Day 91, Eugene to Florence, Oregon.

The Pacific north west such a wonderful experience, the forest. Wow!

The Siuslaw River.

Riding along the Siuslaw River.

The long awaited beach at Florence.

This is Mike. A homeless person we met today when we stopped for a break. He is from Montana, and is riding to Florence, and then south to Coos Bay where he hopes to find a job. Good luck Mike, I hope things work out for you.

As we neared the coast, the valley flattened out into foot hills. Soon they will disappear altogether.

Looking up through the forest is cool, especially with trees this tall.

I guess the time was kind of low, cause we had to walk quite a ways to get to the water.

There's Lisa at the end of our journey. Great job, you deserve a V-8.

Fern and Lisa embracing with the excitement of seeing each other for the first time in months.

Leaving Eugene on highway 126 for Florence.

Inside the only tunnel we rode through on the entire trip.

The harbor entrance where the Siuslaw River enters the Pacific.

Our first sight of the Pacific. Actually the mouth of the Siuslaw River.

Fern Ridge Lake. A picturesque body of water nestled right next to the highway.

Same lake, different angle.

Here's Fern and Lisa again after their hug.

The first shot of my bike on the beach the second I got off it.

The sand is really fine, like powder almost. I hear it gets pretty windy on the coast at times. But today was perfect, blue skies, calm winds, and gentle waves.

The beach is huge. You could get lost standing in the middle.

Nearing the one and only tunnel we rode through on this entire trip. At the entrance there is a button for cyclists to push. When you do, there are flashing lights and a bell at the top of the entrance that warns traffic of bikes in the tunnel.



Day 91, Eugene to Florence, Oregon. “The Journey’s End”. 72.23 miles. Grand total= 4,393.01 miles.

Monday, August 10, 2009. Eugene is known as one of the most likely to have your bike stolen in city in the nation.. In fact, we were warned again and again to lock up our bikes, and never leave them un attended if unsecured.

Today was sort of a bitter sweet day for me. I knew the journey would be over in just a few miles. While I checked my e-mail this morning, I went into my Trans-Am folder and looked over some of the pictures from the past three months. I was amazed at what we had actually done. I forgot about a lot of the places we’ve been, and if it weren’t for these pictures, I probably wouldn’t have remembered them except for a few sporadic moments of brilliance that comes my way every so often. I smiled to myself, and was grateful to have been given this chance.

We were on our way by 8 o’clock, but ended up headed in the wrong direction. It was all good, we turned around and was got on track with a quick look at the map. We stopped for breakfast at the first place we found that offered a safe place for our bikes where we could keep a close eye on them. We then headed down highway 126 toward Florence. A few miles down the road, there was a guy parked on the side of the road. I think he might have passed us earlier from behind. He signaled me to stop, and asked if we were going to Florence on this road. I said that we were. He then told me that this was a real dangerous highway, and that people get killed on it because of all the heavy traffic. He made it sound really, really bad and I was kind of concerned. I signaled Lisa to stop, and told her what the guy was telling me. When I looked back, the guy was actually driving on the shoulder up to us. He wanted to tell Lisa himself about the condition of the highway ahead, and pointed out an alternate route, that would ad another 20 miles to our already planned 70 mile day. We then decided to turn around and figure out what to do. At a gas station, we met a gentleman who saw our dilemma and offered some insight on road conditions. After hearing what he had to say, we decided to go on highway 126 and take our chances. It turned out to be a good choice, because the road was not nearly as bad as it was made out to be. In fact, we’ve ridden worse roads in Colorado, Kentucky, Virginia, and in just about every state we rode in.

We stopped at a place called The Gingerbread Village for lunch. Fern was on her way to meet us from Portland, where she had spent the night after flying in the previous day, and was expected to meet up with us shortly. After our meal, we went outside and I tried calling her, but there was no signal in parts of the valley. About five minutes later, we saw this silver van pulling in with Fern waving her hands wildly. It was good seeing her again. We exchanged greetings and caught up on the latest. From home. We then loaded the trailers into the van, and continued our ride the last 15 miles to Florence. It felt strange not dragging that trailer. The bike felt rally light, and surged forward with every pedal stroke I took. The miles seemed to slip by quickly, and our speed picked up 4 to 5 miles an hour without any more effort.

The weather was perfect for riding. The sun was out, it was calm, and we were nearing the end of what was another chapter in my life. As we entered Florence, the feeling of fulfillment filled my soul. It was like the dream coming to an end. The final scene being unfolded. You know what I mean. Anyway, the only thing now was to find the beach. I thought that we would have been able to spot the beach from miles away. But here we were, at the coast, and I still didn’t see the beach. We knew we were close, so we kept riding, following signs that said: “Beach”. of course beach doesn’t necessarily mean the ocean. Any body of sand next to water is considered a beach. In this case, the beach, was still a few miles away. To make a long story short, we made it all the way to the beach, and are now done with our Trans America crossing.

