And the ride begins!

Day 1: Sunset Beach, OR to Kelso, WA - 63 miles - 3100 ft of climbing

We left our hotel in Astoria, Oregon and drove 11 miles to the coast to meet the Pacific Ocean. The weather report called for sunny skies, but the rain was pouring down on our drive to the coast. As we approached Sunset Beach the sun started to appear and the rain dispersed. And the rain stayed away for the rest of the day! We dipped our tires in the Pacific Ocean (navigating water holes to get to the shore line).

We left Sunset Beach and headed back to Astoria. Our route followed US 30 (the same rt 30 in Lancaster) for most of the day. There were two good climbs, one at mile 21 and the second at mile 44. The second was a gift that just kept giving, but the downhill was rewarding!

Part way through the ride we pulled into an overlook and we’re greeted by two “puppy” Kangal Shepherd dogs. One tried to jump up on me, which didn’t really require him to jump very far. The view of the river and into Washington was worth the pullover.

We crossed into Washington with no welcome sign to prove our crossing, but a bridge that we will remember forever!! Let’s just say logging trucks lose a lot of bark that ends up on the road shoulders. Thankfully there were no flat tires after crossing the bridge!

It was a good day of riding. And I think we are all ready for some nice back roads (maybe we will see them before North Dakota 😉). Tomorrow has rain in the forecast, but they can be wrong, right?