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Aug. 7th, 2009 06:24 pmOh god. My head hurts. Right behind my eyes. It's been doing this since yesterday afternoon, off and on. I have a theory that it's the changing weather, but hard to know for sure.
Tuesday night's Pedal Potluck Picnic was fun, with yummy food. I got to play my friend Halley's harp a little. She goes everywhere by bicycle, and carries her harp in a trailer. She's decorated the trailer with "Halley the Harper" and her phone number. Awesome!
Going to the Kitten Shack after felt weird. It probably will for a while. I mean, I've been to parties etc. there, but never just hung out or anything. Shawn's new room is kinda weird, in that (among other things) it has two doors and two light switches. Dunno if it was an unfinished remodel, or if it was originally two rooms. In the process of trying to lock my bike in the backyard, I accidentally blocked his window open (he's in the basement, which is finished). And I was trying to be quiet, because Lily lives in a dome in the backyard, and her light was on.
We ate breakfast Wednesday at Muddy's. They have okay vegan options and a nice patio. A tiny brave bird came close to me, checking me out, and was rewarded with a tiny bit of tempeh. Smart bird. The bus ride from downtown to Tillamook was uneventful.
The bike ride from Tillamook to Nehalem Bay State Park was fairly easy (except for a nasty hill going through Nehalem I had to walk) and almost 30 miles. Mostly flat-ish, some rolling hills. The traffic, though, dear god. August is when there's the most motor vehicle traffic on Highway 101, and parts of that stretch going north (not the usual direction for cyclists) had almost no shoulder. Most memorably, while biking through Girabaldi, a man driving a truck shook his head and wagged his finger at us, "tsk-tsk" style, even though we'd just passed a "Bicycles on Roadway" sign just forty feet ago. Dumbass. The road is for everyone. Deal with it.
We saw some other cycle tourists, which was a first for me. I've only ever seen roadies on our trips, but here and there were small groups of people, or individuals, with panniers and all. I waved enthusiastically whenever I could. There were some at the campsite too, including a couple of Germans.
We spent that day and the next, walking on the beach, biking in the park, hanging out at camp (I bought two books at a really sweet bookstore in Manzanita, and I read most of the David Sedaris one before we left) and visiting Manzanita. It's a cute town, but other than tourism there's pretty much nothing going on there. The shops are nice though, nothing too touristy or obnoxious. Also, to our major annoyance, despite the fact that people are on bikes all up and down the main street of town (most coming from the park or a rental house as opposed to people cycle touring) there are TWO bike racks. One is a crappy older one in front of the health food store, the other is near the city park and the bus stop, far enough off the main drag that we didn't see it until we were leaving. And since the street signs are on wood poles, so you can't lock to them either. Gah!
It was cloudy the whole time, which was fine, but it started misting and then just plain raining last night. Wet sand sucks. It got in everything and stuck to everything. My shoes got wet and then coated in sand, making them almost impossible to put on. Sand in my clothes, in the sleeping bags, ugh ugh ugh.
Being stuck in Shawn's tiny tent due to the rain would have been awful, except it was after dark anyway, so we read a little before turning in.
We took a bus from Manzanita this morning (just barely making it, at 7am) and then the bus from Tillamook to Portland. Get everything on the bus. Get everything off the bus. Get everything on another bus. Two huge panniers and a therma-rest are mine, Shawn's smaller four panniers. Two bikes. Oy. Our stuff (not including the bikes) takes up two whole seats and their floor space. We hadn't eaten or anything, and the bus driver from Tillamook to Portland decided to be an ass about it, scolding me for eating on the bus and then doing it again when he noticed me chewing. WTF yo. This bus ride is almost two hours long. I wasn't eating anything messy or smelly, it was a bagel with fake cream cheese. I started feeling queasy so I fell asleep on Shawn.
Anyway....haven't got much done today, don't really care. I'm tired and my head is killing me. Ibuprofen is not helping much.
