Bob's Big Adventure

After living with cabin fever for the past few weeks I had to get out yesterday for a decent ride. The weather forecast said it was going to almost reach 60F yesterday so I took my Piaggio BV250 Touring Scooter for a long, long ride. I covered almost 250 miles having to fill up twice on my journey to the Pacific coast on both the Oregon and Washington sides of the Columbia River.

I stopped a number of times to photograph such things as Canadian geese at Trojan Park in Goble, OR or a fleet of tugboats moored to a dock in Ranier, OR. Nearly broke my face on the latter stop as I lost my balance climbing a slippery pile of rocks. No damage except that I broke my fall with my right hand on a thorn bush. The resulting hole in the palm of my hand has already healed.

I crossed over the bridge to Washington just outside of Ranier, OR and picked up Highway 4 going to the coast. It's a lovely winding road that follows the Columbia River all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Once near the coast I crossed another bridge back into Oregon at Astoria. There I gassed up to head for Westport, OR and The Berry Patch Restaurant. They make the best home made Marionberry pie on earth. I'm a type II diabetic so that means I get a rare treat.

I pulled into Westport in the late afternoon, frozen from my long ride. The weatherman had lied. It never got anywhere close to 60F and as the sun began to set it got quite nippy. To top it off The Berry Patch Restaurant was out of sugar free Marionberry pie. I had to settle for a pot-roast dinner special with mashed potatoes & gravy. It was great but the portions were so large I took the second half of the meal home in what Americans call a "Doggie Bag".

I arrived home at 5:00 p.m. in the evening, cold, very cold. I carried my gear up to my apartment and quickly undressed to climb into a hot shower. The water was as hot as I could stand it as I lounged there for 10-15 minutes attempting to warm myself up. Would you believe my legs were still cold when I turned off the water? My core body temperature was really chilled and a warm snuggy night robe was necessary to warm me up after nearly an hour.

All in all it was a Big Adventure, nearly twice as far as I had ever ventured on my scooter. Got 68 miles per gallon due to my stingy little scooter. I had great fun and will share more with you all once I process the photos I took. Gee, it's supposed to get to 66 today and be partly sunny. I've got an eye exam at 8:00 a.m. this morning. The day will still be young when I finish. hmmmmmmmmm?

Re: Bob's Big Adventure

Sounds like you had a great day out Bob, pity the weather wasn't warmer for you.

Looking forward to seeing your photos later.

Re: Bob's Big Adventure

Sounds a good day Bob. A pity that you were almost frozen to the scooter by the end of the day but no gain without pain sometimes. .

It's the sort of trip that might not be so enjoyable here. Some good and picturesue trips can be made but motor traffic often slows down wherever you go. Not too much freedom of the open road available.

Anyway, the year is warming up a bit for us all and I expect you'll soon be reporting other trips that haven't been quite so chilly and the supplies of Marionberry pie are more plentiful.

I had to look up 'marion berry' on Google and found some pictures of them (like a blackberry). The pie sounds great ..but then so does the pot-roast.

Re: Bob's Big Adventure

That sounds like a wonderful day. I have never heard of Marionberries either. Maybe we call them something else.

Re: Bob's Big Adventure

I think we'd get some funny looks if we asked for Marionberries and sarky replies. What are they?
The bike ride sounds brilliant shame about the weather though.

Re: Bob's Big Adventure

Sounds as though you had a great time!