Mon. June 7, 2004
Left Stillwater, OK, where I have lived for the past 25 years, at 8:30 am after getting some money from the ATM and having G & M take photos of the paint damage to the misaligned and ill-painted front bumper on my Matrix. (It was hit when two cars in front of me collided, and one spun into the front of the Matrix.) They said that neither the painter nor the body guy worked for them anymore and that they were seeing a lot of similar return problems. They agreed to fix the paint job and bumper alignment in August when I return.
Slipped along just behind a storm that made for gorgeous clouds, at one point, a perfect sea otter cloud—even had a shell on its chest. Too bad my camera wasn’t handy. Only a few drops fell on my newly clean car with its Rain-Off-ed windows. Listened to the newscasters debate former President Ronald Reagan’s place in history and ate Jelly Bellies in his honor. Reagan died June 6. He was 93. Got temporarily lost when I took the Cherokee Tpk. rather than I-44, but corrected by zipping up Hwy 69 and picking up I-44 north of the turnpike
On the road today: A lot of semi trucks. The Interstates are really nothing more than truck routes. Find I haven’t really detached from work when I contemplate taking pix of the DOT triangles and truck and railcar shapes for the Haz Mat curriculum. Also some wonderful retro cars all traveling together on something called Power Tour 2004. When I can get on the Internet, I will check it out. [Got the skinny: This was the annual Hot Rod magazine Power Tour presented by General Motors and co-sponsored by Flowmaster. It includes everything from classic hotrods to late-model performance vehicles. Participants started in Arlington, TX, June 5 and concluded in Greenbay, WI, June 11.]
Stopped in Terra Haute, Indiana after driving 655 miles. Stayed at a Drury Inn and ate dinner at a Pizza Hut. Sorted out my suitcase and got rid of about 20 pounds. I packed far too much. Am pared down now to three riding and 2 non-riding outfits, plus rain gear, shampoo, etc.
Tue. June 8
Well, here I am in Bedford, PA 623 miles later having got myself onto the PA Tpk. rather than I-80 out of Ohio. (Duh, duh duh!) Will correct tomorrow when I catch 81 N out of Carlisle. I’m in a grubby little independent motel that looked fine from the outside but lacks most amenities from the inside. Run by a pleasant East Indian guy and costs $39.99 per with my AARP discount. Told the guy I was eligible for the AARP discount and he replied, “Yes. I can see that.” Hmmph. Almost told him he was “up the wrong tree barking!”
On the road today: A sign with a large grizzly on it that read: Northwood Institute of Taxidermy; Call 718-WOODCHUCK, or something similar. Road lined with foxtail grass blowing with the passing traffic. Beautiful huge two and three story wooden Pennsylvania barns—probably the last of their kind to be built. Rolled, plastic wrapped hay bales can be left in the fields, and a lot of barns are prefab and made of flimsy tin these days. Passed by a sign for Kent University and thought of the 60’s and Vietnamese era protests, the one at KU ending in the campus police shooting students. . . and the famous photo of the girl kneeling beside a slain student, anguish and shock on her face.
The western end of the PA Tpk should be closed. It is HORRIBLE! Speed limit is 55 mph out of absolute necessity. The road is very hilly and twisty, the only thing separating the two lanes each of east/west traffic is a guardrail or concrete barricades. It is the oldest turnpike in the nation and was not built for 80 mph traffic. The narrow lanes have been made shoulderless and even narrower (not even a white or yellow line) with construction. Often I was pinched between the guardrail and a wall of trucks for miles of harrowing driving—the trucks required to alternate between right and left lanes, so passing them on the right became standard.
Stopped and got a bowl of Wendy’s 99-cent chili for lunch and also picked up a Mandarin Ckn. salad. Put the salad in my Wild Oats insulated bag. When I got to the motel and got settled, I sat down to eat it—they had neglected to include any utensils! Tried cutting out a fork from my plastic glass with no success (plastic too soft), same for shaping a utensil from the plastic lid to the salad bowl. Ended up eating the whole salad, dressing and all, with my fingers while watching the end of Working Woman on the TV.
