Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 17:38:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Zander
Subject: RoadKill Report 22June98

Hello from (presently) sunny Olympia, Washington!
Once again, welcome to all new recipients. Special thanks to Bob in Newport for the tire and help and all you guys at RoseNet for hooking me up to send out the last report! And, although they don't have email, thanks to Sid, Ann and Ann in Amacher Park for your help!

You'll notice this report (and future ones) is much shorter than in the past. Between my daily journal, postcards, letters, emails and this, my time spent writing has gotten too much. Something had to give and, it's the RoadKill Report.
From your responses, about 1/3 of you will be dissapointed at the shorter length. Sorry. Maybe you can read each report twice?
About 1/3 of you will be overjoyed at the shorter length. Please keep your celebrations quiet!
And, about one third of you are very apathetic and never email me. So I don't expect any feedback about this change either...

Since this is a new format, any suggestions on organization or content would be appreciated.

Time frame: 16June98 to 22June98
Route: Roseburg, Oregon out to the coast then north through Astoria, Oregon, over the bridge and into Washington to Olympia via Raymond, Washington.
Distance: a lot.

16June98
Rest day, as I told you before. I spent the day eating, sending emails and doing laundry.

17June98
Said goodbye to Sid, Ann and Ann (their 13 year old granddaughter). Ann gave me some poems she wrote... can you say teenage crush? Riding out to the coast was nice, rolling hills and not too much of a headwind. Once I got to Reedsport, I entered the headwind-from-hell. I fought this wind all the way into Washington! YUK!

18June98 to 19June98
Rode up the Oregon coast - Although really beautiful and lots of spectacular views, it all kind of blends together. Maybe it's the wind, maybe it's the sameness in the beauty - kind of like riding through a dessert - it all kind of looks the same after a while.
The 19th is memorable b/c it rained all day. Well, according to Bob it wasn't raining so, it was precipitating all day. Either way I was wet as a drowned rat most of the day. Highlight of the day was the Thai restaurant I found for dinner. Dom-Ka-Gai (coconut chicken curry) and tons of rice and I was a very, very happy drowned rat!

20June98
Crossed into Washington today! Yipee!
Dried out my clothes and sleeping bag in a laundromat - unfortunately couldn't do the same for my tent and groundcover.
Just before Astoria I broke a spoke so I rode into Astoria to eat and fix my spoke. A guy did that and trued my wheel (the cause of the broken spoke was the last guy who trued my wheel!) for only $5! Nice guy, neh?
After that I found the Columbia Cafe and ordered the "Chef's Surprise" - even the Chef doesn't know what it is until he cooks it! I asked for it "hot" - well, I'd say medium is how it came out. Just doesn't compare with good thai food.
The bridge across the Columbia river (in Astoria) is very long (5 miles) and very narrow. it seems even longer and narrower when you are fighting a gusty gale force wind.
Pulled into Raymond a tired but dry cyclist.

21June98
Rode from Raymond to Olympia. It was a very easy day for me - my first taste of the tailwind that'll carry me all the way back to Philadelphia. I rode 72 miles but it felt like 40. My average speed was 17.18 - the fastest of the trip to date. Made me feel like I was on a motorcycle!!
Southwest Washington consists of lots and lots of tree farms. The recently "harvested" ones look like a disaster area, the older ones look almost like old-growth and there's everything in-between. Up here this is a very touchy subject. My personal feelings are that tree farming is a lot better than yearly till farming or suburban subdivisions!

22June98
Briefly toured Olympia, ate a lot, emailed, ate a lot and will sleep a lot too! :-)

Coming soon: Eric does Seattle! Jezebel carries Eric over the Cascades and, Jezebel falls for a mountain bike while Eric just plain falls!

Until next time....

Z-YA!

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