Day 3: June 24 Fort Canby State Park, WA to Nehalem Bay State Park, OR 59 miles

A ship from the Columbia River Bridge.

Wednesday, 6/24/81
Nehalem Bay State Park

Not a cloud all day. Started late so I could see the Lewis and Clark display at the park. Crossed Columbia River bridge into Oregon at Astoria at noon. (took 25 minutes!) Picked up TransAmerica Trail and immediately got lost. Had to get maps into perspective. Hot tar on back road nearly ruined my bike. I guess it's OK. Laundry in Seaside. Nowhere to lunch! Ate lunch at 5:00! Couldn't find camping at Oswald West State park, so went to Nehalem Bay State Park. Rather than share a picnic table with other cyclists, I paid for my own site. [I soon got over that shyness.]Watched stars before bed, Saw Venus! Alright!

Astoria from the bridge

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach.



South from Cannon Beach.



View south from Oswald West State Park.



Seagulls at Hug Point.

Another Oswald West view.

 

Day 2: June 23 Montesano to Fort Canby State Park 77 miles

Mountain of oyster shells.

Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

A ship passing over the Columbia River bar.

Looking back from the Columbia River entrance jetty.

Logging operation.

Tuesday, 6/23/81
Fort Canby State Park, WA

It rained all night and was very wet in the morning. It stayed overcast till 3 PM. Then I put on cutoffs in the sun. [No dorky bike shorts for me!] Stayed at Fort Canby State Park, mouth of Columbia River. Beautiful, huge park. Walked to end of rock jetty and got drenched by surf. Beautiful weather, no tent.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

A coastal sea stack.

I also have a clear memory of being awakened in the middle of the night. Turning on my flashlight, I found a large raccoon going through my bags. When I turned the light on him, he looked back as if to say, “Could you hold that light up a little higher?”  I had to crawl out of my sleeping bag and chase the bugger away with my pump. I moved by bags within reach for the rest of the night.

Day 1: June 22 Seattle to Montesano 89 miles

Monday, 6/22/81
Lake Sylvie State Park, Monsanto, WA

I began by ride by catching the ferry to Bremerton. Said good-bye to my dad and girlfriend. It started raining near Shelton and drizzled on and off all day. Someone threw a beer bottle at me south of Shelton. Camping at Lake Sylvie State Park, where I camped during my practicve ride around the Olympic Peninsula.

The rain didn’t let up till 9:00 the next morning. This was the largest volume of rain I experienced the entire trip. Due to the rain, this was the first of three or four times I was forced to use my tent. Usually, I slept in the open.

A little background

When I was 26 years old, I was headed to graduate school at Kansas State University. Knowing I was headed for a tedious academic setting, I decided to have an adventure on the way. So, I rode a bike from Seattle to Kansas!

Good-bye party from my fellow janitors at Unico Properties.

During the journey, I took photos with a cheap camera. After I finished the journey, I wrote a letter (in longhand) about my journey. The wife of Jack, one of my co-riders, kindly typed it up for me, and now I have transcribed it to computer, with the addition of some current commentary. The photos have faded terribly. I scanned them all and cleaned them up and they are included here too, but they are pretty low quality.

Little did I know, that this would be my first of many travel stories! I hope you enjoy it!

Note: Black text is the description I wrote from my notes when I finished my journey. 

Blue text is comments I added as I created this blog in 2013.