Chinook Landing

June 25, 2023

Sneak preview

We can’t start calling to request a passport replacement until Monday, and since we don’t know the outcome of that yet we can’t make any detailed plans about Canada.

We can’t get a date for my ablation surgery until next month sometime, so we can’t do anything more than speculate about plans for this winter - when will we come home, how long will we stay in Portland, when will we head south for the winter. There’s no point browsing AirBnB listings in Portland and Tucson until then, because what’s available now will be different than later when we know more.

So what can we do with our free time while we’re in limbo? Others might crack open a good book or sit on the couch staring at the big screen, but Team Anderson thinks this is the perfect time to reimagine the trip to Spain and make some decisions. It looks like we’re lopping off the last month of the planned three month tour, so it at least needs a significant resizing. And, it needs to start in Bilbao, since that’s what we ticketed ourselves for last winter. And, given my health situation it needs to follow as easy a course as we can find in mountainous Iberia.

We’ve been staring at and contemplating this tour for quite awhile now, so we’ve got a big leg up. It doesn’t take long to detail out the two obvious alternatives: a ride west of Madrid through Extremadura and Andalucia, ending in Malaga; and one east of Madrid through Navarre and Aragon, ending in Valencia. These are generally the same alternatives we’ve been considering all along, except for dropping a month by omitting the ride through Murcia and Almeria between Valencia and Malaga.

I turn to RideWithGPS and create two detailed itineraries, to test out which looks like the best option given my health restrictions. Surprisingly, the two options pencil out almost identically: thirty travel days (and about the same number of layover days for day rides and hikes), covering 800 miles with 35,000’ of elevation gain. The average traveling day for both is 26 miles, with 1,200’ climbing. Both look very reasonable.

After that background analysis, the decision comes easily. We’ve biked through parts of Extremadura and Andalucia twice before now, but eastern route is nearly all new country for us. So that’s the plan. You’re seeing it here first. Also, note that instead of Bilbao we’re starting in Vitoria-Gasteiz, recognized as the most bike-friendly city in Spain. We’ve seen Bilbao twice now, so we’re going to preserve our limited time and catch a ride from the airport to Vitoria when we land.

This looks actionable. Let’s start booking!

Vitoria-Gasteiz to Valencia: September 12 - November ??, 2023. Not shown is perhaps two weeks in Mallorca at the end.

Today’s ride

It’s sunny, clear and hot again today, almost the carbon copy of yesterday. We’ve really come back to Portland at an excellent time, with weather conducive to a hike or ride nearly every day. Lucky!

It’s due to warm up enough that the smart plan would be to get an early start - as we remind each other several times while we’re going through the first two weeks of Spain, making bookings from Vitoria to Olite. Olite is a natural break point though, and we finally make it out the door by 11:30. Pretty good!

We start by biking north to the Columbia, taking the longer route up Greeley and along Willamette Bluff rather than the direct route up Williams. As I bike, I note with satisfaction that the rubbing sound from my back wheel is gone. The new tire seems to have done the trick, and I make a mental note to plan on changing tires before the outer casing is starting to peel off in the future. Smart!

It’s a brilliant ride. Once we’re out to the river we just keep riding east, past Blue Lake and all the way to Chinook Landing before turning back. It’s been a long time since either of us has biked out this far east, and we’ve picked the ideal day for it. It’s Sunday, so the truck traffic is mostly gone on the stretch where we have to bike the shoulder of Marine Drive; and it’s especially nice that the long line of tent sites, pickup trucks and beaten up vans strung along the path east of I-205 has disappeared and it feels comfortable biking through here for the first time probably since the pandemic began.

I think it’s not too soon to say that we’re both feeling encouraged by the state of things here and are enjoying our best stay in Portland since selling our condo. We keep finding or experiencing things that make us feel like we’re gradually rebonding with the place. Today, this includes eating dinner at Toro, a new Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood that just opened this spring. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal, sitting outdoors on the landing dock as the sun dipped behind the high rises on this pedestrianized block of 13th. And Rachael really took to her chicken enchiladas (roasted lime chicken, pistachio molé verde, quest fresco). Too late, we realized we should have taken a photo of this beautiful dish; but I’m pretty sure we’ll get another chance soon.

Video sound track: Yet To Be, by Oregon

Riding past the Adidas headquarters at the top of Greeley. This quarter mile green stripe along Greeley is another big improvement, making this part of the ride much safer.

I stopped for this raptor soaring above the Columbia Slough, telling Rachael that based on size and flight pattern I felt sure it was a bold eagle. I’m not sure now though. Here’s an example where the zoom camera would have come in handy.

Here’s another spot where the zoom would have helped. This looks likely to be a California gull and a new species for the year, but there's just not enough detail here.

This is such a great ride. For the next fifteen miles we’ll see Mount Hood gradually grow larger as we bike east.

Approaching the Glenn Jackson (I-205) bridge, a spot we often turn back on this ride. Today we’ll keep going to Chinook Landing, six miles further east.

Tuscany! I give a shout out to a biker with a Tuscany jersey as we bike past.

My Good Samaritan stop of the day, as I lend out my pump to a biker in need. And where’s Rachael, by the way?

I guess I could be holding the guy’s bike up while he’s pumping up his tire, but the geese caught my attention.

I was really surprised by this row of chestnuts in Blue Lake Park that we’ve biked past dozens of times. I think I’ve never been here when they were blossoming so I never noticed.

It reminds me of our tour of Corsica, almost exactly twenty years ago. It’s nearly to the day - looking back at that journal (Lavender Fields, Forever), we were in Evisa admiring the chestnut bloom on 6/24/03.

The small creek at Chinook Landing. I’m pretty sure that’s a great egret in there, but my camera’s not helping me out much here.

There’s a short unpaved shortcut leaving Chinook Landing that follows that small creek. As we pass it, I confirm that’s an great egret down on the right, but don’t bother stopping for it.

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Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 296 miles (476 km)

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Rachel and Patrick HugensHi guys, come stay longer visiting us in Boise.
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Rachel and Patrick HugensOh, Boise! Do you two live in Boise? We’ll have to think about that.
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1 year ago

Rachel and Patrick HugensTo Scott AndersonWe are expecting you July 11th???
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Rachel and Patrick HugensYup. Not going to happen (on that date at least), as we realized just today when we finally got a passport renewal appointment. More to come.
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1 year ago

Rachel and Patrick HugensTo Scott AndersonKeep us posted, you are welcome anytime. We will be home until Aug 22.
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamWhat a great day! It sounds like you have a strong start on the new plan for Spain and life in Portland is fun again. And a fabulous ride to boot.
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1 year ago