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(Day 09) Weeeee... down to Eugene

I was glad Brad had suggested we put up the tent because those clouds didn't stay happy. Our entire day was going to be down hill into Eugene, all we really had to do was keep moving.

We hit 20 miles before 10:00, it was the most exhilarating riding we've done. Dropping in from the top of the Cascades was unbelievable. Rain forest flashing by as we pass down through the clouds. Mother semi passing with her little babies following, all of them throwing water into the shit-eating grin on my face. I couldn't help but throw in a Slim Pickins "Yahoo" as they'd pass.

Now before any of Brad's family writes regarding safety (my family's given up on worrying about me) we've made a dangerous endeavor like this about as safe as can be. We don't want to wake up in the hospital staring at a broken leg in traction. Though I scoffed at Brad's dad's neon orange flag initially, after we sawed off the bracket and fitted it to the Bob trailer in place of the stock one, it's a damn nice thing to have. If the weather is inclement we ride with blinking LED lights on and we ride the mirror all the time (so you know what's coming up behind you).

We rode along a creek for most of the afternoon, after stopping in Oakridge for lunch, and past Lookout Point (?) Reservoir. We checked email on the way to I5 and found an email saying we could stay with Andrea in Eugene.

Andrea had been living in Reno and worked at Pneumatic with Chris and Erin, she had even contemplated riding to Eugene with us. We were giving each other high-fives because a house is n times better than a KOA campground. We called her number but got the answering machine for the people she was staying with.

At the first exit into town we found a phone book and looked up the address of the house. We then began consulting the map, in the front for directions, planning to camp in the front yard if she wasn't there. Right as we finished my cell phone rang, it was Andrea. We didn't really need directions so the conversation was a short.

We stopped at the Albertson's on the way to the house to pickup some wine and a watermelon (our fathers taught us not to show up empty handed). This was the Oregon I was promised; 12 feet of covered bike racks, a beer and wine section that stretched as far as the eye could see, $4 6-packs of Weinhards and hundreds of cute girls. Yes this was the Oregon I was promised

The house Andrea was staying at was pretty two-story number in an older part of town. We got a shower and she made us burritos and watermelon. We drank wine and the Black Butte Porter six, purchased in honor of Joe Lane, and listened to Bob Dylan.

andrew

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