Where to start

[EAkerberg]

I am planning a West to East trip next summer (2017).  My route will be the Transamerica Trail to either the Route 66 or the Underground Railway then North to the Northern route, then East to my home in NH.  My question is - where to start on the the Transamerica and how do I get to the starting point.  Where do I fly in to?  Where do I ship my bike to? and how I do I get myself and my stuff to the Pacific Ocean to begin the ride.   The maps are a little confusing;  it looks like there are several options for beginning the ride.  Any ides would be appreciated.

 

[John Nelson]

The western end of the TA has two alternative starting points, Astoria and Florence. Since you seem to have plenty of time, I suggest you start in Astoria, OR. You can fly into Portland, and then either ride or take a bus to Astoria. If you want to take the bus to Astoria, I suggest you ship your bike to "Bikes & Beyond" in Astoria. Call them first to let them know it's coming. You could also ship your bike to a Warm Showers host in Astoria. If you want to ride from Portland to Astoria, then just take your bike on the plane with you (fly Frontier or Southwest to keep the cost reasonable).

[bbarrettx]

If I recall correctly you can catch the Astoria bus from the airport. The OR coast is perhaps the most scenic part of the TA so if you have time I'd start in Astoria and you might consider riding down to Florence instead of cutting across to the Corvallis area. When the weather is nice you generally get great tail winds out of the north along the coast so maybe another reason to continue down to Florence.

[staehpj1]

If I recall correctly you can catch the Astoria bus from the airport. The OR coast is perhaps the most scenic part of the TA so if you have time I'd start in Astoria and you might consider riding down to Florence instead of cutting across to the Corvallis area. When the weather is nice you generally get great tail winds out of the north along the coast so maybe another reason to continue down to Florence.

The ride from Astoria to Florence is indeed very nice, I wouldn't categorize it as the most scenic of the trip though.

When I did the TA we started in Newport so we could ride a bit of the coast.  Since there were three of us and the bus had rack space for only two bikes we rented an SUV to get there from Portland.  We flew in late rode to a motel, rented a car and did a day of sightseeing by car in the Portland area before driving to a Yurt in Beverly Beach State park, and then dropped the car off in Newport in the morning where we started our ride.

If I was to go again and if I wasn't in a hurry I might do as bbarrettx suggested or I might follow the ACA Astoria route.