A final word...

It has been exactly a month since we finished our trip. The body..mainly the legs are pretty much recovered and the mind has had time to catch up on sleep. No one really understands the terrain we cycled or the people we met but it is still fun telling others about the trip.
We were at our cottage this past weekend helping close it up with our parents so we had a chance to talk about the trip and reminisce. We finally got our cycling jerseys so we thought we would have a photo shoot so you could see them!
Well that's it for this trip. Thank you again to everyone who supported us and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund! We hope to see you riding sometime!

Daun and Lisa

Home Sweet Home

We finally made it back to Ontario and all of us are now back at home (Travis and Daun in Ottawa and Lisa in Port McNicoll). I guess it's back to the regular swing of things (schedules, lists, work, blah blah blah) but it is nice to have a bed and comfort of home.

We will post some more pictures and do another wrap up post but in the meantime we just wanted to give you an update of the donations that have been made. As of today (August 30th) we have fundraised $1811! To think just over a month ago the Greater New Orleans Foundation had $1811 less to help those in need living around where the spill happened. The $3000 goal might not be reached but really that was an arbitrary number when it really comes down to it...any amount is better than none so thank you again for all the donations and support! The people and environment who will benefit from your donations we're sure are very appreciative!

Check the blog out in the next week or so for so more pictures and updates on the fundraising!

Beautiful Sunny Victoria!

Scenic Random Photos:

Foggy coastline of northern california

Cape Foulweather Lookout in Oregon

northern california
At every turn and corner we were in danger!!....just kidding but there are signs just in case of danger.

Travis looking into a HUGE piece of kelp in Victoria. Katy told us you could make a musical instrument...I can't for the life of me think of how to spell that instrument..

The three cyclists who travelled together from Portland to Vancouver:

Crazy cyclist number 3....who is this guy?..well I guess we'll let you come on our ride but you need to keep up and not be clean....hahaha

and runner up...cyclist number 2...sporting the lovely thrift store item...the green racer jacket...this made Lisa so speedy and warm..it was also very cheap

finally cyclist number one...directly from the early 90s is Daun who is wearing the Columbia windbreaker...we all know it was a fashion hit then...ummm..not so much now...but it can break a mean wind and bilow nicely with rhythmic wave down the hills. It sure made Lisa laugh down those hills...she is laughing right now...haha!

Alright now for some serious blogging... we made it back to Canada...safe and sound! (Washington was a little nutty ...we will never forget the bum through the window, the mean driver comments, the burning barn and a man that could have potentially shot us if we trespassed, who knew people aren't concerned about starting forest fires). Ask us to tell more details about those stories.

The past few days have been really relaxing (only took us 18 days or so and about 1600 kms to get to sun and relaxation but finally we got some). As you can tell by this picture of Lisa...maxin' and relaxin'...We took the ferry from Seattle to Victoria which was a real treat for us. We arrived in Victoria with a huge and warm welcome from Daun's friend, Katy. She made us an awesome bbq (so good when for the past few days we didn't know where we would be or stay or eat)!

Today we've had an even more relaxing day of eating (something we've become really good at), celebrating and maybe a little shopping too. Katy took us to the ocean where we had a chance to sit and relax by the water and look for sea creatures. Thank you so much Katy for having us and being such an awesome hostess, you really made this part of our trip so easy and enjoyable! Oh and this was the first time Lisa and I have ever been to Victoria and we would both definitely come again, just loved it!

We will be cycling up to the Swartz Bay tomorrow morning to catch the ferry to mainland and then cycle to Richmond where we will stay near the airport and catch our flight the next day to Ottawa. The main challenges that are left now, cycle safely to our tomorrow's destination and get bike boxes (please let Krusty's Bike shop have some.....and who names their shop Krusty's anyway?...)

We can't believe that we've made it this far. We've met some interesting, funny , warm, kind as well as the not so kind people who have all added to this journey. We've also seen so many different sites and views along the way...we are so lucky to have had this opportunity (although we must say some days we definitely missed the comforts of home and not riding on our hard bike seats in thick fog and cool weather) and thank you all for the donations and support. We will fill you in in a few days on how the rest of the trip goes...so keep checking our progress.

Finally Pictures

Brandon you made it on the trip...sorry your picture got a little wet with all of the mist and fog! You were at one of the most beautiful cliffs of the ride!






The Oregon Coast Trail...it was really easy to follow because of all of the signs!



Eating lunch by the ocean! Avocados, tomatoes, bread and cheese, oh and the Salt Water Taffy was amazing! I ate way too much:)








Daun at our campsite in Lincoln City! We took off the next day to ride the 140 km to Portland- Mac and Cheese for dinner.


Daun and Travis on the 30 Hwy outside of Portland....Day 15!

Campsite last night in Tenino...we made a great Indian coconut curry dish...yummy! Day 16









Rider of Day 17th Christine...like I said the best trail ever...I had a great time on this trail enjoying the peace and quiet of no cars or trucks-











Mount Rainer...all of a sudden after a flat ride we saw a mountain! It was a spectacular site.

Random Photos

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!

We've made it to Portland!

