Oregon - Beautiful, Wet, Chilly...and Vast

Howdy folks! I write to you this morning from Redmond, OR. I rode 16 miles in the rain and cold this morning to get here and that's all it took to convince me that a warm chair in front of a glowing computer screen for an hour would be just the right medicine for what ails me this day. But before I found the Redmond Public Library I discovered a great cafe that served the most amazing vanilla chai mate latte (with soy milk) that I've ever tasted. I'm finally warmed up a bit though my socks are still soaking and my feet likely wrinkled inside those socks from all this moisture. But I had decided last night that today would end up being a half rest day, regardless, as I knew my legs would still be recuperating from a long day of climbing the day before. Yesterday I began the day in McKenzie Bridge at an altitude of around 1,400 ft. and reached my highest elevation so far on this trip at Santiam Pass which sits at 4,817 ft. Needless to say I spent several hours in my lowest granny gear during that climb, averaging only 5.5mph throughout that stretch. Whew! I spent much of that time singing songs to myself (or anyone that happened to hear my out of key vocals as they drove by with their windows rolled down), thinking about my life - past, present, and future, and recognizing how truly blessed I am to be embarking on such an adventure this summer. The sights I've seen thus far will remain etched in my memory bank for the remainder of my lifetime. I can't even begin to describe in words the beauty of this state. Don't get me wrong. It's not like I came from a place of wretched ugliness, but Oregon presents itself with such charming elegance, given the numerous rivers, creeks, cliff-side waterfalls, and lush green vegetation. Not to mention the snow-capped peaks of the Cascades that I passed over yesterday! And I also can't forget the charming seaside cottage towns with their boardwalk-clad beaches looking out over the Pacific Ocean. So I hope I've painted a decent picture in your minds of what the Oregon landscape is like thus far. They say everything will be drier from here onward now that I am east of the Cascades. But today has given me no real indication of any level of dryness. Every single Oregonian I've talked to, though, has noted how wet and cool this spring season has been. They are all keeping their fingers crossed that summer makes itself present in the very near future. Oh, and before I forget, Oregonians must REALLY love their espresso and coffee. Every town I've been through has at least one drive-through coffee shack. Even the smallest communities with less than 500 residents have had one. I love it! As a coffee connoisseur, this warms my heart to see such coffee love. That said, I want to see this practice of quick stop coffee houses adopted in Colorado. There may be a side business project in my future. :) I already have a few choice locations in mind and as Dr. Mills taught me in business school years ago, the key to a successful physical retail operation is location, location, location!

Okay...enough rambling. The library computer tells me I have 29 minutes left on my time. I'll do my best to recap a few stories from my first days as a homeless, boundless bicyclist:

I won't soon forget the old men I had coffee with one morning in Cannon Beach. They were a joy to chat with as I plopped down next to them on the front porch of this quaint little cafe after enduring a good rain soaking that morning and all the previous night. It was obvious they really enjoyed the lives they were living and it made me happy to be growing older and wiser so that one day I might become like these kind and cordial men. They even invited me to join me at their weekly Friday night poker game the next time I am in Cannon Beach. Of course, they probably only invited me after I admitted how awful I am at any kind of card game.

A Tale of Two Howr(e)y's: Twice now I've used the website warmshowers.org to arrange lodging with two very wonderful families. Ironically, they've both shared the same last name but with different spellings. The first Howry's reside in Pacific City. Both Bill & Vicky are retired teachers who aspire to one day venture into bicycle touring. They are both very active. Vicky races in sprint triathlons and even did a century bike ride only a few weeks ago. They were so fun to get to know along with their nephew, Jason, and Jason's friend Elaine, who was visiting from Hawaii. They recently (not sure how recent) added on to their home so that all of the extended family could stay at the house at once. The loft I slept in had 3, maybe 4, sets of bunkbeds for the kiddos. And the tale goes that their home was the first home to have a bathtub back in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, they no longer have that tub. I would have enjoyed soaking in that thing for both my muscles' sake and for soaking in that history (pardon the pun!). And then last night I stayed in the home of Steve & Karen Howrey who were also very kind and gracious enough to give me my own bed, shower, and even let me use their clothes washer/dryer! Steve whipped up a delicious batch of brownies for us all that we enjoyed with coffee in their reading room with westward views of the Three Sisters Peaks (don't ask me to name them but there are 3 of the...I promise). We had a nice chat up until my weary body told me it was time for bed. Thanks so much to all the Howr(e)y's for your hospitality and warm welcoming of my smelly, sweaty self!


