Kelso - Northwest Passages: Victoria to Portland - CycleBlaze

August 6, 2019

Kelso

and each town looks the same to me/the movies and the factories/and every stranger’s face I see/reminds me that I long to be/homeward bound /I wish I was/homeward bound . . .     Paul Simon

I admit it - we’re both getting short-timer attitudes, and ready to be done with the whole pitch.  Maybe it’s the quadrant we’ve biking through  for the last few days and its string of fairly featureless, somewhat rundown towns; or maybe we’re just overdue for a day off the bikes; or maybe it’s just because we’re nearing the end of the road and this all feels anticlimactic.  It’s pretty common for us actually, this feeling of impatience at the end of a tour.  

This too will pass, and soon enough we’ll be antsy to leave town again on our next odyssey.  I can feel it already, and find myself waking up in the morning thinking of Spain.

First though, we have to get home.  Just two more days, and a bit over a hundred miles.  Today’s ride is very nice really, and probably well known to some of you because most of the way we’re following the course of the STP (the annual Seattle to Portland ride that draws thousands of bikers year after year).  Our route doesn’t quite match the STP, but I would argue is a step up.  Leaving Centralia, we angle southwest on Scheuber Road along the West Bank of the Chehalis River; while the STP stays on the east bank, hugging the freeway and passing through Chehalis.  I assume it does this to pass through another town with lodging possibilities for the two-dayers; but if you don’t need to visit Chehalis, I’d definitely follow our route.

After ten miles the two routes converge in Napavine, and after that we follow STP the whole way to Kelso.  It’s a fine ride, quiet, green and undemanding as it passes through a string of sleepy towns: Napavine, Winlock, Vader.  There are modest rollers along the way, but nothing serious.  With just my middle chainring available I was only challenged once, by a short steep hill that finally encouraged me to dismount about a hundred yards from the summit.

We had good, almost excellent conditions for the ride - sunny, a bit of a tailwind, and not oppressively warm - and the miles went by faster than we’d expected.  Even with our fairly late start and a lengthy break in Vader for a sit down lunch, we arrived in Kelso by 3.  The best we could hope for.

Home tomorrow!

Crossing the Chehalis River as we leave Centralia is a bit unsettling. The old bridge shakes and dips when cars drive across.
Heart 3 Comment 0
The Chehalis River, at the outskirts of Centralia.
Heart 1 Comment 0
Climbing up Scheuber Road, southwest of Centralia. This is a beautiful way south from town (better than the STP route, which goes through Chehalis). It rises a few hundred feet above the river floor, giving lovely views across the valley.
Heart 0 Comment 0
On Scheuber Road we get our first and only view on this tour of Mount Rainier.
Heart 4 Comment 0
On Scheuber Road
Heart 3 Comment 0
This is a cutoff meander of the Chehalis River. We finally part ways with it here, as it doubles back west to its source in the Willapa Hills.
Heart 0 Comment 0
Not sure where this is. Somewhere on Old Highway 603 on the gradual descent from Napavine to Winlock.
Heart 1 Comment 0

Video sound track: Homeward Bound, by Simon and Garfunkel

Performing my parking lot attendant duties. This is actually near Humptulips on our ride to Aberdeen two days back, but we overlooked it until now.
Heart 5 Comment 0
In Evaline (just north of Winlock): Old Coopers Mill, established in 1927.
Heart 1 Comment 0
There’s an invader in Vader!
Heart 3 Comment 0
From a distance I thought this was a grain tower, and was surprised that it’s a poultry and egg cooperative. So what’s going on in there? Eggs piled high by the millions? A fifty story hen condo?
Heart 1 Comment 0
We check another big one off the bucket list.
Heart 5 Comment 0
When we’re in Vader we always eat at the Little Crane Cafe. It’s a tradition! And it’s the only show in town.
Heart 1 Comment 0
The Little Crane Cafe, a definite step up from a greasy spoon.
Heart 3 Comment 0
Words of wisdom in the Little Crane Cafe.
Heart 2 Comment 0
We’re going the right direction today, with the wind at our backs and trees and small cliffs sheltering us from the hot afternoon sun.
Heart 2 Comment 0
I brake for foals.
Heart 2 Comment 0
There’s just enough shade here for a break from the heat.
Heart 2 Comment 0
Riding down the Westside Road, we follow the Cowlitz River for the final miles to Kelso.
Heart 1 Comment 0
Heart 0 Comment 0

Ride stats today: 48 miles, 1,600’; for the tour: 1,096 miles, 50,600’

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 1,096 miles (1,764 km)

Rate this entry's writing Heart 10
Comment on this entry Comment 1
Patrick O'HaraHi Scott.
Have a great last day. I can't believe that you are off again to Spain in a few weeks. Looking forward to following along.......again. Patrick
Reply to this comment
4 years ago