60 miles today west into Astoria, OR. Cool mornings have become the norm but this day was cooler throughout, perhaps in the low 60's. We landed in Astoria about 5pm after a 8:45 departure.
Nice roads with not too much traffic just west of Kelso.
After about an hour we began paralleling along the north side of the Columbia River which would be the case for most of the day with a few exceptions into the nearby hillsides for some climbing practice.
At a county line park along the Columbia we stopped to eat out of our panniers and talk to the fisherman. These guys are camped here for months at a time fishing for 15 to 40 pound Chinook or King Salmon. They have a guy in a kayak run their lines out into the middle of the river and sink them attached to 2 duct taped bricks by a short piece of 15# leader. When a salmon strikes the lure it breaks the 15# leader line and the guys on the shore reel the fish in. Crazy.
The hillsides were covered with wild blackberry bushes. Angela stops to pick some for a snack later.
To cross the Columbia River we first had to cross a bridge connected to a rather big Puget Island at Cathlamet, WA.
After about 4 miles riding across Puget Island we get on to a ferry that crosses another channel of the Columbia into Westport, OR. That's right, we're now in Oregon! Good bye Washington state!
We had some good sized hills to climb in Washington but Oregon threw some big ones at us, especially a tough and long one right after lunch but Ang conquered them all.
6 miles before reaching Astoria we stopped at a volunteer fire department for a quick rest and shelter from the wind and to figure out our lodging strategy for the night. The chief, Paul on the right, and volunteer Paul on the left stopped by and gave us advice on Astoria. Then tall and not so tall Paul both wished us well and we were on our way.
Checking into the Riverside Motel we were greeted by Kevin from Carson City, Nevada. He had just arrived today by car to start a bicycle tour down to San Francisco with 4 other friends from Colorado. They apparently met over 10 years ago while riding the Bicycle Tour of Colorado and have ridden it every year since. Now they aim to complete a missing segment of the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route. I expect we'll see them along the way. We also ran into Brittany, James and Erik from LA on their bikes. Last we saw them was at the campsite in Elma, WA 3 days ago. Small world on the road.
By 7pm we're off to a fresh fish dinner as the sun sets behind the US 101 bridge over the Columbia behind us. Tomorrow we're thinking about a short ride/rest day to some nearby ocean side town.
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