Another Night in Keizer

Here we are in Salem, OR for another night. At least we have some time for writing down a bit of our story thus far...

Day One

Our kick-off from the Kellow farm near Hebo, OR went pretty well -- we were busy pulling ourselves and our bikes together while Kiel was also trying to finish off a few building projects at the farm. Somehow we managed to leave only about an hour behind our estimated departure. At 12 pm we were standing at the gate of the farm saying our goodbyes to our vehicles and the two dogs that watch over the farm (black dog and brown dog... we think they have more creative names but we don't know them).

We made it about 30 feet before we realized that we had a few more adjustments to make on Kiel's bike... Slow going. But we realistically believed this ride to Salem (about 55 miles) to be a shake-down cruise. We still have a lot to learn about touring and expect no shortage of adjustments and stops along the way.


It was a good cruise. I will admit that my legs suffered slightly but it felt good to see the road at a slowed down pace. Everything from the foothills in the distance, to a farm on the side of the road, to a small grasshopper or Caterpillar crossing the road... you could really check it all out (even the traces and remnants of human activity... missing boots, stuffed animals, and more). For the most part the road was easy rolling -- we only really conquered one series of decent sized hills. Coming down from the hills was not as great as we thought it would be. Riding with full packs is still new to us and learning to balance is a challenge. We clocked-out at about 24 miles per hour going downhill according to a local county sheriff who found great joy in shouting out our speed from his speed trap... still being a bit cautious with our speed both down- and up-hill (although up-hill is more of a bodily limit).



Arriving into Salem felt great... until my tire blew out. We were on the bridge heading into town -- with easy sight to the bike shop that we were headed to -- when I felt that oh-so-familiar feeling of my metal rims grinding on the ground. We quickly fixed our first flat together (there will probably be more). We were both amazed how easy it was to use two sets of hands instead of one when working on a bike. When we rolled into town we were just minutes before the close of the bike shop -- Santiam Bikes -- but they happily helped us out. In addition to the blown out tire I was also having funny derailer problems -- tires we can manage but the derailer is still a new thing even for all four of our hands.

The bike mechanics were instantly intrigued by us... this was the beginning of our celebrity. We look like tourers with our packs and spandex and people want to know about tourers. Where are you going?... Which way are you going?... Feeling a bit funny about saying that we were headed to Iowa I kind of giggled as I answered their questions... I mean who tours to Iowa (out here its either tour down the coast to baja or you are headed to the east coast... no major stops in the Midwest -- and here we are two young brand new tourers who don't know how to fix a derailer). The bike mechanic laughed back and said something under his breath that was along the lines of "go figure". I admitted that Iowa was my home state and he explained to me that another mechanic at the shop was headed on a bike tour to Iowa starting on Monday (it's Wednesday now so he will be less than a week behind us). At the same time across the store Kiel was chatting up another mechanic who actually calls up our fellow traveler, Cory, and hands the phone off for Kiel to meet Cory. It's probably pretty rare to meet another person on tour to Iowa while in Salem, OR...

While at the Bike shop we were also offered touring advice, free dinner and a place to stay. So much support on our Journey already, but we already had plans for the night -- Kiel's Aunt Michelle and Cousin Tyler live in Keizer (which is connected to Salem). We already had dinner plans and family to stay with... now I'm wishing we had family sprinkled all the way across the states to the Midwest. It was a perfect end to our day and everyone seemed very pleased that we had survived our first day, including us. Life on the road isn't looking so bad -- especially with all of the kindness that we are finding in the folks along the way who are genuinely interested in our story.

Mileage Count for Day 1 : approximately 55 miles (not a lot of elevation change)
Hebo, OR (Kellow Farm) to Keizer, OR (Auntie Michelle's house)

Day Two


This morning was looking bright. We knew that we had a few things to get done before we hit the road -- we knew that it would be a late start yet again. Kiel had to make a stop at the bank and to find some new shoes (his shoes appeared to fail during the first day -- he was losing feeling in his feet -- not a soothing feeling for a biker in training). In the process of finding new shoes, at a great price, I started to have problems with my derailer again -- it was jumping off the gears and doing a lot of extra crunching. At first we thought that we would fix the problem ourselves since nobody else was able to do it. But again, may I remind you, that Kiel and I both have a lot to learn about maintaining our bikes. We can clearly fix things enough to "limp by" but our limping was no match for any hill. Our first climb up hill, a couple of miles out of Salem, made it very clear that we were not leaving town today. I couldn't get my chain set solid enough in any gear to get a good crank out of my bike. We turned around and sat down to check out my derailer again outside of the State Penitentiary -- I actually questioned if that was the appropriate place to hang out, I was waiting for a prison guard to jump out of the bushes and tell us that we needed to leave. But it turned out to be a prime location. The prison had heavy exit traffic -- it was at the end of shift and apparently it was also a visitor day.

Just as Kiel and I were giving up on our ability to fix my problem and admitting that we were destined to spend one more day in Salem a man, Garson, pulled up and offered his help (he said he knew what it felt like to be stranded). He loaded us up in his truck and drove us out of his way back to the bike shop downtown.

Back where we started, oh well. We walked back into the bike shop and met a new bike mechanic who instantly knew our story... it was Cory (our fellow traveler). He spent an hour or so on both of our bikes -- and may have finally accomplished the unaccomplishable... he fixed my derailer (at least for now... and we know that if we run into problems, Cory is only a few days behind us, how convenient). We also scored the ever-allusive Oregon State Bike Map which I had been looking for -- the Oregon DOT stopped printing it after they ran out this year because they are creating a revised version. We also learned of a great route for tomorrow -- a route off of the main road and supposedly with fewer hills. Our delay was definitely a blessing in disguise. But we are ready to hit the road again tomorrow.

I do think our layover in town, which really did include about 30 miles of biking throughout town, was greatly healing for our bodies. I'm hoping that this will serve us well during our next few days -- which will include a bunch of up-hill climbs. The day after tomorrow will be our first pass, Santiam Pass. Who's worried?

Mileage count for day 2 : Maybe 30 or so...
Keizer, OR to Keizer, OR