As I write this, I'm on the bus from Astoria to Portland. Not a cloud in the sky and I'm aching to be on a bike and not a bus. Given everything I've heard so far, I'm optimistic that I'll be cycling again soon, picking up where I left off. In the meantime, I thought I'd leave you with few more lessons from the road and a couple more images of things I saw and people I met. You'll see that my sense of humor has been left unscarred.
They found Blackbeard's boat
I didn't catch this guy's name but he was from Escondido. He asked me if I knew how to get to Portland. Looks like he is riding one of those old Schwinn Stingrays with the banana seat, except in his case he had two small banana seats. I asked him what the other one was for and he slid up onto it and said "hills." Sorry I missed his face - took this while riding.
How about this rig?
I find this name Creepysexy
More Raymond rust art - it was everywhere!
I didn't realize there were any video stores left but here's one that thrives on selling videos in the possessive.
Hey babe, how bout you grab us a six-pack and one of them video's?
This is Chris. Very nice man who served our Country in WW II. Since he had that Blue Angels hat on, I asked him if he flew for them. He hadn't, but he did fly for the Thunderbirds and then had a career with Alaska Airlines. Chris was going to move back to Alaska to be with his daughter, since he had pretty much lost his eyesight. He told me, "I can see that you're there but I can't really see what you look like". I told him to watch out for the highway right behind me.
Someone get Chris a Thunderbirds hat
Random Ramblings & Lessons:
- When a pick-up drives by carrying a "Wide Load" sign and toots his horn, it's not a kindred-spirit greeting. He's telling you to move your ass over because the tractor-trailer behind him is taking up 2/3 of the bike lane.
- It's rare to confuse a cyclist with an RV'r.
- When you're blogging about the "incredible" breakfast you just had at the B&B, make sure you don't accidentally type "inedible" breakfast.
- When the second-highest rated restaurant in town is the Dairy Queen, it's time to head to the next town.
- Remote, one-lane roads in the middle of nowhere are far more enjoyable when you're certain you're not lost and your GPS battery isn't dead.
- It's hard not to laugh when someone is telling you they "can't eat another bite" while they're eating another bite.
- The characters you meet on a bike trip are eccentric personalities, but they don't begin to compare to the characters you meet on a bus trip
- .And wherever you meet them, there's a lot of nice people out there!
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