(June 26 – written by Dave)

7 Miles – 650 feet climbing

That’s a wrap – we made it home and are calling our ride to Crater Lake a complete success!

We rode 9 days (if you count the short ride to and from the train stations on the last day). We had near perfect weather throughout. There was some rain about when we arrived in Portland on Friday but we rode home without a drop landing on us. Perfect.

We were kind of sad to leave Klamath Falls so early in the morning. We found a great place to stay, The Klamath Inn, and a nice place to have dinner, the Basin Martini Bar. We enjoyed both so much, we are going to spend the night there in August when we drive down to see my mum in Northern Nevada. You may remember, we had low expectations for Klamath Falls and yes, it felt overly MAGA at times, but as often happens, if you slow down and look a bit under the covers, strange places and cultures work out to hold something of interest for just about everyone.

The train ride was just about right. A few more hours on the train and we’d been ready to really get off. As it was, we were ready but not anxious. We didn’t get a chance to sit in the observation car but we did manage to have a proper lunch in the dining car. Well, if you call $25 USD ham and cheese sandwiches “proper”. We probably should have just hit the snack bar but how many times in your life do you get to eat overpriced food with plastic cutlery on a moving train. It was an opportunity too good to pass up.

The train may be slower than driving and flying but for sure, the ease of bike transport makes it a winner. Nancy made me get out and make sure that the baggage guys didn’t give our bikes away in Eugene (they didn’t), but otherwise it was perfect. We rode our bikes to and from the train, no taped boxes of broken bits. Perfect.

The worry of Covid or other communicable diseases is over. The train was mostly full and Portland train station was completely packed. It was a little shocking to those who spent the last week wandering mostly empty backroads on a bicycle, but we survived.

Overall, we rode a total of 370 miles and climbed 18,000 feet. Almost all of the roads we travelled were good choices. Nancy says that the 5 miles of Sharps Creek Road that averaged 11% was a bit much and both of us agreed that the 8 shoulder-less miles of Highway 140 near Klamath Falls was a swing and miss.

We slept every night of the trip in a tent, that is except the last night in K Falls. One tent night was a yurt, one was a glamping tent and the rest were in our small cycle-trip tent. Riding made us tired enough that we slept well. Being close to summer equinox meant that it stayed light until past 9 and started getting light at 5AM. Long daylight hours make it easier getting everything done while camping.

We planed the trip around a 10-day long-term forecast of sun. We’re not foolish enough to bet on the 10^th day of a 10-day forecast but for this trip it worked out perfect. As noted above, we didn’t have any rain and even the couple of warmish days were easy to manage. Well done to the National Weather Service – let’s keep funding them.

While on the trip, the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) was spared from being dismantled by the Trump administration. Six of seven buoys off the Oregon and Washington coasts were pulled out prior to the reversal. They are now being reinstalled (talk about waste, fraud and abuse – but at least a good result in the end). We certainly aren’t climate experts but saw day after day with our own eyes how our forests are copping it. We saw so many dead and struggling trees, these are not the forests that we knew growing up. Something is happening. Measuring it and trying to understand it through science seems like a good idea.

While just a short trip (by our standards) we really enjoyed getting out there for a spell. We both benefited mentally from getting off the daily grind of current events and news. A little less NY Times and a little more Bike Riding Times is good for the soul. Thanks for following along with us.