Highlights from Beaverton for today:
I got focused on the trail and got my list of "to dos" together this morning. The list included contacting the post office in S. Lake Tahoe to forward mail and packages that have been sitting there in limbo the last several weeks, contacting the folks at Kennedy Meadows North to retrieve my food box that I never hiked to, getting the first two food drops ready and mailing them out to myself, looking for an extended life battery for the cell phone, going to REI to replace the socks destroyed by my friend Lucy the lab, reviewing all gear and checking little details like amount of sunscreen, first aid supplies, sterilizing my water containers, etc., etc. etc.
I got a good chunk of logistics done and revised the website with the latest round of projected resupply points and dates. I also did some more journaling, something that has been challenging to maintain but I have remained committed to.
This evening I drove downtown for another great evening seeing Portland like a native with Ladyface. We had originally planned to drive out to Hood River about 60 miles out of town to check out the town and see the wind and kite surfers on the Columbia river, but we weren't able to connect until a couple hours after I made it downtown. So instead we drove to the entrance to the Columbia River gorge along the banks of the Sandy River and had dinner at Tad's Chicken N' Dumplings. The place was jam packed, and we had to park a couple tenths of a mile down the highway and waited 45 minutes to be seated. Obviously this is a popular place. The chicken and dumplings that I ordered (how couldn't I since the place was named for them?) were nothing like they are back home in NC. There were two huge steamed biscuits served on top of a large whole cooked chicken breast with gravy. Very good, but nothing like home and so totally different! Kind of like having barbeque in Texas....it ain't North Carolina barbeque! After dinner we spent some late evening hours at Lompoc Brewery and Pub where I sampled some of their well crafted ales. Debi is sad that she is off the trail and I am sad for her. The mosquitoes drove her off up in Oregon when she skipped the Sierras. I was hoping to convince her to return to the trail but she has re-entered city life when she went back to work yesterday. Still, she is connected to the trail as all of us who hike long distances are...it never leaves our souls once we go out there.
Creeper (Chip) back home broke his foot at the National Jamboree. This has truly been the year of foot injuries. Eric's foot seems to be getting better and my foot is very close to being 100%, so the timing will be perfect to return to the trail to start my new long distance hike!
