Day 17

So when Daun and I left you last we were enjoying our day off in Portland! We explored the city by foot and enjoyed taking the MAX line (public transit). The next morning we woke up nice and early to plan our escape out of the city- we now have a new rider with us Travis and he is doing great. We learned about the STP route which is a Seattle to Portland ride that is done once a year so we are following the same route just backwards. Everyone goes from North to South we are not going the right way because of the prevailling winds- we have been lucky but it was really windy on Day 16..some good head wind!

We cycled 110km from Portland to Castle Rock- it was a nice flat ride except for the crossing into Washington State- the bridge was massive and terrifying to ride over. It must have been over 1.5 km long plus the state sign was on the bridge so we couldn't stop to get a picture-
We had a good night sleep and ate plenty of oatmeal to get us going for Day 16. We ventured off to ride on in a terrible headwind and cold temperatures but we made it 92km to Tenino and found a great campsite in the town for only $5.00! We saw some crazy things on this day...a burning barn and a baker couldn't believe we had cycled from san Francisco so he gave us 6 free donuts. He said we needed more energy! Ha! There are some very interesting people we run into everyday.

Today we left Tenino and found a cycling trail that went for 23 km into Yelm...it was amazing...no CARS! It has been the best part of the day so far. We are currently in Spannaway at the library and the computer is not letting us download any pictures so we will have to wait again. Christine you were the rider for today and you came on the fabulous cycling trail-

We are getting excited to get to Seattle and then we have decided to take the Ferry to Victoria and Daun and I have never been-

Thank you to everybody who has donated to the Greater New Orleans Foundation. I hope our little effort will make a difference!