Kiki Bikes Across America

Monday, August 10th – Portland, OR – Tillamook, OR – Lincoln City, OR

So I decided today would be about time I should continue on with my bike trip before I get lazy. I got up around 8:30 or so and did more of the organizing stuff and then biked downtown to take a few photos and go to Greyhound to double-check and make sure I could take my bike on the bus from Portland->Tillamook, but they didnt’t know for sure, but thought I wouldn’t have a problem.

I then just explored around downtown and go to REI to wander the clearance racks and see if by any odd chance there was something there I needed and couldn’t resist. There wasn’t luckily. I met Chase there shortly later as he was having REI box and ship his bike back to Texas for him. After REI, we headed to the Pita Pit to do one last meal there since we both discovered this on the trip in Missoula and really liked it. After lunch, I rode back to Josh and Alina’s to pack up the rest of my stuff and then head back to the bus station to catch the 3:10pm bus.

The ride wasn’t too bad – almost 2 hours from Portland to Tillamook so I just caught up with my journal a bit and then I hopped off at 5pm at Tillamook and a lady there was really chatty and interested in my trip, so we talked a bit. I waited until 6pm for the next bus to catch down to Neskowin, something like another 20-25 miles down the coast, I believe. I just wanted to get a few more free miles to lessen how much I had to do in the time span I’m allowing to get to San Francisco. 4 hours after leaving Portland and I’m now ready to ride my bike again. I leave Nescowin shortly after 7pm and head towards Lincoln City. I do the hardest (supposedly according to everyone I’ve talked to) hill of the Oregon coast just after Neskowin, but it really wasn’t bad at all… it was maybe 2 miles long, so nothing out of the ordinary for what I was used to recently. It only took 30 minutes to climb, so maybe I’m just really getting good at hills or maybe it’s because I was excited to be on the coast riding finally. Who knows?

I reach Lincoln City sometime around 8:15pm and spot a Safeway so run in there to see what kinds of goodies I can get for later. I wind up with some chocolate milk, peaches, plums, bananas, and a 4-pack of Marionberry muffins (marionberry is a berry from Oregon and is like a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry). Turns out marionberry is really yummy as my muffins wouldn’t last long:)

I ride over to Devil’s Lake State Park and check in at the ranger station and pay my $4 hiker/biker camping fee and then go up to the site and set up my tent. There was another tent in the hiker/biker area and two bikes, but no cyclists to be seen. They were already in the tent sleeping. Awesome thing about the Oregon State Parks is the hiker/biker campsites which you don’t need reservations for and you don’t need to worry if the campgrounds are full, because you’ll always have a hiker/biker spot to camp at and it’s cheaper – only $4/person. Also, the Oregon State Parks (most, if not all) have hot showers for free (included in the campsite fee). So after setting up, I went and enjoyed a nice long, hot shower and then cooked some pasta for dinner:)

I hit the hay around 10:30pm and was out like a light!

GPS Stats: (includes bus ride from Portland – Neskowin)
125.9 miles
68.9 max speed
33.2 avg speed
03:47 moving time

Computer stats:
18.33 miles
39.0 max speed
11.5 avg speed
01:34:48 moving time