Wed. June 9
Caught 81 out of Carlisle and rode the roller coaster north to Binghamton where I caught 88 E. From there on I was in familiar, very beautiful, hilly, forested and farmed country. Well, not really so familiar. I was on a turnpike where none existed in my day, and the towns were more sophisticated and built up than I remembered. Got off 88 in Oneonta (where I’d finished my undergraduate studies) intending to look up Donald Petersen, David Caddis, and Richard Frost, three very good professors who helped me through several crises, not the least of which were the deaths of my parents in my junior year. But, the town looked so large and strange and I felt so lost and strangely out of place that I chickened out at the last moment. Guess the truth is that I didn’t want to dredge up those crises again this many years later. I did look these men up on the computer when I got to Erika’s however, and found only Don, who still lives at 12 Grand Street -- unless that’s his son. May try to connect in Aug. when I return. Frost is still there but has an unlisted number. His wife (a student friend of mine) is now working with one of Jeff’s former students who teaches at Hartwick (small world). Don’t know where Caddis has got to. All three men would be in their 70s or 80s now.
Got to Erika’s at 3:15, and since she had told me she would be at her grandchild Adam’s school until 3:30, I let myself into her lush yard and sat on a stone patio in one corner near a blueberry garden (envy!) organizing my notes and receipts. It was 88F and humid. After about 45 minutes or so Eric pulled in and I discovered that Erika had been home all the time I was wandering her yard and sitting outside! I had knocked on the door and even peered through the patio doors, but she was cooking up a storm in the kitchen and didn’t hear me. Neither did her dog, Casey. Erika’s son, Peter, and his family came to visit and meet “mom’s oldest friend.” So did her daughter Gillian. Below is Peter’s & Marge’s darling wee dog:
Forgot to set my watch on eastern time so needlessly lay abed this a.m. waiting for Eric to finish in the bathroom. After breakfast and some computer work, Erika and I went over to visit her mother, Elsa, who lives right next door — literally down the garden path. Elsa, 87, is emotionally unpredictable and has numerous complaints but was in a fairly even mood and quite genial. She has some marvelous collections—African eggs, Russian boxes, and many oriental/Persian rugs, the one in her l.r. interesting and beautiful. She also has a studio upstairs where she paints. Her oil paintings are quite remarkable for a person her age. She says that after her stroke, her sense of color failed and she doesn’t paint much anymore.
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Jr High School where
Erika and I met |
While she paints little anymore, she does “repair” paintings that both she and Erika buy at estate sales. She calls it repairing, but she actually overpaints aspects of a painting that she doesn’t like: “See that winter scene? There needed to be a sun there. Not a bright one but one behind the clouds like in winter. . .” She gave me a carved jade dish that she’d brought over with her from Austria. It depicts monkeys and birds and has two shallow bowls in it.
After we visited with Elsa, Erika took me on a tour of Schenectady. We visited all remembered places: our junior and senior high schools, Central Park where we used to ice skate, Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory Research Labs where father used to work, downtown Schenectady, Proctor’s Theater where the two of us once worked as usherettes in formal gowns for professional plays and shows, Union College where mother worked in the admissions office and the scene of my first fraternity party, my family homes on Brandywine Avenue and Wright Avenue, and the stockade area on the Mohawk River with its 1700s houses. (See below.)
Many of the houses in the stockade area of Schenectady, a very old Dutch settlement, resemble the houses in Amsterdam, Holland, in many respects. The stockade is also the site of the Old Dutch Reformed Church. The church was under heavy renovation so I have no photos of it.
My high school friend and first college roommate, Susie Harlow, and her twin Sally, lived in the Governor Yates house, built in 1760. Erika told me that Susie bought one of the houses (pic below the Lafayette placard) and now lives there. Erika was not sure exactly which house Susie bought or we would have stopped to say hello—and to see the inside of these wonderful houses.
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| Governor Yates House |
Eventually we worked our way out of Schenectady and drove Route 7 out to Esperance and my family's former camp on the Schoharie River. (We called it the "crik" and unless in spring flood as in the pix below, it was dotted with enough stones that one could cross its broad expanse with dry feet.) The dirt road down to the campsites had been blacktopped and there were now homes/camps on either side of the road, whereas the camps used to sit on the bank overlooking the river with their backs to the road. Shafer’s camp looked virtually the same, as did Meeker’s and the Thomasha camp next to the Chryslers’s camp. The rest had drastically changed. Many of the “camps” were now large, two-story affairs. I took some pix and talked to old Thomasha (85 with perhaps four teeth and clothes held together with safety pins). He’d been there since 1948 but we couldn’t mutually recall many names of other campers.
