Today’s Stats: Miles 61, +/- Elevation, 696/1,824, Total Miles 3,094. Sunny and high 80’s.
Today’s plan is to ride to Shelly and Jens home in Eugene. They left their home 3 months ago and flew to South Carolina dipped their rear tire in South Carolina and started to head home to Eugene. We met in Kentucky where they joined the TransAm route.
We road through the McKenzie Valley and saw fire devastation from last year that is being cleared. The aftermath to clean up looks never ending.
Never know who you are going to meet.
Clearing hillside
One side of tree would look good but you can see the inner core charred.
Clearing off hill sides next to road this is a huge job. We road past the town of Blue River which was totally destroyed last year and is in the process of rebuilding. Only building that survived was high school.
Covered bridge over McKenzie River
Biked home what a huge accomplishment
Yeah rest day in front of us before we head to coast.
Traveling with Pat & Mark 
Congratulations Mark and Pat…certainly a job well done…Coast to coast..what a great effort and accomplishment..Illinois bikepaths will be a breeze now
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You guys are great. You will love the coast.
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Wow congratulations, y’all are my new heros! Are you going to finish in Astoria or Florence?
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Actually with Shelly and Yen’s we will dip at Newport and Mark and I will continue to Astoria and then on to Seattle for Amtrak home.
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The end literally is In sight now! What a great feeling I’m sure. Maybe a little sadness to? The last few weeks has been pretty challenging route wise to get where you are. Hope it’s smooth riding to the water.
Thx, Felipe
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Yea, true creature comforts at last. Hope you enjoyed your day off. One last drip, and you will have made it. Totally amazing. Anxious to see the picture of those tires in the Pacific. I’m sure you are ready for that to happen.
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Thanks for all the updates. Trip of a lifetime. I think you should add how many miles (approx) are left to go. That way youve
got something to count down!!!!
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Congratulations, what a remarkable journey! Loved following along and watching the miles build up and all the nice pictures!
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You both look amazing!! You met new friends to enjoy bike trips with! So glad you were able to hang a bit with them. So you are on the countdown of your travel but I know you will just savor every moment of it. I love reading about your experiences and the places you saw on your way. Can’t wait to catch up with you when you get home. Love you both! Be safe….
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So nice that you met Shelly and Jens along this trip…great to have acquired new lasting friendships with these two with common interests. Won’t be long until you will be back in Illinois. What an impressive accomplishment, Pat and Mark!
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It’s so sad to see pictures of what forest fires leave behind, and even sadder that so many more are burning now! You two have done amazing jobs – getting ready for this endeavor, biking across the country (!!!!!!) and sharing information each day on your ride that day – pictures, stats, etc. What an amazing couple you are!!!!!!! Love, Susan
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