Through the heart of Oregon south to California

Extending our stay in Portland to have more time with dad and Gina, we got a ride up to Mt. Hood, saving us two days of uphills riding. The route we took south was simply stunning, that is the best word I can come up with when trying to describe the next two weeks of our ride. The trees surrounding us were mostly pine with an occasional clump of fall turning Aspens thrown in. Neither of us could get over the beauty of the fall colors. Probably because of the time of year, we were often the only ones on these curvy roads, the only sound coming from the spin of our tires on the pavement, and an occasional gust of wind. It was so calming and is now near the top of our list for best rides since we started riding a year and a half ago. Cruising through little towns, we would stop for a bite whenever we could and loaded up on meals to fix on our campstove because of the great distances between places. Topping off our water is always something we do with each faucet we see.

Camping in the US has been a piece of cake and amazingly cheap. This is by far the cheapest travel we have had, and it's riding in our own backyard. National forests allow disperse camping and making our own food rather than eating out, our travel costs have decreased tremendously. The toughest part for me has been the lack of showering. Chasing summer since April 2010, we have always been somewhere warm, jumping in a lake or creek to wash off was an easy and fun way to get clean. With the temperatures down to the upper 20's at night and daytime highs of mid 60's, showers are more difficult and definitely most sparse. But we survive and do what we can and take all offers for a nice warm shower in someones house:-) A huge thank you to all of the generous people along our travels that have welcomed us into their homes and bathrooms.

Our route mostly followed Adventure Cycling's "Sierra/Cascades" route which tries to stay as close to the path followed by the Pacific Crest Trail as possible.  So this meant that we climbed up and over the crest of the Cascades 8 different times while pedaling south through Oregon...  A cold snap at the same time brought temperatures down into the 20's at night which had the two of us burrowed deep into the sleeping bag to try and stay warm.  This made for some slow mornings breaking down camp as neither one of us wanted to leave the relative comfort of the sleeping bag.  When we did finally get moving, great rides around Crater Lake National Park, Mt. Bachelor, The Three Sisters Wilderness, Bend, Mt. Hood and the Cascades Lakes highway awaited.