Well, it was a little touch & go today, but I made it to South Bend, WA and I'm pretty much set for tomorrow's ride back to Astoria. In fact, Heather put me right back in Room 27, so I'm literally picking up where I left off.
Reunited with Seaquest 27
After getting into Astoria late last night (you can read about my bus adventure in a prior post) and meeting my most-hospitable hosts, Lynne showed me to my room, the Shanghai Crow's Nest. I only loosely knew what being shanghaied meant but Lynne explained it to me and afterwards I was a little concerned I might wake up in Lynne and Al's dinghy 50 miles out in the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately I woke up where I feel asleep, in their shanghai-decorated perch.
Complete with the Shanghai Trap Door
I figured I'd have a relaxing day in Astoria before catching the 4:40 bus to South Bend but relaxation was rendered obsolete when my bike (which was supposed to have arrived the day before) was still not here at 1:00. Not much of a workaround for no bike. Fortunately it arrived at the local bike shop shortly after 1:00 and I hustled down there to unwrap (sticky bubble wrap takes forever to remove), and then assemble it. I was doing OK and at 2:15, as we were pumping up the tires, I said "hey, where the heck is my pannier rack?" Well, actually I didn't say "heck" but it might have ended with a k.
That's my room at the top
To make matters worse, I didn't unpack my bike when it was sent from Astoria to Mike's Bikes in Los Gatos two weeks ago, so I didn't know if the rack was in Los Gatos, or if maybe it never got to Los Gatos in the first place. All I knew is that I didn't have it and I needed it. Eventually I tracked it down at Mike's. The good news is that after tomorrow, I wasn't going to need it for the six supported days through Oregon. The bad news is that I had to wear my Spandex on the bus to South Bend because I needed to conserve all the space I could without my rack and panniers.
My hosts, Lynne and Al
After all that, I still had about 20 minutes to spend with Lynne and Al before heading to the bus stop. It rained most of the way here but the forecasters are sticking to their guns and saying "the clouds will part before I depart." Given how much of a downer it was when I was last here, wouldn't that be great? Maybe the clouds will part in more ways than one tomorrow? Drama like the last 24 hours is fun to blog about. Screwed-up knee? Not so much.
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