March 8th (Thursday) 2007
Wow, words fail me but I'll see what I can do.
We started in Netarts, OR just as planned. A good friend took us there from Newberg where we had stayed Friday and Saturday night. It was a very odd, almost surreal, farewell. It's hard to explain in words how I felt as we prepared for 7-8 months of the unknown. Fear would be a good word, nervous, anxious, nauseous and other rather unpleasant things. Similar to when you're on a rollercoaster and you hear the click-click-click of that first climb, 'gulp, what have I gotten myself into! Oh well, it's ok, I just saw 20 others do it. But this is insane! No, it's ok-NO GET ME OFF OF THIS THING.' Then you drop and it's all ok. Too bad this isn't a rollercoaster and I'm not yet about to say "oh yeah, we're awesome, not a worry in the world." Far from it, I've got worries coming out of my ears, too be expected being a pessimist I suppose.
That Sunday we walked maybe 10-15 minutes to a tiny little store along whatever road that is in Netarts, I want to say the 6, but it's not. It leads to the 6 though. The store felt like a furnace coming in from the cool ocean air, that mixed with all those unpleasant emotions I just rattled off made for some vary hard shopping (not to mention the camped quarters made exponentially worse thanks to our large packs.) We walked the whole thing more than three times. Finally I grabbed a can of beans, two cans of tuna and a small loaf of bread. We paid for our goods and left. Not more than 20 yards away we asked two people looking at a photo album what we might fill our water bottles, the lady of the two told us her hose was fine "just let it run a bit then it should be ok," she told us. After we'd had a drink and filled up we started to head off but were asked where we were headed. Upon hearing "Maine, the state on the east coast, haha." She offered us brownies, which we gladly accepted. Brownies taste good no matter what (unless you dislike chocolate of course.) Three miles later we found our first nights camping spot, not too bad either. It rained a little during the night but nothing bad at all.
The second day we went the six miles from our camp spot to Tillamook and then another 12 stopped at an old, now closed, campground and has been our best spot yet. Nice even, level ground and no rain that night! Slept amazingly.
Tuesday it was up, up, up to the summit of Wilson River on the 6 and we didn't even reach the top. We had a decent sleeping spot but it rained pretty good that night and we found out, oh wow hey lookie here, it leaks! Not cool my friends not cool at all. Another 18 or so miles that day.
Wednesday was a short day, only 12 miles thanks to a late start (7am or so) and just not feeling up to it. It was all downhill which was nice. The rain made for a lousy nights sleep though which meant not feeling rested, boo no fun. On the bright side we had burgers at the Log Cabin in Gales Creek, if you're ever in these parts go there, fantastic food. Granted almost anything hot will taste good after a bad nights sleep and a cold day but this was uncommonly good beyond those things.
Today (Thursday March 8th 2007) we're in Portland. It rained and our tent leaked but not too bad, we slept well enough and woke at 4:30am. It takes about an hour to get all packed so we hit the road just past 5:30 right at the highway 6 and highway 8 'Y.' And when I say "right at" I mean that, the sign pointing to each was directly across the street. We we're up on a hill someone's land side of a fence, I hope they don't mind. We're clean and pack out all our trash, we leave light steps, haha. We walked from there to Hillsboro, about 16 miles, but I think we had to go farther to get to the MAX stop (Portland's local light-rail system.) Tonight we sleep indoors, seems like such a luxury night now as I sit here hahaha.
All in all we're well and will post as we can and are able.
#1 - Start [Netarts] to Idaho border [March 5th, start date]
++[Netarts, done!] (yes, I know it said Tillamook before but it's really Netarts we're starting in.)
++[Tillamook, done!] leaving along the 6
++[Portland, Oregon, here now!!!] (Our first major city.) (Gotta get AceT's number, he owes us a dinner! Haha!)
