Random notes from Mt. Vernon

6/24/09

Every time I have posted something, I realize the next day that I forgot to include something. I have tried to include most of those forgotten thought below.

I have ridden a total of 632 miles over 12 days and am just over half way through my first state (according to this map we've only gone about 2 inches). That is an average of 52 miles a day if you include rest days and 70 if you do not. High speed is 36.2 mph, average is 12.1mph, and total riding time is 52 hours. The lowest gas price I have seen is $2.31 and highest is $3.02. I was keeping track of roadkill but gave up three days ago after riding through what looked like the elephant graveyard from The Lion King. Its crazy what you keep track of when you have nothing to do but pedal. One of my favorites is keeping track of how far from one espresso stand to the next. Chicago may be the most caffeinated city, but Oregon is the most caffeinated state.

I have decided to abandoned the plan to race through the west to make it to the wedding on time and have instead decided to check out more of the sites along the ride. In addition to ditching that plan, I will begin riding off of the ACA route and cut straight through southern Idaho to Yellowstone NP rather than riding up to Missoula Montana. After speaking with other riders coming from there, all of them say that they are wasted miles with little to see.

Speaking of little to see, I have never seen so many small towns or such small towns. 1 in 4 towns has a motel or place to stay, even fewer have a grocery store, and if the place has sidewalks, chances are it is a bustling city to the locals. Since leaving Astoria, only 7 towns have had more residents than my high school had students! Why would you live in a town with no grocery store? Other questions and thoughts come to mind like, where do kids go to school? When am I going to meet Seabass from Dumb and Dummer? Who do the schools compete against? I bet I could score some great Meth around here and the new Windows XP is in stores now (where stores exist).

The other night I stayed in Mitchell. It was a big place with 190 residents. The main attraction was free camping in the town park and meeting the town pet Henry. Henry is a full grown Black Bear that lives in a cage in the middle of town and so it makes sense that the local school mascot would be the Tigers. Coming into town there are sign that say welcome to Tiger country. Henry's enclosure is roughly 20ft x 20ft, about half the size of a tennis court. He can't escape though, the cage is made of chain link fencing. On his cage there is a sign saying "stand back, Henry hits the fence". As I was taking a picture of Henry, he hit the fence with one paw. The whole thing bowed out and shook for a while after that. I remember thinking that one day Henry will unintentionally lean up against his cage and break it down, then proceed to eat the whole town. Another random sighting, about 30 miles from any town, I came across a tree with hundreds of pairs of shoes on it. I hope to post the picture soon.

People in these towns are either very kind and offer you everything they can or give you a strange look and try to avoid any contact with you. A woman yesterday came out of her house with a pitcher of ice water when we took a break in the shade of a tree by her house. Also, last night I stayed in the guest house of a family in Mt. Vernon. It is a very nice little place with a couple of rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Its like the Ritz compared to the campground in Mitchell. The woman who owns the house has a couple of kids in college and offers the guest house up to cyclists coming through that need a place to stay. She has a dog, a ton of chickens, ducks, goats and a couple of birds. She brought us fresh eggs for breakfast and even brought us into and back from John Day, the nearest "big" town. On the ride, she informed us that John Day has the only stop light for over 100 miles. I am typing this at the local library and will soon head into town to check out Thriftway, the big grocery store chain of Eastern Oregon.

Cell service isn't as bad as I thought it would be but there are still times when you get nothing. Sorry to anyone trying to track me on Google Latitude, I heard that I disappeared for a couple of days.

The change in climate and environments has been drastic. A few days ago I spent the night in a rain forest with trees a couple hundred ft. tall. Throughout the day I rode through a volcanic rock field followed by a highland desert. There are streams, small creeks, and waterfalls everywhere in OR! You can also see the snow capped Cascade mtns. in the distance which makes for some beautiful views. After speaking with other bikers and locals, I found out that we are in fact in Rattlesnake, cougar, and bear country. Pretty soon we will come to the John Day painted rock national monument and an old Chinese market museum. The market was boarded up for years after it shut down and has become something of a time capsule. I am excited to see this. The weather is changing as well. There were cloudy skies and rain in the morning, followed by clear skies in the afternoon for the first week of the trip. After making it through the first pass, things cleared up and the sun has been beating down on us, but don't worry, I am not as red as you might expect thanks to Banana Boats SPF 85 EXTREME sunSCREEN!!! The first choice of Albinos, Gingers, and Albino Gingers around the word (They need the extra protection since they don't have melanine or souls to protect them from the sun's harmful rays). My friend Gabe fried his arms, but I am still milk and honey colored thanks to the strongest sunscreen you can buy over the counter.

I am still hanging out with the two guys from Oregon that I met a couple of days ago. Both of them are 22 and on their way cross country. Gabe, the first guy I met, is quieter and seems to be enjoying the quiet time out on his own trying to catch up to Clay, who is in better shape. Gabe also seems to enjoy the small towns and easy going life style on a bike. Clay is an experienced tourist, used to work in a kitchen, and studied massage therapy. As a result, he can out ride us, out cook us, and can tell us how to stretch when we complain about soreness. I was surprised to see him buying a Sparks (an energy drink with malt liquor in it) and to hear him talk about Hyphy, a hip hop movement based out of Oakland. I get a kick out of hearing him talk about Hyphy rappers like Too Short, Mac Dre, and Mistah FAB and the ridiculous lines from songs he has memorized. I am enjoying hanging out with these guys and comparing how all of us have packed and prepared for the tours.

Overall I am sore everyday, but somehow can still ride as far as I want to everyday. My seat is not yet broken in and as a result my butt is killing me. My legs feel just fine while I ride but as soon as I stop they tighten up and I get really sore. During the first days my legs swelled up as if I had been lifting all day (Yeah I grunt when I get my swell on at the gym...thats cause everyone should see how JACKED and TAN I am!!!). Recently my legs have started to get smaller, but seem even stronger than before. I rode the bike for the first time without weight the other day. I raced a car from a stop sign and beat it to 30mph. I can't tell if I am losing weight or not. I seem to be getting skinnier, but I think I might be adding muscle to make up for it. My diet is still the same as it was to start, only I can eat as much as I want now. I am like a human garbage disposal, but I guess that's not really anything new. 2 days ago I ate 3 sandwiches off the McDonald's dollar menu, a thing of fries, 2 bananas, and an apple and was still hungry. Eating is the most expensive part of the trip.

I have spent a good amount of time trying to think of names for my bike. I have not come up with anything good and am open to suggestions, please write any in the comments for this blog. I have been reviewing famous horse names and characters from movies and books, but cant find anything I like or think it would seem creepy for my friends with the same names.

Well, I think this is about everything for the time being and I am almost out of time on the computer. I will be sure to write another random page soon to cover everything I have forgotten in this one. Thanks again for all of the support and encouragement!

Marcus