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-Keith Pelczarski
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Day 4: Lewis & Clark State Park to Portland
Slept fitfully last night. Actually, sleep has been fitful every night since I left Seattle. I don't know if it's from being in new places or from exercising until late or general anxiety or maybe just discomfort from sleeping on the ground (though that doesn't account for the Microtel). Despite turning in a little earlier last night, I didn't really get to sleep until almost 5 a.m. Some people riding horses past my campsite woke me up At 9 a.m., but I went back to sleep until 11 a.m. Here's the scene at my campsite when I awoke:
You'll never guess what time I hit the road: 2:15 p.m. Funny thing is, I was trying really hard to get out quickly. I need to shed some gear to speed up the packing process.Once I finally did hit the road, I hit it with a purpose -- Portland -- almost 90 miles away. But first I had to take a picture of Mt. St. Helens:
After 22 miles I stopped in Castle Rock for a pizza, then got back on the road at 5 p.m. The day was getting away from me, but I remained undeterred.
There were a number of surprises along the way: the deep sewer grate I hit at 30 mph that literally rang my bell, the mega-sprinkler trained on the road that I tried to wait out before realizing that it never left the roadway, the teenage girls who freaked me out by screaming out of their car windows about how cool my bike was when they were right next to me, the staggering amount of bark and sticks littered on the shoulder of the Lewis & Clark bridge, and a railroad crossing in Portland that rattled my foot out of the clip.
Even though I averaged 14 mph today while pedalling, it still took me until 11 p.m. to get to the hotel I reserved from the road (fwiw, hotels.com had much lower rates than the hotels themselves). I'm staying for tonight at the Hotel Vintage Plaza, a Kimpton joint. It's nice, in a boutique-y kind of way. I tried to stay at a McMenamin's hotel, but they were all booked up. I did manage to get a Dungeon Burger at Ringlers, though.
Tomorrow I plan to sleep late, then hit up REI and the bike shops to retool for the trip to the Oregon coast. At some point this weekend I'm also going to cull gear out of my bags with extreme prejudice. Hopefully I'll get to where I can pack up without having to carefully stuff things in, and maybe I can break the 2 p.m. barrier.
At least I'm making up for it on the back end. 88 miles today!
:: Keith 01:53 [link] :: ::