-Vancouver, Washington leaving along the 14
-Washougal
-The Dalles
-Plymouth, Umatilla, McNary Leaving on the 730
-Walla Walla
-Clarkson
-Washington border
#2 - Idaho to Helena, Montana
-Lewiston
-Orofino
-Kooskia
-Idaho border
#3 - Helena, Montana to Miles City, Montana
-Missoula leaving on the 200
-Greenough
-Ovando
-The 141 to Avon leaving on the 12
-Helena leaving on the 12 /287
-Townsend leaving on the 12
-Harlowton taking the 12
-Roundup leaving on the 12
-Forsyth
-Miles City
#4 - Miles City, Montana to Aberdeen, North Dakota
-Leaving Miles City on the 12
-Plevna
-Baker
-Marmarth
-Bowman
-Hettinger
-White Butte
-Watauga
-Mobridge continuing on the 12
-Ipswich
-Aberdeen
#5 - Aberdeen, North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota
-Webster
-Milbank
-Ortonville, Minnesota
-Benson
-Murdock
-Willmar
#6 - Minneapolis, Minnesota to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
-Minneapolis and St. Paul
-Following the Mississippi River
-Prescott
-Red Wing
-Wabasha
-Winona
-La Crosse
-Cashton
-Hillsboro
-Wisconsin Dells
-Portage
-Columbus
-Milwaukee
#7 - Milwaukee to Detroit, Michigan (through Chicago)
-Going along the west coast of Lake Michigan
-Kenosha
-Lake Forest
-Wilmette
-Chicago
-Michigan City
-Benton Harbor
-Paw Paw
-Kalamazoo
-Battle Creek
-Marshall
-Jackson
-Ann Arbor
-Detroit
-Marine City into Canada
#8 - Canada [Toronto] to Niagra Falls (Canada side)
-Sarnia
-London
-Woodstock
-Cambridge
-Toronto
-Oakville
-Hamilton
-St. Catharines
#9 - Niagra Falls (New York side) to Massachusetts
-Back into the U.S. via the Niagra Falls
-Lockport
-Millville
-Rochester
-Clyde
-Syracuse
-Cazenovia
-to Albany taking the 43
-Stephentown into Massachusetts
#10 - New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine
-Pittsfield, Mass
-Dalton, Mass
-Windsor, Mass -Stamford, VT
-Hallifax, VT
-Battleboro, VT
-Keene, New Hamp
-Amherst, New Hamp
-Manchester, New Hamp
-Rochester, New Hamp
-Stanford, MN
-Saco Biddeford
-Portland, Maine
-End of trek!
Wow, words fail me but I'll see what I can do.
We started in Netarts, OR just as planned. A good friend took us there from Newberg where we had stayed Friday and Saturday night. It was a very odd, almost surreal, farewell. It's hard to explain in words how I felt as we prepared for 7-8 months of the unknown. Fear would be a good word, nervous, anxious, nauseous and other rather unpleasant things. Similar to when you're on a rollercoaster and you hear the click-click-click of that first climb, 'gulp, what have I gotten myself into! Oh well, it's ok, I just saw 20 others do it. But this is insane! No, it's ok-NO GET ME OFF OF THIS THING.' Then you drop and it's all ok. Too bad this isn't a rollercoaster and I'm not yet about to say "oh yeah, we're awesome, not a worry in the world." Far from it, I've got worries coming out of my ears, too be expected being a pessimist I suppose.
That Sunday we walked maybe 10-15 minutes to a tiny little store along whatever road that is in Netarts, I want to say the 6, but it's not. It leads to the 6 though. The store felt like a furnace coming in from the cool ocean air, that mixed with all those unpleasant emotions I just rattled off made for some vary hard shopping (not to mention the camped quarters made exponentially worse thanks to our large packs.) We walked the whole thing more than three times. Finally I grabbed a can of beans, two cans of tuna and a small loaf of bread. We paid for our goods and left. Not more than 20 yards away we asked two people looking at a photo album what we might fill our water bottles, the lady of the two told us her hose was fine "just let it run a bit then it should be ok," she told us. After we'd had a drink and filled up we started to head off but were asked where we were headed. Upon hearing "Maine, the state on the east coast, haha." She offered us brownies, which we gladly accepted. Brownies taste good no matter what (unless you dislike chocolate of course.) Three miles later we found our first nights camping spot, not too bad either. It rained a little during the night but nothing bad at all.
The second day we went the six miles from our camp spot to Tillamook and then another 12 stopped at an old, now closed, campground and has been our best spot yet. Nice even, level ground and no rain that night! Slept amazingly.