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Above, pix of our much loved Schoharie "Crik" and a photo above of a covered bridge
I passed in Vermont on my way to New Hampshire |
We then drove back into the small town of Esperance and to the one-room schoolhouse where I spent 3rd & 4th grades . . . and my oldest brother, Phil, sat in the back of the room as the
only 6th grader. The schoolhouse is now a little museum.
We got back to Schenectady just in time for Erika to hustle a meal of leftovers onto the table for Eric who had a karate class to attend. Then I was off for Peter & Sonja’s in Vermont—and hour later than I had planned on leaving. I didn’t get to P & S’s until 10 p.m. Should not have gone at all. What on earth was I thinking? We got in a very brief visit before they went to bed. Sonja had a 7 a.m. flight to Florida the next a.m. Peter was driving her to the airport. I did a wash, sorted my stuff, & took off for NH on 89 south at 10 a.m.
Fri. June 11 Jericho, VT to Plaistow, NH
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Josh checking out his Park Tool
kit purchased through ABB |
I did not see P & S in the morning at all. But I hung around, had a leisurely breakfast, did a load of wash, organized my duffel, etc. Left at about 10 o’clock.
Got to ABB in Plaistow, NH at about 1:30. Hung around for several hours until the rest of the crew arrived. Met Bill Lannon and Karen Bagshaw, the office managers, and also met Doug Torosian, the owner of the America by Bicycle touring company. He is probably in his early 40s, a tall, intense man with deep-set eyes and the gift of gab.
I unloaded my car and bike, filled out some staff papers, got a long introductory overview from Doug, and received a check for $200 for my travel expenses — which I immediately mailed to Jeff along with a list of the motels on our route. Kay Covington (Cov) and Josh Stratton (mechanic from MI) arrived about 4 o’clock, having flown to the Boston Airport. Cov’s bags and bike had not arrived with her. She, and we, were worried, but the luggage and bike showed up later that evening at the motel (a Comfort Suites). The fourth member of our westward ho journey, Mark Tyson (mechanic from CO), arrived at 1 a.m.
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Josh and Cov behind the
truck and van wheels |
When Cov and Josh arrived, Doug, gave us a very lengthy orientation session, clearly outlining his expectations and our duties. We each received a packet of materials and $60 in cash for such things as tolls etc. along the way, and Mark, the most experienced among us, was given credit cards and more cash for gas and food and motels on the way out. We finally got to the hotel and to dinner around 8:30. A long day.
The next morning we returned to ABB. After Doug had conducted an orientation session with Mark, we loaded the truck—a very large Budget box truck—and the white van (White), a sixteen passenger with 5or 6 bike racks on top—and then got off at about 11 o’clock. Cov and I started in White, Mark & Josh in Box, alternating driving/navigating.
We got to Brookville, PA and spent the night in a Holiday Inn Express. Ate lunch at a Subway and ate dinner at a rustic place across the street from the motel.
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Commuter traffic somewhere in Connecticut
shortly after we left for Astoria |
Sat., June 12—Brookville, PA to Davenport, IA
Drove from Brookville, PA to Davenport, Iowa, mostly on Rte 80. I drove the first 200 miles. Then we switched off and Josh and I drove Box while the other two were in White. We communicate with each other by radio, but when Josh & I got caught in a traffic jam that took more than an hour and a half to get out of, White got out of range, so we could not tell them that we needed to stop for gas and a break. It was a very long day until we finally hooked up again and drove the last forty miles in contact
Don't know what happened to Sunday, June 13th . . .it is not in my journal. I thought it was probably just a date mix up but checked a 2004 calendar and Sunday was the 13th. Mystery.
Mon. June 14 - Davenport, IA to Cheyenne, WY
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| Cov high in the cab of Box |
Drove from Davenport, Iowa to Cheyenne Wyoming, almost 800 miles. I drove 400 of them, the first 200 in the van and then 200 driving the big budget box truck. The cab is huge and as tall as the cabs on the semi’s so we are eye to eye when passing. Not difficult to drive at all but it is loud, vibrates, bounces a lot, and is tiring to drive/ride in. Also it has a governor so will not go over 70 on these straight out roads with high speeds. While I’m trashing it, I might add that it also lacks cup holders, adjustable seat backs, and armrests. Mike’s wife, Barbara will drive it. It will be the gear truck, carting the folding cots and riders’ gear, etc. and will also be equipped to handle some SAG stops.
We overspent our per diems on snacks and dinner yesterday so ate in a Wendy’s this evening. I had a great Mandarin chicken salad.
