May
29
From Farm to Sea
by Maxim in Rogue Brewery, Willamette Valley
The morning of Monday the 25th we packed our mules, took one last look at the Benton County Fairgrounds and headed back into Corvallis. The departure was more sweet than bitter.
We had spent the previous day riding from Salem to Corvallis. Luckily the Boohers live on top of a “mountain”, so it was not hard to ride with a belly full of sausage and french toast. We made our way from Salem through Derry, a town full of a dairy cows, along highway 99, south to Corvallis, home of the OSU Beavers. We spent our first couple hours eating and asking for directions to the coast. The locals engaged in a dialogue arguing between the two highways heading west, 20 and 34. After an hour or so the unanimous decision was reached. Both roads were suicide missions. So we took the advice from a man who appeared to have taken many a blow from years of traveling to “take the bus.” We found the bus station. It was closed but through the windows scuffed from neglect we could see on the chalk board Westbound bus – 2:45 pm. We now had to find a place to camp, get dinner and figure out how to fit our bikes on a bus in a box. There were two campgrounds, one “full of vagrants and transients” and the other was out at the fairgrounds. The guy who told us to take the bus also advised us to stay away from the fairgrounds, but we went against his word. We arrived at the fairgrounds and did not see a soul for a couple of hours, though there were campers and cars scattered throughout the sites. We slept well but with dreams soaked in carnivals and circuses.
As we headed in town we knew we had until 2:45 to catch our bus. We grabbed breakfast and posted up at the coffee shop. Emily edited some footage and I figured out how to get our bicycles on the bus. At 1 when it opened I went to the bus station to talk to someone about traveling with our loads. He said it depended on the type of bus and the drivers discretion, but that most likely we would have to box our bikes. Unfortunately the station sold none. I went to the bicycle shop in town and they gave us two huge bike boxes.
Knowing that this could be quite a process for us to figure out how to dismantle our bikes to fit in a box the width of 8 inches and it was already half passed 1, I rounded up Emily and our things and headed back to the shop to get our boxes. The station was across town from the shop so we attempted to load the boxes on top of our rigs. After 20 feet they fell off and a man with a trailer met us at the station.
Untitled from Spoke Your Mind on Vimeo.
Under pressure we were able to fit our bikes in the box just in time to see the semi-dilapidated bus roll into the lot and the driver hop out to catch a quick smoke.
Untitled from Spoke Your Mind on Vimeo.
He drove us over the hills on highway 20 and it was a good thing we took the advice because the road had no shoulder and the drivers drove with no compassion. We arrived in Newport safe and sound.
A half a mile away we rode to the Rogue Brewery to meet the people who were putting us up for the night. Ryan Klitz, aforementioned above, used to work for Rogue Nation and hooked us up with a free place to stay at the Rogue Bed and Beer. They treated us like family.We were given sweatshirts and our dinner and most of our beer was on the house. Thanks Rogue!
The next morning, tuesday the 26th, we woke and rode 56 miles to Florence on highway 101.
The salt air refreshed us and the contrast between it and the farmland breeze was delightful. Some people really felt it…
