Feeling the Blues in Astoria

I had only planned on staying the night, taking a day ride, and then heading out, but I found myself staying in Astoria right through the weekend. My first day staying at the Fort Stevens State Park was spent trying to get my damn fridge to cool less than ambient minus 3 degrees on gas (piece if chit!), repairing my mountain bike and establishing camp… not too exciting. After the bike repairs I pedaled down to the Fort Stevens military museum, down to the wreck of the ‘Peter Iredale’, and then back to camp.

After breakfast the next morning I did a 200km loop from Astoria east via Jewel, Mist, Vernonia, and then into Cannon Beach for lunch. The road had some great twisty sections but the asphalt was quite poor in a lot of sections. My greatest discovery is when I picked up the local ‘West Coast Entertainment Weekly’ paper (or whatever) and found there was a ‘Blues by the Sea’ festival happening on Friday and Saturday at the Clatsop fairgrounds. I bought myself a weekend pass, did my laundry, shaved, showered, and showed up. What an awesome time! I purchased the pass the day before but they didn’t have the tickets with them, so they promised to remember me the next day. I thought I would have to do a song and dance but I was meet with an eager ‘Hey, you’re Brian Cole right? We have your pass here!’ I felt like a movie star! We had a few laughs and then I breezed in. I quickly realized that I had the start time screwed up and I was there way too early. They grounds were still being setup and it was pretty quite so I decided to go for a run. I returned later in the day to find the place buzzing and the bands rockin! Everyone knew everyone and I somehow found myself sitting with Craig and Inka by their hippy van (a van with some stories I am sure!). A fella (and event organizer as it turns out) that goes by the stage name ‘Honey Bucket’ (it’s kinda of a nasty, but funny, story behind the name) from the opening act shows up and it was a good thing it was early, because I wasn’t going anywhere soon! I thanked them and then moved into the crowd of partiers swaying to the music. The next thing you know ‘Hey, I am Dave, this Mike and Anthony. Would you like a beer! And here, have a sandwich!’ I declined the sandwich and I gladly accepted the beer. These guys were a magnet to everyone around them. They introduced me to everyone within 5 meters of them and then we partied with everyone all weekend! We partied with the bands, we meet the promoters, we partied with their friends, a couple from Israel… people from all over! Jody and the girls wanted to dance and the music was perfect for it. What could I do… I got into the groove! The show at the fairgrounds shut down at some time (I am not sure of the time actually) and then we headed downtown for a jam session at the ‘Astoria Events Center’ and it was just as crazy! I was riding, so I wasn’t drinking, but it felt like I was high all night. Maybe it was the coffee but I don’t think so! By the end of the night I had drunk about 5 cups of the stuff but I saw later that about 2 of those got spilled all over my shirt. They are advantages to drinking tequila but that will have to wait until tomorrow! The bar shut down around 3:00 a.m. and half way back to camp it started to pour. I rode in the rain and was absolutely soaked by the time I got back to camp a mere 10 minutes later. It felt good! I was glad that I wasn’t getting into a tent!

Heading down the next day I thought ‘How can I possibly top a night like last night?’ As it turned out it was like the first night didn’t really end and it just flowed into Saturday. The bands were amazing and it seemed like everyone came back with an even crazier attitude! I had discovered a shuttle to town from the night before so I brought a sack of beer that paled in comparison to what the crew from Virginia showed up with. Anthony was good enough to get us to the Jam session safely. We got to dance on a level dance floor for a few more hours before I caught a cab back to camp. I woke up early the next morning, picked up the bike, and took an early walking tour of towns waterfront before we all meet up for breakfast and a final farewell and exchange of contact information. I slipped out before noon and went for some Tillamook ice cream, watched some surfing, and set up a ½ camp (left the roof down and the gear in the Thule) in Pacific City so I could make some miles the next morning. I didn’t get very far… South Beach actually. My neighbors brought me a couple of Dungeness crabs tonight and here I am. Crab, rib steak, roasted peppers, baked potatoes with onion and good ol’ Canadian whiskey rounded off my evening. I have planned a day ride tomorrow and will head out the day after. It seems like my 2 day plans are taking 3-5 days to complete. I think that’s a good thing…

On my own and heading south!

Sorry, it’s been too long… It’s Sunday, September 13th.

Can I blame it on family, friends, and funerals???? If not, I’ll just say I have been really busy. After leaving Rick and Sue’s place (5 weeks ago) I have put over 6,000 km on the bike, been to 2 funerals, 1 stag party, 1 wedding, and one heckova labour day party. The only problem is that I have only traveled as far as Keslo Washington. I am already losing track of the date and I have a sense that I need to be putting on some miles. I’ll have to be careful not to spend too much time on the interstates in my mad dash south.

My Aunt Edith on my dad’s side and my Aunt Kay on my mom’s side both passed away recently and I was fortunate to still be in Canada so I could attend the funerals and see a lot of family that I haven’t for a while. It seems the deaths in the family have been coming far too frequently lately and it re-enforces my desire to ‘do it while I can’. I have completed three overnight bike trips included a loop via Grand Prairie, blasted all around the Kootneys in B.C., and took a leisurely trip to Montana’s ‘Road to the Sun’. Most of my time the past few weeks has been spent in Alberta with my Dad camping, fishing, and generally hanging out. Despite what Dad may say, I out-fished him by a lot. Did I say a lot… I mean a whole lot J. Sorry Dad, I have to rub it in!
Now that I am on my own it has given me the sense that my trip has truly started. Living in the van is like being in a space capsule. While it can be quite efficient, there is a place for everything and just a little laziness can lead to chaos and disarray. I have done a fairly good job prepping as everything I need I seem to have, and I haven’t had to throw out much stuff yet.

