Day 14: Eugene to Portland

Total mileage for the day- 128 miles
Total for the trip- 1082 miles

Last night was absolutely horrible. There really is no way around it. As I went to bed at the Eugene Whiteaker Hostel I had one bunkmate who had not come back to the dorm yet, but all was quiet, and the other guys who were staying in the next dorm were friendly and, well, pretty normal guys. That all changed in the middle of the night. A late-comer checked in and proceeded to make the hostel his party/crash pad.

God, he was awful. He came in at about 3 am, ridiculously hammered and proceeded to turn lights on, talk to himself or anyone that would listen, answer his phone and have whole conversations in the bathroom (someone finally went in and took his phone, throwing it down the stairs). He shook people in the dorm awake to ask them if they had a pen and paper to write down phone numbers, to request marijuana, and (most importantly) to inquire if the unfortunate sleeper had ever heard of the sleeping pills he was about to take, Triazadone(?). This medication, he assured us all, would "knock my a** out, they ain't even gonna be able to wake me up in the morning!". Things got pretty far out of hand, and he made a lot of enemies at the Eugene Whiteaker Hostel. Finally, he decided to take his meds and pass out ("I got like a 20-minute window of opportunity!"), after which he snored like a chainsaw for hours. Even repeated punching from his seriously annoyed bunkmates could not coerce him to turn over, and finally, as the sun was coming over the horizon, he FINALLY rolled over and quieted down. The worst part of it all was, as I got up and walked to the bathroom I saw that our new friend's boxers were ripped completely open and his backside exposed for all the hostel to see.

By this point, however, my other bunkmate had dressed and left, and my gear was packed and bike loaded. This morning was easily my earliest start of the whole trip. I was on the road by 6 am, and I would need all the daylight hours I could get. I had solidified my resolve to make it back home by sundown- a ride of well over a century. I didn't even check out of the Whiteaker having deciding I would call, check out AND complain all at once- later in the day.

The Willamette Valley is a very attractive area but honestly, I took very few pictures. The sky threated to rain all day, overcast and spitting on me sporadically. I stopped to have lunch in Corvallis, to munch on roadside blackberries outside of Salem and to mow a candy bar in Newburg. As I got into the southwest side of Portland, the area got rougher, hillier and far less attractive. Also, it was full-on raining at this point.

I rode on and, even with (maybe) two hours of sleep, I still felt strong. When I got into Tigard I was elated to see things that I recognized, although getting into Portland from that direction on a loaded bike is not fun. Barbur Boulevard was my route until I got over the west hills, and I was so happy to see the city as I came over the ridge. It was nice to see people riding around on bikes, something I hadn't seen much of for the past two weeks.

Ev had been waiting for me in front of the apartment, but she was distracted by a neighbor and her dog, so she did not get to take her sneaky snapshot of my arrival as she had planned. Just as well, I was wet and tired- and a little cold. It had been a long, wet ride, and I thought of how happy I was to be home as we made our way upstairs...