2015 Transam Trail Days 38-44

Days 38-41, 9/24-9/27: Portland with Jason

As I mentioned, I listed my bike for sale in the Portland section of Craigslist and got three hits by morning. I listed it at $2,800 and hoped to get $2,500 for it. All three people that contacted me were set on $2,000. After talking to the first guy and calling a dealer, I found that replacing the headset bearing was going to cost around $300. The first guy that came to look at it went over it in great detail and found two holes that got punched in the exhaust near the rear wheel, seeping oil around the oil filter cover and the tail light stopped working. He was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to get the bike registered in Oregon due to very stringent emissions laws and picky inspectors. He passed. I scheduled two more guys for the next morning, hoping to have it sold quickly. That night I cleaned the exhaust and plugged the holes with quick steel, took the tail light apart and found a loose connection, removed the GPS and mount, and cleaned up the seeping oil and reseated the oil filter o ring. I also had a fourth guy contact me and negotiate $2,200. He was going to come by if the other two didn’t buy it first.

The next morning my first appointment canceled so I slotted in that fourth guy for $2,200. He came right over, rode the bike loved it, bought it and took off with it.

I was truly sad to see the bike go but I knew I didn’t want to do long distance touring on it again so the sale made sense. Good bye and thanks for the service.

In the meantime, Jason and I spent Wednesday walking all over Portland. First up was a trip to REI so I could buy a shirt that I could swing dance in. A quick trip in and out and I was good to go.

We hit Voodoo Donuts which was recommend to both of us by friends back home. They had a cool theme going on and a great selection of donuts.

We shot back to the hostel to shower and change clothes and took off for the dance. While it was “only” a weeknight dance, they had two live bands with a break in between. The first band was fantastic. I really enjoyed the way the musicians played off on each other. The second band was also quite nice after they settled in together. It was fun to dance with new follows and I was glad we went.

Back to the hostel, shower, more donuts, crash.

Thursday we hit a bubble tea place for breakfast. I had a fruit slushy with tapioca balls. We eventually wandered downtown to check things out including lunch at food pods (basically an immovable version of food trucks).

Friday we had a large breakfast. Jason hit a spa/therapy place while I sold my bike. Then we headed into town to Ground Kontrol, a classic arcade. Games were actually $0.25 just like the old days. I played about $3.00 of Robotron to get the high score and a game of Frogger to take that one down. Burger Time and Donkey Kong didn’t go so well, neither did Galaga.

There was a bookstore called Powells that was really nice. It made me miss the old days of good book stores. Next time I’m in town I’ll set aside a whole day for the place.

I rented a car to get back to Santa Rosa, grabbing it on Saturday, a day early, so we could drive around Oregon a bit. We took off down the Columbia River Gorge to enjoy the scenery and hike a couple of falls. We drove all the way across the mountains and to Bend, then back to the hostel for a total of 13 hours out and about.

Crossing over to the desert side of Oregon opened up expansive views and new formations and natural flora.

We very much enjoyed the variety of Oregon. I enjoyed getting out of the city, which to me is a total assault of the senses.

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Days 42-44, 9/28-9/30: Back to Santa Rosa and Raleigh

I left on the long drive to Santa Rosa Sunday morning. I dropped Jason off near a museum he wanted to check out and noticed what looked like a rowing competition about to get underway.

The drive to Santa Rosa took 11 long hours. It was an easy drive with minimal traffic until the last two hours. I checked out the cool eclipse of the moon on the way. Arriving at Pradeep’s late at night I made stir fry and crashed into bed.

Monday and Tuesday I watched movies, ordered RAM and a SSD to upgrade Denise’s MacBook, finished another book, went for walks, and watched more movies.

Wednesday morning I will be up at 4:45am to drop off the rental car, get a shuttle to SFO and fly home, arriving at 10:40pm. I’m more than ready to be back home to see Denise and get back to my normal routine. I’m especially excited to have good, home cooked meals again!

Thanks to everyone for following along and helping when I needed it. This has been an awesome trip, ticking off yet another of the dreams I’ve had for many years!

See all of you soon. I will have a new adventure lined up for Spring. What oh what will it be?