Thank you all for every prayer, every thought, and every gift from the heart. Weather it be money, a souvenir, or just words of encouragement. They all were great help in giving us the strength we needed in those difficult times. Aloha and may God Bless you and yours. Always, Ted.

Day 90, Vida to Eugene, Oregon.

You've seen these flowers before on my blog, all in the wild. These were planted along the side walk in Eugene. Eugene has a lot of flowers and trees. It's a really nice city.

This is the entire town of Vida minus the cafe and the motel.

The McKenzie River is a fast moving body of water. If you fall in, you're in trouble.

We followed her for many miles on our gentle descent from the high country.

This covered bridge was located about a mile and a half from Vida. We stopped here to check it out.

I risked my life for this shot. Traffic was pretty busy today. Especially for a Sunday.

The River's Rest Inn where we spent last night.

This art gallery was located across the street where we stopped to refuel.

There were some pretty neat metal art on display out side. If it were open, I wouldn't have minded browsing around a bit.

One of the pieces on display.

Lisa said this was an "Alice In Wonderland" display. When I asked her how she knew, she said that she read the book.

The river from the covered bridge.

Looking the other way from the same place.

This is where I stopped to get my fix of V-8. Where ever I see the stuff in a can, I just can't resist.

This guy has money. He has a huge yard with a designer fence fronting it, and a private boat launch in his back yard.

How's this for mid evil? It is one of the displays at the metal art gallery.

Fabian, our long lost friend. Good to see you again buddy, we missed you.

Crossing the bridge into Springfield. We chose the side walk because of the heavy traffic.

This must be the carriage that Cinderella rode to the ball.

Meet Amber, Fabian's beautiful wife. She's from Kansas, and was a joy to meet.


Day 90, Vida to Eugene, Oregon. “The End In Sight”. 30.52 miles. Total= 4,320.78 miles.

Sunday, August 9, 2009. Our stay in Vida was brief one. This small town has only one gas station which also serves a the general store. One cafe, a Post Office, and a motel. We arrived in Vida late due to our 88 plus mile tide, and the delay at the top of McKenzie Pass. We barely made it to the only cafe before closing time, and by the time we got settled into our room, it was after 8:00PM.

This morning, we woke up at our leisure knowing we had a short day. We walked over to the cafe to have breakfast, and as we were eating, Jordy, a young west bounder we had met the day before showed up. He had camped at a boat ramp a few miles back after getting held up with phone calls and meeting a friend at the last rest stop. We caught up on events, and parted ways. Jordie is going all the way to Astoria. He expects to be there ion three days if he can average over a hundred miles a day. From there, he plans to ride to Portland where hew will catch a train back to Carbondale, Illinois where he is attending school.

On the way back to the motel, we stopped at the gas station slash General store to browse and get some picker uppers. Once we were packed, we headed out towards Eugene. It was a nice clear day, with warmer than usual temperatures. We were only at 800 feet above sea level, so it felt almost like home at this time of the day. We passed through a couple of small town, only stopping for cold drinks and to use their rest rooms. We arrive in Springfield just before noon. It is a fairly large town which is actually a suburb of Eugene. As we were approaching, a VW bus passed by with a guy hanging out the passenger window yelling at up and pointing to the up coming off ramp. It was Fabian. He and his wife Amber were camping near Sisters over the weekend, and was trying to get in touch with us. We played phone tag, but wasn’t able to make contact, and figured it was not meant to be. Strange thing happened though. We were actually off route today, since the map showed a route that would not only be longer, but would take us through the mountains with needless stops in small towns along the way. So our meeting with Fabian was purely by chance.

We pulled over at the off ramp, and Fabian was waiting for us, waving so we wouldn’t miss him. It was good to see the guy after almost three months. We met his wife Amber as she also was excited to meet us after following our blogs. We chatted for a few minutes, and decided to have lunch in Eugene which was only about four miles away. We cheated by allowing Fabian to carry our trailers for us. It was a weird feeling to ride without the BOB’s. We had a hard time controlling the bikes for the first few minutes. It was like the bike had a mind of it’s own. Once we got used to the weightlessness of our rides, we were once more in control. We met the two at an off ramp near the restaurant where we would have our lunch. It was a great meeting. We talked about our experiences , and got to know Amber a little better. Fabian, you are one lucky guy.


Soon it was time for them to go. They transported our trailers to the America’s Best Value Inn where we will spend the night. As we pulled up, Fabian once again was there to make sure we didn’t miss the place. We took pictures and said our good byes. It was both a joyful and sad experience. Hopefully one day they will come to Molokai for a visit, and experience what our special island has to offer.

It’s still early, just after 5:00PM. I’m finally going to have some time to just relax and maybe take a short walk around the area. So long for now. We only have one more day of riding. Fern is flying into Portland tonight. She will meet us in Florence tomorrow evening where our journey will come to an end. It has been a good experience, and I will cherish the memories for the rest of my life. Aloha, Ted.