Three weeks out

May 9, 2021

It’s Mother’s Day, and we celebrate it together with another Sauvie Sunday, to be followed by an outdoor Italian meal at Serrato Restaurant.

With only about four months until we hope to be crossing the Dolomites and entering Italy, we don’t want our Italian eating skills to go stale. We really should be trying to find Dutch and German restaurants too, since half of the European half of the tour will be spent there; but the best we can come up with is occasionally going Dutch at Justa Pasta with Elizabeth.

With only three weeks left in our two month Portland residency, I’m feeling torn by competing priorities. I’m still theoretically on a quest to video descents of hills around Portland, though none made it into the schedule this week. Also, I’m trying to stay in good enough shape so that I can keep up with fitness fanatic Rocky when we set off for New York.

And I’m trying to make good use of our down time to chip away at tasks that can only or best be done at home, such as finally scanning in the last of the hardcopy photos that have been stashed away in our storage unit for the last three weeks. And both of us are chipping away at our predeparture task lists: doctors and dentists appointments, equipment checks, haircuts, driving lessons with Elizabeth, and starting in on the Great Sorting where we separate the few belongings that will go with us on the road from those bound for storage until we return this winter.

And, of course, we’re both making use of our best chance in the next half year for some personal alone time. With over 150 days coming up where we’ll be in close daily contact, we’re taking plenty of time now to change the routine while we can. Rachael’s been off on solo bike rides every other day, and I’m mixing less ambitious rides with coffee dates and a considerable amount of just loafing around.

We had big plans last Monday, starting off on the 60 mile ride east to Chanticleer Point. Only minutes from home though Rachael heard back on a medical appointment she’s been trying to schedule. We returned home, and by the time everything was resolved it felt like it was too late in the day for such a long ride. Maybe next week?

After all the mornings I’ve spent in Caffe Umbria, it’s amazing I’ve never noticed their elegant coffee brewer before.

A last look for a few weeks at Rachael’s folder. It’s going back into the suitcase today.

New haircut! Rachael’s not sure that she cares for this photo though because it shows her quintuple chin.

New license plates! What luck that they issued us a number that will be easy to remember.

New routers! We finally settled on the Garmin Edge 1030+, and so far are very pleased with them. A big improvement over the bulky old 64S we’ve followed for many years.

The last of the old photo albums is off to the recycle bin. I finally scanned the last of them in, ending a project I started three years ago.

There are a lot of memories in those old binders. Here we are in 1988 on our honeymoon, after biking up Mount Constitution on Orcas Island.

Rachael (on the right), riding in 1989 with a friend on her first century, the Covered Bridge Century down in Linn County. She’s on her Bridgestone, her first adult bicycle which we bought her just the summer before. In a few weeks we’ll depart for a month-long tour of maritime Canada and New England.

August, 1989, just back from Canada. Here she’s on the Oregon coast showing off her Bridgestone and some wild hair.

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Jen RahnLove seeing the old photos!!

Glad you've taken the time to scan them so you can include a couple once in awhile.
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2 years ago

Mark HoffmannHi, Scott - I continue to enjoy following your travels, and in doing so I continue to be amazed at the quality of your photos. Do you have a step-by-step system and preferred software for cropping, adjusting color and contrast, resizing and whatever else you do to make your photos look so good, or are we seeing photos straight off your Lumix?

I'm looking forward to your route across the eastern US. I see on the RWGPS routes that you may overnight in Abbotsford, WI, and though I've only driven through that one, I live in Abbotsford, BC and have always had a soft spot for the Wisconsin town. Then, for your leg from Green Bay, it appears that your northern turnaround is in Sister Bay, on the Door County peninsula. Just before there, in Little Sister Bay, our family has a cabin, and I know the area well. It appears you may be overnighting in Sister Bay, on a Friday. A good breakfast stop would be at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant in the heart of town. (However, on a Saturday morning it could get crowded after 8:15 a.m.)

Should there be a hot spell in mid-June, and if the time of day were right for you, I recommend leaving Hwy 42 (if you have time) for a stop at Pebble Beach in Little Sister Bay, a public beach covered with smooth white pebbles at the head of a gorgeous bay. Great place for a quick dip, or just skipping stones if it's flat calm. I copied and then undid part of your route map, and then created an alternate Sister Bay portion to be clear about these options: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36005601

The best to you both in your days of final prep! - Mark
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Mark HoffmannAbbotsford! I remember staring across the border at your town from east of Sumas last spring, wishing we could bike across. I wonder how long until the border opens up again.

Thanks for the input on Door County. I noticed that it had its own Abbotsford too. I’m really looking forward to visiting it, but we don’t have a real plan or itinerary for what we’ll do there. The map is really just a suggestion or idea, and one we’ll firm up when it gets closer. Hopefully we won’t have trouble finding lodging!

Regarding the photos, I’d say that nearly all of them are edited to one degree or another - certainly at least to crop them. I tend to include a larger field of view on most photos and then crop them down afterwards. The majority of them reflect attempts to improve on exposure issues too, to they to bring out the subject I’m most interested in. I’m just using the photo editor built in with the iPad though, whatever it is. Like with the camera itself, I’m a pretty unsophisticated photographer and photo editor.
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2 years ago

Mark HoffmannTo Scott AndersonI only wish I were as unsophisticated a photographer as you are! I think you have a natural talent for seeing things well, and also for recording very well what you see. Thanks, I always enjoy looking.
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2 years ago