Okay, 2 minute warning. Guess I'll have to send another update from yonder down the road. Hope you all are having a great summer so far! See you around the bend...

 

Road Trip with Crazy Dave!

I spent the last 2 days of non-bicycling life living out of my car, a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder with one of my best friends, Crazy Dave. By the time we arrived at the Fort Stevens State Park in Astoria, OR around 10pm last night, the inside of the car wreaked of offensive manly body odors, Triscuits, and Copenhagen (thanks to Dave). Needless to say, this morning's shower at the campground was much welcomed and highly appreciated (especially by anyone that would have come in contact with us today). 

Here are a few highlights from the 2-day road trip from Lafayette, CO (commonly referred to as L-Town) to Astoria (in no particular order):

• Tossing a frisbee with Dave at the Shell gas station in Twin Falls, ID two nights ago at 1am.
• Committing to and arriving in Oregon on Day 1. We crossed the ID/OR state line shortly after 3:30am last night where we immediately pulled into a rest area for a 4 hour nap.
• Oregon State Law requires that only a certified gas station attendant pump gas into your vehicle. Apparently New Jersey is the other state that also still has this law. Still trying to figure out why this law exists. I'm guessing it involves an economic reason. Better to keep jobs than destroy them. I didn't tip any of the gas attendants. Should I have? What do you in this case? I don't think I should have to tip a guy who only has that job because state law requires it. "Do you tip your IRS man?" (quote by Dave)
• "True freedom requires neither a reason nor an excuse." --Dave Meek (great quote from Dave regarding my adventure this summer)
• 45 minutes into the trip we decided to pull over in Ft. Collins for a plate of fish & chips. Evidence of time being on my side with this journey and high caloric intake being high on my list of priorities. :)
• Planned on departing my house at 9:00am. Officially pulled away from the house at high noon. You'll have that...
• Gas station attendant at the first gas station we stopped at in Oregon was from Greeley. He told us that Oregon has seen an unusual amount of rain this spring/summer. The pattern has tended towards 3 days of rain then one day of sunshine. Awesome! Glad I invested in a good rain jacket before leaving on this trip.
• Dave and I stopped at the Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR yesterday for a tour of their operations and a 4 shot sampling of their delicious brews! We tasted one of their new seasonal's, called Hop in the Dark. It was an incredibly robust and dark IPA. Dave loved it so much, he picked up four 20 oz. bottles. In Dave's defense, 1 bottle was for a gift. The other 3 were gifts to himself. Their bottling brewing and bottling operations were impressive. As a guy who has focused the last few years of my career in production operations, I passed through their facility in awe at the level of complexity, automation, and quality of the products (tasty beer!) they produce. We have a long way to go at SparkFun to reach their level. At some point in this trip I'll post video of their automated bottling/packaging operation. 
• In Portland, we specifically stopped by to visit Powell's City of Books. Powell's claims to be the largest independent new & used bookstore in the world. I believe it. Needing to reference the hand-held map to seek out a new book for this trip is evidence of the vast magnitude of this store. I ended up picking up a book of select writings from the journals of Lewis & Clark. I considered buying the full writings but was discouraged by the weight of that edition. Ounces matter when you're hauling your possessions in a bike trailer across the country! Also, I bought a book by my favorite author, Cormac McCarthy (famed writer of The Road, No Country for Old Men, and All the Pretty Horses). This book is called Blood Meridian, a story about the Old West and the pursuit of Indian scalps as a profitable industry for settlers of the west back in the mid-1800s. 

Well, I need to shut this thing down and go unload the bike out of my car and gear up for my initial departure. It's a cool, cloudy day here in Astoria. Very glad I brought some warm layers to wear. Probably won't need them once I move east of Colorado, but they're definitely going to be needed in these first few weeks. Alright, my friends, off I go. You will all be in my thoughts at some point throughout the next couple months.

Tailwinds! (a phrase I first learned from a girl named Sarah who signed this on the invoice that was sent with the series of TransAmerica maps I ordered from the Adventure Cycling Association)

P.S. You can also check out the map of our drive at my everlater.com site...