Day 15 of ALAA-Sat, May 28th, 2011. In the Portland, OR area

The Old Guy in Front of our Home in Gresham

Today has been a zero miles day unless you count the trip into Portland and to the other side of the Willamette River to Gresham, OR. I went to the Cascade campus, almost cried, stocked up on food at WinCo and Costco, bought a new tent at Wally World, visited some friends, and basically rested some for the first time in two weeks. It was a rare occurrence in Portland though . . . no rain! Tomorrow is back to the OR coast and North up into Washington state. Maybe I'll be in a more cheerful mood mañana. Oh, I'm sorry but here is a picture of me in front of our former, and now rental, home.

Day 14 of ALAA-Fri, May 27, 2011. Port Orford to Portland, OR

Heceta Head Lighthouse, OR

Here is the beautiful Heceta Head Lighthouse near Florence, OR. I read that it's one of the most photographed lighthouses in the U. S. Somehow I'm NOT surprised! This is a picture I took with my phone from a little pullout along the side of Hiway 1. It's easy to take beautiful pictures, even when you have no photographic skill, when you have scenery like this! We went on a Family Mission Trip about 8-9 years ago to Florence, OR and went out to visit this lighthouse. The former lighthouse keeper's house, not visible in this pic, is to the right of the lighthouse and is now a B&B.


This has been the first day of multiple posts. Why? I don't know-it's just that things pop into my (weak, tired and old!) mind at different times. Today has seen me ride, or swim, a little over 300 miles from the KOA between Port Ordford and Bandon to a suburb of Portland, OR.


I'm spending two nights with a former student and her husband. She is a wonderful young lady that I've been privileged to know since 1999. She was a freshman student and I was a new faculty member at a small Christian college in Portland. She was the glue that kept our SIFE Team on track for those first three successful years. She met her future husband a few years out of college and they make a perfect couple! Being around them makes me miss my Bride even more than usual. It was especially tough today because I rode North up the Oregon coast where we spent so many weekends and weeks and so many wonderful memories-seeing the New Carissa near Coos Bay, riding 4X4's at the dunes with our Son, the Family Mission Trip in Florence, hiking at Cape Perpetual and Cape Lookout, eating at the original Mo's in Newport, staying at B and B's in Walsport and Pacific City, shopping at the Outlet stores in Lincoln City, renting those small houses in Gleneden Beach, and our favorite-the Ester Lee cottages in Lincoln City. Yes, the beautiful Oregon coast brings back a lot of pleasant memories!


Tomorrow will take me across Portland to the home my Bride and I still own there. Ask me sometime in person why I'm going there. I'll tell you in person but not here!

Day 14b of ALAA-Fri, May 27th, 2011



Cape Perpetua, OR



Otter Rock, OR

Well, it's been another interesting day in Oregon for two reasons: First, I saw a big round bright ball up in the sky today! I sure don't know what it was and no one I talked to had ever seen it before. One elderly man said he'd lived his whole life on the Oregon coast (You could tell because he had web feet!) and he told me he thought he saw it once when he was a boy but he wasn't sure. The second thing I saw today in Oregon was this very rare occurrence called "Dry pavement." A retired engineer that I ran into explained to me that it is a condition where there is a complete and total lack of moisture on the surface where traffic goes. Well, I saw a little of that strange stuff called dry pavement when that big bright ball was up in the sky!

The last amazing thing is that you're buying all this horse hockey I'm throwing down! :-) There WAS about 30 minutes this morning and again this afternoon when it was sunny and dry!

Day 14a of ALAA. Friday, May 27th, 2011

It was a grand and glorious night's sleep in this Kamping Kabin! Yes, it was cold but the Kamping Kabit has a little electric heater that kept the cold away. The biggest difference, though is the birds! In tents, the birds start goin' crazy around 5:30-6:00 AM and you're awake. I got to sleep until about 7:30 then had a muffin and a cup of coffee with the manager of the KOA in their little store. A real fine dining experience!


I thought of another pleasant difference between the desert states of West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona compared to CA and OR: FEEDLOTS! If you don't know what feedlots are, they are relatively small lots where cattle are fattened up just prior to the slaughterhouse. Feedlots are prominent in the desert SW and across the Midwest. There are two significant things about feedlots: First is the smell! You can smell them for a long ways before reaching them and the smell is anything but lilac and Ginger! Second, you have to imagine the cows in there saying to each other: "Hey Bub, come over here! There's some good grub over here! They are FINALLY treating us the way we deserve to be treated!" Little do they know that next month they will be the main entree at Del Friscos Steakhouse or the best part of a Big Mac!

Well, I'd better haul my lazy booty over to the shower, load up, and head North toward Coos Bay, Lincoln City, and Tillamook before heading inland to Portland. Beautiful ride along the coast . . . but the ever present OreGONE rain!

