5th July 2013 - Astoria OR - Kms to date: 2349

Kms today: 12


The only kms today was to the bike shop. We had breakfast at Stephanies and it was expensive so we struck her off our list.  After checking that Land and Racetech were ready for us and had been contacted by Jon Daggett, we rode over the causeway 4 kms to Warrenton.  I left the bike for a new front tyre - a Dunlop Sportmax which should last for the rest of the trip.  Alan dinked me back to the motel and we got changed and headed off to the Maritime Museum.

Outside the Maritime museum.

The first section was about the US Coastguard.  They have a training facility here because the mouth of the Columbia River is one of the most dangerous waterways in the US so it is a good place to practice.

This an older Coast Guard vessel.

100’s of rescues are made each year. There was a complete history of the types of boats the CG used over the years including an actual lifeboat smashing through a wave.  There were examples of the various types of fishing boats used in the area and an amazing small Japanese fishing boat that was lost in the Fukushima Tsunami and drifted across the Pacific to Oregon.

This is the fishing boat from Fukushima.

From the markings, they found out who the owner was in Japan and had interviews with him and videos of the Tsunami. The whole northern Pacific coast is on Tsunami watch because the line of faults offshore are expected to move in the near future. The museum also covered the history of the Columbia River, one of the largest in N America. It was seen by Captain Cook when he was looking for the NW passage. The fur trade was established by John Astor and that gave the name Astoria.  Fish canneries and lumber were the other main trade items.  A high level bridge was built in 1966 to replace the ferries. It was a girder bridge with a long causeway on the Washington side and was 6.6 km long.  After finishing in the museum we went to see an old Lightship that was outside.  It used to be moored outside the mouth of the river.  We came across an old chap called David in the radio room tapping away on a morse code key.  Alan used to dabble in radio ham stuff in Belfast and he struck up a conversation about call signals etc.

A couple of Hams!!!

David used to be in the signals section of the Marines and was in Costa Rica during the Cuban missile crisis monitoring Russian signals. He currently is on Tsunami watch at his home on the ocean shore. He has radio contacts all over the world.  We had lunch at an organic restaurant in town. Astoria is quite a “green” town. We bought birthday cards for Sheila and then went and got my bike. We had dinner on the wharf at the Buoy Beer and enjoyed a craft beer with our fish and chips.