Monthly Archive for August, 2008

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WorldRider

Published on August 7, 2008 in Long Ago & Far Away and Travel. 2 Comments

When I graduated from High School, and had no plans for college, a friend of mine, Paul Heibert, and I decided we were going to ride motorcycles from Oregon to Costa Rica where I was born. He was a few years older than me, and had a Moto Guzzi. I was ready to sell my car and get one too. Well, the trip didn’t happen. I don’t remember exactly why, but I decided to go to Europe instead. I’ve always wondered how it would have been.

When I was a kid in Bolivia a couple of guys rode Harleys from the states clear down to La Paz, Bolivia. I think they even stayed with us. My brothers and I thought they were very cool, with their long hair and beards, awesome bikes, and really worn-out jeans.

So—I have a fascination with long motorcycle trips that goes WAY back.  Earlier this year,  while looking up stuff about Bolivia, I came across this blog. It’s really become a favorite of mine. Here’s was a guy that rode not only to Bolivia, but at the time he was on his way from Alaska to the tip of South America!  He has since gone up through Africa on his way around the world!

I got hooked on his posts—great descriptions of his adventures and interactions with people, and lots of stunningly beautiful pictures. He’s in Turkey right now (I think!), but his current posts (when he has time and an internet link I guess) are describing his trip up through Africa. Over 700 days on the road! Almost 55,000 miles, 1000 gallons of gas, and 27,000 pictures!

Check it out! It’s great for those uf us that probably won’t, but wish we could!

Bridge Pedal 2007 Review

Published on August 3, 2008 in Biking. 2 Comments

I just signed up for Portland’s Bridge Pedal again this year. It’s coming up next weekend. It’ll be my 5th time, and I am really looking forward to it, even though last year was such a mess.

I better explain that last sentence…

Bridge Pedal 2007 had some problems—and I complained about it.

Since we had a late start time, Alison, Austin and I got caught in the traffic jam waiting to cross the Ross Island Bridge. It was a stand-still for over an hour! This picture shows what was ahead of us, and it was pretty much the same behind us.

Since we got delayed for so long, 1,500 of us were too late to go across the Fremont Bridge. They had to open it up for cars. Well, they turned us around over by the Rose Quarter, and sent us to the finish line, so we never even got to the rest area. I was especially not happy at all about that, and decided right then I would do something about it. Something – I wasn’t sure what.

When we got home, I did two things. (1) I emailed the Bridge Pedal organizers, and (2) I posted a comment on BikePortland.org (an excellent Portland/bike-related blog which has since become one of my favorite blogs). There were dozens of comments on this particular topic, and so I added my own frustrated experience, followed by my full name (most people only use their first name). Well, the jam had become a big news story, and an Oregonian news reporter saw my name on the bikePortland.org site, and Googled me.

I was pretty shocked when I got the phone call from the Oregonian! I am not one to complain usually, and I really don’t like the spotlight as most of you know. She asked me a bunch of questions, and the next day my name was in the paper as one who was not happy with my Bridge Pedal experience.

I was even more shocked when I got a personal email from Rick Bauman, the Event Director! It contained an apology, a promise to solve the problems that created the bottleneck, and a note that the registration fees had been refunded to my credit card. Cool!

By the looks of things, it seems like they have worked out most of the problems for 2008 without placing a cap on the number of riders. (There were around 20,000 last year!) It really is a great ride, and I recommend it for bike riders of any skill level… Its a really fun way to see the city and it’s bridges, and it’s pretty fun to ride on the freeway too!

I must comment on my 2 kids during this episode last year. They both had such good attitudes, and took it all in stride. Even while standing still for over an hour, they were very patient. I can learn much from them.

I’ll post a recap and review of this year’s Bridge Pedal after the ride next weekend. I expect it will be a good one—Deanne is going to join us!

My new favorite beach

Published on August 2, 2008 in Family and Travel. 5 Comments

This past week we traveled down near Coos Bay, Oregon and stayed 3 nights at Sunset Bay State Park. It was all wonderful! Of course Oregon’s parks are always very nice, and the wildlife, scenery, and weather were spectacular.

If you haven’t seen the southern Oregon Coast, I highly recommend it. We decided to leave the Jeep and tent trailer at home (gas prices!), go by car and stay in a Yurt. It was a bit tight in the car with 6 of us, but we all enjoyed the trip anyway.

I’ve posted some panoramas here which are slightly distorted, but give a good idea of this neat little bay. I’m guessing it’s around 1/2 mile across, and has wonderful tide pool areas with lots of marine life.

There’s a lot to see in this area! The land these parks sit on was donated to the state of Oregon by Louis Simpson, a lumber and shipping baron. A couple miles south of Sunset Bay are the Shore Acres Botanical Gardens (7 acres of beautiful gardens), Cape Arago, and Simpson Reef, an outstanding wildlife viewing area.

Here is a slide show if you are interested in seeing more!