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I hardly like to even waste my time with a chapter called "Getting There." In comparison to the actual crossing of the United States, getting there from our home town of Amarillo, Texas to our starting point of Seaside, Oregon was between boring and frustrating. Boring in the fact that thousands of people have been cross country in a motor home pulling a trailer or something, and frustrating in the fact that we had so many problems with the old | ||
| girl, the motor home. I wanted this particular motor home for three reasons. Sentimental value in that it was my parents motor home when they first retired, expected dependability because it only had 63,000 miles and I knew it had been well taken care of , and thirdly because it was cheap! My second expectation was the cause for all my frustration. The motor home was mechanically sound, but after their many years in it, my brother living in it for a couple of years deciding which lake in the Dallas area to build a house on, and the fact that it was purchased used to begin with, it had multiple little problems. Thanks to the handiness, resourcefulness, and know how of primarily Patrick Lee, our Pedal-Paddle manager, and the tenacity of our Amarillo Mechanics Jody Rogers and James, his right hand man, we made it! Making it required a 6 hour roadside service call 6 miles out of Amarillo, 3 fan belts, and several quarts of oil, but we made it! Oregon is possibly the most beautiful state I had ever seen, and even before this trip I had been in all but 4 states. I marveled at it's beauty and fertility, and varied crops and livestock as we rolled along, now 1 day late. I had planned to arrive on Friday so we could set up some bike dealer visits for Pedal-Paddle and kick off some media for the trip as we had done very successfully in Florida while training and in Amarillo as homeboy got ready to go. My second intent was to head out Saturday morning so I could slide through a "quiet" Sunday morning Portland. Neither was accomplished and it almost cost me my life, but that's tomorrow's story. We arrived in Seaside, Oregon around 5 p.m. with just 3 hours of daylight left, and I'm super antsy to get started. We found the Lewis and Clark Statue by the sea in the little village of Seaside and had to park our nearly 60 foot long rig a couple of blocks away. We unloaded Pedal-Paddle Columbia out of the trailer and assembled it. I got dressed in my neon orange parka and helmet and we headed quickly to the statue. 4 to 5 foot waves were rolling in on the surf and the pre-season village was very quiet, especially for a weekend. We took a few still pictures and video around the statue of various poses and positions with nothing more than a few bewildered people looking at the strange "contraption" and the guy in the bright orange suit. Nervous, with no newspapers, no news cameras, and no fanfare at all, I climbed on Columbia, so named for fallen Amarillo astronaut pilot Rick Husband, pulled the engine start cord, pulled the throttle trigger and rolled off. As I rolled down the street with tourist shops on both sides almost all were gazing at the strange contraption and faceless, bright orange rider and I just imagined they were all there to see me off. Not a one of them knew they accidentally saw the beginning of a planned 2 month trip that would set at least 7 world records. All they saw that day was a strange site. The bicycle was fitted with the usual Pedal-Paddle pontoons, but a sailing bracket and more importantly a 2 horsepower engine had been added for the trip. It whizzed me along faster than the pedals could actually keep up at approximately 24 mph on flat ground. It would only let me help on steep grades as it pulled down to a speed that I could keep up with. We buzzed through town quickly, without incident, heading south on highway 101 for just 4 1/2 miles along the coast and bay and river that fed into it. As we curved up and over to the east on highway 26 towards Portland I was in heaven. The speed was perfect for seeing every detail of my environment. Everything was so green, the trees so tall, huge and mossy, the streams so clear. The road had a nice but narrow shoulder and cars and other vehicles passed by often, making me a little nervous at first but with my 25 mph their 55 mph becomes more like 30 mph on the road and much less scary. In the first 27 miles Columbia and I had gone from sea level to 1,640 feet in elevation. The little engine was both a hit and a hero all ready, as I helped it only on the steepest inclines. Together we could conquer anything and go really fast for a bicycle. The little engine was a four stroke, meaning it doesn't burn oil with the gas, usually quieter but always more efficient, not at all smoky and "environmentally friendly" as they say. It was my new best friend. One more mile past the coastal mountain range summit was home for the night. A beautiful roadside rest stop, picture perfect, with hiking and nature trails, a stream and very nice facilities. Columbia and I had gotten along so well on our first little jaunt we had beaten the chase vehicles by 30 minutes! So we rested and answered the tourists 101 questions. Our beginning chase team consisted of my constant companion to be, 19 year old Shawn Nelson, my 19 year old son, Jesse, my wife Vicki, and our before mentioned manager Patrick Lee. Upon their arrival Pedal-Paddle was loaded, we made a restaurant just down the hill and came back to the rest stop to sleep; our first night in three to actually sleep without moving or bouncing down the highway and it felt really good. My head hit the pillow with thoughts, visions, and pictures of great natural beauty. The first day was short but very sweet and I was out….. |
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