Day 7 – Corvallis to Eugene, OR

Miles – 47

Ave Riding Speed – 2-18 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 6

Weather – Sunny 93

We set out from the Super 8 in Corvallis at 9am, a little later than anticipated, and headed east across the Willamette River until we picked up Peoria Road heading South. About 22 miles in we stopped in Harrisburg at a local small grocery store and picked up a couple pronto pumps, a meat/cheese/cracker snack and a gallon of water.  This was the replenishment after picking up a protein shake, banana and protein bar near Corvallis earlier.  From Harrisburg we missed a turn that should have taken to Coburg Rd.  Instead, we were back on the well-traveled 99W down to Junction City.  Not totally out of the way, but off the route. We studied our maps in Junction City and found that we could stay on the 99W all the way to Eugene or head east on 1^st Ave out of town to River Rd and take the backroads into Eugene. We decided to take the safer route over to River Rd, adding a couple miles, but the countryside was awesome.

A few miles down River Rd Kim said we needed to stop and smell the roses, in this case fruit, so we stopped at the Thistledown Farm roadside market for some fresh strawberries, some shade and a potty break. Once we got into Eugene, we had planned on passing through it, to a suburb east of town called Springfield, to the motel we had planned to stay, which would also have made tomorrows ride a little shorter.  Upon checking Kim’s app we found they had filled up. Being flexible, we adjusted to another alternative in Eugene and headed that way.

There were multiple bike shops in town and I kept my eyes peeled for any of the options. Out over the corner of my eye, as we were riding the bike lane into Eugene, I spotted Klink Cycles. We pulled in and Michael was awesome and offered me his bike pump with a gauge to fill up. I asked him if he had any suggestions for a simple, collapsible, spare tire, as I had yet to pick one up. It was always on my list, but I always forgot to inquire when I was in a shop. We picked up a spare tire and Kim picked up a spare set of biking gloves to replace the pair that went missing. Michael gave us direction via the bike trail along the river to our destination for the night. It was a beautiful ride through the park system abutting the river.

After checking in to our hotel around 3pm and showering, we checked our social media sites before going for a bite to eat. My cousin Richard, from my dads’ side of the family, uncle Dick, messaged us that his son, daughter-in-law and grandson live in Eugene and to look them up. We did just that and we met my “3^rd” cousin Raiden and Wesley’s wife Catalina, for early dinner at Ciao for pizza. Now that’s family! Dropping everything to meet people you have never met before, because you are family. Lovely people and we enjoyed hearing Catalina’s story. We were thankful for the time together. The pizza was awesome and so was the service from Leah. Wesley was working this evening so we plan to meet Wesley, my “2nd cousin whom I’ve never met before, Catalina and Raiden for coffee in the morning before heading out. What fun to meet some family that we had never met and I appreciate them taking the time to do so. Coming from a large family, many of my first cousins I “may” have met before or I was too little to remember, let alone meet their children. Pretty awesome.

The next couple days on the road need some good planning as we try to figure the water, food and the camping situation up to, and over, the McKenzie Pass to Sisters, OR. That’s next on the list for tonight.