Friday, July 16th - Day 13 - Time Stands Still

Sorry for the lapse. yesterday the dude I rode with around Portland escorted me to Newport on the west coast across some secondary highways. they were great. Again, so many photo ops, but so little time. The distance was short, but the route had so many awesome turns in it that there was no choice but to maintain a cautious speed. incredible, the farmland we passed, the vineyards, the rolling hills... everything.

We ended up going by the Air and Space Museum and he signaled to me the question of whether to turn in or not. Naturally, being ex-military AND having a love for jetfighters that go FAST, I signaled 'yes'. It was icnredible. The 'spruce goose' was there too, ridiculously over-sized, it was unable to do more than drift along in the air, and was deemed unflyable. no shit. lol

We had a quick burger at Golden Valley in McMinnville. Incredible burger!!! for 4$!!! Canada, get on board!!

We parted company in Newport because he had to get back for something to take care of in the morning, Best of luck dude, hahaha...

He didn't miss much, the town was... not terribly exciting. Although in the morning I rode by an Irish Pub that may have had some potential on a thursday night, but truthfully, going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 10am was probably good for me!

Today I rode some 5 and a half hours, plus a breakfast break to Fred Meyers ($5.77 for a plum, bananda, peach, egg and sausage croissant, cinnamon roll, and bottled water... incredible how cheap the fruit is here!!!) before hitting Crescent City. The dude at McDonalds said "yeah, don't stay here there is NOTHING here.. go to Eureka".. Great advice, lol, I rode the extra hour to there and yes, it IS a fairly decent place!

The ride was great too. Seeing the Sea Lion Caves along the way; the rocks jutting out of the ocean; the change in vegetation, the sand dunes of Oregon, the Redwood forests.. everything.. I am so glad I was put on to hiway 101, rather than just taking I5 to Roseburg then Redding. So what if I lost the money on the reso in Roseburg and maybe in Redding, this is stunning!

Anyway, got cleaned up and went out on the town. Saw a place called "The Lobby". Amy, well done on the lounge, a revamped hotel lobby turned lounge/diner... so chic, so awesome, stop in if you're in the area. Unfortunately now that the students are mostly gone for the summer, it's pretty slow (especially with the slowed down economy) but the staff kept me company.

Then 2 doors down was Pearl Lounge. awesome dj'ing by Anya (a lesbian may I add), and great signature martinis. i hit it off with Anya when I went to ask her to take care of my jacket. Got her a beer for her troubles, talked dj's and house music, and requested Steve Aoki's PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS remix. She didn't have it but later she played DAY AND NIGHT Crooker's Remix for me. How kind! Oh right, she was playing THE MESSAGE by GRAND MASTER FLASH when I first talked to her and she knew of BOOTY CALL, the flash animation game, so that was cool. I was gonna find out if there was an afterparty she would invite me to, but instead I decided I should get some sleep, and do the blog - here i am.  Fate has a funny way of doing things. I walked around a corner to take an illegal piss behind a dumpster and a girl was just hanging out in the street... with a bible... i talked briefly and it took no time to figure out she needed help. I'm really in no position to help - She was talking about suicide. So I called the police, and they sent an officer, and I waited with her until he showed up, and bid her good blessing before I left. I hope she gets better. Life can be so tough some times. It's always worth it to fight on though. Take care, Stranger.

So that's been my last few days. i noticed though that magically I'm only on day 13... Time moves so slow when your days are filled with new experiences, new roads, new friends, new people, new food... It's amazing! I love it! in our day to day life, everything is so similar that it blurs by and we lose so much of our life this way. If only we could live a life where we got to do what I'm doing right now. It will end soon, but I will always be thankful. Unfortunately I won't have all the pictures I should have, but hopefully I will always have the memories.

Take care, Ride safe.