Today the sky got enormous and the clouds beautiful. Several storms hung on the horizon and we motored through drenching rain and dark a couple of times only to emerge into bright sunshine. One cloud toward the middle of the day looked exactly like a flying goose with its neck outstretched. Came through Yahoo, Belle Plain and Good Cheer today. Odd town names. Have seen many dead deer along the highways we’ve traveled. It’s a shame.
Tue., June 15 — Cheyenne, WY to Boise Idaho, 700 miles
Left Cheyenne at about 8 a.m. with Cov and Josh driving. Just as we were about to get on I-80 west, we saw a large number of pronghorns. Then saw them with regularity for the first third of our trip. One doe had twin youngsters with her. Also saw prairie dog colonies and wonderful rock formations. Today our route was only I-80 and I-84. It was a sunny beautiful day.
Crossed the Continental Divide twice today, once just west of Rawlins and once . . . can’t remember where
Cov & I whiled away the miles by jointly working a crossword puzzle. I was driving and Cov would read the clues and then we’d both try to puzzle out the answers. It was difficult not being able to see the puzzle, but we got it all but one lower corner.
We wanted to stop in Mountain Home but the two motels there were booked so we continued on to Boise for a total of 700 miles. We are in a Super 8, and I have just gone down and fetched my wash and folded it.
Grabbed a Subway sandwich for dinner while we were gassing up and ate our snack food along the way.
Wed. June 16—Boise, ID to Astoria, OR
About 500+ miles today. I drove the truck the first leg and then rode the second leg in the van. We did not have double driving shifts today. Loooooong curving uphills and downhills today, one of the downhills with two runaway truck ramps and enough caution signs before it to intimidate even the toughest. It was a 6-mile, 6% pretty straight downhill.
State law says that gas must be pumped by attendants in all Oregon gas stations, so we went north a bit and into Washington to get gas at what we thought would be a cheaper price. Was not to be. We simply pumped our own for the same $2.09. Don’t know what the diesel was as I did not fill the truck.
Anyhow, because of the deviation from Hwy 84, we came into Astoria on Hwy 30, the same route riders will be cycling our first day of the ride. Looked like some long pulls to this flatlander. When we got to the Red Lion, they told us that they had moved the staff to the Shiloh across the drawbridge that Jess and I had walked our bikes across one windy, exhausting day four years ago.
When we got to the Shiloh, Cov, who was driving the truck, misjudged her turning radius in the parking lot and hit a Honda Camry with the big box truck. Ripped the poor guy’s bumper off and trashed his right light and quarter panel. He was very young and in Astoria only for a summer job. I saw to his needs (genuinely wanted to help him and didn't want him suing ABB) while the others saw to the ABB end of things. I think this may have alienated me from the others.
We got the accident straightened out and got into our rooms, and the next thing I knew Cov was taking off for a bike ride. Good, I thought, she can work out the stress of the long driving hours and the collision. However, when I knocked on the guys’door to ask about dinner, they, too were gone. All three left me high and dry! They all took off on their bikes, I guess, as I do not find their bikes in the van. What jerks! I am pissed, not only at not being asked to ride with them but also because Mark has the credit card and cash and it is now 7 p.m. (8 p.m. by my stomach’s watch) and here I am without food. Granted they’re younger and faster but they could have at least thought about how I was going to eat. Oh well. I’m over it. This is going to be an interesting coupla months to say the least!
Today when we stopped at a rest stop to change drivers, I took this picture of some nesting barn swallow babes.
Drove along the Powder River and then the Columbia River today. Such huge and beautiful rivers. There was a paddlewheeler on the Powder and many Canada geese and grebes. Also saw my first magpie.
I’m tired. Will get off this so I can use a phone card I bought yesterday and call the family.
[My how times do change. When bicycle touring in the late '90s and early 2000s, I sent messages home via a Pocketmail machine about the size of today's larger cell phones. Then, in the mid 2000's, public phone booths began to disappear as cell phones appeared. Could no longer hold my Pocketmail phone up to the pay phone and send my messages, so bought phone cards.Today it's instant messages and all the social media cell phones afford.]
Thur., June 17—Astoria, OR
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Josh, Cov, Mark, & me at the
Peter Iredale—the shadows of the ship
hull adding an extra 20 pounds
to my figure.
|
A free day while we await the rest of the staff. The four of us cycled to Fort Stevens State Park (about 25 miles, rt), went down to the beach and the shipwrecked hulk of the Peter Iredale, looked in the military museum, and rode to the end of the jetty, and then went up in the viewing platform and watched the brown pelicans and a lone surfer. A dolphin swam by while we were there. I had done all this a couple of years ago when daughter Jess and I cycled the West Coast. The mouth of the Columbia River is a beautiful place, as is Fort Stevens SP.
