Day 3: Albany to Halsey

August 7, 2019

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From our motel in the busy outskirts of Albany, I commented to Avi that we really had not seen the historic centre of any town so far. But this was quickly fixed as we rolled through the core of Albany. It's only a couple of streets, but still interesting.

A typical older building - the Flinn Block was built in 1887.

The kids have experience of the carousel built in Missoula, Montana. They loved it, but they were six then. Now at eleven they passed this by.

The best part of today's ride came just south of Albany, up until Highway 34. We found it was a reasonably quiet road, running by small holdings, or perhaps farm houses with larger acreages behind. The houses in any event had lots of gardens and fruit trees, making a very pleasant ride. At one place, a planting of what we took to be Marionberries (like blackberries, but with much bigger berries and thornless vines?) had overrun a fence and were out by the path. According to our official cycling rules (written by us!) fruit that does that is fair game!

Somebody found a unique solution with this tree growing right in line with the power line.

Avi suggested a hand to put the berry size in scale.

The fun kind of ended when the route hit Oregon 34. That road is a mainline into Corvallis, and is full of high speed traffic. Following the warning and advice in the route guide, we cycled 1 km down to a traffic light, and continued with a slight detour on the other side. Along that km there were still things to see:

A field of cauliflower producing by the truckload!

But now, though the road was OK, it was not at all as quiet as the one down from Albany.

We did find a park by the river, which was great for lunch. Last night we had tried the fast food chain Taco Bell, which was a first for all of us. We found the quality nowhere near the real Mexican restaurant of the night before. On the other hand, the bill was also 1/2. The food was good enough that we got two combo plates and stored them overnight in our fridge. So now at mid day, we were dining on Taco Bell in the middle of "nowhere". We thought it was quite clever, but on the other hand a real Mexican restaurant would be such a joy, if one could be found.

We had been eyeing Highway 99E, as the most direct route to where our motel would be. We hit it near the "town"? of Lafayette. At least there was a church there that made for a photo. We headed down 99E, and were feeling pretty smart, until the trucks seemed to multiply and the shoulder turned to gravel. We did an about face and retreated!

At Brownsville there was another church, which I tried to photograph, but as you will see, I was hampered by having to avoid being sideswiped by a pickup. Maybe sometime I will be like Scott Anderson, and actually stop when using the camera!

The church at Brownsville, plus part of pickup to dodge.

From Brownsville to Halsey we again had the phenomenon of a paved shoulder but fast moving traffic going by. We both found it nerve wracking, as we watched the kids closely. The kids, however, were completely unfazed. I think as long as they can follow behind Dodie, they feel safe. I know that's how I feel!

Scott Anderson had read how we went out at home looking for logging trucks to dodge, and he wrote that we were unlikely to find them in the Willamette. Lookee here, Scott. (But yes, they are concentrated at Brownsville, which seems to have a logs for log houses industry).

This tractor is only blocking for semi trailers storming up from the side, all in an effort to keep us from crossing to our motel.

By "Halsey" I really mean an exit off the I-5 somewhere near whatever Halsey is. It's a busy intersection, and we had to wait a long time for our chance to run across. The tractor in the photo is not really representative, it was more semi-trailers that we were dodging.

Our run being successful, we walked into the Travelodge. It was 1:30, and we were frazzled! The lady at reception refused to check us in, citing a 2 o'clock rule. Now in France we have run into even a 6 o'clock rule, and we have found hotels that show no sign of even being in business, until that hour. But here? We were slightly ticked. But Dodie had the answer. She just turned the kids loose in the lobby, by the reception lady. In under five minutes, we were in!

The motel is not the newest, but it's ok. For us a big advantage is that it is true motel style, with a single level and parking right out front. And our unit was the last one before the pool. So the kids began with two hours in the pool. Actually, the pool was locked. It may have been a while since they have seen an actual kid here, wanting to swim. In fact, of 30 units, there is only one other occupied. No wonder the check in lady said she needed time to get organized!

The front desk sent out "John" to see to the pool. His first step was to test the water in the main pool and the hot tub, and to adjust the ph balance in the hot tub. The kids, as always, were fascinated to watch the process, and encouraged John as he got on with his work.

It's more fun if you have a "pool toy" to jump on. Grandma took a pass this time, in favour of a rest and the chance to organize the gear dumped in the room.

In our experience, with free access to something like a pool, or a bouncy castle, the kids endurance is two hours at minimum. In fact that they quit the pool in exactly two hours. So that may show that they are getting worn out, if you can call six hours of cycling followed by two hours of swimming worn out!

Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 303 km (188 miles)

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Tricia GrahamYou need to bring those kids to Europe Oregon looks way to scary to me
Ciao
Tricia
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