I made it! TransAmerica. 4400 miles. 10 states. 3 months. 4 flats (all faulty tubes/valves, the Schwalbes didn't puncture). More peanut butter and jelly sandwiches than I could count. More water than I thought possible to drink. Many gallons of ice cream and milkshakes. Truck loads of Pepsi, Coke, Dr Pepper. From sea level to 10500ft and a whole lot of up and down between. Headwind, tailwind all kinds of wind. Cold that nearly froze my fingers off and heat that nearly cooked the water in my bottles. Parched dusty brush to lush pasture and dense forest. So many friendly and generous people. A lifetime of memories. We did it!
On our way to do the wheeldipping
Breakfast at the Hot Rod Cafe.
Before we get to the ocean... breakfast ... Yum!
Cruising in convoy to Florence for breakfast.
Wearing the TransAm jersey for the last 15 miles to Florence.
Our last campsite, nice spot on the river.
Yippee! Our last peanut butter and jelly sandwich stop of the summer!
Our cooking days are over! Breakfast at the truck stop next to the campsite.
Digital nomads Rusty and Tom.
A beautifull ride this morning along the McKenzie River towards Coburg, just north of Eugene.
Our site in the Forestry Service campground under amazingly tall trees and about 5 metres from the raging McKenzie River.
We descended the western side of the pass and the scenery changed dramaticaly to deliciously green cool moist dense forest.
McKenzie Pass was closed so we crossed Santiam Pass. Yay! The last major climb of the trip.
Early morning on the trendy main street in Sisters before it gets crowded with traffic.
No showers at the Sisters City Park but the sprinklers were a good substitute. Any passers-by must have had a chuckle at the sight of a bunch of old guys running around in the sprinklers. Now I know why Gondor, one of my alpacas, loves standing in the sprays, it was great! Here's Bill doing his rain dance.
It was a leisurely 43 mile ride from Prineville to Sisters today. It is amazing what irrigation can do in this hot, dusty and seemingly arid landscape. Near Sisters (the conical peaks on the horizon) the landscape starts changing. Looks like we'll be back in the mountains and forests tomorrow.
After having milkshakes when we got to Prinville, it was farewell to Ingo, my roommate and riding partner. He leaves the group now to ride north to Portland to meet up with his wife, Gudrun, who is flying out from Germany to cycle down the East coast with him. They will meet us in Florence.
A steep 3 hour climb out of Mitchell greeted us this morning. What should've been an easy coast down to Prinville turned out to be hot work.