Tuesday it was up, up, up to the summit of Wilson River on the 6 and we didn't even reach the top. We had a decent sleeping spot but it rained pretty good that night and we found out, oh wow hey lookie here, it leaks! Not cool my friends not cool at all. Another 18 or so miles that day.
Wednesday was a short day, only 12 miles thanks to a late start (7am or so) and just not feeling up to it. It was all downhill which was nice. The rain made for a lousy nights sleep though which meant not feeling rested, boo no fun. On the bright side we had burgers at the Log Cabin in Gales Creek, if you're ever in these parts go there, fantastic food. Granted almost anything hot will taste good after a bad nights sleep and a cold day but this was uncommonly good beyond those things.
Today (Thursday March 8th 2007) we're in Portland. It rained and our tent leaked but not too bad, we slept well enough and woke at 4:30am. It takes about an hour to get all packed so we hit the road just past 5:30 right at the highway 6 and highway 8 'Y.' And when I say "right at" I mean that, the sign pointing to each was directly across the street. We we're up on a hill someone's land side of a fence, I hope they don't mind. We're clean and pack out all our trash, we leave light steps, haha. We walked from there to Hillsboro, about 16 miles, but I think we had to go farther to get to the MAX stop (Portland's local light-rail system.) Tonight we sleep indoors, seems like such a luxury night now as I sit here hahaha.
All in all we're well and will post as we can and are able.
#1 - Start [Netarts] to Idaho border [March 5th, start date]
++[Netarts, done!] (yes, I know it said Tillamook before but it's really Netarts we're starting in.)
++[Tillamook, done!] leaving along the 6
++[Portland, Oregon, here now!!!] (Our first major city.) (Gotta get AceT's number, he owes us a dinner! Haha!)
-Vancouver, Washington leaving along the 14
-Washougal
-The Dalles
-Plymouth, Umatilla, McNary Leaving on the 730
-Walla Walla
-Clarkson
-Washington border
#2 - Idaho to Helena, Montana
-Lewiston
-Orofino
-Kooskia
-Idaho border
#3 - Helena, Montana to Miles City, Montana
-Missoula leaving on the 200
-Greenough
-Ovando
-The 141 to Avon leaving on the 12
-Helena leaving on the 12 /287
-Townsend leaving on the 12
-Harlowton taking the 12
-Roundup leaving on the 12
-Forsyth
-Miles City
#4 - Miles City, Montana to Aberdeen, North Dakota
-Leaving Miles City on the 12
-Plevna
-Baker
-Marmarth
-Bowman
-Hettinger
-White Butte
-Watauga
-Mobridge continuing on the 12
-Ipswich
-Aberdeen
#5 - Aberdeen, North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota
-Webster
-Milbank
-Ortonville, Minnesota
-Benson
-Murdock
-Willmar
#6 - Minneapolis, Minnesota to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
-Minneapolis and St. Paul
-Following the Mississippi River
-Prescott
-Red Wing
-Wabasha
-Winona
-La Crosse
-Cashton
-Hillsboro
-Wisconsin Dells
-Portage
-Columbus
-Milwaukee
#7 - Milwaukee to Detroit, Michigan (through Chicago)
-Going along the west coast of Lake Michigan
-Kenosha
-Lake Forest
-Wilmette
-Chicago
-Michigan City
-Benton Harbor
-Paw Paw
-Kalamazoo
-Battle Creek
-Marshall
-Jackson
-Ann Arbor
-Detroit
-Marine City into Canada
#8 - Canada [Toronto] to Niagra Falls (Canada side)
-Sarnia
-London
-Woodstock
-Cambridge
-Toronto
-Oakville
-Hamilton
-St. Catharines
#9 - Niagra Falls (New York side) to Massachusetts
-Back into the U.S. via the Niagra Falls
-Lockport
-Millville
-Rochester
-Clyde
-Syracuse
-Cazenovia
-to Albany taking the 43
-Stephentown into Massachusetts
#10 - New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine
-Pittsfield, Mass
-Dalton, Mass
-Windsor, Mass -Stamford, VT
-Hallifax, VT
-Battleboro, VT
-Keene, New Hamp
-Amherst, New Hamp
-Manchester, New Hamp
-Rochester, New Hamp
-Stanford, MN
-Saco Biddeford
-Portland, Maine
-End of trek!