite next to an abandoned railroad track on the McKenzie River. Nature was beginning to reclaim it- the ground rich and mossy with short-cropped european grasses. A large fallen cedar trunk lay along the north side of our campsite and stretched down to the shallow banks of the river's opposite side. It was split two thirds of the way across so that it lay across the river's surface on the far end. We stripped our bright colored jerseys- orange, red, neon yellow- and stepped barefoot down the log to jump into the turquooise, clear lazy current below. It was a refreshing end, to a beautiful day.

Day 3. Delta Campground to Sisters (McKenzie Pass, 5300ft.) 48 mi. total.

We all woke up nervous (or at least me, Lucia), to clear skies. All of our legs were stiff, and we faced a 4300ft elevation gain going over McKenzie Pass. After 9 miles of flat down 126, we stopped at the Ranger's Station to make sure the road was cleared of snow and passable. Luckily, it was clear to bikes, but still closed to cars, so we had the road to ourselves!

Essentially the day consisted of a never ending, but happily graded and well-paved, hill. The asphalt ribbon of Hwy. 242 snaked its way up the mountainside, switchbacking here and there in turns too constricted for vehicles 35ft and longer. The weather was cool and sunny, and we made sure to stop often for food and water.

Finally, around 2:30 we hit the snowfields, mostly melted, and a stretch of heavenly flat road. A mile further, we came to an abandoned bulldozer, and following my napoleon complex, proceeded to climb up it. We then spent about a half an hour climbing across an obsidian rock field to get a better view of the Belknap crater, the nearest mountain to the road. Finally at about 3:00 we reached the Dee Wright Observatory, the pass's highest point. There we immediately set in to a lunch of hummus, cheese, tortillas, nutella, peanut butter, peaches, apples, and whatever else we could find in our bags.

The observatory was a stone, turret-like construction made from the lava rock that surrounds it. There were many small windows around its circular main room, opening out to specific mountain vistas. Each was labeled with the peak it framed.

Beyond the views and mountains, the most memorable point of the day were the observatory's particularly agressive and numerous chipmunks. They came up to our shoes, tried to eat our peanut butter from the jar, and climbed onto our bikes. They even tried to eat the pebbles we threw to keep them at bay. See photos attached.

The descent from the pass took us only 45 minutes, and was accomplished through a rain shower. As we neared Sisters, the forest changed from fir and cedar to ponderosa pine. The pavement turned to chipseal, and the earth became lighter, drier, dustier. Five miles out of Sisters- a town with a construction ordinance requiring all buildings to follow a nostalgic 'Western' theme- a truck pulled over and waved us down. The driver asked if we were biking across the country and then offered us a place to stay to keep out of the rain. Fortunately, we are spending tonight back in Bend with Amie's family, who drove to Sisters to pick us up, but it was a generous offer that we hope repeats itself.

We now sit in the luxurious Corso home, where we have been fed, laundered, showered and are now about to recline to watch 'So You Think You Can Dance.' Simple pleasures. Thanks for tuning in to our blog- we will drive back to Sisters tomorrow at nine to bike to Prineville- an easy 39 miles.

Love and hugs,

Lucia, Tamara, Claire, Danielle and Amie