Day 2 St Helens, OR to Welches, OR recap

Got up early and got ready for breakfast in the motel. The usual fare that a motel offers, just their continental breakfast. I stuck to the oatmeal, boiled eggs, juice and milk. It was enough to get me to the SAG rest stop in Portland at mile 23. Luggage was loaded at 7:00 AM and I was off down the road. It is so nice to have done this route (in 2001) before. I loved seeing everything once again. It is surprising how much I missed! But just knowing where to expect the turns made it so much easier. The first time around I got lost on the route. There were a lot of tricky turns until we got through the city of Portland. It was mostly flat riding until we turned towards the road that said, “Mount Hood”. There was suddenly 1,300’ of climbing out of the city. It was such a thrill when we finally saw the snow capped mountain out there in the distance. Many photo stops by the riders today. We had tailwinds again today and the weather was so pleasant. I left wearing just a vest and arm warmers, and that was all I needed all day. I did shed the arm warmers about noon. Lunch was a great stop. It was a theme restaurant out at the edge of the town, Sandy, Oregon. It was Calamity Jane’s. They are known for their hamburgers and cowboy western décor. A guy from Texas, who I assumed owned the place, was telling jokes one after the other with a distinct Texas drawl accent. The waiter was a cowboy. On the beams through out the entire place were one-dollar bills tacked up there. You sign a bill and they staple it to one of the beams. The hamburgers were HUGE!!! That bun had to have been at least 6” across. I arrived at this beautiful mountain resort about 3:00 PM – as I took my time eating with our table of eight at the restaurant for lunch, I didn’t get in very early. But it was fun talking to more of the riders and getting to know their names. I road with a guy I’ve nicknamed Recumbent Jim. He is an Earth Science teacher in a high school in Richmond, VA. He is a young Chuck Harris. Quite the gadget guy. He has his camera all rigged up on his bike with a remote hooked up to it, and right from his seated position he takes his photos. He has a GPS on the bike too, and he was full of information all day long. I noticed quite a few of the bikers have there GPS units, either on their bikes or wearing them on their wrists. The one I liked that Joyce (may not have the name right yet) was wearing was an Avocet brand and it was a wrist model and she was telling us at the second sag stop we had climbed 465’ at that point. Started that long climb soon after that.

This resort is pure luxury! What a place. It is very rustic, deep into the pinewoods on the road leading up a mountain. It has a Scottish theme. I see most of the rooms are about $175 a night and up. ABB gets a good deal as they come back every year.

After route rap – that gave us the run down on tomorrow’s more challenging day, we walked about .8 mile down the tree-lined road to a Chinese place. The food was outstanding. Everyone raved about it, and we had plenty of it too. I walked across the way to a Thriftway grocery to buy some sport drinks before heading back to the motel.

Today there were many, many commercial nurseries along the route.

Road Kill count: 3 bungee cords and many nuts and bolts

Mileage: 76 on my computer.

Weather: PERFECT!