Eugene to McKenzie Bridge, OR

Via secondary roads to Walterville, then Hwy 126 to McKenzie Bridge. 64.7 miles.

It was a rather long day, made longer by the fact that we missed a turn and we went about 4 miles out of our way. We figured out that we had goofed and were studying the map about to compound our error when a guy pulled up in a pickup truck to ask if we needed help. Penny responded that we were lost (I couldn't bring myself to do it) and the pickup driver told us exactly how to get back on our route (to Walterville, at the time), which involved a right turn and a couple of miles back west when my instincts told me to go left (northeast, but way out of our way).

We enjoyed another beautiful ride, this time up the McKenzie River valley to the foothills of the Cascades. There were so many trees along the roads that we only occasionally glimpsed the river. Despite the temperatures reaching well into the 90s, we were kept pretty comfortable by a nice breeze and a surprising amount of shady areas along the roads. The pine trees here are enormous and very tall, resulting in long stretches of the roads being in deep shadow even during the noon hour.

Tomorrow we will climb over the Cascade Range (from McKenzie Bridge to Sisters). Tonight we are staying in some cabins with kitchenettes along the river. (As I am writing this the Weber grill is spitting and flaming our hamburgers hopefully to perfection, although I will settle for a lot less. There is no place to stop for food, or maybe even water, over the 54-mile route along Hwy 126, and no restaurant* or grocery here in McKenzie Bridge. So we stopped at the grocery store on our way into town this afternoon to stock up on food for tonight, breakfast and lunch tomorrow. The place was packed with people who arrived in cars, RVs and motorcycles. We were the only cyclists and appeared to be the only ones not buying ice cream. Lest you get the (very wrong) impression that we are some kind of weirdo health nut/vegan types, we purchased a pound of frozen hamburger, a bag of frozen corn, a bag of salad, an onion, a bottle of dressing, a pound of cheese, salami, a carton of eggs, a package of breakfast sausages, 4 bananas, two bottles of juice, a bag of cookies, a bottle of wine and a bottle of beer. The process of stuffing all this into our panniers and hydration packs (which were pretty much drained of fluid by that point in the day) was obviously highly entertaining to a crowd of tourists who had gathered in the parking lot to eat ice cream before it melted. They told us they were impressed at our ability to pack another 20 pounds of stuff into already full bags and haul it up the highway. (Notably however, no one offered to put the stuff in his/her vehicle and haul it for us.) We managed fine nevertheless and, by the time we set off tomorrow, will have considerably lightened the grocery load by eating everything except the salami and some of the cheese. But we will be carrying extra water that will more than make up for having drunk the beer and wine tonight. You can't have everything you'd like I guess.

*The only restaurant in McKenzie Bridge burned down a few years ago and has not been rebuilt.