[trip-list] ...and into Portland, Happy 4th of July

[drewish@katherinehouse.com]

[Yeah I'm here, it sort of killed my drive to write email, that's why this one is so late. I think Seattle is out, not enough time before my flight. Don't expect much in the next couple of days, I'll probably send out an email or two from New York City. I'm going to try to post some photos if I can get some bandwidth together.] 

PORTLAND, OR 06/04/02 - Camped 50 feet from the road to the east and the train tracks to the west, it was a noisy night. Once the sun came up the train engineers could finally see my tent and boy did they let me know they were there. The first one by gave me a real wakeup call, he let that horn blow for 10 or 15 seconds straight as he rolled by. I about peeed my pants it was so loud. It was more than enough to have me thrashing my way out of my tent trying to figure out what the heck was going on. 

So with a 06:30 take off and 80ish miles to Portland I departed. 99E was empty farm road all the way into Albany. After that it merged with I-5 and I had to try to parallel it on country roads. 

On one of those roads a cyclist, named Andy, rode up behind me and we got to talking. He was just a mile from home, finishing up his 40 mile loop through--in my opinion--the most beautiful farmland in Oregon. I joked with him that he must have gotten a much earlier start than I had, I still hadn't made 20 miles. We talked mostly about riding, I told him about the trip up. He's been with the State Police for almost 30 years working all over the state so when I mentioned 97 coming out of Klamath Falls he knew exactly what I was talking about. I think I've gotten him convinced to take a week off this summer and do a lightweight credit card tour across the state (one of the major benifits of being older and having a good job is that the credit card can take the place of the tent when it comes time to put a roof over your head). As our paths diverged he gave me directions on through Independence to Salem and took a picture for me.

Down the road a bit further I ran into a mountain biker named Vince. He was an evangelical minister and boy could he rattle off scripture. I'd be trying to think through the one he just finished one and he'd be onto another one. I had a lot of fun talking talking with him, he was a very impressive dude, both for the depth of his faith and the joy with which he shared it. 

Going on down the road I had get back on I-5 for a mile. Between that strech and the road through Albany I found six Merican (as our President likes to pronounce it) flags of all different sizes on the side of the road. The ones that were in good shape I folded up and started giving to people I met along they way.

>From Albany to Portland on 99E it's about 50 miles. Strangely enough as I stood stopped at mile marker 44 [in Oregon the milemarkers are laid north to south] contemplating whether I should try to make it into PDX that night another touring cyclist rode by. I caught up with him and asked where he was going and where he'd been. He told me that he'd spent the last month riding the Oregon coast and planed to be home in Portland in time to see some fireworks. The more I thought about the better pushing on in to town sounded. As the miles wore down I started getting more and more excited. 

As I as I crested  hill and caught my first glimpse of the downtown skyline I couldn't stop chuckling to myself. I was finally in Portland. I rode down narrow streets full of the sounds of backyard parties, smells of food and the smoke from fireworks. Little kids would pint at the bike and laugh, I'd wave back stopping to talk if they asked questions. As the sun set air horns from boats in the Willamette sounded and I headed for my old roomate and friend Chris's house. 

So here I leave you. I hope everyone had as good a 4th as I did.

andrew

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