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So we left SoCal yesterday (Sunday) at 5pm expecting to hit Bakersfield or something and get a hotel, crash, then cruise on up to Oregon.
About 8, we hit Buttonwillow and found this awesome Indian food place. Pumped up from the currie, we pressed on. About 11pm, we pulled of looking for a place to stay. We stopped at some hotel and they wanted $80 for us to stay the night, then we had to leave by 11am. What? A morning curfew? The cheapo in the both of us caused us to press on.
Thinking that we'd just drive till we couldn't stand it, then hit a Lowtel 6 and pay the $49.99 for a room.
Well, I got in a groove, and 2 Red Bull's and 1 Rock Star later, we were in Weed (nice) California at 4am. I pulled off, pulled into the parking lot of some hotel, turned the car off, and sat back dreading pulling the bikes off the roof and taking the stuff in.
My trophy wife was soundly sleeping so I just sat back waiting to to get motivated.
Ooops.
1.5 hrs later, I woke up. Doh!
Making the most of it, we grabbed some crappy gas station coffee and pressed on.
An hour or so later, we hit Medford and found God's gift to travelers, Starbuck's.
1 veinte and 1 grande later, on the road.
The Ironman road trip was on. By noon, we'd hit Eugene, our destination.
Approx. 1,000 from home.
LIke a beacon in the night, this little gem grabbed our eye and we were welcomed into Eugene by some Pad Thai and a bowl of red currie. Sweet!
Back at the car, I had a moment of silence for all the little guys (bugs) that met their maker on the front of my new 29er Marz_occhi Mx Comp.
FYI, if you're planning on buying one of these, note that heavy duty springs are not available for it. I had to scrounge up some air caps from the 26" version...
The plan is to get a ride in w/ Wade at Vulture Cycles and to hook up w/ Shiggy and Sparty for some sweet Oregon singletrack just like Aosty and Impy did last week.
Stay tuned for more updates and pictures.. if you can stand it.
Some key highlights of Oregon I've noticed so far:
1. Facial piercings & neck tatoo's are as common here as lifted F-150's are back in socal.
2. They're are bikes everywhere. Granted, they're walmart specials but people are riding everywhere..even as I sit here in Starbucks on E. Broadway/Pearl, a guy just rode buy pulling a bob trailer w/ a lawnmower, edger, blower, rake, shovel. Mobile, bike gardener!
3. Thai food is plentiful.
4. Green trees anyone?
5. Every 4th big rig is pulling logs.
6. You can't pump your own gas here in OR. What's with that? I practically got jumped by the attendant. We get a pass though since my wife's Jetta is a diesel. (side note: even with 2 bikes on the roof, we've been averaging 35mpg.)
About 8, we hit Buttonwillow and found this awesome Indian food place. Pumped up from the currie, we pressed on. About 11pm, we pulled of looking for a place to stay. We stopped at some hotel and they wanted $80 for us to stay the night, then we had to leave by 11am. What? A morning curfew? The cheapo in the both of us caused us to press on.
Thinking that we'd just drive till we couldn't stand it, then hit a Lowtel 6 and pay the $49.99 for a room.
Well, I got in a groove, and 2 Red Bull's and 1 Rock Star later, we were in Weed (nice) California at 4am. I pulled off, pulled into the parking lot of some hotel, turned the car off, and sat back dreading pulling the bikes off the roof and taking the stuff in.
My trophy wife was soundly sleeping so I just sat back waiting to to get motivated.
Ooops.
1.5 hrs later, I woke up. Doh!
Making the most of it, we grabbed some crappy gas station coffee and pressed on.
An hour or so later, we hit Medford and found God's gift to travelers, Starbuck's.
1 veinte and 1 grande later, on the road.
The Ironman road trip was on. By noon, we'd hit Eugene, our destination.
Approx. 1,000 from home.
LIke a beacon in the night, this little gem grabbed our eye and we were welcomed into Eugene by some Pad Thai and a bowl of red currie. Sweet!
Back at the car, I had a moment of silence for all the little guys (bugs) that met their maker on the front of my new 29er Marz_occhi Mx Comp.
FYI, if you're planning on buying one of these, note that heavy duty springs are not available for it. I had to scrounge up some air caps from the 26" version...
The plan is to get a ride in w/ Wade at Vulture Cycles and to hook up w/ Shiggy and Sparty for some sweet Oregon singletrack just like Aosty and Impy did last week.
Stay tuned for more updates and pictures.. if you can stand it.
Some key highlights of Oregon I've noticed so far:
1. Facial piercings & neck tatoo's are as common here as lifted F-150's are back in socal.
2. They're are bikes everywhere. Granted, they're walmart specials but people are riding everywhere..even as I sit here in Starbucks on E. Broadway/Pearl, a guy just rode buy pulling a bob trailer w/ a lawnmower, edger, blower, rake, shovel. Mobile, bike gardener!
3. Thai food is plentiful.
4. Green trees anyone?
5. Every 4th big rig is pulling logs.
6. You can't pump your own gas here in OR. What's with that? I practically got jumped by the attendant. We get a pass though since my wife's Jetta is a diesel. (side note: even with 2 bikes on the roof, we've been averaging 35mpg.)