Eric's Bike Adventure 1995

Trip Log Part 1: Getting to Oregon

• Getting Ready, Thursday, July 13, 1995

  Made last minute preparations, finished building my clothes (mucho thanks to Kristin for helping out with those), and loaded up the panniers. Test rode my fully loaded bike around the block, and it seemed to work. No major problems, so far. Of course, the ride hadn't really started. Hurry up and wait!

• Leaving home, Friday, July 14, 1995

  Last minute loading in Los Gatos

  A nice drive to San Francisco, landing on the doorstep of the Green Tortoise.

  

  The bus ride was nice, but fairly uneventful. Lots of college aged folks, and handfuls of European folks trekking around the US the thrifty way. Britain seemed to be the most popular non-US origin, but there were also visitors from Germany and elsewhere.

  

  During the "bed making miracle", the whole bus was converted into sleeping space. Most of the bus became a giant sleeping platform, with the spots under the tables becoming sort of claustrophobic hiding nooks. I ended up in one of these nooks by myself, so I got enough space to stretch out. I'm glad it was night, or I would have gotten pretty claustrophobic down there. I slept ok, waking up every couple of hours when the bus stopped to let people off, or to get gas. Despite getting stuck in the sleeping nook, it definitely beats trying to fall asleep slouching in a bus seat.

• Arrival in Portland, Saturday, July 15, 1995

  

  After waking up on the bus, we arrived shortly at the Green Tortoise 120 acre grounds on Cow Creek in southern Oregon. This was the breakfast stop, the longest stop for the bus ride. First things first, though. A swim in the creek and a trip through the sauna were definitely the first order of business.

  

  The creek was cool, almost cold, but very refreshing. A quick dip in the creek is so much more refreshing than an early morning shower. The water started out feeling warm, but get waist deep and... brrr! After some coaxing by the people who were all the way in the water, I just jumped in. After the dip, up the hill to the sauna, and then up to dine on blueberry pancakes. I'm not much of a breakfast food eater, but this was a pretty good pancake. Very flakey, hardly doughy at all, with real blueberries. Yum! Then it was time to wash the breakfast dishes in the kitchen bus, hang out a bit longer, and then get back on the bus to head up to Portland.

  While eating breakfast, there was a bulletin board with assorted Green Tortoise information. The best thing on the board was the story of how the sauna I had visited was actually the new sauna. The old one was washed away during last winter's heavy rain. The last known sighting of the intact sauna was 12 miles downstream.

  

  I ended up talking to Sasha, Amy and Brian on the bus after breakfast. Talked mostly about bikes, and getting out and doing something on your own. Sasha said he did bike racing in New York, but hadn't done any touring. The three of them seemed to get almost as excited as I was about doing a cycling adventure. Maybe I've helped inspire them to get out and do some touring... It was good to help share some of the excitement (and anxiety) I was having about the trip.

  

  Finally Portland! I loaded up all the gear onto my bike, and pedaled on over to my brother Tom's place. I didn't have a Portland map, so I had to wing it. I thought I knew the basic region where Tom lived, but didn't know for sure where that was in relation to where I was! So, I guessed. I went down the hill, crossed over the Willamette River, and was in the part of town I was pretty sure Tom lived. I wasn't positive whether to go north or south, so I headed down the road until I found some cops eating at a cafe, and asked them for directions. Turns out I was actually almost there, so headed back a couple blocks, and north a couple more, and made it!

  

  Then, time to unload the bike, and carry it up to Tom's third story apartment. I needed to unpack my stuff and reload it to get rid of some shimmying in the steering, so having to unload it all wasn't so bad. My old friend Mo Wang came up from Eugene, OR, and we all went out for Thai food. A fitting way to start the trip -- by eating out. It was great to see Mo, especially since she gave me a couple PowerBars, a handful of Batman Band-Aids, a lighter, and some Hell Bank Notes -- you never know where you'll end up on vacation! Mo made sure to show us the bruises she had on her arms from the kung fu practice she had been doing.

  

  Tom is currently doing time at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and would really like it if you bought t-shirts from him. As much as I am biased about his artwork, being related and all, he is a very talented artist. All he needs is to get some marketing sense, and he'll be in good shape.

  Day total: 4.1 miles, Trip total: 4.1