Date:         Sun, 1 Jul 2007 22:41:11 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Subject:      ~400 great miles today, round Oregon..
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In the Inline 4 powered 84 'topless' camper..Wonderful rig, this Van...
  Today's trip was just what I had in mind when I bought the van..Up at 5am
and out the door by 6, all my bicycle racing gear already packed, dog in,
horses fed.
   A beautiful summer morning as I headed west down I-84 along the Columbia
River Gorge and south at Portland.  Down another Superslab, I-5, to Eugene
for a 50-mile bicycle road race..
  Easy cruising at 70-75, armrests down, coffee in hand.   Get to the
staging area for the bike race, just southwest of Eugene, an elementary
school parking lot, and I gear-up in comfort.  Nobody grossed-out by seeing
a neckid man changing into lycra..Cold energy-drink in the Dometic and
Gatoraide for after the race..Running water in the sink to wash the salt out
of my remaining hair and off my face...Couple of nice sautéed-in-butter
bagels and away back toward home..
  Top off the tank (got 24.2mpg) and decide..hey, it's early, I'll go back
another way..So, from Eugene I head east up the McKenzie river drainage over
Santiam pass towards Bend..Nice to return to an alpine setting for a few
hours.
  Beautiful country.  Saw every kinda vehicle imaginable..Many Pri-ii(would
the be the plural of Prius?)  A HUGE H-2 Screaming-yellow Hummer with
oversize tires, blacked out windows, light bars up the Gazoo..Vanity
plate.."Big-something.."  People seemed to be 'snickering' at that dude
rather than being 'impressed'...or maybe they were funnin on me in my old
bus..
Then, we (me and Jake, the dog)  turned north along the back side of  the
Cascades.  The volcanic peaks were spectacular!  At one time, I could see
every one from Rainer (which is near Seattle) to Jefferson, which is south
of Mt Bachelor..about midway down Oregon state....Mounts...Hood, Adams,
Jefferson, St. Helens, Bachelor, 3 Fingers, and more..
  The driving in the mountains and on the grades was good, also.  As long as
no body did the "signal right, turn left" deal (saw a few) it was easy to
hold 65 and hard to avoid 85 on the downhills..
  A little windy on the east slope making one handed driving a "not"..but I
felt quite at home in the 'bus-lean' position..brought back memories of my
old split window..
  No runs no drips no errors..
  Oh, I finished 4th in my bike race, too.  I'll unpack tomorrow, at least
the dirty stuff...
  Don Hanson