Day 13 of ALAA-Thurs, May 26th, 2011. Garberville, CA to Port Orford, OR

Ron and Betty See Beautiful (WET!) Oregon for the First Time

The KOA Kamping Kabin near Port Orford, OR

It's been an interesting day seeing some of the most magnificent scenery in the U. S. The Northern CA coast is, in many ways, more beautiful than any of the CA coast except Big Sur-NOTHING, even Lake Tahoe, matches the rugged beauty of Big Sur! The only words to describe the natural beauty of Big Sur is "utterly magnificent!" The Northern CA coast also includes the Avenue of the Giants, Redwoods National Park, and the experience of feeling minute compared to these 2,000 year old giants. It's not perfect being on the road in such beauty because it has rained, drizzled, or otherwise been wet all day.

Today has included travels from Gardnerville, CA 250 miles to about 10 miles North of Port Orford, OR. Here is a picture of Ron and Betty in the rain as we entered OR and a KOA Kamping Kabin which is a new one for me. Setting up a tent and sleeping in it in this rain just didn't fit in with my thinking today. I stopped at a No-tell Motel in Port Orford and asked about a room (there were NO cars in front of any of the rooms!) I thought I could get a Roach Motel price of about $30. The lady told me the rate was $60. I politely asked if she was kidding and she said (Get this!) "Summer Rate." I said it's 45 degrees out there and raining cats and dogs-this is the summer rate? She repeated "Summer Rate" and that's why I'm in a KOA Kamping Kabin tonight!

Today also saw me get a new iPhone to replace my month-old iPhone. My riding friends, Ron and his wife Harley (and his girlfriend Betty!) stopped in Brookings to get some rest. The three of us are going as far North along the coast to Tillamook (for GUESS WHAT?) and then they are heading inland. I'm going into Portland hopefully tomorrow and they are going toward Seattle. Tomorrow? NO RAIN!!!

Day 12 of ALAA-Wed, May 25th, 2011. Bodega Bay to Garberville, CA

Did They Think I was Going to Walk up to a Wild Elk?

The coast of CA is beautiful! Today, however, it was hard to see! It rained most of today except for about two hours in the middle of the day. In spite of the Oregon-like rain today, having the Pacific over my left shoulder is MUCH better than when I had the dust and poverty of the Mexican border over my left shoulder! Today wasn't a day when a lot of miles were covered-180 was a good day because of the rain and the sheer number of hairpin turns along the route. Here is a pic of wild elk in Redwoods National Park. The pace of Bodega Bay to Garberville in Humboldt County will put me in Portland in 2-3 days but I'm hoping that the weather and roads improve between here and there.

Ron and his wife, a Harley-Davidson Electraglide Ultra Limited, are letting me share a suite with them tonight. Oh, his girlfriend Betty is also with us! :-) Tonight is laundry night! Wearing two pair of jeans for 4-5 days isn't much fun although my unmentionables from Victoria's Secret are refreshed every day! By the way, Ron washes his wife EVERY NIGHT in the parking lot before he goes in to see his girlfriend Betty. My poor Honda hasn't had a bath since I left Planet Houston so it's looking about as grungy as its owner. Tonight though is a hotel night so the clothes will be clean and dry, the gray stubble will be done from the wrinkle covered face, and a bed is a better place to sleep than a tent with a sleeping bag on a mattress pad!


Me Riding Through The Chandelier Drive Thru Tree in Leggett, CA

 Oh, another thing done today that most motorcyclists haven't done-today I rode through a tree! Here's the pic to prove it! The Leggett Drive Thru Tree below was 400 years old during the time of Christ! Yes, California IS an interesting place and that is one BIG TREE! Tomorrow night should be in the SW corner of Ora-GONE!



The Avenue of the Giants in Redwoods National Park



The Avenue of the Giants in Redwoods National Park

 If you've never been to a Redwoods forest, you should visit there to experience the sheer size and magnificence of these massive trees.



Day 11 of ALAA-Tues, May 24th, 2011. Half Moon Bay to Bodega Bay, CA

Cable Cars and Alcatraz-Gotta be San Francisco!

The Painted Ladies Across From Alamo Square with SF in the Background

This one is going to blow you away! I was looking for a campsite in Bodega Dunes campground in Sonoma Coast State Park and I ran into Amy and Aaron Redelsberger from Cascade! They are camping with their three adorable children and I asked if I could share their campsite before I recognized Amy. The world is an amazingly small place! I rode around the campground once before I stopped at their site. Before I recognized Amy, I proposed that I would give them $10 to pitch my tent far away from them, be very quiet, and not disturb them at all-I'm getting tired of paying $35 for a place to put my tent and take a shower! They have helped me by allowing me to sleep in their spare tent, eat a delicious chili dog, and share some great stories about Cascade and other Cascadians. They have been wonderful!


Other than the pleasant shock of that, today was mainly San Francisco-Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, cable cars, Chinatown-The usual tourist attractions. This was only about a 100 mile day but SF will do that to you! And, yes, it was cold like Will Rogers said "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." Ron and his wife, Harley, had not been to SF before so I tried to be a tour guide and show them the sights. Oh, Ron's girlfriend Betty was with us too! :-) The roads between SF and Bodega Bay are a motorcyclist's dream-smooth, hilly, and curvy but it's back on the PCH tomorrow toward Northern CA and Ora-GONE!