I stopped at Smith Rock state park. By chance I ran into my friend Martha there. It is a beautiful climbing area. A lazy river winds around a towering rock outcropping. From there I could see mount Jefferson and Mount Hood rising up in the distance. It would be a day and a half before I reached the pass near Mount Hood which was followed by a 4000 foot descent into Portland.
In Portland I met my friend Ryan. He took off work for a week so that we could bike south along the Cascades to his family lake house. We shortly climbed back up into the mountains I had just descended from. I once again was following a route I've been on before; from a tour I did from Bellingham Washington to Bend Oregon. A beautiful clear green river with wonderful swimming holes was a highlight then as it was now. We traveled to Sisters Oregon where I stopped at the bike shop to get my loose bottom bracket checked. The store owner/town mayor fixed my bike while I drank a beer from a tap in the bike shop. Such a wonderful place. A day later we biked up to Mount Bachelor where we were given a free ride to the top on a chairlift. Sometimes I get celebrity treatment when I explain how far I have come and how far I have left to go. People like it. The restaurant on top of the mountain is great if you ever get a chance to go.
When we made it to the lake house we were joined by Ryan's girlfriend and roommate for the weekend. I slept in the same place, in a lawn chair on the dock, for two nights in a row. It is only the second time on this trip that I've slept in the same place. My legs appreciated it.
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