Day 28-Postride-Fort Stevens State Park (back) to Astoria, OR-11.26 miles

We slept in a bit this morning, because…well, we didn’t have much reason to get up early. We went back down to the beach, about a mile from the campsite, watched the ocean and took some more pictures. We packed up and biked back into Astoria. We delivered the bikes and trailers to “Bikes and Beyond” for boxing and shipping. Next we had lunch and shopped for “train snacks” and reading material for the next 3 days. Back to the bike shop where we had our luggage stashed and taxied our way to the motel for the evening. This was a decompression day. The end of ride like this gives me a bitter-sweet feeling. On the sweet side, I like the feeling of accomplishment; of closing a 3 year project, of seeing the ocean as Lewis and Clark, but on the bitter side, I will miss the anticipation of seeing new sites; tackling new challenges; of meeting interesting people. Remember, my philosophy has always been that everyday is the goal, not just the destination.

The next 3 days will be travel days. One of the nice things about taking the train is that we will get to retrace some of our route and see it from a different perspective, and we will be able to see new sights as well. That should prove to be interesting.

This adventure has been a great experience! Thanks to all who have followed along with us!!

Hmmmm…what will be the next adventure???

-clarkwheel

This completes the student questions. Students, you will have until midnight, Aug. 4, 2006 to send your answers to us.

Day 27-Longview, WA to Astoria, OR (Fort Stevens State Park)-66.75 miles

"Ocian in view! Oh! the joy!" These are the exact words from William Clark's journal. These words kept ringing in my ears as we biked this last day of the Lewis and Clark Trail. We left David’s house with sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, granola bars to get us through today, thanks to Janet. It was a real blessing along the way. We crossed back over to the Oregon side on the Longview Bridge…an experience in itself…and biked into some pretty good hills on the way to Astoria. We managed those hills and 56 of the miles in good time…time enough to make most of the arrangements for our return trip. We will be taking Amtrak home on Thursday. We have an appointment in the morning tomorrow to have our bikes and trailers boxed and shipped home via DHL. Since the train originates in Portland, we also made arrangements for a bus to Portland from Astoria on Thursday morning in time to catch the train. The plans are falling together for our return. After making those arrangements, we felt the trip would not be complete if we didn’t actually experience the Pacific Ocean (Astoria is still on the Columbia River side). We biked 10 more miles to Fort Stevens State Park directly on the Pacific. Upon arrival, we quickly set up the tent, emptied out our trailers and pulled them down to the beach where we each took pictures of the other standing in the waves of the Pacific. What a thrill! The Lewis and Clark Trail and a 3-year goal has been completed!

-clarkwheel

Student question: When Lewis and Clark saw the ocean, they saw something that Sacagawea begged to go see as well. What was this sight the Sacagawea wanted to see so badly?