Day 3: St. Helens to Welches, Oregon

John's 65th birthday today and he got the gift of riding his bicycle 76 miles on a day that was pretty great overall which is not to say that our butts weren't dragging pretty badly the last five miles or so. I left at 6:20 am in cool and overcast weather and booked 20 miles on Route 30 down to Portland where John caught up with me. Route 30, which we rode exclusively yesterday is peppered with Lewis and Clark Trail signs. John made me laugh with the dry remark that following Route 30 must have made it pretty nice for them. Oddly the route is also thick with little homegrown espresso drive through shops. The next 20 miles were really great-- through a bit of residential Portland and then miles along the Columbia River on a bike path. At Mile 44 we started a long climb but only the first mile was really demanding-- from then on it was rolling terrain. At Mile 50 we got our first view of Mt. Hood and there were lots of great views from that point on. At about mile 59 we made the big mistake of stopping at the (recommended) restaurant called Calamity Jane's. A calamity it was. Although we ordered the smallest size hamburger (the "city slicker" portion) and a milkshake and neither of us finished our food, we carried big heavy lumps in our innards the remaining 15 miles to our hotel. And now we can't face dinner! This place has a bar, however, and I think all will agree that the birthday boy and his wife need a drink.

Glen: we followed Route 30 from Astoria to Portland. Then, although we meandered a bit, we essentially followed Marine Drive along the river. We went through Gresham and Trout(dale?) but didn't get on another numbered route until a place called Sandy where we turned East on Route 26.