Day 3: Eugene --> Salem

Mmm, road mirages. I think I've seen mirages before, but I never recognized one until last weekend when I looked at what I thought was a wet slick on the road, only to have it disappear as we approached in our car. Well, ha ha, the next day on the bike there was a mirage every mile or two. So on day three, when it's eight, nine in the morning and I start spotting them, it annoyed me. It wasn't even that hot yet; I felt like the weather was just messing with me for the hell of it.

Well, it never did get that hot and so I practiced deliberate indifference toward the false puddles. It was, in fact, cool enough to wear my hoodie all day, which saved me a lot of discomfort and sunscreen trouble midday. In general, day three felt remarkably routine; it was relatively no trouble at all. I kicked off the first two hours - Eugene to Harrisburg - like it was nothing. When I was hungry, though more frequent than at rest, it was normal hunger, not an "I need what's in that food" sensation. When I got back to Salem, I felt warm and fuzzy and happy to rest, but I wasn't spent - I could've gotten back on my bike and pushed onto Portland given enough time and patience.

From Harrisburg up to Albany I took 99. It was a little boring, but it was very straight, very flat, and of similar aesthetic and traffic quality to a typical country road on this trip. Peoria Rd. was nice, but I think 99 is the best way through.

On the outskirts of Albany I noticed something funny and figured out my back tire was squishy. I tried just pumping it up right there and it seemed to work, so I continued on. A sense that was it wasn't entirely fixed nagged at me though, and perhaps a mile later I knew I needed to check it again. It was squishy, but I thought maybe I'd let too much air out accidentally when removing the pump hose. If it was a puncture, it was clearly a pretty slow leak and maybe I could get to the park I'd stopped at on the way down before it became unrideable. I checked to make sure it was firm before getting back on. Again it took about a mile to fail, and I wasn't at my park, but I recognized the clock tower of the Albany Amtrak station, so I walked the bike over, sat in the shade, grabbed a few bites of an egg sandwich and started taking the wheel apart.

The repair went pretty well overall. While looking over the tire, I found a piece of wire stuck into it that was almost certainly the problem. The leak didn't show itself at first, but with enough pressure I was able to find it. It was difficult and painful to pop the bead back into the rim, but I eventually managed it, and the patch held.

Buena Vista Rd., despite giving me quite a lot of trouble on Monday, is really one of the nicest roads on the route, though I prefer riding it in the morning. I think I prefer everything in the morning.

Just inside of Independence, on River Rd., I found a wallet on the side of the road. It had an ID with a Salem address, and a business card for the Marion County sheriff's office. Since I would have felt weird either leaving a lost wallet or carrying it for two hours into the city unsure where to take it, I was glad to see the sheriff's office number. I called and they said to bring it with me and call when I was in town, after which they came to pick it up.

It turns out that the trouble with my camera was very mundane. There was no memory issue; the hand/exclamation symbol is a warning about bad photographic conditions. The picture that wouldn't take was a fluke. A random selection of the pictures I thought I took aren't there because I didn't actually take them: apparently the camera button has two clicks, and the first one is only focusing or something. I've been careful about pushing down all the way and all my pictures have been successful since then. So only some of the way down has pictures, but I'm taking pictures on the way back of anything that I recognize as something I snapped, then lost. Some of it, like the "entering Lane County" sign, looked better in the original direction and lighting, but what can you do?

Tomorrow I come home!