Now that we have been on the road for about two weeks, we are finally about to begin the bicycle portion of our tour. This ‘North by Northwest’ (NXNW) tour, as it is now being called had two objectives. The first objective was to take a bike tour somewhere beautiful in the northwest. The second, getting to know more about the cities in Oregon that we have read so much about: Eugene was the first on that list (and where both Mark and I have sought employment/education opportunities). As we examined the weather in the first days of the trip, it appeared as if ‘showers’ were expected in the northwest every day until the end of the forecast. After major snowstorms in Montana, and Eva feeling under the weather, we decided to set our sights on the Willamette valley – and to get there using the car.
A few days, and many miles later, we found ourselves in the world-class agricultural valley where we tasted the local flavor through visits to an organic bakery and the Deck Family farm. In Eugene we stayed with the ‘MacRhodes’ (as they will soon be changing their names to) who inspired us with stories from their 11,000-mile cross-continental journey and entertained us (and our daughters) with their wee Isadora.
Missy+1 and baby Isadora
The van rested up as we traveled by bike all around Eugene’s extensive bike trail network and excellent bike-facilitated streets.
Rainy morning and one of the many bridges over the Willamette
We stopped in on some local bicycle icons in Eugene such as the Center for Appropriate Transport and Bike Friday. The Waldorf school in Eugene was a dreamland, an aesthetic delight tucked away in the forest of the south hills. Eugene had a lot to offer, but probably not a place I would do anything in order to live in. We were dismayed about the level of bike theft (apparently second to only New York City) and crime in general. It was a very educational visit, however, and we met many tremendous people.
After our final day cycling Eugene, we decided to go through Corvallis on our way back to Portland. It was a beautiful drive on HWY 99W and we parked in downtown Corvallis and immediately fell in love with the little city. Local shops, a historic downtown, this placed looked and felt a lot like a west coast Fort Collins.
Post Office, Corvallis, OR
We stopped in on the local ‘Bike and Hike’ shop and chatted with a really nice fellow Jordan who explained the many attributes of the city and surrounding landscape. He recommended we supper at ‘Block 15’, a pub featuring it’s own brew and naturally-raised local meats.
Block 15
Great recommendation. Our minds were made up, we needed to spend the night in Corvallis and spend the next day exploring the city more thoroughly. An old friend from Northwest Youth Corps, Jodie, lives in Corvallis, so I e-mailed her around 5:00 pm with my fingers crossed for a floor to crash on (rain clouds were building). Sure enough, just as we were finishing dinner, Jodie called me and we had a place to stay! Hooray! A half hour later we were meeting her boyfriend Richard, their cat Holly, and turtle, iguana, fish and other family members (very exciting for the kids, as you can imagine).
So I guess what I mean to say, after all this dribble, is thanks to the MacRhodes, Jodie, and Richard for allowing us to explore both Eugene and Corvallis knowing we had a warm place to stay at night.
More on our Corvallis explorations later…
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