October 12, 2011
Portland: Tent City
Portland is the home of a large REI, and Oregon is a state without sales tax. Since after Eugene our way lead through Portland on the way to Avi and Violet in Missoula, we naturally stopped in.
We are not familiar with Portland, but it looked like an interesting city. This time around there was a large protest in a park in the middle of downtown. We are not entirely sure what the points of the protest are, but we did gather that the people are ticked with Wall Street. This protest, then, is one of many such nationwide.
What we mainly noticed, though, was the tent city. We like tents!
In fact, once in the REI we found they were holding a 20% off sale on any single purchased item. Since we had bought a Mutha Hubba tent for $400 the week before we said hey, how about the discount? So they handed us $80, just like that. We turned around and bought a stationary trainer, for $340, plus another pair of cycling shorts (Pearl Izumi - $100). We like REI's (and MEC's)liberal policies, and with us anyway, I think it pays off for them.
We also noticed this book on cycling the Pacific Coast. It looks good and would be a good bet for anyone thinking of doing that tour.
Right now we are near Hood River, just across the Columbia from White Salmon. In May we were camped over there, struggling with the hills and wondering if we should cross to the Oregon side. We should have. The road here is flat (reasonably) and since we are talking about I-84 (not 30) there is a super wide shoulder. The views of the river are good and we see no problem with anyone cycling this way.
Our road ahead will have many nostalgic moments, as we will be following our summer cycle route for a while. We won't replay that, though. Our next entry, whenever it comes, will be about our New Adventure, which is fixed on the Old World. The gear, the route, the training, the airfares, ... there is a lot to come before we ever leave the farm.
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