Astoria, Oregon: Here It Begins

Hello from DAY 1 of my cross-America bike tour.

The starting point for the TransAmerica Route is Astoria, Oregon — famous for this column on a hill and for being the setting of The Goonies.

I got a glimpse of my first leg of the route on the drive up here. Looking forward to more coastal roads, roadside cherry stands, and big green forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Next major stop is Eugene, Oregon — one of America’s most bike-friendly cities. It’s also the most populous city on the TransAmerica Route, with a population of about 170k people.

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A post shared by Little Miss Bike Tour (@littlemissbiketour) on Jun 15, 2019 at 2:42pm PDT

Maps, maps, I love maps

I’m using GPX maps from the Adventure Cycling Association for offline GPSroute data. But I don’t want to miss out on the paper map big picture. So I picked up this Oregon road map at the gas station and a couple highlighters to trace my route. Might have to make this a tradition in each new state.

ALSO — speaking of maps — you can now see my ride progress mapped out on an interactive map in realtime.
Couldn’t have done this without the web dev support of my dear friend Brian, who I already miss on day 1 of this ride.

SEE MY PROGRESS

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A post shared by Little Miss Bike Tour (@littlemissbiketour) on Jun 15, 2019 at 3:45pm PDT

Stats from the Road Trip from Denver to Astoria

I traveled to my starting point on a road trip with my sister. We piled her car with my bike, my nephew, and a bunch of camping gear and took our time getting from one place to the next. Here’s a quick glimpse of the trip by the numbers:

3 people
2128 miles
1 Toyota Prius
12 days
3 National Park visits
2 beach frolics
11 nights of tent camping
1 night in a hotel
2 favorite CDs
Minimal showering, screentime, or shopping
Countless 4-year-old nephew tickle traps and singalongs

What a trip. I am so lucky to have an older sister like Gina to cook flaxseed concoctions over the camp stove, get swept up in an audiobook, and ponder life with. 40+ hours in the car with you two was actually pretty fun.

Housekeeping Note:

This is where I part with my laptop and full-size keyboard. Longform blog posts from here on out will be fewer and farther-between. Look forward to updates on Instagram, and I’ll get back to posting here as soon as I can.