Blogs from Oregon, United States, North America - page 102

15th June, 2009. Travel to Warrenton, Oregon Up early and on the road, , once we out of the upper Washington we hit the motorway, nice motorway but so many cars and trucks, a nightmare when they are blowing you over the road (never mind), a stop for a look around the factory shops at Centralia (up to 80% off, catches every womens eye), but Normal price + 80% - 80% is still 100%, and half the shops were no longer trading, guess that didn't work. Anyway down through Oledo and then the GPS lost us at Ostrander (funny how you don't take any notice of signs/maps when you have a GPS), then we were in the shit, slowly dug our way out and hit Kelso, over the river into Oregon. The Columbia River has navigable ... read more

i am off! currently i am in olimpia after taking a couple days to bike here after attending a ten day vipassuna retreat in onalaska, washington. the retreat of wonderfully hard. the bike riding easy and beautiful and tiring and satisfying. which by the way to get here i did not take any high traffic roads. i ended up asking locals all the time what roads/old highways to take each pedal turn of the way. none of the roads i took were detailed on my map, and almost all (except old highway 99) were not even on my map. it was a refreshing experience and i got to speak with so many different folks, all characters of the pacific northwest. : i had too much weight and am getting rid of things now and riding ... read more

Reverend Bill: On the final day home, we awoke to sunshine at the Condon Motel. I was up early to watch the MotoGP qualifying live in Mugello, and soon Reverend Chuck wandered over. He watched a few minutes of the penultimate motorcycle race class, then said, "Let's put a few cattle guards and a herd of deer on the track and see how these boys do." The wheat lands of North Central Oregon are now growing a new crop: wind energy generation towers. Complete with an underground transmission grid, these towers offer a remarkable co-existence between agriculture and clean energy production. While a pocket of recreational property owners complain about the visual aesthetics, and some environmentalists have concerns about bird impacts, these wind farms are a big part of our future. Standing at the base of ... read more

My guidebook told me that at the Natural Bridge Viewpoint the trail at the south end of the parking lot would take me to a spectacular viewpoint. I grabbed my camera and backpack, and set out. I like “spectacular”. The trail started out fine, then it narrowed. Then it split. I stood for a moment, then decided the most likely way would be toward the sound of the ocean. Although, with these trails, the most likely way is not always the right way—I’d found they can meander in ways you’d never guess, they can go on for miles, they can dwindle to nothing, or they can exceed your wildest expectations. And the signage generally sucks. I thought I did well to actually carry my Moon travel guide with me in the car, but in this case, ... read more

Sorry for the delay with the last posting. I did not enter all of the information that they wanted when I saved it, so it did not post. We spent Thursday morning Medford with Reto Buehler, Ed's favorite gunsmith. By the way Blake, Ed got to hold a Holland and Holland rifle. He was very excited by all of the "gun porn" (that's what I call it when he drools all over the beautiful rifles). We made good time getting to Portland. But, Oregon tries to support it's economy with road construction. We figure they must get a huge discount on the orange cones, ther are thousands of them! Oregon drivers are very courtous and obey the speed limits. It drives an aggresive driver like Ed crazy! I just keep asking him... Want a banana? That ... read more