After a few days spent in Portland, it was time to get back on the road. My throttle hand was itching to get back to its rightful place. But first, the trip from Portland to Eugene..
I honestly didn't have any issues from traveling between Eugene and Portland. The tickets were cheap, the bus was barely filled, and I was ok with that. My most memorable related story was an interaction with a frizzy headed guy on the streets of Eugene. Let me prepare you..
I was walking from the local transit depot to the bus stop on the other side of town. Not to far, but not too close either. Minding my own business I start looking for places to get something to eat at the same time keeping in mind when my bus would be leaving. I didn't have to much time to stand around in indecision. I decided to head for the bus stop and see what happens after that.
Trudging along in my motorcycle boots, which at the time was all I had, I walked at my normally quick pace. As I made forward progress, a larger build guy in a dirty sweatshirt slowly waddled in the same direction as I. He had curly hair and it was sticking out about 1ft in every direction. I managed to get a look at his shoes and they were laceless. "As long as I stay out of this guys way, no problems." I told myself as I continued my pace.
Suddenly, as if I had tripped his radar scans, he flips around and yells (seriously) "Hey man, do you have a DOLLAR?" Taken aback, I said no and promptly continued my pace around him. He kept his pace and soon enough he was out of sight. I thought to myself how hilarious his use of his "outdoor voice" was. Must be a Eugene thing.
I found a place to sit and have food before my trip began. That poor fancy reuben sandwich never had a chance.. I headed back upstairs and lo and behold my friend from the street was sitting just outside the bus stop. Now I didn't know what to expect. Was this guy going to be on the bus? Was he going to heckle people for money? Just as I got past that point in thought he yells "HEY MAN do you have a DOLLAR.. no, wait Do you have a CIGARRETTE?" I really don't know how he gets anything he wants with that approach.
Anyway, as much as I love Eugene it was time to get the hell out of there. It was time to head north and continue my adventures around the mountains. I wanted to see Mt. Hood, Mt. St Helens and Mt. Rainer. It was still early in the day but I had to boogie if I wanted to make some miles.
I aimed to get up OR-126 and OR-22 to get into the thick of the mountains. No more valley, no more water for now and as I made progress things seemed to be promising.
One thing that I always like to do as a rule is to stop and see any (natural) roadside attractions. In this case, I came across a waterfall that was part of the McKenzie river. Turns out this whole area is filled with trails and cool things to look at. In my case I wanted to get up close to the waterfall.. like real close.
I had new shoes so it was tempting and I couldn't help myself. Granted, if there was a large surge of water at any point I could have been swept downstream. No more Jared, no more Wolff Rides West. Good thing i'm a cautious guy. 😉
The waterfall was cool but not nearly as far north as I wanted to go. More zoom zoom!
The rest of the day was uneventful though finding a place to camp was always fun. Turns out that as you get closer to Mt. Hood and as you get closer to the weekend it gets a bit harder to find a place to camp. Luckily, I only needed a night and parked myself next to a creek. Listening to the creek all night long was quite enjoyable. (Think, ocean waves on the beach but in the middle of the forest!)
Resources
No restaurant vists or reviews for this day. More tomorrow!