Written by Dave

Day 4–Sept 28 – 9 Miles, 770 feet climbing

We made it back home to Portland. All is well!

Some quick thoughts on our trip.

McMenamins is doing very well. The Elks Temple in Tacoma last night was typical of the other McMenamins that we stayed at. At the Elks Temple, they have 4 bars and all of them were packed. Lots of people were out enjoying a night on the town. We had to wear earplugs to sleep as one of the bars had two live bands – playing Boston and Styx revival concerts. It was too hopping for our tired legs and heads. The other McMenamins, while lacking rock hero cover bands, all had pubs that were just as busy. And they only had a few hotel rooms open on any given night.

The beer at McMenamins is good – Hammerhead being our favorite. The bulk of the food menu is mostly the same but each venue had some sort of local special dish or two. If we really tried to make a 60 day journey to every location, I think we’d have to eat offsite a few times. They make a nice burger, but we wouldn’t want to eat them every night for 60 days.

The last time we rode between Portland and Seattle (1992), there was about 100 million folks less living in the USA. Trucks and cars were generally smaller and people didn’t have smart phones to distract them. We rode 4 days on this trip and never really felt super remote. If we want that feeling, I think we need to head east of the Cascades. But then, there are very few McMenamins on the east side so compromises would have to be made.

Amtrak was fantastic. Platform crews helped us load and unload our bikes. They were very clear in their instruction and everyone working on the train was more than courteous. It was quite nice that while on the train, all of the announcements were perfectly audible and comprehensible. The good folks running the trains in Sydney might take a few notes on that.

As for Portland and being home… As with many larger cities, the homeless population is a difficult problem to address. Particularly around the Portland train station, it is a bit overwhelming and does not create a good impression of the city. It’s sad to see many people struggling with addiction and mental health issues that result in them living in unsafe conditions on the street. But the city is not hell or “war ravaged,” as some would have you believe.  We rode our bikes from the train station in central downtown Portland to our home in SW Portland, relatively close to the “SW Portland war zone,” and we saw zero evidence of Portland being “war ravaged”.  Problems exist, like in every large city for sure, but “war ravaged”, no.

If the federal government wants to provide services to Portland and the state of Oregon right now, we could use more funding for addiction and mental health services. How about building some affordable housing? We could maybe use more federal help fighting some of the large wildfires further south in the state. We could maybe ask that the federal government stop threatening to withhold some $350 million dollars in pre-approved funding for projects because we see diversity as a value, not a threat.

Really, we don’t have to agree on everything to be able to co-exist peacefully. Let’s maybe look at taking the enormous amount of money it’s going to cost to deploy federal troops in Portland for 60 days and work with us to fund programs that can have a lasting impact long after the humvees have departed.

Overall, it was a nice trip/mini-adventure. It was fun having light bikes without too much gear. It would have been nice to camp a few nights to get more away from the rat race. McMenamins was a fun trip focus and they took good care of us. We could have used more fitness for the riding part but then again, we’re older now. That’s it, until the next adventure… Peace out from Peaceful Portland!