Well after a long haul from the coast yesterday we made it finally to Portland! It was a pretty long day (141 kms to be exact) but actually one of the flatest yet....as a side note traveling from the coast to Portland we would definitely recommend taking highway 18 and 99W (in case any readers decide to do this trip:)...we had been dreading this part of the ride and it wasn't so bad (besides some incidents and the heavy traffic).

We last left you during day 11 when we were on our way to the town of Yachats (pronounced Ya-huts....we have been laughed at by many people by mispronouncing that name). Once again, the campground we were looking at on our map was not exactly where we thought it would be (up a monster hill and too far to go off the highway) so we decided to push on to Yachats...which is where we had the most wonderful night yet on our trip...unfortunately both of us forgot our cords to upload pictures for this post so you'll have to use your imagination...lets just say we got an incredible deal on a "luxury suite" that included access to the hot tub and indoor pool that was overlooking the ocean! We have never felt so "lucky" in our lives! We bought some beer and chilled out for the rest of the night. Our rider for the day was Brandon V from Lisa's grade 4 class, (I'll post the picture when I have my cord on the next post) We took you to Perpetua Cape which is a great cliff area overlooking the ocean and where James Cook came with his ship in around 1776...

The next day we made pancakes and enjoyed our suite until 11am (it was a bit of a late start to the day...we wanted to enjoy that room). We cycled to a state park in Lincoln City (85kms) and had one of our nicest days which included sun and beautiful lookouts. We actually met a family cycling from Canada!...we haven't met a lot of Canadians so it was nice to chat with them. That night we had a bit of a canadian party at the campground..I guess as you get closer to Canada you meet more canadians. One family was riding with their two daughters (6 and 3 years old)..we thought this was so incredible! We had a really great night listening to all of the other traveller's stories...there are some amazing cyclists doing this ride!

And so that brings us to yesterday..the long haul. We had decided that we would do the whole ride into Portland once we hit the half way point (a little strawberry shortcake also might have boosted our energy too:). We really wanted to have a day off too (it's been 13 days straight of riding and Daun could also see Travis!!). Unfortunately there were a few things that happened along the way that didn't make us feel like we were actually going to be able to do it:

1) we woke up and it was raining (it hasn't actually rained much at all and it was this morning...making roads super slick)
2)6 kms into the ride Daun fish tailed and fell off her bike (I have never felt no control on my bike like this ever ...it was crazy. I fell also by a blind corner on the busy road..anyway all is good and a few scrapes...I was very lucky to not get smoked by a car so thank you drivers!)
**I was riding ahead of Daun and heard her go down- we are so lucky nothing worse happened, we definately are lucky-
3) Daun gets her first flat (Lisa does not hear me yelling at her so she continues riding and then waits up a head not knowing where I was...not to worry she rode back and we got back on the road
4) Daun loses her camera...not to worry because of the heavy traffic cars saw the camera fall out and yelled at me that something had fallen...thank you to the lady who picked it up but I have no idea why she hugged me...I guess she felt like she needed a hug

We want to thank everyone who has donated for the cause, we are half way to meeting our goal of 3000$. It means a lot to us that people are reading our blog and supporting us on this journey.

Anyway we are now on our day off and met up with Travis. Tomorrow we will start to head north on route to Seattle. Washingtion state here we come! We will also hopefully find a chance to post some pictures but until then we're going to enjoy the day...happy hour here we come!

Lisa and Daun's Top Ten for Day 9-11

Since Daun and I have very limited time to find and use the internet we thought we would share with you the top ten events and pictures since our last posting!

Top Ten:
1. State Line crossing from California to Oregon
2. The beautiful coastal views
3. Our greasy lunch " the biggest omeletes you have ever seen!"
4. Finally some sunny skies
5. Total of nine flat tires for Lisa...two yesterday! I was not happy...just bought a new tire in Florence I hope that works better.
6. Weighing our bikes on the truck scales
7. Seeing and meeting another north bound cyclist- we see about 10 riders a day heading south but never anyone going north
8. Warm free showers at Bullard's Beach State Park
9. Amazing chocolate chip cookies
10. Crazy loud campgroud's...I thought camping was suppose to be peaceful...

Thanks again to everyone who has made a donation. Every time we see the coast line I (Daun and I am sure Lisa too) think of the disaster that has happened along the Gulf Coast and can't imagine what this area would look like or how the communities would be affected here if the oil spill had happened along this coast. So many communities have already been affected by the economy and are "dying" but they also rely quite a bit on the fishing and tourism so loosing that would not be good for this area.
Well thats some thoughts from here on the west, enjoy the beautiful (and the not so nice ones like our monstrous plates of food) pics we have to share!

Oh and if you donated and would like to have us take you on our ride please send us a picture to our gmail account: getoutthegrease@gmail.com. If you don't send one we won't put one up:)

State line crossing!!!








Day 9 rider of the day was Arlene! You had the chance to see the coast and the sun...


Who knew Saunders lake existed...I wanted to put you in a better view spot but how could I not stop and take a picture of the Saunder's Lake sign!








Weighing ourselves at the truck scales!