Home again

North Andover, MA

It's hard to believe I've been home for a week already. The days of my trip seemed to blend together, and the days I've spent at home are doing the same thing. Walking into my condo after 2 1/2 months away definitely felt odd, but it felt like home too. I was pretty wacked from the overnight flight, so the first thing I did was throw my clothes into the washing machine and take a nap. And yes, I did set the alarm clock. I figured if I slept more than a couple of hours that I'd never get adjusted to Eastern time, but I knew if I didn't have a couple of hours of sleep that I wasn't going to function too well. And it felt great to be sleeping in my own bed. I have an air mattress (Select Comfort), so sleeping in a hotel bed doesn't feel much better than sleeping on the ground in my tent when I compare it to sleeping in my own bed!

After my nap I headed to one of the local farm markets to pick up some fresh produce. Ever since I got home I've been eating my favorite late summer foods - tomato sandwiches, fresh corn, the still wonderful summer fruits, and my own version of fruit smoothies. You can get smoothies on the road, but I use lots of fruit and plain yogurt in mine, and the smoothies you tend to find for sale usually include ice cream or frozen yogurt - it's just not the same. (Notice that I'm still focused on food!)

I'm definitely enjoying the simple things in life at home - my own bed, access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and good bread. It's been an adjustment to realize that I can wear different clothes every day if I want to, and I can use the washer and dryer at will - no more washing out my cycling clothes every night! I'm also enjoying changing my daily routine. For 2 1/2 months, I rode my bike all day, found a place to stay, took a shower, washed my clothes, got myself some food, wrote my journal entry, uploaded it, and went to sleep. Wow. That was a good routine, a lot of fun, but it's good to be home again.

I came home with the same enthusiasm for cycling that I started with. I did take a few days off, but I've been back on the road on my skinny-tire road bike. As usual, after riding a touring bike for a long time the road bike felt funny - but I'm definitely used to it again. I've been focusing on short rides so far since I'm still trying to catch up on sleep. It took me quite a while to get my body back on this time zone, but I hope I'm finally there. I've been riding without my camera for the first time in almost 3 months. I figured I didn't need it with me, but of course I was wrong. Yesterday I rode by a house with several goats in the yard, one of which was trying to climb the fence. That would have been a great picture!

It was a great trip, and a great experience, and I'm sure I'll do it again.

Homeward bound... sad and glad

Eugene, OR to Boston, MA

Today is both a sad and a glad day. I'm sad to be finished, but I'm glad to be going home. And believe it or not, I'm looking forward to my next biking journey. I'm still convinced that traveling by bicycle is one of the best ways to see places and things.

I had breakfast at the hotel - included in the room rate because I was using a AAA discount. That struck me as odd but nice; in addition to the normal room discount, a full breakfast was included. The waitress got my order a bit confused - a good confused since I'd ordered cereal with fresh berries and she brought me a bowl of cereal and a big bowl of berries. That was good. Berries are one of the things I've missed this summer - they don't tend to keep real well when I stash them in a pannier in the heat! Cherries do better in those conditions, and I bought them whenever I could.

I did a little tiny bit of riding around Eugene, and then headed over to Bike Friday to drop off the bike. I spent some time there talking, and looking at bikes (what else!). And I met a couple from Vancouver who were picking up their Twin Air tandem. That's one hot bike. I planned to walk back to the hotel - about 3 ½ miles. As I was about to leave, the folks at Bike Friday offered me a ride, but I told them I thought I needed the exercise. Yeah, I know, I've been getting a maniac's amount of exercise for the past 2 ½ months, but I figured my body would appreciate the walk - especially since I'm going to be sitting on a plane all night!

Back to the hotel to shower and check out. It felt like someone put lead weights in the trailer / suitcase. The trailer frame is in there along with everything that was there before except for my electronic toys. I definitely didn't want to risk them in the checked baggage. So the trailer really should weigh about the same as it has all during my trip. It sure feels heavier though! Oh well, this time I don't have to haul it around.

I headed out for lunch, a visit to the Tuesday farmer's market, and a walking tour of the East Skinner Butte area. There were some pretty interesting old houses to look at. Then I went to the Park Street Café - a coffee house and dessert bar that opened about 2 weeks ago. I treated myself to a cup of coffee and a piece of flourless chocolate torte. Yum! I'm either going to have to keep riding a lot when I get home or I'm going to have to stop eating like this. It's likely that I'll compromise and continue to do both - but maybe in more moderation.

