Day #44: P-Town & The S-Word

Today's Route: Sublimity, OR to Portland, OR (69 miles)
Total Trip Miles: 2,006

We passed 2,000 on the odometer today. Woohoo!

We also passed through more gorgeous scenery on our ride though Oregon this morning.

A lone tree proudly stands by itself.

A colorful pasture.

As you likely recall, yesterday we decided that we would take a different route to the Candian border; we would parallel the I-5 corridor. As we traced our fingers along the corridor, northward from Sublimity, the word "Portland" was like a flashing neon sign. It was the perfect distance away for our next day's riding goal.

No visit to Portland would feel right without seeing my buddy, Jake. I lived with Jake on his sailboat in Portland for a few months in the spring of 2013, and Jake joined me for ten days of my cross-country bike trip last summer. Jake is a master of puns and an all-around swell guy.

Yesterday afternoon, I emailed Jake asking if we might be able to crash on his boat. In typical Jake style, the answer was "Absolutely." Sweet!

We passed through the adorable town of Silverton this morning, where we spent some time hanging out at Main St. Bistro and Coffee. If you ever pass through Silverton, you must stop at this establishment. It is an all-around solid coffee shop. The owner has definitely poured a lot of heart and soul into making this place the perfect place to chill.

I usually don't get whipped cream on my hot chocolate,
but I felt as though I deserved it this morning.

We had planned on sitting at the seats in the window, until the coffee shop owner convinced us that sitting in the couch would be more comfortable.

On the bright side, sitting in the comfy, deep, soft leather seats was a real treat. On the not-so-bright side, sitting in the comfy couch did nothing to encourage Alex and me to hop back on the bikes and keep pedaling. Thankfully we had "Jake" as our excuse to pry our tooshies from the couch. Back to the stiff, leather bike saddles we went.

With some more pedaling, we arrived in Portland, at the headquarters of Branium Studios, a gaming company that Jake co-founded a few years back.

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We got a quick tour of Branium's super sweet office, which is located in the heart of Portland's Pearl District.

The pillows are the icons for Branium's games.

Sitting in the bestest, mostest comfortablest chair.

The three of us then biked to Jake's sailboat, which is docked at Hayden Island -- the little island that sits in the middle of the Columbia River, on I-5, between Oregon and Washington.

On the ride to the island, I saw the S-word on a sign and began to salivate. Seeing the S-word means that we are getting closer! As Randy put it in a text earlier today, Alex and I are both like horses heading straight to the barn.

Seeing the S-word made me salivate.

By the time we arrived at the marina, my salivation glands had returned to their normal functioning. But only for a brief moment, as the glands again began producing moisture in double-time at the sight of Jake's beautiful sailboat.

Jake's home, a Hunter 38.

Before stowing our gear on board, Jake and Alex rinsed away the road grime from our panniers.

The panniers get a shower.

Our gear dries out on deck.

After our panniers got a shower, it was our turn for a shower.

Once all was spiffy clean, we headed out for an evening sail on the Columbia River.

Captain Jake at the helm. "Look ma, no hands!"

Since Jake and Alex are both avid sailors, I figured I'd let them have their fun maneuvering the sails on this outing. I'd just sit back and munch on snacks, offering my guidance when needed.

Tacking. I just love the facial expressions on these two sailors.

Salem, Jake's kitty, comes up on deck to check out how everyone is doing.

The winds were pretty tame, and so we didn't get the opportunity to do any heavy-duty sailing. Nonetheless, it was fun to watch all the others boats out on the river as they competed in the weekly Tuesday night races. They did their best to be speedy given the low winds.

Lots of sailboats racing on the river.

The winds were just barely stronger than the current. As we weren't making a whole lot of headway, Jake took us on a tour of the floating homes and houseboats on the south side of the island.

I love looking at boat names. My favorite boat name from the evening was "Bat Guano Loco." I'm telling you, some boat names are just bat shit crazy!

It was so good to see you, Jake, and to spend time again with you out on the mighty Columbia. Thanks for your awesome hospitality on our quick visit to P-Town.