One of us really should have a digital watch. We'd both woken up several times before I got up to check the time. It was only 06:30, it's impossible to tell time when it's this cloudy.
After screwing around for way too long at the KOA and Brad relating his dream where he met Dionne Warwick we finally got going and ate at a Mexican restaurant. Brad, unintentionally doing a Woody Allen impression, said "I just... just haven't had a good experience at this... restaurant... what ever it's called. " It was funny, funnier was seeing him that happy about the comparison, he vowed to hunch over and whine more.
We rode out to the BikeE factory/offices, I asked them if they had tours for BikeE pilgrims. The reply was only if my first name was Andrew and last name was Morton. Apparently Martin Kreig, my friend in Santa Cruz with the National Bike Greenways (http://www.bikeroute.com), had called and warned them we were coming. We met half the office (Doug, Gary, Nicole and a bunch of people who's names I've forgotten) then got the full tour from Chad (one of their excellent customer service guys) and they hooked up the free stuff.
We got with some schwag, polo shirts and hats. I'll probably keep the hat with me and mail the shirt home, I could probably use it to get into InterBike for free... Then they re-welded my seat, hooked Brad up with a kickstand (excellent, no holding his bike every time he has to pee), a kit to rebuild my shock, and a new front tire. My seat is a work of art, the strengthened up the struts that I'd cracked the weld on and switched out the saddle, it rides like new. I even got to use Chad's computer to upload some pictures to the web site (http://www.drewish.com/ride/).
When we finally got going it was finally raining. This is the Oregon I'd hoped to avoid, I was wet in places that don't get wet in the shower. My rain gear (hereinafter "rain soaking gear") didn't work so well, as long as we were going up hill it was okay, I froze my ass of the rest of the time. I spent time trying to decide which was worse mosquitoes or rain, Brad seemed to be doing better I heard him mumble something about Erin, cheesecake and Miles Davis being at the top of the next hill.
Eventually we started looking for dry places to stop. What we found was an old gas station, we parked under the cover and went to find out if we could camp there. The owners, who lived next door, said it'd be fine, they even let us use the wood stove in the store to dry out some clothes. They're definitely on the postcard list.
andrew
Tomorrow: ride out Hwy 22 to the coast.
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