June 19, 2011 Portland, OR

June 19, 2011 Portland, OR

After a beautiful start to my day on Thursday, I headed north on US 101.  The stretch from Arcata, CA on US 101 to the OR border is one of the most beautiful in the country.  I stopped in Crescent City for gas and wished I could stay longer – it’s an empty, quiet little place blown about by ocean winds, with seafood markets and/or restaurants on each corner.  I “planned” to go to the Jedebiah Smith Redwood SP and the sign said “Stout Grove.”  I got suspicious after riding several miles without further signs, through areas that didn’t look very state-park like.  Then I found Stout Grove, which is in fact a part of the state park; I rounded a corner, amongst those Gentle Giants, and the pavement ended. So after a short stint of dirt bike riding on the Wing, I turned around and headed back to the highway.  And I have a picture to prove it.

Soon I crossed the border into Oregon.  Along much of the coast the winds were a handful – gusting so that the trees were doing full-body waves.  I slowed waay down and continued to be awed by the coastline – huge boulders, waves crashing, and changing altitudes.  I don’t have to be in Portland until Monday morning so I dawdled.  I stopped for the night in a motel in Bandon, OR – it had misted rain off and on, it was cold, and I wasn’t sure how well the tent would hold up to the wind gusts.  Unlike other quick-pick choices, this motel was a delight (clean, light-filled) with a short walk down to the ocean.  As I was checking in, the woman clerk asked about my bike and I explained my 4 Corners 4 Kids ride and gave her a post card.  I told her about the Child Advocacy Center first, and her face lit up. She repeated several times that she had no idea there was such a thing.  And in the quiet of that small motel lobby by the ocean, she matter-of-factly told me of the sexual abuse she had suffered as a child, adding, “There was no place like that for me.  I knew I couldn’t tell.  But how wonderful that they are there now.  May I keep this card?  I want to send it to my cousin.  She still hasn’t told her mom what happened to her.  You know, it just happens too much, more than most people want to think about.”  As we talked on and I explained I was heading to the Shriners’ Hospital in Portland, she said she had a boy cousin born with defects that affected his legs and with complex diabetes – the Shriners’ had given him the surgical care he needed for his legs and helped manage his diabetes.  She added, “I talked with him the other day.  Sunday will be his first Father’s Day and he’ll spend it chasing after his foster kids.  If the Shriners hadn’t helped him, he’d have died.  Now he’s a Foster Parent.  Cool, isn’t it?”

I left Bandon, OR on Saturday under heavy skies.  I rode north along US 101 and the mist turned to rain, so I decided I might as well get over to Interstate 5.  I turned east at Reedsport on US 38, in time for their annual Chainsaw Sculpting Championships.  Chainsaw artists began a new piece, worked on a time clock with designated rest times, and will then be judged at the end of two days.  The work was incredible!  When I arrived, they were on a break and I strolled among the pieces, but in deference to my audiologist and pulmonologist, I didn’t stay long once the dust began to fly again.

The rains were steady for the rest of the day.  I am a Quaker and decided to go to Meeting in Portland on Sunday, so I slogged along Interstate 5 north and stopped for the night just south of Portland – at one of those motels where you don’t want to walk on the carpet barefooted and they use Fabreze by the gallon to prove the place is clean.

I got up this morning, Sunday, and rode on into Portland for Meeting – which was wonderful and just exactly what I needed for balance.  I’m sitting now in the office of the Meeting House while a new Friend Betsey is in a meeting regarding their outreach project to Nicaragua.  When she’s done, I’m going home with her; her husband Bruce is fixing us salmon for dinner.  I will stay with them for the night; tomorrow I head to the Portland Shriners and then north to Seattle and the Ronald McDonald House.

How am I holding up?  I surprised myself yesterday, for I had to admit I’m tired.  It takes a lot of focus to ride a motorcycle, especially when you’re in such varied and new terrain, on a big bike, and you’re an old woman 😉 Another good reason for a day sitting and hanging with a group of Quakers 😉 The bike is doing great, of course.  My confidence level with the bike seems to ebb and flow, though I’m riding well.  I don’t like negotiating heavy city traffic, but that’s a given for the next few days.  I’m looking forward to getting that second corner in Blaine – though it’s then a long, long ride across to Maine.  As my friend often says, “More than one thing can be true.”