Mark had arranged for a tour of the Wauna Georgia-Pacific Paper Mill for 2 p.m., so we got back and drove to it (it’s about 30 miles away on Rte. 30). Just the three of us (Josh begged off) with the mill tour leader “Joey” a young college student interning there. Huge place, and very “aromatic” because of all of the chemicals used. So, we watched them make toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, etc. Absolutely mammoth machinery that spins sawdust or woodchips into enormous rolls of paper. Each of the four paper machines can produce an average daily equivalent of a 17-foot wide ribbon of paper 4,900 miles long. That’s a lot of t.p.! We had to wear hearing and eye protection in the buildings and walk on yellow-striped walkways. The machines that cut and wrap the product in the finishing section of the plant look like a kid’s dream marble chute or something—napkins whizzing by on a conveyor belt to be shrink wrapped, placed in cartons, shuttled on the conveyor to cartons, which are then funneled through a shutting/ sealing machine, etc. Up and around they go.
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Cov, Mark, & Josh at the
Clatsop longhouse behind the Ft.
Stevens military museum.
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Shortly after we got back, Barb & Mike and Karen arrived.
Because Dreamworks studios is shooting Ring II here, motel space is scarce. In fact, we and several others got bumped from our reserved rooms. So, we packed all of us (7 people) into a small suite—one on a folding cot—and nearly suffocated because it is unseasonably hot here (in the 90’s), and they had no air-conditioning or screens on the windows. The bathroom was full of mosquitoes this a.m.
We ate dinner last night in a great Scandinavian restaurant—(The Silver Salmon Grille?), Astoria being in the midst of Scandinavian days, also. Then we decided to drive up to the Astoria Column for some good views and photos. But we couldn’t get there. The road was closed for paving and they would not allow pedestrian or vehicle traffic. The road up to the tower is reminiscent of steep San Francisco hills. Looks like an impossible feat. But I am with the fast guys now who talk about climbing BIG-Kahuna hills at 18 mph! Definitely intimidating. Makes me feel like a Pfred for sure and I have to rein in my insecurities.
Friday, June 18—Astoria
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Grace Episcopal Church, the second oldest church
in Astoria, built in the late 1800s. There was no
way to get a shot of the church without the wires.
|
This morning I was up and out early, mostly to get first dibs on the bathroom and also to get out of the stifling room. I dressed in my bike clothes and went down to 16th Street to try the climb to the column and to take some pix. Chugged up the hills at 4.6 mph, resting at each cross street, but I made it. I so wanted to stand up and lean over the bars, but my hip will not allow it, so I sat and climbed like the hill slug I am. Of course I was in a sweat by the time I reached the top and the sign that said the area was still closed. Rats! On the way up I stopped at an intersection and took a photo of a wonderful looking church bathed in the morning sun (see below). Love the digital camera!
When I got back to the motel, the rest were up. We had a lengthy breakfast at the Red Lion, and then Mike gave us our assignments and orientation. Cov & I are in charge of the White van. For radio purposes we’ve named the vehicles White, Red, and Box. We will rotate SAG, Sweep, and Float (free) cycling. Mike also wants me to help him with his website. He’s going to show me his program (Front Page) tonight and help me get started. Tomorrow I will work registration and also run the “Store” while others are helping riders assemble their bikes, find their rooms, and so on. I will give riders their jerseys and hats, and have tee shirts and other “retro” tees and jerseys for sale as well as tubes, tire levers and patch kits, handlebar map holders, vests, etc.
We spent the morning cleaning coolers and organizing the equipment and stores in the vans and truck, making a shopping list, and waiting to hear where we will be rooming tonight. (We found out after lunch that we would be moving to the Dunes, just down the road.)
We ate lunch at a KFC. I had not seen the inside of one in perhaps 20 years. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and coleslaw. Not too bad.
Right now the others are off on a short ride to Seaside. I wanted to go but remembered Jessica's and my cycle to Seaside just two years ago, so stayed behind to work on my site. Trouble is, because of the movie people, we’re in our third motel in three days and this one (The Dunes) is, shall we say, retro, so I cannot get on the Internet. But, I’ve gone from the sardine can to a small room of my own. I will be rooming solo until Boise when I will pick up a rider roommate named Carrie-Ann Keys. I’m not complaining.
