About to Turn South

One of the nice things about being at the MDS meeting in Albany, OR, was that I could finally use the acronym "MDS" and not meet very confused expressions. It was great to meet more people associated with MDS at various levels, and to see some familiar faces in the organization that I haven't seen since my trip through Pennsylvania. I received many invitations to stay with people throughout the western states, but unfortunately most of them will not really be along my route. I also received several generous donations to the "Feed Neal Fund," which felt alright since these funds were coming from people who have already invested so much into MDS as an organization already. I hope that the people that have given me money along the way didn't forget about MDS. This trip is about much more than raising money, but the most tangible sign of progress for the cause at hand is that running total. As of my arrival at that meeting (6,000 miles in) the total raised is something around $3,300. I didn't know how to set a goal for this trip at the beginning, but I thought it would be cool if $1 per mile would come in. There's more miles to travel and more people to meet. We'll see what happens.

After a sizable lunch with the MDS crowd, I hit the road north towards Portland. My friend and cycling partner from two years ago, Dustin, left from Portland at the same time to come meet me and guide me to his place for the evening. Given the late departure, it was kind of late when we rolled into town, but the sun hadn't quite set yet. Some of Dustin's classmates from law school were getting together that evening, so Dustin brought me along to meet his new friends from his new school (he just transferred).

Since Dustin doesn't have any furniture in his place yet, I was on my sleeping pad in his living room. I'm actually quite used to it, and I sometimes prefer it to other sleeping surfaces. Anyway, when we got up, Dustin and I pedaled down town to check out REI and some bike shops for some gear upgrades, including a few better provisions for riding in the rain. I ended up bumming around town for a good chunk of the afternoon before going to Beth and Marcos' place for supper and a game of Settlers of Catan. I don't get to play quite so often now that I'm not working at Hesston College. It was a welcomed treat. I ended up crashing on their couch.

The next morning I had breakfast with my friend Laurel, then made my way to this huge bookstore called Powell's. It's definitely the biggest bookstore I've ever seen. I've traveled more than 6,000 miles without a book. I thought it was time to pack some reading material. Hopefully I actually read the books I bought so they're not just wasted weight I'm carrying. I got back in touch with Dustin, because all of my stuff was still at his place. He and his siblings were about to go grocery shopping, so I headed back to his place to join in the fun. Afterward, I packed my equipment and groceries onto my bike and headed for Logan and Jake's place to make humus with them and our friend Kaitlin. At the end of the night, I got a ride back to Kaitlin's ritzy suburb abode to sleep on a very nice futon.

When I woke, I was a little bit torn between leaving or staying for another day. By the time I got back to Jake and Logan's place to pick up my bike, it was late enough that I decided to stick around, do some laundry, and plot out my route a little bit better. About a block from their place there was a laundromat/coffee shop. Honestly, that's a genius idea. I drank coffee and mapped out a route while my laundry was in. It was great. I bummed around town a little more, checking out the bike paths by the river, before settling into a chair outside of a coffee shop to make a few phone calls and to start on a book. When Laurel got off work, I headed for her place for an evening on her couch, involving the movie "The Bucket List". Quality film, if anyone is interested.

Today I actually hit the road and left the city. Before I did, I met a high school classmate, Annie, for breakfast. We hadn't seen each other in a few years, so we caught up on life for quite a while over some biscuits and gravy and coffee. The ride north through the city could have been quicker, but when I'm not really sure where I'm going, I tend to go there slower. I just wandered north to the I-5 bridge where I crossed into Vancouver, Washington. I saw neither a welcome to Oregon or a welcome to Washington sign to take my picture by. As with north Portland, I didn't really know where I was going in Vancouver, other than north, so I was moving a little slower until I found the highway I was looking for. While meandering through the city, I wandered into a residential suburban part of town. At one of the intersections, I slowed down to look for traffic, then pedaled through. There was a stop sign, but I didn't completely stop. As I went through the intersection, a car about a half block behind me gave one short beep from their horn. I glanced back to see if I was in some way impeding his travels. He beeped his horn again as he got closer. Next, he pulled up beside me and said, "You ran that stop sign back there." I responded, "Yeah, I slowed down and looked for traffic." He repeated, "You ran that stop sign back there," this time with an intonation of impatience. I said, "There were no cars." He repeated himself one more time, "You ran that stop sign back there," this time sounding almost angry. "Thank you, sir, have a nice day," I responded. At this he drove away. I would have preferred to say, "Your confrontation style will only aggravate and irritate others, likely not affecting any change," but he drove away too quickly. I think I slowed enough that nobody, including myself, was in danger. It's not easy to get that 300+ lbs. moving again when I completely stop. Whatever.

I took a break in Longview, WA, before crossing the river back into Oregon. The bridge to get across was not a friendly one. There were a ton of logging trucks coming and going from the mill in Longview, and there was not a shoulder. I should also mention that the Columbia River is not narrow, and the bridge was tall enough to allow barges through underneath. It was not a fun bridge. On the bridge, there was a very small sign that said "Entering Oregon" on one side and "Entering Washington" on the other, but not in a place where I could stop to take a picture. I still have another chance to get a picture of me being welcomed into Oregon as I leave to go to California, but I have no picture of me entering Washington. I improvised a little, but it is quite disappointing to come this far, getting a picture entering each state, and finally miss one. There's a bridge near Astoria, OR, that I could try riding across to get a picture, but it's a really long bridge. Maybe if the morning is going smoothly I'll give that a shot.

I'm currently stopped at the Clatskanie River Inn, where the manager gave me a break on the cost of the room. Tomorrow night I should be sleeping on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. When I turn south tomorrow, I will no longer be moving away from Louisiana. I will finally be on the return trip. I've got about 800 miles of coast to ride between here and San Francisco, so the next two weeks should be great. I'm supposed to be catching some rain later this week that might last a few days, but things will eventually dry out, right? I just hope that doesn't mess up the view!