Written by Dave

Day 3 – May 31 – 70 Miles, 900 feet climbing (Rickreall to Coburg)

Today was billed as shorter and flatter and it worked out that way. Phew, my touring guide license has been restored. Add to the shorter and flatter was the famous northern Willamette Valley tailwinds. And the winds were our friend all day. We had a ripper tailwind pushing us from start to finish.

Everyone slept well in the Polk County Fairgrounds, though overall general tiredness may have contributed to this. We were in bed early and up early. First day repacking tents went smoothly, more or less. We rode about 500 feet from camp back to the Westside Pacific Family Restaurant and Saloon (diner) and gorged ourselves. I promise that this blog won’t turn into a never ending stream of food photos but I’ll include two here to set the standard of American diner brekkies. Yes, Nancy got her pancakes (Senior Editor’s note – I clearly need to work on my pancake fitness as I couldn’t even finish a short stack!  I had to take the leftovers for a snack later on).

We rode about 5 miles along the Highway 99 bike path before turning off onto back roads. It was tempting to keep on 99 as a wide shoulder replaced the bike path but we decided to trust Komoot and follow more farm roads once we reach Monmouth.  Chris grew up in the area and today he took on the job of questioning Komoot’s route decisions. We followed Komoot until Albany where he put his foot down and took us on an alternative road. The road ended up being nice, slightly shorter and we even got to ride past a house he lived in and his old elementary school. Local knowledge wins again.

We had morning tea at a small state park and lunch further down the road at the Peoria Boat Landing. We didn’t make sandwiches today so Chris, Nancy and I were kind of scrounging our bags for the last of the baked goods we left Nehalem with. Curtis on the other hand, was quite content grazing the entire day on a massive cinnamon bun that he wisely purchased back at our brekkie stop.

We road past many fields of blooming crops today, mustard seed being the most photogenic (we think that’s what it was). The hazelnut orchards were nice as well. The Willamette Valley is amazingly fertile. It was fun to see it in the spring, as opposed to the last time we rode through on Cycle Oregon last autumn. And yes, riding north to south made it more fun as well.

We are camping Coburg tonight where there are no restaurants so we stopped in Harrisburg to pick up dinner supplies. For the record, Harrisburg has zero proper grocery stores. We managed to cobble together taco fixings but you have buy dinner at a series of mini-marts be prepared to get creative. Now, had we wanted a case of energy drinks, we could have had any number of choices. We rode through Coburg before camp where we spotted several nicer looking shops and restaurants. Oh well, had we known.

We reached camp and found the newest member of our team waiting for us. Pete, my mate since 4^th grade (yikes) has decided to ride with us to Yellowstone. He negotiated a 5^th person in our 4 person campsite at camp and was all relaxed when we arrived this arvo. He looks fresh as a daisy after not riding our first three days but he seems to be carrying more weight than any of us. We’re all hoping his luggage helps keep his enthusiasm in check.

Chris is providing us the quote of the day today: Life goes by fast, enjoy it, calm down, it’s all funny – Joan Rivers.