I got everything done in Eugene that I hoped to accomplish except come up with a route I liked out of town. Crater Lake is full of smoke, there is heavy smoke in all directions except towards the coast. So I went to Florence today. It was an enjoyable ride, never too hot, never too sunny, never too steep. I didn’t take a lot of pictures, today was mostly in my head reflecting. I rode my bike from Eugene to Florence 5 years ago, freshly retired and the pandemic which never happened hadn’t happened yet and I found there was much to ruminate on. I was headed towards a campground on the edge of town when a scruffy guy called me over and said hey follow me past this pile of trash and come behind this abandoned landscaping building so I did. Mike is riding his bike to the lower 48 and is 21 states and a year and a half into his adventure and had found this nice space with water and power which he offered to share. He’s decked out with the most wonderful gear, given to him by sponsors, and pulls in about $500/month in donations which is enough to keep him going indefinitely. We chatted until late. Well, mostly Mike talked and I listened. I figured after 18 months on the road he had many more stored up words in his head than I did and let him decompress.
I don’t really want to ride the coast south. I’ve done it before, I expect it to be crowded. But I don’t want to ride in smoke either. I may hang around for a day or two and think.
Alan was trying out his new ham radio antenna. I enjoyed asking him questions and he enjoyed answering them.
