Day 1 Pronto Pup

Today was the big day. I was very surprised when I opened the hotel door and this song was blaring out of huge speakers in the hotel parking lot. Our spouses surprised us with a rousing send off. Throngs of people came up from town and lined the road.

At least that is what I imagined. Here we are with our bikes and spiffy commemorative T-shirts. Annika surprised us with them. Thank you Annika!

Our spouses are taking the van back to Iowa via Glacier National Park. Thanks to them for helping with the logistics and their support!

We rode South from Astoria, Oregon along the coast. Ocean views, salt water smells and while we were climbing a hill, huge waves crashing below us. Surf boards and a bicycle with a surf board trailer. About a dozen touring cyclist heading North on the Oregon Coast Trail. Temps were in the 60’s and we had a tailwind for a while which made for a perfect day of riding.

There was one tunnel on the route. At the tunnel entrance was a button for cyclists. Pushing the button activated flashing lights on a sign that said that bikes were in the tunnel and lowered the speed limit to 30 mph. Good idea!

At one of the view points a guy came over and went nuts over Chad’s Bridgestone bike. Turns out that he was a bike mechanic years ago and owns a Bridgestone RB-1. He also owns a Trek 520 like Herb is riding. Here is a photo of Cliff from Chico, California.

It is a Small World

At a food stop, a family was wearing Iowa sweat shirts. They saw Joe’s Iowa jersey and started chatting. Turns out they were from Lone Tree, Iowa which is about 30 miles from Kalona. They moved to Oregon five years ago

Stats

• Astoria to Pacific City, Oregon
• Distance: 103 miles (166 km)
• Climbing: 4880 feet (1487 m)

Sundry

In Iowa a C-store is a convenience store. In Oregon it is a cannabis store

Herb’s Iowa State kit is like camouflage at a Shell gas station.

We left Chad at the pub where we ate tonight. He was winning big.

Pronto Pup in Rockaway Beach, Oregon claims to have invented the corndog. They also claim to have the world’s largest fiberglass corn dog. Inside they have the world’s first riding mechanical corndog. Too bad we didn’t have more time.