When life gives you lemons, go ride Lemonade!

The First Checkpoints and other Early One-Day Rides

Actually the first ride was on January first and called "Polar Bear Run".  It was a benefit ride with the Trinity Road Riders.  The weather was damp but above freezing.  We usually go on the Polar Bear Run.  We even went in '04 when there was 6" of snow, but we took the four-wheel drive truck.  Snow seldom falls in our area and when it does it seldom stays for long, so we ride year round.

We have also taken several other one-day rides including the OR 250.  But we didn't take any pictures on it because the weather was lousy then too.  On the 250 we got rained on, snowed on (wet and not sticking), sunshine (a little bit) and some heavy winds from the left as we rode the dike along the Columbia River.  The wind was not fun as it tried to push us into the river, especially when an oncoming truck blocked the wind for a split second.  The bike had to be straightened up and then leaned over quickly in order to stay in my lane.

We rode to Amboy last week (early April) and got our first check point.  It was a nice day and we took the camera.  After we returned I asked for the pictures so that I could add them to this travelogue.  Kathy then told me that she had forgotten to take the camera out of the trunk!  So again no pictures.

On Sunday April 15th the weather was again dry and reasonably warm.  We headed down the Oregon side of the Columbia River to Astoria for lunch and a visit to the Olney checkpoint.  Olney is just a wide spot on a secondary road.  This is the entire "town" in the picture.  There are rural homes and farms in the area but no collection that could be called a "town".

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed west to the coast on a even smaller road.  It did have a stripe so it was a good surfaced road, except for the construction!

On the way home we could see Mt. St. Helens in the distance (it's in the center at the top of the blue hills).  On the right is a close-up of our famous volcano that blew its top in 1980 loosing about 3,000 ft (nearly 1.000 m) off of its top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We now have two checkpoints, only 18 to go!!  We'll continue this on the next ride page.