RIDE LIFE

OREGON HONEYMOON TRIP

Toyoshige Ikeyama

The catalyst arrived suddenly.

Time flies; it’s already been over half a year since then.

My partner and I began living together after graduating college—eight years now—but it took until three years ago for me to finally make up my mind and register our marriage. That didn't change our daily lives in any particular way, but she supports me every day as I turn my passion into my work. Since we both have jobs where it’s difficult to align our time off, we never really thought about a honeymoon, and since we’ve traveled to various places together for races, rides, and camping, I thought that was enough.

However, that opportunity arrived suddenly. When it was decided that I would be going to America for three full months, I realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. My partner took time off under the guise of an unconventional honeymoon three years in the making, and we booked our tickets to America.

And so, the destination for our belated honeymoon became Portland, Oregon, in the United States.

I headed to the U.S. at the end of May, and for about a month before she arrived, we lived apart—the longest we'd ever been separated. We were both quite busy, but we kept in touch via email and the occasional FaceTime.

Naturally, we wanted to explore Portland, our base of operations, and we also wanted to reunite with the frame builders and friends who had visited us in Japan. Plus, since we were there, I had a desire to immerse ourselves in the great outdoors of Oregon. We had so many things we wanted to do, but in the end, we hadn't made any concrete plans by the time the day of her arrival finally came. I don't mean to brag, but our mutual, baseless confidence that "somehow it'll work out" is what drove us, and since it had always worked out before, we didn't do any detailed planning.

On the day of her arrival, I finished my tasks earlier than usual and drove from Chris King, where SimWorks USA is located, to the airport.

My partner, who booked a direct flight because she’s not confident in English, looked like she would be arriving a bit late based on the information board, so I casually checked the Crater Lake campground I had looked into earlier. It was that time of year when the rainy season had just passed and real summer was beginning—and since it was the very first weekend, the campground had been fully booked for a long time. However, miraculously, there was a single opening—perhaps from a last-minute cancellation—and I booked it immediately. This happened exactly 10 minutes before my partner touched down at the airport. And just like that, our trip to Crater Lake was set.

We headed from the airport to the city, and I took my hungry partner straight to the famous Sweedeedee. The breakfast, made with carefully prepared, locally harvested ingredients, was simple but movingly delicious. I had heard that the berries in Oregon are incredible, but after all, food made with fresh, local ingredients is the best.

We had some time before the weekend, so to properly prepare for camping, we first checked into our Airbnb and headed out into the city. We didn't bring our own bikes, so we used a bike-share system called BIKE TOWN to go shopping while city-cruising. Once you download the app and register, you can easily rent bikes from stations located all over downtown. Bicycles are overwhelmingly convenient for getting around downtown, so if you visit Portland, I highly recommend using them.

We finished shopping for food and essentials. We had brought our own tent and sleeping bags, but we were able to borrow the rest of what we needed from Dylan van Wheelden, who used to work at Chris King. People here love camping so much that he lent us perfect gear. Everyone treated us so kindly, and I have nothing but gratitude. He also handed us an air gun, saying "take this too"—please note, this was by no means weapon smuggling.

And so, the weekend arrived.

We packed our bikes and camping gear into the Astrovan and, while it was still dark out, headed south on Interstate 5, just driving and driving.

The land is just so vast; the roads are wide, and the cars passing by are massive.

Just when I thought it was unusual to see a Jimny being towed, the truck pulling it had a boat loaded on its bed (and a dog sitting quietly back there, too). Things I had never seen in Japan were playing out right before my eyes as if it were perfectly normal. Everything is just massive in scale. While feeling overwhelmed by the clear difference in scale compared to Japan, we arrived safely at Crater Lake and checked into the campsite. As expected, the campground was fully booked.

There were people with backpacks heading off to the trails, and others in giant motorhomes towing smaller cars to use for local exploring while keeping the motorhome as a base camp. Perhaps because the camping season had only just begun, there were relatively few people riding bicycles.

We pitched our tent for the time being, and since we still had time before evening, our eagerness got the better of us and we drove to the lakefront. The surrounding mountains still had snow in places.

We parked the car near a scenic spot, walked a short distance until we could overlook the lake, and found a deep blue water surface spreading out below us.

It was a truly beautiful blue, unlike anything I had ever seen. The lake, created by rainwater filling a caldera formed by the eruption of Mount Mazama over 6,800 years ago, is so clear and blue because it has no rivers flowing in or out.

Of course, it didn't form immediately after the eruption; it changed over the course of 6,800 years to reach its current state. The scale was so vast, not only in terms of size but also in terms of the timeline, that I was speechless for a while, just clicking my camera shutter over and over.

As the sun began to set, we headed back to the campsite to prepare dinner and devoured it. As the temperature dropped after sunset, we warmed ourselves by the campfire and looked up at the sky. I think it was around 9:00 PM, but because the days are long, the sky still had a twilight gradient, and it was mystical, filled with countless stars. I wanted to gaze at it more, but exhausted from the long drive starting early that morning, I couldn't beat the sleepiness and crawled into my sleeping bag.

The reason we set out on a journey

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of birds. The sun had long since started to rise. It seems we over-slept. The Ikeyama family is notoriously bad at mornings. I climbed out of the tent, boiled some water on the stove, and prepared breakfast. We made a sort of two-egg plate with sausage, toast, and some bivouac ration food we bought locally.

Food really does taste better outdoors. After exploring the area a bit by bike and getting ready, we left the campsite and drove back to the lakeside, wanting to see the lake one more time.

The weather was nice again today, and the previous day's wind had chased the clouds away. With no wind, the water was still, and the lake showed us a different side than yesterday. The blue of the sky and the blue of the lake seemed to blend together. I don't know how to put it into words, but I never imagined I would see a view like this.

For a trip that was basically unplanned until the very last moment, the reason I wanted to visit this place was that Mike DeSalvo once built a bike with a Crater Lake theme; the scenery in that movie was burned into my memory, and I wanted to see it with my own eyes someday. We couldn't circle the lake this time, but I'll save hiking the Mount Scott trail on the east side of the lake as a task for next time. Regardless, there is no doubt that this became an unforgettable trip for the Ikeyama family.

We managed to have this kind of honeymoon, and it’s all thanks to everyone in the Circles family—I feel like I’ll have to spend the rest of my life paying them back (lol). That’s how precious this time was.

There are still many wonderful places in this world that we don't know about, and I want to travel to as many as possible. You only live once, so it’s a waste if you don't enjoy it to the fullest.