Greetings ES peoples of the Planet Earth!
I am presently in Bend, Oregon resting up for tomorrow. I have access to a PC, so here's a bit of backfill...
Tuesday:
Redmond was rainy when I left at 11:15 AM; the drizzly type that wouldn't go away - day after day. By the time I made it to Renton the weather yielded to just being cloudy and damp. Picking up the Valley Hwy (181) was terribly busy and at times scary as I was in deep heavy traffic - and hitting about every dang light. I stopped in Sumner to check on the bike and trailer where I was detecting rubbing. There wasn't much i could do here so I kept going. Got to Spanaway and stopped at a Taco del Mar for a quick meal. Evened up spending close to an hour repacking the trailer to remove weight off the back of the bike - and a lot of the source of wobble.
EDIT: Added the first image of the road trip. I took this in front of the Taco Del Mar in Spanaway.
Finally after 60 miles I was out of the metro area and hitting actual rural roads where I could open it up for speed and cruising. About mile 78 in Tenino I hit a wall and had to pull off for a goodly amount of time. This is when I decided Centralia would be a wise conclusion for the day; it was 30 miles away. Having plenty of pack, I put cruise to 33 mph and went for it. Corked around the center of town contemplating my options - I ran into a local who worked at a regular bike shop and he was completely blown away by the ebike. After a spell of friendly conversation he lines me up with a good place to stay so I go. The Ferryman's is known for thrifty cost, however the manager upon seeing my ebike gave me the highest possible discount and I snagged the room for $49.
Wednesday:
Next day I finally get on the road again at 11:15 AM (yes, twice now). Being rural all the way to Longview I was making great time. Weather was partly cloudy. Beautiful scenic drives under deciduous canopy. Stopped at Castle Rock after about 40 miles for 50 minutes to rest, eat, and tinker with the ebike trying to reduce the rubbing.
Rested, headed on in to Longview. Stopped at the Les Schwab Tires for water break and one last walk-around inspection before heading over the 2-lane bridge over the Columbia River. Midway - whilst trying to manage my station in line and dealing with the wind, a toothless road worker with one of the stop/go sighs said something to me about giving me a heads-up; on the far side of the bridge I discovered what he meant: He had stopped traffic for 1/2 mile behind me to give me a lot of lead off the bridge! That was very cool 8)
EDIT: Looking back towards Longview from the Oregon side; this is the 2-lane bridge that I used to cross over the Columbia River.
Coming into Portland, the US 30 roadway provided at most times ample room, and for much of the way I had a partial tailwind. However the last 10 miles are pretty scary as there is hardly any room to manage with big huge trucks blowing by. I nearly missed the last intersection and almost wound up on I-405 as US 30 merges. Cut over to Front Street, finally Burnside Bridge (I think) over the Willamette and into this strange gridlock. At one intersection where bridge traffic merges onto MLK Blvd, some nut cuts me off on the right and I spill right into the roadway with another bike right behind tumbling nearly on top. Clearly a foul! Finally though - I wiggle and weaseled my way through the gridlock to find
dnmum's pad.
Thursday:
I must humbly thank my good friend
dnmun for his kind and sincere regards and help; he is truly a great friend to have! When I left - I headed south on 26th till I got to the golf course but from there I soon became off-track, but found the trail again. The bike trail was too bumpy for my speed, so I moved to city streets and brailed my way eastward and sadly made a poor choice and wound up climbing more hills than I had planned. However all things are "on the wheel" of Life and everything evens out - and it did a bit later:
About 40 miles out - I hit this little spot called Welches, and I pulled off at
The Fly Fishing Shop where two little girls were out selling Lemonade to the passing public. As I pulled in the parking lot - dead tired - I espied an outlet! Short story is I went in and asked for the manager and told him I'm traveling cross-country on an ebike, and would he mind if I plugged in. He says
"Are you going to buy some Lemonade?" of which I profusely and most adamantly said that I would - and I did. Ate a Cliff Bar and sat there for 45 minutes sucking up a whole Volt with
dnmum's keenly wise addition - the extension cord.
EDIT: OK - so how could anyone resist NOT having a glass of cool crisp lemonade? :wink:
From there I proceeded up the hill and over the first pass. It was about 56 miles to the top. I stopped for 15 minutes cos I was going to post status on ES but my dang phone kept rebooting - so I just took the picts and moved on - times a wasting. The next downslope is when I think I set a new personal speed record: 42.8 mph.
