17 Oregon- Beauty and the Beasties

25 06 2009

Check out the wheels-3000 miles across the US; peddling down Hwy 1

Above is friend Bo Zoeller from the Netherlands. He travels by this unusual bicycle. He is also traveling the Coastal Highway.

BEAUTY AND THE BEASTIES
Astoria is the first town south of Cape Dissappointment along Highway 101. It’s in Oregon. Astoria is a beautiful town laid out on a mountainside overlooking the Mouth of the Columbia and Pacific. You may remember Governor Arnold’s movie; “Kindergarten Cop”? Many of the scenes were filmed in Astoria.

Astoria was also hometown of a friend and neighbor of ours, when we lived in Atlanta, Peggy Oaks. Peggy was a beauty. Peggy was a modern woman. (Remember the song Woman: W-O-M-A-N?) That’s Peggy; attractive, capable, home remodeler and home maker, nurse, Vietnam vet.

The last time Sondra and I saw Peggy was at an AIA Convention in San Francisco; in the mid nineties. We were taking a taxi together, deep in conversation when the Driver, looking back in the mirror to Peggy, interrupts with “That’s Giorgio you have on isn’t it? All the high class hookers are wearing it”.

Wham!

Peggy once told me the Oregon coast is fog, rain, and trees. Believe it.

I traveled south on the Pacific Coast Highway; Hwy 1 when possible. At times I had to route slightly inland to Hwy 101. Highway 1 has the historic views. But it was originally a logging road. Tsunamis and erosion has interrupted the continuity of the road. To travel south requires accessing both routes at times.

The Pacific coast features alternating mountains plunging into the sea, beaches, parks, and small towns in the low areas between the mountains. When the fog breaks, it is truly beautiful and mysterious. The mountains hold evergreen rain forests. ((Oregon is still the heart of the logging industry.)(If you don’t think they’re still taking trees, look at the photos of deforested areas.))

The mountain highway is characterized by switchbacks in the mountain coulees, sheer cliffs at the ocean edge. To see the grand vistas, you must pull off the road. There is little or no shoulder. It’s still a logging road. Trucks are as frequent as other cars.

The bikers challenge is to assemble moments of intense concentration with glimpses of astonishing beauty; stringing them together into enjoyable moments. I’ll set the stage:

Certainly there is the fog; especially in the highlands. There’s rain. Hey, it rain forests. There’s the twisties , at times, more single lane that double. There are the logging trucks. There are groves in the pavement worn by the trucks. There are the trenches filled with asphalt patch creating 30” wide paved strips on each worn trench. (The patches stand, at times, an inch above the pavement). The patch strips form a trench between the strips. The effect of trenches is to throw the front tire, and bike, from side to side.

The weight of the trucks put a tremendous load on the shoulder of the road along the cliffs. Engineers call this a surcharge load. Combine with the natural actions of erosion, the road and shoulders occasionally fall away. Maintenance crews are quick to patch the crevices. They are extremely hazardous. Patches are done quickly and often. The consequent is a rough and slick oily road condition. There are not always guardrails at the edge of the cliffs. There are signs to caution motorcyclists to proceed with caution. Thanks. I call the twisties in the mountain areas “beasties”. The experience is beauty and the beasties.

The scene I’ve presented isn’t totally true. Out of the mountains are the towns, the people, the beaches with their own grand beauty (when you can see) and, at times, glimpses of the sea life; sea lions, seals, whales, turtles, and such. You can hear them a lot more often than you can see them. The public accessible parks are located in the lowlands. Most hotels are located in the lowlands. There is a downside to this Shangri-La’s. They are in tsunami zones.