[trip-list] North on 97

[drewish@katherinehouse.com]

CHEMULT, OR 07/01/02 - Having to go to the bathroom is one of the fastest, if not the most plesant, ways to wake up early. Once I was on the road I was glad I'd gotten the early start. There was still one more bad strech of 97 to get through and traffic was light that early.

About two thirds of the way through, the soft gravel shoulder finally caught up with me. I spilled left onto the pavement but, mostly due to my low speed, I wasn't even scratched. I jumped up and pulled the bike off the road to check for damages. My pannier rack got bent and the bag got covered with dirt but everything else was fine.  

A couple hours and a couple dozen miles later I wave at a car as it passes headed south. I thought it was a bit wierd to see the same car headed north until it pulled off in front of me and someone shouts "Andrew". It was AT Dan, he's an ex-Renoite living in Portland who was driving his friend Jessy (sorry if I spelled it wrong) down to the Blackrock Desert. Jessy was going to help setup for the Burning Man festival and AT Dan was going off to do some hiking. [We call him AT Dan because there were too many people named Dan in Reno and he happened to hike the Appalatian Trail last summer.] They gave me some cookies and water then sent me on my way.

After that the riding was pretty uneventful. I spent quite a bit of time staring at the side of the road. I'm a bit disturbed by the number of urine-filled Gatorade bottles I saw today. I counted at least 10, there were a few more that were filled with something yellow but I wasn't going to check. 

Thinking about it a bit I started to wonder how many of the cars and trucks passing me were being driven by some one peeing into a coke bottle at that very second. Forget talking on a cell phone, this, is distracted driving. Imagine for a second the mechanics of driving an 18-wheeler, holding the bottle and... ummm... operating your equipment, maybe if you use your knee to steer... I guess you have to appreciate that sort of dedication to a job.

One thing I don't appreciate is all the four American flags I've found on the side of the road. I'm all for showing your patriotism but tying a flag to your car until the wind eats it up or it just falls off is a pretty disrespectful way to do it. I'd like to ask anyone who's still got a flag on their antenna to do it a favor and either mount it inside their car or replace it with a sticker. I've still got two more flags to find homes for.

andrew

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