And, then we went off for a 3-day bike tour! On a tandem, even!! Although we had a great time on this massive, borrowed bike, I don't think we're going to actively look for a touring tandem any time soon. As the stoker I got to look around at all the marvelous sights, including Steve's back.

Climbing mountains on a tandem was a slow, arduous task. Ira repeatedly climbed out of sight in front of us, then waited patiently at the summit for us to lumber through. The payoff, though, was a fast-paced descent. At times Ira was working his ass off in the big ring to keep pace with our rig. "Express elevator to hell" is how Steve described it. I had vague memories of a roller coaster ride.
















The first night we spent in the Tillamook State Park. It was beautifully mossy and moist. So moist we couldn't get a fire going that night, but the next morning Steve & I awoke to find Ira successful in an attempt at a blaze. Best Tuesday ever! We had a wholesome breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and regained our heat around the fire. Just down the hill was a creek that we were happy to access for cooking and washing water.







The second night was a total reversal in terms of comfort. Steve & I had decided to go soft and rent a cabin, and, oh my, it was great. Even though there was zero hot water when we each had our showers, the three of us were still giddy with delight to have a hot plate on which we fried some garlic bread. We took said bread down to the beach with some wine and walked in bliss.





























The third and final day of our trip started well with more oatmeal and coffee in the cabin. It was misty for the first couple hours, then the sky made way for some sunshine. We stopped for second breakfast at Alice's Restaurant (yeah, it's over the top) and ate soooo much food. Try putting eggs and hash browns in your gas tank!






















We made one more snack stop before the final push home and devoured some funky "performance" "food." When we got back to PDX Mary & Mike fed us well, and we slept like kitties.

Portland

Zine

Symposium!!









The view from our table was great. The best part of going to the symposium was being able to meet the people behind so many of our favorite zines. Someone said to me at some point, "There's so much creativity and talent in this room, it's hard to take it all in at once." Good thing it was a two-day event.





Our tabling neighbor was Clutch! One of our zine heroes.

If you're ever thinking about traveling by Amtrak, consider getting a sleeper for anything over 12 hours. The last leg of the trip we spent in coach (a total of around 20 hours). It was crude after two and a half days in a sleeper. Sure, it's expensive, but like one of our sleeper-car companions said, "The train is the destination."




Of course, there are lots of great bike shops in Portland. Citybikes is one of my favorites. There are so many women working there!! They have lots of used stuff, including a back room full of bins of well organized secondhand parts. We have yet to go to the Community Cycling Center, which is a community bike project of a similar breed as the Bike Library.





We got to spend some time with our friend Mary at the Japanese Garden where she is a gardener. I'm still stunned at all those shades of green.

Although we have a week left here, we're already feeling our time running out. The Zine Symposium is the biggest part of this weekend, and tomorrow we're riding to the coast for a few days of bicycle camping.

Sorry again to everyone who has been diligently checking in here. I've been spending some time away from the screen to finish up so many of my projects before leaving town. (Our neighbor's kind internet signal has also been weak, so it's not all self-sacrifice.)

It's difficult to keep an online presence when I've been working again on keeping a comic journal. Instead of thinking about how I will blog about my daily activities, I put my energy into a couple panels each evening. It's my preferred method of self-expression, but we all know the appeal of instantaneous personal updates.

The boys can usually sense when we are preparing for a trip, but our casual preparations today have been low-key enough to keep their suspicions to a minimum. They'll be just fine while we're gone, since our friend The Adult will be living here during that time. Maybe they'll miss Steve & me, but a food provider is a food provider. I'm sure they'll come to love The Adult as they love us.