We had an extra early start in order to get out of the park before we were rousted out as vagabonds. I set an alarm for the first time on this trip. I slept fairly well and was glad to be dry overnight but the late bed time and the early start make this not my favorite accommodation of the trip.
We planned to Put in another long day again today to get to us all the way to Portland. This will put us over 2000 miles for the trip. Once there, we are staying with Sarah's friend Jake. Jake lives on a sailboat on the Columbia River. The plan is to take the boat out for a bit once we are there.
Knowing that there was going to be a warm, dry place at the end of the day was pretty motivating. We pedaled fairly hard and made very good time.
Nice views as the road rolls along
The terrain helped with that. We covered rolling hills almost all the way to Portland, passing lots of small and interesting farms along the way.
Maybe they eat a lot of fruit...probably not
We had a little rain off and on through the day but nothing like yesterday. Even so, things were a bit damp after mist of the day in the saddle. We are passing through small and medium sized towns more regularly now so we had a nice lunch stop under a covered seating area at a local grocery store. This was a much better choice than the rainy driveway that we considered a quarter mile earlier.
After more rainy miles we got to the southern outskirts of the Portland metro area and said goodbye to the farms. Fortunately, being near Portland, we now started to enjoy dedicated bike lanes and even separate bike-only trails for large chunks of the ride into downtown.
Views from the bicycle side of the tracks
We were meeting Jake at his office downtown. He rode his bike to work today so we could all ride back to the boat together. Before heading out, we stopped by a sandwich shop for a second lunch. I had a super tasty smashed chickpea (I didn't know what it was either) sandwich and coffee.
The largest town in a month and a half
Random Portland art
We had a very quick ride to the island while trying to keep up with speedy Jake. At lunch he mentioned that he has been enjoying the bicycle commute and just ordered a new, faster commuter bike. I'm glad he doesn't have it yet.
After a quick stop at Safeway for snacks and dinner fixings we arrived at the boat and began piling all of our stuff into the cockpit. It was clear that after riding for days in the rain, the bags were way too filthy to enter the boat. Jake and I hosed them all off before we stowed them. Another benefit of waterproof bags.
Wow we carry a lot of stuff
The next tour will be by boat
The next order of business was a shower. The stink was getting pretty bad and before sharing the inside of a boat some cleaning was necessary. The laundry will have to wait until the morning.
After a great shower we headed out into the river. There really wasn't much wind so we dived into the snacks while we watched other optimistic sailors prepare for a Tuesday night race.
The great host Jake and the snacks
We didn't make a lot of progress sailing but it was nice to be out on the water again. The Columbia River was a new sailing location for me and I always enjoy that.
Eventually we gave up on the sailing and did a motor tour of the interesting floating homes along the marina island. Very reminiscent of Lake Union in Seattle.
After a smooth return to the dock we had a quick dinner of tortilla pizzas with veggies. His was another new thing for me but it was very quick, easy and tasty so I will definitely try it again in the future.
After some additional arranging of the boat for sleeping it was time for bed. Dry, comfortable and warm is a god way to end the day. Tomorrow will be another long one as we plan to try to get to Canada in another 5 or 6 days making Washington the quickest state yet.
All is quiet along the river
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