March 20, 2020 to March 21, 2020
Rocky returns
Yesterday
Rachael took a second day off from her bike yesterday, giving her elbow a rest and opting for another long walk instead. She’s amazing - she’s hiked twenty-five miles over the last two days. I offered to keep her company today, but she tactfully suggested that I go out for a bike ride on my own while I still have the chance, knowing that I would only slow her down. I took her up on her offer and left for a loop out to Kelley Point, stopping here and there along the way to poke around for bird life. I didn’t find much today, but it was a beautiful day to be out.
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4 years ago
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Today
Today, Rocky’s ready to roll again. We debate driving out to Banks to bike the rail trail up to Vernonia, but she decides we should stay closer to home because she’s not sure how her elbow will do. She comes up with the brilliant idea of visiting Sauvie Island in a way we’ve never done before: by driving out there, skipping the ten mile drive each way along the highway and exploring more of the island than we must ally have time for. She woke up with this brainstorm, got out of bed early, and mapped out a 47 mile route that covers almost every paved road on the island.
It sounds great. We’ll get to see parts of the island we seldom get out to, and with everyone staying home we should have the island to ourselves. So we’re shocked to pull into its parking lot and find it nearly full, with cars queuing to wait for someone to leave. They’re all cyclists, like us looking forward to enjoying this lovely day while keeping their distance. We’ve never seen it this busy.
And, the roads aren’t actually all that quiet either. There are a few hiking spots on the island, and those parking lots are filled to overflowing too. There’s quite a bit of traffic with folks driving to the hiking spots or just out for a look from the comfort and safety of their cars. Pretty funny.
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Sauvie Island is a perfect place for us to ride together, really. Its paved road network consists of a twelve mile loop at the south end, with four different dead end spurs extending north that add any other 35 miles if you ride them all out to their end and back. It’s a very easy place to manage our different interests - she can just ride, and I can stop wherever I see something to hold my attention. With all of the out and back riding, it’s very easy to separate and then meetup.
We separate almost immediately, when a half mile from the car I see what I was hoping to find today - the first osprey of the season.
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We start the ride by biking north to the end of the pavement on Sauvie Island Road, the long road that follows Multnomah Channel along the west end of the island. We’ll both follow it to the end of the pavement today, but she gets well ahead of me. I catch up when she stops at the rest room, but then I quickly lose her again when I stop at one of the many great viewpoints along this beautiful road. We don’t cross paths again until she doubles back.
This is the best time of year to be out here, because the sheep are out. There’s a large sheep ranch at the north end, and in early spring all the newborn lambs are out frolicking around with their moms. On a day like today, with the snow-covered volcanoes in the background, it’s a beautiful sight.
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When we meet up, we discuss our plan for the rest of the ride. I want to continue out to the end of this road, and she’s well ahead of me. It’s doubtful we’ll meet up again until late in the ride, so we set times to call each other and check in.
In the end, she’ll end up covering most of the paved network. She rides the Lucy Reeder spur, the Oak Island spur, and most of the way toward the end of Reeder Road on the east side of the island, along the main channel of the Columbia River. she’ll put in 45 miles before the day is done, and I’ll cover 10 miles less.
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We finally connect again on Reeder Road, and for the most part bike together for the eight miles back to the car. It’s really been a beautiful riding day, and Rachael is happy to find that her injuries don’t bother her at all. We’ll have to try this again, driving out to the island and starting from there. It’s what most folks do, actually.
On the way back to town, Rachael dials in to place a take-out order from Justa Pasta. I was happy to look up their website yesterday and see that they were doing this. It’s the kind of small restaurant that we hope can survive this crisis, and we’re happy to do our part.
We’ve been coming to Justa Pasta off and on for over twenty years now. When we first bought a place in Portland we still stayed in Salem for the heart of the work week, staying at a motel for a couple of nights and then driving to our new home for a long weekend. It was a tradition to drive home on Thursday nights and head straight to Justa Pasta for our welcome home dinner.
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4 years ago
4 years ago
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They occasionally attack if they feel their offspring are threatened. I have had that happen a few times. Once, with my daughter, when she was small, and I grabbed it just below the head, scooped up its belly and tossed it away so then it walked back and forth with its head near the ground, bill gaped open and hissing while we left.
They are also hazards to aircraft and motor vehicles for the same reason. There are people who contract out with trained dogs to scare off geese from parks, airports, etc. for a period of time until they abandon the area.
Still neat to see them fly in formation though!
4 years ago
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4 years ago