I have met some nice people with my most interesting experience being in Vancouver… I was hanging out at Starbucks while I waited for a major service to be completed on my bike. I sat at a table with a couple of extra chairs and pulled out my book. Two attractive young ladies sat down at a nearby table that only had 1 chair and they fumbled while trying to move another chair. I took a spare chair next to me and handed over the rail and sat it down for them. The flirting immediately started in earnest… ‘’ You are such a gentleman.’ I just smiled and replied ‘Thanks’ and went back to my book. It continued, ‘That was really nice. Are you from around here?’ I decide to play the game and told a little about myself and the adventure I was on. It continued ‘Are you going to be around this weekend because me and some of my friends are going to a fetish party and I sure would like you to come.’ I had to chuckle a bit. Out came the camera phone ‘Do you want to see some pictures of me in my latex batwomen outfit that I wore to the last party?’ It’s frustrating! This sounds great I am sure, but damn; this type of thing has happened to me before… two pretty girls sit down near to me, and it has to be the gay guy at the next table that flirts with me! I don’t get it???? He even gave me his email address incase I should ‘make it back this way’, and I swear he tried to wiggle as he walked away. There may be some hope yet as he did say he was going with a group of girls. I am not sure what that meant. What would I do if he was the prettiest one? I didn’t want to think about it so I picked up the bike and left town.

Tomorrow I will ride up the West side road going up Mt. Saint Helens. I will stay one more night and head towards Astoria on the Oregon border. From there I will explore the area on my bike for a couple of days before heading south on the 101. I have decided to put off getting a new phone until I get to Mexico as I think the phone + the fees for my time in the USA would exceed the roaming costs on my existing phone.

An older couple in the next camp site has asked me to join them by their fire tonight so I think I will sign off for now. I sure hope they are normal.

Slip out the back Jack...

I felt a little badly leaving the pub earlyish on the last day of work, but I had to before it became a late night that saw me doing my first camp out in the pub parking lot. I got home only to spend the rest of the night preparing for the motley crew that showed up early the next morning to get me moved. Jeff, Pernell, and Rick showed up to do the heavy stuff and Selena and Leslie removed all evidence that anyone had ever been in the house. With only my travel stuff spread out on the floor it almost looked like a scene from a Bourne movie... laptop, GPS, clothing, gear, whiskey... After a couple of follow up days around the house I headed north on the bike to Rick and Sue's. The weather is hot!!! Ignoring my score, it was a perfect day for the front 9 @ the Athabasca golf course. Tomorrow should be a great day for water skiing!

We survived!

The 'POD' showed up. I will spend the week filling it up! I just need to calibrate the transporter magnaflux stabilizer! I need a techie... or at least a furniture mover or three! (Just kidding)

4 Men on Bikes!

Pernell, Jeff, Kyle, and myself set off on what I consider the inaugural trip of my travelling adventure with a motorcycle tour on 3 BMW's and a Honda that went as far south as Cresent City California. We put the youngest kid on the fastest bike and tore up the pavement in B.C., Washington, Oregon, and even one in Northern California. We went south from Vernon on the West Side Rd. to Kelowna. From Kelowna we took the 93 via the 'Cassey Camp', Osoyoos and finally to Winthrop for the night. We were lucky to get a meal as the neat old town was shut down by 9:30. I am tired. More later... It's later... We went from Winthrop to Seattle and stayed on the ocean front. We aren't all of legal age so we had a relatively early night... honest! From Seattle we went to Cannon Beach via an awesome highway over the mountain to Cannon Beach where we arrived for the 4th of July. Peter... go on this road with a sport bike! From Cannon Beach we travelled down the Oregon coast on 101 to Coos Bay. From there Kyle and Jeff hit the dunes in buggies and Pernell and I continued down the coast to the Redwood National Park in Northern California. The plan was to unite at Crater Lake but due to communication issues we missed each other by 300 km's and a full day. We all met up in Yakima after a long days ride. Crater Lake was very impressive, very blue, very deep, very steep cliffs on the side of the road! Oh yeah... no speeding tickets yet... Jeff took the lead on the way home through Washington and bam... red and blues... the cop says 'There was not one bike doing less than 86 and one was doing 94... do you have any idea what the speed limit is?" My GPS has a speed limit display in km/hr so I quickly answered "96!" I could see it in his body language... "Ahh, Canadians, I'm to tired."... he says "You know the lecture... Slow down!" He let us go! Jeff actually did slow down all the way to the county line. It was impressive to see! From the line we hauled ass all the way to Creston B.C. The next day Pernell split off to the Columbia ice fields, Jeff and Kyle stayed in Cochrane before heading north on 22, and I stayed in Calgary before returning to Edmonton on Friday July 10th. In all we travelled about 5000 km in 11 days. It's time for an oil change. I think I wore the rear tire by no more than 40%. The bike ran like a top but the GPS gave me grief with untimely resets. 2 hard stops for deer, saw 1 huge black bear, 0 traffic or criminal violations, 0 sightings of hot chicks on bikes, o hang overs. My assignment for next trip is to correlate between hang-overs and sightings of hot chicks on bikes.