We rode the rest of the 4 miles to Cathlamet proper- then the plan was to ride across the bridge to Puget island. Well it seems that the state of Washington didn't want us to leave. Riding up the hill to the bridge, Cook shifted over the biggest gear on his cassette, and got the chain stuck between the back of the cassette and the hub of the wheel. Major, major pain getting it out- the sheriff even came by to see if we needed help (biggest sheriff I've ever seen too--good thing he had an SUV to drive around in, a squad car might not fit, I don't think he'll be taking down any criminals by foot)... Turns out one of the time the bike/trailer tipped over, which happens sometimes while we're just holding it standing around-it bent the derailleur hanger on the bike- so the derailleur was positioned too far into the bike and was able to shift further in than it should. We have super strong hubs- and the Phil Wood bolt on attachment for the Bob trailer is a nice, solid piece of metal- so the weakest point of everything is the Surly frame- probably the part we'll need to replace the most after this tour (besides regular things like the chain of course)- the White Industries cranks are pretty bomb proof- same with the wheels, forks, Chris King headsets, Thompson stems/seatposts--:) can you tell I like our bikes? But another reason we're dreaming of titanium frames one day....
A local came out of his house and offered us some tools- I took advantage of a longer allen wrench to bend Cook's derailleur hanger back to mostly straight.
Cross the bridge was treacherous- we had a separate sidewalk, but the winds, heights and narrow walk made it scary... I ended up hitting one of the last posts coming off the bridge- which was enough to bend the axle on the trailer- great! This has happened before, so Cook was able to bend it back- and FINALLy we could make our way towards the ferry.
The ferry was just a tiny one- max 9 cars, and only took about 15 min. After then- woohoo! We were in Oregon!
We rode towards Astoria on Hwy 30- which started with a nice long climb- urgh. There are nice big shoulders- but they are still covered in tons of gravel, sometimes enough so that I loose traction and spin my back wheel while climbing. But we don't have much of another choice though because of all the logging trucks. By the time we got to Astoria we were definitely tired...
Right as we got into town we passed the Rouge Ale house- a pub for a local brewery that we've had back in DC- so we stop in for a celebratory 'yay we're in another state' beer and some bread. Someone else there was nice enough to offer us his yard to camp in so we didn't have to stay in a motel (not much camping nearby that wasn't RV Resort price). They are remodeling their house that I'm sure will be amazing when they are done- it has gorgeous views of the river, up on a hill, and has some cool history behind it. Thanks again guys!
Fixin the trailer
Another nice sunset
So we got into the tent- and Surly decided that she wanted to be more comfortable- by scratching around and pulling my bag into a little ball under her to lay on. It was a weird dog thing that she has done maybe once before? Just being weird....
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