It was a really funny weather day today - cloudy, with rain forecast. And it did rain, but only in spurts. I was walking down Willamette St. when it started to rain the first time. It was pretty light, so I just kept on walking (instead of ducking into a store or restaurant to keep dry). Later - on the way to the airport - it poured. But it poured for a minute in bright sunshine, then stopped. Here's hoping that there was some heavy and sustained rain over the big Oregon fires. I'm sure the firefighters could use some help from Mother Nature at this point in time.

I'm traveling home on a one-way ticket, so I figured I'd be searched at the airport. What I didn't figure was that I'd be searched twice, both times in Eugene. I had all of my gadgets in a daypack, and as the security guard said, it looked very dense in the X-ray equipment. So they searched it when I went through security, and then I was chosen (ahead of time, and probably because of the one-way ticket) for screening at the gate. Not a problem though - I didn't have anything with me that would alarm anyone.

I had a 3-hour layover in San Francisco, not long enough to go anywhere, but plenty of time to walk through the airport, and plenty of time to get some dinner. Of course I was ready to eat again!

I had to try a phone / monitor at SFO to check email. It was supposedly a high speed connection, but it seemed to be the same speed as my dialup connection on the Jornada. It had a touch screen with keyboard, and no mouse. I prefer to use the Jornada, but for trips when I'm not carrying it this phone/monitor/Internet connection is pretty handy. Later I noticed that all of the regular pay phones in the terminal both electrical outlets and data ports. Now that was cool! The world is getting more connected every day Too bad the little towns don't have phones like that - but that will probably be a long time coming.

After being on the road and traveling by human power for the last 2 ½ months, the airports really were culture shock for me. There were many more people in one place than I've seen in a long time, and no one was talking to anyone that they didn't know. I'm so used to talking to total strangers at this point that it seems really weird to see all of these people in their own worlds. I think I prefer the biking world, but a plane was definitely a quicker way to get home. Let's see, it took me 10+ weeks to get out here, and it will take me 10+ hours (including layover time) to get home. What a change!

Seeking out ducks

Eugene, OR

And yet another nice day...

I started with hazelnut pancakes for breakfast. That's some good solid energy for the day. It was time to find a bookstore to stock up on reading materials for the flight home. On the way to the bookstore I saw the Lane County Visitor's bureau, so I stopped to ask about the ducks and to pick up some information about Eugene. The ducks are a logical symbol for this town because the University of Oregon teams are called the ducks. The ducks I've seen around time appear to be tied to some fundraisers. The blow-up rubber duck I saw yesterday is a promotion for a rubber duck race down the river to raise money for a charity. I remember when there was one of those in Boston - pretty funny. The other ducks all start with the same form and are then decorated by artists. The women in the visitor's center said that they thought some of the ducks were going to be sold or auctioned off with the proceeds going to charity.

I headed over to Bike Friday for a visit after I called there for directions to the bike path. I knew they are right on one of the bike paths, but I couldn't remember which street led to the right path. It was easy to find once I had the right street name. It was fun to meet the folks I've been talking to on the phone. Thanks to all for interrupting their busy day to chat with me!

I went for a ride along the Mackenzie River this afternoon - just me and the bike, no trailer. That was a treat. And I guess that's a treat I'll be getting used to again, since most of my riding once I get home will be without gear. I say most, because I'm actually thinking of doing some short trips in New England (probably Maine) after I rest up for a bit. I'll have to see how the weather holds up, but in a typical fall at least September is usually a reasonable riding month. When I told my mother that I might be doing some short trips, the first thing she asked me is if I'd be writing a journal. I told her yes - that made her happy.

Back to the hotel room, time to prepare to fly... I'm not taking the bike home with me, and that feels really odd. It's the first trip in a long time where I don't have to pack a bicycle. I'll be leaving it at Bike Friday so they can fix the braze-on for the trailer hitch. They'll ship it back to me after it's done. I figured I'd need to buy a big duffle bag for the stuff that was in the trailer, but since I'm not taking the the bike with me I can use the trailer suitcase for my clothes and other gear. It's not quite big enough with the addition of the trailer frame, the trailer wheels, and the two panniers I have with me, so I headed over to REI with a pannier and trailer wheel so I could buy a duffle bag that was about the right side. It's a good thing I took the stuff with me because I wouldn't have guessed that a medium sized duffle would be big enough, but it was. And I can also fit my helmet in it, so I don't have to carry it with me on the plane.

