Ahhh, I got to sleep in till 8am... hey, I take what I can get.
After most people woke up and we all sat around the picnic table outside and had breakfast, the owner of the house and his neighbor asked us cyclists if we could help them load these large trunks of some recently cut trees into the back of his neighbor's pickup. 6 extra people made the loading of these 200+ pound trunks easy and quick. Rhea and I then headed down to the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters which was only a couple blocks away. It was a very cool building, with bicycle handlebars as the front door handles.
We walked inside and were given ice cream, soda, free memberships to those who weren't already members, an ACA bandana, and stickers. They gave us a tour of the whole building, took our pictures and added us to the cyclist wall, and then let us hang out in a cyclist's lounge that had maps and internet access.The building also had a courtyard where other cyclists were making food and hanging out. They really go the extra mile for us cycling tourists!
Afterwards Rhea went to meet the hitchhikers for coffee at a little cafe and I set out to get my chain replaced as it was coming up on 1,800 or so miles. Luckily there was a little bicycle shop maybe a block from the ACA that I popped into and had to leave my bike for about an hour. I also asked them to trim the ends of the rear supports that hold my front fender on as those little #$%&ers keep catching and cutting up my legs and I was about to toss them!
So, bikeless, I walked back to the ACA cyclist lounge and used the time to update this blog. About an hour and a half later I walked back and retreived my bike, then headed out looking for a barber shop, my hair was getting too long! I checked a few closest to me but they all seemed to be closed on Monday, but I eventually found one that was a couple miles away, biked over, and got a lot of hair taken off by a talkative barber who must have been in his 70's.
When I left I got a text from Rhea, she was packing up and planning on leaving with Brian to go up to Seattle. I biked back to the "cyclist frathouse" and caught her slowly packing up her stuff. Brian had already left and she was going to meet up with him. The neighbor had brought over a cooler with beers in it for helping with the tree trunks, so most people were hanging out and drinking.
As Rhea packed, the neighbor again came over and asked us if we could help him move some railroad ties that he had put under his fence to keep his dogs from getting out. Again, with a bunch of us it maybe took 10 minutes, and afterwards the neighbor came over again with more beers!
Rhea was still packing and it was getting close to dinner time, so I ordered some pizzas and treated the group of us who where still there to dinner. This did not help Rhea and her packing, and combined with a few beers and people hanging out, it was getting late and she still hadn't left.
Around 10pm Brett rolled in and brought stories of his time with Tyler and John. Brian was texting Rhea asking her what mile marker she was at, as he stopped and set up camp about 60 miles away. Eventually at about midnight, Rhea had convinced Brett to ride out with her, so both of them leaved at midnight to ride 60 miles. I wished them good luck and safe riding on their crazy midnight ride.
Another cyclist, Reese, was also planning on going west along the TransAmeria and was interested in riding together, but I had talked to a couple people earlier in the day that said the Lewis & Clark route from Missoula to Astoria was a more interesting and scenic route that took you down the Columbia river between Washington and Oregon, so I was torn between staying on the TransAm or venturing off onto the Lewis & Clark. I decided to sleep on it and make my decision in the morning.
Distance:
5 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment