Shut Up Legs Tours

This was about a 75 mile day. I got out of Jessie Honeyman's State Park before any of the other cycle tourists got up. It must have been the lack of coffee but I suddenly realized that Oregon's rumble strip is the best one for cyclists. It seems they can paint and somehow pattern the blacktop all in one process. Plus, it is narrow, does not extend into the shoulder where cyclists ride, and also is not so deep like some that almost knock you off your bike. Anyhow, kudos to Oregon Transportation Dept for this design and hopefully other states will copy it. This critter had been hit by a car but was still alive. I thought it was a beaver at first but then realized the tail indicates something else. This thing was pretty big at around 7 - 8 pounds. Anyone know what it is? Gardiner has to be one of the saddest looking towns along the Oregon coast. The only people I saw were digging out in the mud -  I am guessing for clams. I finally made it to Reedsport and sto...

There is a hospitality center at South Beach where the best tool for cycling the Oregon Coast is available free. The volunteers in there give me this map of the coast that has everything the cycling tourist will want: names of campgrounds with hiker/biker sites; elevation profiles, distances, and alternate bike routes. Whoever put this together did an outstanding job as this is easily the most useful map I have ever had. The nice ladies also told me of a breakfast spot in Waldport called Dan O's that some people on Yelp have given terrible reviews. It is true the waitress smokes outside and everything they said, but, the breakfasts here are huge and coffee cup is bottomless. There are two signs outside - one says Dan O's and one says Carols. Apparently it is in some kind of transition right now. I liked the food and also got into a discussion with a trucker at the next table. We talked about cyclists and how he is deathly afraid of hitting someone and tries his best. He d...

Left McMinnville and headed to the coast. On the way I detoured slightly off 18 to go through Sheridan and Willamina. There was a nice bakery in Willamina that had decent coffee so I got my caffeine fix there. Sheridan was a depressed looking area though the mill was going. My first planned destination was Devils Lake which is supposed to have a hiker/biker camping site but though I looked at two different places it was not apparent to me. It was too early in the day to stop anyways but thought it would be worth checking out in case it was so awesome I would be compelled to stop. So, on down the coast I rolled. Devils Lake First picture of the Oregon Coast One of many alternate bike routes off the main 101 Sometimes you saw these signs for alternate routes and sometimes not There is a bike shop listed on warmshowers.org that will let cycle tourists shower there and is supposed to have lots of stuff for the cycle tourist. They were very friendly and gave me gr...

Today is the start of the 550 mile tour out to the Oregon Coast and back to Mount Shasta. McMinnville is about 45 miles away which is perfect but there is no camping around there that was listed on-line. Chris suggests checking our airbnb.com where people list rooms like a B&B. I find one that looks nice for $60 and book it. There were surely better ways to get to McMinnville but with my GPS not having a complete map set and me not being prepared with more detailed maps I decided to stick with the main road which is 99W. It is pretty busy and with the July 4th weekend coming up it was a non-stop parade of pickups with trailers, RV's, cars, and tractor-trailers. Getting close to McMinnville now Downtown McMinnville I meet up with Marty and Paula my airbnb hosts . The "room" turned out to be the whole upstairs including a den/sitting room, a "Sun" room, bath and bedroom. Everything was very clean and tastefully decorat...

The plan all along was to take the train and it was completely sold out, so lucky I already had tickets pre-paid for me and my bike. This train has a special baggage car with bike racks. You have to take your panniers off but do not have to box the bike and it is only $5 for the bike. So, with my AAA discount my bike and I travel to Portland for $46. I get into Portland around 3:15 pm within 10 minutes of the schedule and decide to find the Stumptown Coffee House downtown which is famous in coffee snob circles. Downtown Portland is pretty edgy with lots of homeless looking people and many folks with that rasta/hippy/tatto-pierced up rough urban hipster look. It makes me feel a little on edge but man does that Stumptown macchiato hit the spot. A month or so before a couple from Portland started and ended their bike tour at my house, so they had invited my to stay at their place. Joanie gave me a great route out to their house. Good bike lanes on most bridges in Portland ...

On the 28th I bid farewell to my Tai Chi family and head off to Bellingham. Rode about 45 miles today and was craving fried oysters the whole way. There was an oyster farm along the way but they did not shuck or prepare oysters there so that did not work out. I had tried to find a warmshoers.org host but it did not work out so I pricelined the 3 star Best Western for $60. Very nice hotel and room and it is next door to a Fred Meyers superstore where I can get food and beer.

The next five days are off the bike and it is nice to have this time to focus on something else besides riding. The Tai Chi camp at Moran State Park is very good and there is plenty of information and ideas for me to explore in my set for a long time. One day a group of us drove up to Mount Constitution and then walked up the tower. Incredible views!