I needed a little help to get the trailer wheels off. I had them attached with cotter pins that had to be un-bent to release them, and my little baby pair of pliers couldn't quite do the job. I hauled the trailer down to the hotel lobby, and one of the maintenance guys helped me with a full-sized pliers. We talked for a bit about my trip, and he told me that he just bought an old Schwinn 3-wheeler for his mother. I'd love to see that bike!

There is still stuff all over my hotel room, but it won't take much to finish packing. It's so much easier to pack to go home - no decisions to be made about what to take!

I'll have most of the day tomorrow here in Eugene. I have a 5:30 PM flight to San Francisco, then an overnight flight home.

Driving, driving...

The Dalles to Eugene, OR

Driving, driving. Did you know that many more interesting things happen when traveling by bicycle than by car? It was a pretty uneventful day today. I did talk with a family at breakfast about my trip. The mom was pretty interested. They were on their way to Lake Chelan in Washington for a week's vacation. I've heard that it is really beautiful there. Then I hit the road and continued heading east through the Columbia River Gorge. I stopped at Hood River to check out the town. It appeared to be a windsurfers hangout. Then I drove a short way up the road heading to Mount Hood. I had to see if I could get a picture of it. I did, both with and without the digital zoom on the camera. When I look at the camera's LCD, the pictures without the digital zoom show the mountain fading into the sky. It will be interesting to see if they are decent pictures when I look at them on a larger screen.

As I left Hood River I noticed another high Cascade peak to the north in Washington. I don't know which mountain that was - but maybe one of my Portland readers (Greg?) can tell me which mountain that is! (8/19: Thanks Greg for filling in the mountain's name for me. That was Mount Adams that I saw.

I had one surprising cyclist sighting today. As I was heading west on I-84, I saw a couple on a tandem heading east on the westbound shoulder of the road. It is OK to ride a bike on I-84, but I was shocked that they were riding against traffic. That's definitely not acting like a vehicle, which is what the vehicle code in all 50 states calls for when you're riding a bike - but even more than that, it's scary and dangerous. Riding against traffic on a little road freaks me out. On an interstate it would be even worse...

It was another day of beautiful scenery. The Columbia River Gorge became greener as more trees appeared on the sides of the valley. Then as I got close to Portland and turned south I was driving in a flat area with mountains visible both to the east and the west.

When I arrived in Eugene I headed for the airport to return the rental car. Forgot to mention yesterday that Hertz tried to give me a Lincoln Town Car. I had made a reservation for a full-sized car to be sure that everything would fit in the car - but the Lincoln was not something I wanted to drive. Too big, too much like a boat, and definitely not my style! They only had one other car that they would release for a one-day rental, a Mazda classified as a mid-sized car. Luckily everything fit! I attracted a bit of attention this afternoon when I pulled the folded bike out of the trunk and put it back into it's real bicycle shape. That's a good magic act. I took a look at the map of Eugene, and then confirmed that the road that I thought I should take was the right one. I had a nice ride into town with a bit of a push from a tailwind.

I rode past a number of hotels, then decided that I wasn't in the mood for the funky places, so I splurged and checked into the Hilton downtown. I think that the fact that I don't want to deal with the little hotels any more is wrapped up in my decision to be done...

I walked around, then had a good dinner at a restaurant that bills itself as having Indian and Greek food. Luckily I really wanted Greek food because Sunday nights the menu is Greek only.

I'll be in Eugene for the next two days, and I'll be flying home on a red-eye Tuesday night. Wow.

The miles are just flying by

Missoula, MT to The Dalles, OR - via Idaho and Washington

I'm really blown away by the amount of distance it's possible to cover when you're in a vehicle powered by fossil fuel rather than by good honest muscle, sweat, and food. I did what for me is marathon driving today. I covered 7 miles on the bike, and 463 in the car. I considered following my planned cycling route, but I opted for the interstates because I think it's easier driving. I've been in four states today - the western edge of Montana, the panhandle of Idaho, the southeast corner of Washington, and northern Oregon. Those are just political boundaries, but there were physical changes too. Montana hills (mountains) and wide valleys followed me to the Idaho border - truly "big sky" country. Lookout Pass marked the transition from Montana to Idaho, with heavily forested steep hills and a narrow valley. It stayed green through Idaho but changed to brown as I passed into eastern Washington. The parts of Washington and Oregon that I passed through today were both very brown and dry. There were many fields that had been harvested and replowed - and there were whirlwinds of dust over some of them. It looked more like the dustbowl than the part of western Kansas and eastern Colorado that bears that name. There was even one area in Washington where some of the fields looked and smelled like they had been burned. It was a small area that didn't seem to be a "natural" fire. The scenery kept changing, and it was all gorgeous.

