Shall I begin with rain again? Or maybe the moments without rain!
One moment without rain was fortunate during Vickie's flat tire repair ;'-), The major other moment --- we had sunshine while we were in the tavern having our lunch! And in between those two things we got totally soaked in a very heavy shower that lasted for about three miles before it began to taper. The tavern for lunch wasn't just for eating -- it was for drying out.
But first -- the beginning of the route took us through some nice neighborhoods in that ever present mist that became drizzle.
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| A little color to brighten up this gray day. |
Our ride today took us by the University of Portland again, from the other direction. So we did a little loop on the grounds before continuing on.
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| Beautiful trees line the driveway entrance. |
Our intention was to continue across the slough along a foot/bike bridge and onto the slough trail. We had seen the "bridge closed" sign that said it would reopen on 4/29. Curious, we continued on to see if maybe we could scoot around some barriers or something, as often happens with a bike. But...
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| ...we had to turn around and look for another way. |
Vickie found us an alternative way to get across the slough on her phone map app. The alternate route took us onto some industrial area roads and that is where we think Vickie picked up the industrial "tack" that ran right through her tire, her tube and to the wheel rim.
We were heading to Kelly Point Park for an overview of the confluence of the Columbia and Wilamette Rivers.
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| Squinting into sun! |
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| The ship is heading out on the Columbia. The tug in leaving the Wilamette. |
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| This is where Lewis & Clark got confused. |
We had our moment of sun while looking over the rivers, took the trail all around and through the park, and rejoined our route on the bikeway/sidewalk along a highway. There was traffic, but at least we were not riding on the road.
In just a few moments the deluge hit us and we were in full hard rain for several miles. Cold, wet and hungry, we found a tavern that served food. Walking through the parking lot to the entrance of an old building, it looked like a place where you might "knock three times and tell 'em Joe sent you".
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| Bartender said we could put our bikes in the enclosed patio. And with the sun coming out again we considered eating out here. But we were too cold from our rain episode. |
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| The bar had some decent choices for food also ;-) |
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| There were about half a dozen regulars at the bar. |
After our comfort food of pulled pork sandwiches with a side of mac 'n cheese we were at least warm if not totally dry. The five more miles of our return trip retraced some of our outgoing route as we cut it a bit short due to that detour that would not allow us on the slough trail going the "other" way either.
Blue sky came out as we neared the car. We pass through some to the Port of Portland area which explains the truck traffic.
Another day, another ride in the rain. Glad we did I it, no need to do this one again either. Both of us are a little underwhelmed with the bike rides around Portland. Lots of highway riding, big trucks and not a lot of scenery. The in-city bike infrastructure is definitely a plus for Portland, and we will be on some of those roadways tomorrow as we do the short waterfront loop before heading home.
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That was a very nice bar and I was glad you got almost died up when you finished eating. ....Some beautiful flower pictures and I think the pink flowering trees might have been Cherry blossoms?
ReplyDeleteYou are a trooper riding in so much rain.
I knew you would like the flowers Meta! Yes -- cherry blossom trees. The bar was quite nice for our lunch stop. Glad we troopered along through the rain ;'-). Thanks for you comments.
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