Astoria

I woke up this morning sore as hell. Instead of wandering around town I decided I would hang out in the hostel and sort out my things, deciding which to keep and which to send home: 4 books, spare pedals, spare lube, shorts, and a pair of gym shoes. Total this stuff feels like its about 10 lbs. but who knows. Its stuff that I don't think I will use in the near future and don't want to carry for the time being. I spoke with some guys at the bike shop alter in the day and they agreed.

While at the bike shop I explained to the guys about the spokes that I had tightened by hand and they tuned it up for me. Being a busy weekend in the summer though, they didn't get to it until about 2:30pm. All the guys at Bikes and Beyond especially their mechanic Matt, are great if you find yourself in need of bike help in Astoria, OR. While I was waiting for the bike I ran into my friend Ed from yesterday. He was sticking around town for the day and so we went touring around the town. We stopped at the Maritime Museum and a fish and chips place that was great. In talking with him I found out that he is going to head down to a town called Netarts tomorrow to stay at a friends house and he has invited me to join. I decided to take him up on it mainly because I enjoy the company and this guy is a lot of fun to hang out and talk with. He has a lot of cool stories. Who would have guessed that two guys, with roughly 50 years difference in age would have become friends. Not me. As I wrote in a previous post Ed has found a woman that he is madly in love with, and I mean madly! I used to take whole a lot of heat about posting away messages and things I would write on a girlfriend's wall (thanks Chuck and Mike), but as bad as I may have been, I have nothing on these two. He tells of their emailing and calling back and forth as if they were back in high school. It is a wonderful and refreshing story that I hope will have a happy ending. Ed and I parted ways and I decided to check the town out a bit, before getting the bike and catching dinner and few beers with him.

While we were telling stories, he told me of a time when he was riding in New York and came to a bridge where he stopped and said to the person he was riding with that he hoped he could live in a place like that some day. 20 years later while riding with his wife about 5 miles down the road from their new house, he came to that place. He said its odd that you spend your days searching and dreaming for home when you realize that you are already there. It reminded me of a song by the Talking Heads called "This is the Place". Part of the lyrics are as follows: "home is where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there". This was almost what he said, word for word. Every time I hear the song I think of my friends from school and how I know I will always keep in touch with them. I get the feeling I will keep in touch and be friends with Ed long after my trip is over.

Astoria is a quiet little coastal town at the mouth of the Columbia river. I have never seen a river as wide as the Columbia. The downtown is composed of a few main streets that run parallel to the river. Between the river and the street there is a bike lane and a pier that runs the entire length of town. As you look east and inland, you see colorful houses covering the hillside and the famous Astoria Tower at the top of the hill. The view from the tower is suppose to be spectacular but I have no interest in hiking or cycling up to see it. A good friend and old roommate described it as a failed San Francisco, I would say this is pretty accurate.

Currently I am making my way down the pier along the river, before I go try to find somewhere to eat. I'm craving something sweet, so I hope to find a place to get some candy nearby. As I was walking earlier I past a couple of older guys watching the boats go past. I was wearing a chicago cycling cap and one of the guys asked "are you from Chicago?" I replied yes and he said he has always wanted to visit. The guy next to him chimed in, "is it fun?" To which the first guy said "its a party town". The next question that the second guy asked caught me totally off guard and I wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. He said "are there black people there?" Like I said, I wasn't sure if he was serious or not but after seeing his face and watching him as he patiently awaited a response, I knew he wasn't kidding. I said there were and he looked at me puzzled and responded "huh". Overall, Astoria is a wonderful town that I have enjoyed greatly. At the end of the day, I found myself drinking a PBR at a bar on the pier. Each sip brought back another memory of late nights at school or of my friends that I didn't realize I would miss so much.

I am excited for the ride tomorrow and am excited for the first days on the Transamerican-route!

-Marcus