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| Astoria Bridge from our hotel and from a little riverfront pier |
Tomorrow begins the real work as the riders start to come in. We had dinner at The Ship Inn, a short walk from our motel, and then retired to our rooms to get ready for tomorrow.
Sat., June 19, Astoria, OR
Breakfast at Red Lion. Set up the orientation room for registration, the store, and bike assembly
I had a few free hours before registration, so took the computer to a computer store. They gave me a very useful piece of info—though I wish they had given me the same info over the phone, saving me a long walk with a heavy computer. Anyhow, they told me that the dial-up was probably dialing so fast that the outside line was not open when the number was dialed. Told me to put a comma or two between the 9 and the number, each comma being worth one second. I went back to the room and did this. Voila! All worked well.
Checked with Bikes & Beyond re Flight Deck directions. One of the mechanics said he would download the directions off the computer and I could pick them up the next day—Sunday. My Flightdeck is not starting so will not record distances. All else seems fine. Tried Cov’s Flightdeck on my setup and it too would not start to record. Anyhow, since tomorrow is Sunday and since I will be working registration and then attending rider orientation all day, I told him not to bother and that I would download some directions for myself.
While in town, I bought a hat so that I do not get caught in the blazing sun at rest stops—particularly the desert ones. It says Uff Da! on it—all part of an ongoing Scandinavian Festival in town. Seems to be a lot of Finns in Astoria, also.
We registered about 19 cyclists, the youngest being 21 and the oldest, Bill Gaither, 72. Bill, the former president of Drexel College in Philadelphia was decked out all in white sunproof clothing and riding a recumbent with a huge trunk of goodies, including a heavy floor pump. The oldest woman is 68—will be 69 next month— and is an ex-triathlete and Ironman contender. In fact, she has competed in nine Ironman competitions. . . 10 years ago. There is a singer/piano player signed up, also. We can’t wait to see her. In her correspondence with ABB she revealed that she rides in short-shorts, panty hose, and sneakers. She’s 67 with a much younger husband, who will be driving a van along the route to support her.
Pizza on the fly for dinner; Did a load of wash with Karen; Bed about 10.
Sunday, June 20, Astoria, OR
Breakfast at Red Lion Astoria bridge and then the group picture behind the Best Western.
Registered the remaining cyclists today, assembled bikes, and input data on the computer. Got to see our singer/piano player, who entered the room—va, va,voom—with her husband videotaping her every move and interviewing her for the camera in a loud voice. Yes, she was wearing red and was dressed in short shorts, panty hose, and athletic shoes. She looked (from a distance) like she was in her 30s because she has a stunning faux figure. In fact, she looks a little like an aging porn star, but she is sincere and pleasant to talk to . . . not so her husband/publicist, who talks in a loud “look at us” voice. [Later in the ride, after we got to know these two, they were both quite down-to-earth and interesting. Originally a country girl from a small mid-west state, Patricia was riding to raise money for a Santa Barbara music group. And, I must give her credit where credit is due: Many riders thought her husband sagged her often, but I know better. she gamely pedaled the distance . . . on her sheepskin saddle cover and in short-shorts and panty hose. Susan 2016]
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| Riders and staff in their ABB jerseys and polos pose nearly under the Astoria bridge; unfortunately, this photo was compressed and I cannot enlarge it without making it blurrier |
This evening I worked some more on the computer, inputting rider bios and photos and linking stuff. Did not get to bed until 1 a.m.
Day 1—Mon. June 21, Astoria, OR to St. Helens, OR
I drove White and set up SAG today, my first day on the road. I drove the first leg with Karen as her apprentice.
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| Columbia River from an overlook along the route |
Easy, beautiful day for the riders and for me. We followed the Columbia River for part of the route. (See photo right of the river from an overlook.)
After the ride, Mike came to my room and the two of us worked hard at getting his Web page up. I am learning lots of good things, but since I had never seen Mike's site before and since I have never input information on a web page, I got jammed up several times, particularly in learning (and then remembering) how to identify and store the photos each day. (Mike took hundreds!)
Didn’t get to bed until 10:30. Speaking of which (getting to bed that is), since I am helping Mike with the website, I do not have time for my own account of the trip, so will end it here and let our the website tell the story, though I will supplement it with some of my own observations and photos for this blog, and will add my own afterword, also.
Time to meet the staff and riders and let the good times roll . . .
