Kiki Bikes Across America

Thursday, August 6th  - Hanging out in Portland, OR

I woke up about 9am and Chase continued sleeping for a bit. Josh had a few things he needed to do in Portland, so we headed out while Alina was at her internship and Chase slept. About 5 minutes after leaving the house, Chase called and said he’d like to come with us and go downtown, so we turned around and went back to the house to get him. Josh needed some new soccer cleats, and I needed go to REI and swap my solar panel, since it stopped working a few days back in Idaho. We also went to get Indian at one of the street vendors in Portland and that was good. Chase’s first Indian food experience followed by some time spent at the bookstore Powell’s – amazing store full of books…just floor after floor of books. It was awesome. I saw lots of things I would like to have gotten, but since I’m biking, obviously I wasn’t going to add anymore weight to my load.

We also went to a camera shop to see what it’d cost to get my little point and shoot camera fixed – I was quoted a minimum of $80-100 to clean the interior of the camera, and two-three week minimum to get it fixed. So that wasn’t going to be an option. While  we were at the camera shop, a guy walks in and Chase immediately recognizes him. Apparently Chase had ridden in Texas with this guy back in January or so. He was biking from CA to DC for the Inauguration and he and Chase met in Texas and rode together for a bit. So it was completely odd that they ran into one another again in a camera store in Portland, OR of all places!

While downtown, we also checked out a few bike shops to see what it’d cost for a tune-up, but they were all ridiculous and wanted $80-100 for a tune-up. We also checked out the skaters and BMX bikers down underneath a bridge in Portland which was pretty neat. There was also a guy there on old-fashioned roller skates doing tricks on the half-pipes and jumps and what not. And afterwards, we checked out one more bike shop, where the guy there was really friendly and willing to help and show me about the derailleur adjustments and not charge an arm and a leg. He just took a quick look at my bike and said it looked to be in good shape and that I shouldn’t bother with a new chain or tires at this point that he thought they’d do until San Francisco. So he just showed me a few things and only charged me $5, which was awesome.

In the evening, we hung out with Josh and Alina and made pizza and Chase met up with his cousin Justin and moved his stuff over there to spend the rest of his time there. Josh had a soccer game and Alina and I just hung out chatting in the evening and then eventually went to bed.