EDIT: Mt. Hood as viewed from the first Pass.
Next pass was about 1/2 hour later and slightly higher. Ebrake never did work for me, but I made some great time all the way down that hill. About Mile 85 (slightly more than 1/2 way) I stopped for a water break - it was dang hot! <insert picture>. From there I proceeded to Warm Springs thinking I would stop. I kept getting shooting pain through my right foot (seat was the culprit) and the toes would go numb unless I wiggled them. Anyways - long 4 miles down into Warm Springs - but decided to solder on to Madras.
I put the cruise on Grandpa at 24 mph and dropped gears and did the thrifty climb out of the river canyon the whole time concerned about power management. At Mile 101 I thought to myself - "OK self, we only have 60 more miles to go". Coming into Madras is a modest downhill; there was gravel on the bike easement and I hit it about the time someone passed me - causing fishtail - and I damn near lots it right there into the lava cobbles that Oregon likes to use to delineate the margins of highways - read: Death for bikers. I made the save and pulled off at the first convenient place to eat - which was Sonic; never ate there before. It's now about 6 PM. Scarfed down some food, left a message with
Farfle and told him I'll be another 2 hours. The pack was at +57.0 VDC, I had a good tailwind, and only 40 miles to go.
The country was beautiful if you like high desert and farming and volcanoes. Apologies - no time for pics; I am racing against the clock to beat the sun.
Next town was Redmond, OREGON. I left Redmond, WASHINGTON only two days before. Kept on motoring - no breaks. Finally found the road to
Farfle's and got to within one lot of his location - but my cell service let me down and I could fetch the address, so I picked a neighbor and they helped me locate
Farfle once my cell service came back.
Thus at 8:30 PM - after a small 1/2 hour delay - I arrived at
Farfle's.
Stats:
- 162.7 miles in just under 6 hours driving time. Overall - about 8.5 hours with all stops and delays.
- Pack Voltage: Started at +63.3V and ended at +55.7V; includes 1 volt picked up at Welches.
I finally got the pack on the charger at 9 PM, but out of fear of overcharging I pulled the plug at 11:30 PM.
Friday:
Got up at 5 AM and restarted charging. About 9 AM we headed over to
"The Shop" and
Farfle made me one of his custom clamp-on torque arms for the left side. It is really nice work. In the meantime I removed the ebrake and replaced it with two mini switches that I brought along as spare parts. Got the whole thing installed with deluxe fasteners - placing the ebrake on the top of the stack this time. Tested it - and the dang switch flakes again! Brake light works - but the ebrake won't engage. Now it's 12:30 PM - and I still need to top-off before I leave - although together
Farfle on his recumbent eTrike and I head to his place of work:
Bend Electric Bikes.
EDIT: Farfle's Shop with Farfle showing off his cool recumbent; my rig is to the right.
EDIT: Where Farfle works. Note that the business is moving to a new location soon so check with the website for the latest information.
Farfle works at the only EBike shop in town. The saga of charging took the rest of the afternoon. However there is lots of time to visit and learn and play with Pedalics and see the wondrous social river activity. I swear if I could live in any other part of the world - even for a few years - it would be Bend, Oregon! At the shop we replaced the Magura Throttle for another Halls Throttle. The Magura has a sweet spot - and the rest of it is dead zone; kinda pesky without the throttle mods which open up the spectrum. By 5:30 PM - no amount of positive thinking could convince me I was going to make Klamath Falls by midnight on a Friday evening, sooo...
I get to take a rest-day here in Bend - and I have no complaints. My host is of the finest kind, just as was
dnmun. ES peoples sure have a lot of heart, and I humbly thank you most earnestly!
I have traveled just over 400 miles so far. Klamath Falls is a little over 140 miles away, and there is about a 1,500 foot climb out of Bend in the first 10 miles - then mostly flat after that. I think it could make for a nice early morning speed run, Ja! :wink:
It might be a while before I can report again. The destinations that lay ahead are:
Saturday - Klamath Falls, OR
Sunday - Burney, CA
Monday - Greenville, CA
Wednesday - Graeagle/Johnsville, CA
Thank you for all your support!
Cousin
KF
Edits: Included missing business info.