Day: 2
Location: Monmouth, OR - Leaburg, OR
Miles: 88
Total: 203
I hit the road without breakfast at 8:40 this morning. I need to start getting up earlier... I got lucky this morning and happened to be passing through the city of Corvallis as they were having a farmers market/street fair! The atmosphere was so quaint and humble that I spent almost 2 hours there, filming and taking it all in. I'm actually super excited to edit the shots I got here together because I think they'll make a fantastic little sequence. I had brought a yo-yo with me on my trip in the hopes of getting really good at it in my down time, but I haven't had the chance yet. At the fair however there where two kids doing some monstrous yo-yo tricks trying to raise money to go to yo-yo nationals. In fact, there were tons of performers and street musicians that made the event really quite lovely. I felt pretty guilty for spending so much time there but I justified it with the fact that I was traveling and had all summer to be out on the road after all.
The next 40 or so miles were mind numbing. I passed through a the town called Harrisburg where I asked a local kid where the post office was and he responded, "I don't know." I asked, "Library?" and he said, "Maybe." This nasty little interaction left me quite bitter and found me interpreting everyone's actions as hostile. Headwinds and boredom set in and the magnitude of the trip was starting to dawn on me. Things were slow going and I just wasn't feeling it. Beside for the 1 mile I got to draft behind a tractor, I was bumming hard.
Around 4 in the afternoon I had only put about 60 miles under my belt and was debating where or not to ride into Eugene, which was only little bit off route. I stopped in the quaint little town of Coburg just north of the city and had by far the best burger I've ever eaten at Chief's, a local restaurant where the owner had taken a big interest in my trip and chatted me up for a little while. He explained that Eugene was where hippies went to die (an interesting sounding place if you ask me), nevertheless I followed his advice and ended up bypassing the city.
I couldn't be happier with that decision. As soon as I left Chief's, the sun came out and everything seemed right again. At this point I was slowly approaching the Sierra Cascades which I would be crossing the next day. The ride up the McKenzie River Valley was simply delightful. Gone was the grogginess from earlier in the day, and I felt great pedaling through the wonderful scenery. I rolled in to a small village called Leaburg around mile 88 where I asked an old man who was walking his dog where a good place to set up a tent would be. He said that no one would care if I set up behind the Library, so that's what I did.
Today would be my first experience with just how dynamic my days would become. When you're riding 10-14 hours a day, things change. Almost everyday would turn out to be easily divided into clear cut sections based on my mood, the weather, and geography.
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