Eugene to Coburg and onto Corvallis

We said goodbye to our Eugene Warm Showers. Our host, Sue went to work early and we were on the way to breakfast just after 8. 

Happy Father's Day for Norman with his favourite breakfast of sour dough pancakes, bacon, fresh strawberries and maple syrup! 

The pancake house was super busy with grads and dads and athletes in town for the big NCAA national track meet, which incidentally, Oregon won. We beat the rush by getting there early, about 8am.

We headed north to the historical town of Coburg along the wonderful river pathway that we walked  to Springfield yesterday. Unfortunately Coburg was not open for business on Sunday. So much for our historical/antique shopping. I had to at least take a picture to say we had been there.

And here is a bridge built in 1887 that crossed the Mohawk River. 

The route Norm planned was perfect. We followed the Willamette River. The road was flat, not busy, and lots of room for bikes. There were fields after fields of wheat, rye, grasses and even clover. 

Not sure what this is but beautiful purple as far as you can see. The weather was cloudy and cool, great for biking. We hit a few kms of rain but we quickly dried. Someone asked why we would be biking north and not north to south? Going south you have the wind behind you. Well last year we ended our bike trip in Eugene and now we can finish the ride to Portland. And yes we had head winds but not really strong. And some of the sights along the way are such fun. Shoe tree? 

Lunch was a road side stop at Peoria with what we found in our bag - yogurt, muesli, cheese and carrot sticks.

 And Norm decovered some unusual boats heading onto the river. Coracles, round ones and an oblong one called a curragh made of hazel sticks covered with waterproof material -- "ballistic nylon" for the curragh and urethane on the coracles. Funny to see these odd-looking boats so far from their native Wales and Ireland.

This valley is definitely a farming community.

Being Sunday, we saw lots of cars at churches and even a few inspirational messages along the way. But what we were inspired by was the beauty along the way.

By the time we got to Corvallis we had biked about 75 kms. Time to stop! Checked into our motel.

And now food! We were a little out of town so we had to bike to dinner, McMenamin's and I had the best meal. Food always tastes better when you have worked hard for it. 

My nephew, Daniel Baylis, author of The Traveller, says "Eat Well, Travel Often" (even if it rains). Norm and I are trying to follow those words.