A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. ~ John Steinbeck
This post talks about our time in Oregon,
including some unforeseen complications.
The Pacific Coast expedition wasn't our first rodeo...we picked up a few learnings together with 400 miles on the Erie Canalway Trail in 2021 and 3000 miles on the East Coast Greenway in 2022.
From our combined experience, we learned a couple of things:
We can prepare as much as we want, but plans will change. We need to be flexible, logistically and mentally.
Things will happen that slow us down and, in some cases, threaten our success. We need to stay strong. Physically, emotionally, and mentally.
We were entering Oregon on Day 12 of our Pacific Coast traverse with ~400 miles, multiple flat tires, and 1 case of food poisoning behind us. We looked forward to the spectacular views that would bring us closer to the Redwoods and couldn't wait to travel along the coastline. Spoiler alert: we encountered more hiccups...
1 episode of neck muscle spasms, and a visit to urgent care
1 broken tire spoke, and a stop at a bike shop
1 strained muscle/extreme swelling in calf/ankle
Numerous flat tires
...adding up to a total of 14 days (instead of the planned 10 days) in Oregon.
Upon entering Oregon, everything had been going well. We were back on track after the delays in Washington and we were starting to find a groove. Until one night I ended up on the bathroom floor of our motel room, unable to move due to muscle spasms in my neck. We had stopped for the night in Garibaldi*2, a cute little fishing town on the coast. As I lay on the floor, whimpering in pain, I thought, "This is it. We're done." As I roused Shan from a deep sleep with my calls for help, I couldn't imagine sitting upright, let alone pulling a trailer for another 1200 miles.
I had to dig deep. In the morning, once the massive doses of ibuprofen had kicked in, my thoughts turned more positive. First, I needed to make it to the Urgent Care Center 12 miles away. Shan cheered me on as I pedaled away, but within a few minutes, I had to stop to deal with ANOTHER flat tire (come on, man, give the lady a break). I did make it to Urgent Care where the doctor did an x-ray, gave me steroids and muscle relaxers, and ordered a day of rest (which I accepted happily).
The meds and a day of rest did the trick. The neck loosened up, the pain subsided, and I was able to move around like a normal person again. After a day off we were back to full mileage days again. It was crazy to take our 2nd unplanned rest day 16 days into our trip. As a point of reference, we took only 2 rest days on our 78-day East Coast Greenway trip. So yeah, things were definitely not going according to plan. Our bodies were not cooperating, but we kept moving.
Next up, broken bike parts. On a lovely stretch along the coast leading from Tillamook to Pacific City, my finicky rear derailleur skipped into my wheel and broke a spoke. I was worried, but Zane, one of my besties back home (and my ex-work husband and unofficial cycling coach), reassured me that it would be okay to ride on and he was right - the wheel took me another 50 miles to Bike Newport where the shop owner got me rolling within minutes. It was a nerve-wracking couple of days, but everything worked out in the end.
The rest of Oregon was awesome. We stayed in Gleneden Beach with Cindy, one of Shan's relatives, where we ate a home-cooked meal and fell in love with her golden doodle, Frankie. We also had a surprise visit from Andy, a friend visiting Oregon from the UK (someone my friend, Lisa I had met on our cycling trek in Death Valley years ago). It was so nice to see Andy cheering us on. As we worked our way south, we had some amazing views, the ocean, and the wildlife were amazing and the trees were getting taller and taller.
But then we hit another snag. We were following the coastline 37 miles from Waldport to Dunes City. The day was sunny and warm and the views were spectacular. We felt truly lucky to be doing what we were doing. But the steep, off-camber roads were too much for even Shan's ultra legs. By the time we reached Dunes City for the night, he found it difficult to walk, let alone run. His left leg was extremely swollen; I couldn't see his ankle bone. Dunes City is a really pretty area, but there were no services nearby so we couldn't stay there more than one night. We needed to keep moving. Shan took it easy the next day, testing the legs with a 17-mile walk to Reedsport (instead of the planned 40). But by the end of the day, the pain was worse. He could barely walk.
We were worried. Both of us quietly wondered if this was the end of the expedition. To play it safe, we decided to take two days off in Reedsport. Shan kept moving as much as he could, walking short distances (to the store, the laundromat, and restaurants), and assessing the leg every day.
After two days off we headed out again, slowly, so Shan could see how his body would respond. We hoped that he could at least move from point A to point B without the leg getting worse. He walked 24 miles that first day and then 30 miles each day for the next three days. Each day his leg got better! Eventually, the swelling subsided, and the strained muscle started healing. By the time we reached California, Shan was running again. He really wanted to see those Redwoods!
What a trip. We grappled with uncertainty and pushed our bodies beyond their limits. We had to juggle our schedules, and even stop moving when forced. But we seemed to be back on track, refusing to give in. We were doing this!
As we approached California, we felt healthy and strong, but we were never bored: we lost/found Shan's credit card at one of our stops (something similar happened on the East Coast Greenway), we passed through the smoke and watched firefighting helicopters handle the Anvil forest fire, I had another flat tire, or two, and we both battled unrelenting winds and rain (although I complained more). All of this tested our spirits, but we pushed through it. Was it fun? Were we smiling? Most of the time, yes. We knew the expedition wouldn't be a walk in the park. Honeymoon or not, we wouldn't have done this if it was easy.
Read more about Shan's other expeditions here
Garibaldi is a small port town and maritime community at the northern end of Tillamook Bay, close to where the Bay flows into the Pacific. People here are close companions with the sea. At the marina, commercial fishermen haul freshly caught Dungeness crabs, ling cod, rockfish, and even octopus up to the docks.
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