It's Shawn's birthday, woo. :^) He's coming over later. Yay!
Tuesday night's Pedal Potluck Picnic was fun, with yummy food. I got to play my friend Halley's harp a little. She goes everywhere by bicycle, and carries her harp in a trailer. She's decorated the trailer with "Halley the Harper" and her phone number. Awesome!
Going to the Kitten Shack after felt weird. It probably will for a while. I mean, I've been to parties etc. there, but never just hung out or anything. Shawn's new room is kinda weird, in that (among other things) it has two doors and two light switches. Dunno if it was an unfinished remodel, or if it was originally two rooms. In the process of trying to lock my bike in the backyard, I accidentally blocked his window open (he's in the basement, which is finished). And I was trying to be quiet, because Lily lives in a dome in the backyard, and her light was on.
We ate breakfast Wednesday at Muddy's. They have okay vegan options and a nice patio. A tiny brave bird came close to me, checking me out, and was rewarded with a tiny bit of tempeh. Smart bird. The bus ride from downtown to Tillamook was uneventful.
The bike ride from Tillamook to Nehalem Bay State Park was fairly easy (except for a nasty hill going through Nehalem I had to walk) and almost 30 miles. Mostly flat-ish, some rolling hills. The traffic, though, dear god. August is when there's the most motor vehicle traffic on Highway 101, and parts of that stretch going north (not the usual direction for cyclists) had almost no shoulder. Most memorably, while biking through Girabaldi, a man driving a truck shook his head and wagged his finger at us, "tsk-tsk" style, even though we'd just passed a "Bicycles on Roadway" sign just forty feet ago. Dumbass. The road is for everyone. Deal with it.
We saw some other cycle tourists, which was a first for me. I've only ever seen roadies on our trips, but here and there were small groups of people, or individuals, with panniers and all. I waved enthusiastically whenever I could. There were some at the campsite too, including a couple of Germans.
We spent that day and the next, walking on the beach, biking in the park, hanging out at camp (I bought two books at a really sweet bookstore in Manzanita, and I read most of the David Sedaris one before we left) and visiting Manzanita. It's a cute town, but other than tourism there's pretty much nothing going on there. The shops are nice though, nothing too touristy or obnoxious. Also, to our major annoyance, despite the fact that people are on bikes all up and down the main street of town (most coming from the park or a rental house as opposed to people cycle touring) there are TWO bike racks. One is a crappy older one in front of the health food store, the other is near the city park and the bus stop, far enough off the main drag that we didn't see it until we were leaving. And since the street signs are on wood poles, so you can't lock to them either. Gah!
It was cloudy the whole time, which was fine, but it started misting and then just plain raining last night. Wet sand sucks. It got in everything and stuck to everything. My shoes got wet and then coated in sand, making them almost impossible to put on. Sand in my clothes, in the sleeping bags, ugh ugh ugh.
Being stuck in Shawn's tiny tent due to the rain would have been awful, except it was after dark anyway, so we read a little before turning in.
We took a bus from Manzanita this morning (just barely making it, at 7am) and then the bus from Tillamook to Portland. Get everything on the bus. Get everything off the bus. Get everything on another bus. Two huge panniers and a therma-rest are mine, Shawn's smaller four panniers. Two bikes. Oy. Our stuff (not including the bikes) takes up two whole seats and their floor space. We hadn't eaten or anything, and the bus driver from Tillamook to Portland decided to be an ass about it, scolding me for eating on the bus and then doing it again when he noticed me chewing. WTF yo. This bus ride is almost two hours long. I wasn't eating anything messy or smelly, it was a bagel with fake cream cheese. I started feeling queasy so I fell asleep on Shawn.
Anyway....haven't got much done today, don't really care. I'm tired and my head is killing me. Ibuprofen is not helping much.
It's Shawn's birthday, woo. :^) He's coming over later. Yay!