I ended the day driving to the west along the Columbia River. This is someplace I've wanted to see for a while so there's something good that comes of my change in route. Of course I'm not riding it - but that's a good thing today. I got out of the car at one point, and I could barely open the door against the wind. It was very difficult to stand up too. I think if I'd been riding west I would have been going backwards. I've got to hand it to Greg O'Shea for riding along this river against the wind - see his "Around Mt. Hood" journal for the details.

I was driving south on US 395 when I saw a sign for fresh cherries, so of course I had to stop. It was a funky market - they had fresh local produce, chocolate, and tourist stuff. I bought a pound of Rainier cherries - a real treat - and a few pieces of dark chocolate covered raspberry jellies. That was a good rest stop!

Toward the end of the day Mount Hood was just hanging in the sky in front of me. It is absolutely beautiful. I think the mountains of the Cascades like to play photo hide & seek. It was really hazy, and the mountain just blended in with the sky - not good picture-taking conditions. Maybe I'll get a shot tomorrow, but maybe not!

I've only got another 200 miles to drive tomorrow, so I should be able to get in a bit of wandering on my bike...

Decisions, decisions - I think it's time to head home

Missoula, MT

Today was another rest day, but it was also a big decision day for me. I think this decision has been coming for a number of days. Staying in Missoula and enjoying the things (cafes, bookstores, parks, people) you can find in a decent-sized city allowed me to realize that I'm really ready to go home. I spent some time looking at my cycling maps this morning. I'm so close to the coast, and yet so far.

There were a lot of things that went into my decision to stop riding. It's been hard to keep up my energy stores, even though I'm in great shape from the 3000 miles I've put in on the bike since June 10th. But beyond that, I realized today that I'm done mentally and I don't have the desire to keep riding - especially through little towns with little services. And I'm looking forward to getting back to having easy access to wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables and to good bread - all things that are hard to come by in little towns.

I guess 10 weeks away from home is enough for me for now. I could continue, but I don't want to risk destroying my love for cycling and for touring. If I stop now I know I'll be ready to do this again in the future!

I still want to visit the folks at Bike Friday, so I'm going to drive from Missoula to Eugene, Oregon, and I'll fly home from there. I plan to continue writing journal entries until I get home, and I'm sure I'll have some final words to add after I get home next week. Plus, I do plan to upload some more pictures once I get to a faster Internet connection! So keep checking in for the end of my trek...

This has been a great trip so far, and I want to keep it that way!

Relaxation and good food

Missoula, MT

I really like Steve Hackenburg's "hitch-biking" term (from his guestbook entry). That's much better than hitchhiking!

I had a quiet and enjoyable day today. I started by stopping by Adventure Cycling to say hello and get a quick tour of the operation. They have a cyclists lounge complete with complementary ice cream and soft drinks, along with Internet access. I wanted to thank Paul Adkins in person for putting a link to my journal on the Adventure Cycling web site. He was on vacation, so I wasn't able to say thank you in person - but I did try Paul! Hope your vacation is wonderful.

I rode out to REI to replace my travel wallet which was starting to self-destruct, and I spent some time browsing through bookstores. Then I came back to the hotel to rest the bike and to change from biking shoes and clothes to wandering around clothes. I headed to a cafe for lunch where I had a delicious hummus and veggie sandwich. Then I walked around the downtown area and headed to the river to visit Missoula's carousel. It's a beautiful carousel that is made up of both restored and new components. I found it interesting that there were more adults riding it than kids. A ride on the carousel was tempting, but I'd probably turn green and puke from going up and down and around in circles - the curse of being prone to motion sickness! I just wasn't willing to chance it, but I did stay there and watch for a while.

After the carousel I did some walking through the parks by the river, then sat and read a book for a while.

I found the wonderful Le Petite Outre bakery again and picked up a mid-afternoon treat. I visited the bakery originally on my 1998 trip, and I was hoping I could find it again. If you ever get to Missoula - they have wonderful shortbread and scones.

I had a fantastic dinner at Tipu's. They told me it is the only Indian restaurant in Montana, and it is an excellent one. Dinner tonight tied the dinner in Frisco for the best of the trip.

I really enjoyed being in a decent sized and nice town today. Someone I was talking to during the week heard I was planning to stop in Missoula and tried to talk me out of it. I didn't let them because I'd been here before and I knew it was a nice place. In fact, I think I could live here. Well, at least in the summer - I don't know how bad the winters are here. But that's not a decision for right now...