Day Two by Dave Schultheis
Friday, September 5, 2003 - Long Beach, Washington
I didn't sleep too well, but it was better than sleeping on a park bench or under a bridge. I managed to get myself (mostly) dressed and out of the tent at 7:50 a.m., and was immediately greeted by Snarl & Jeanne, who had been watching. Greetings were exchanged and travel stories were told.
Evelyn rolled in on the Gold Wing, followed by Harry & Brenda. Ma's little brother, who is called "Little Brother," stopped by in his four-by-four all terrain vehicle, and shortly thereafter "Gentleman" Dave arrived in his pick-em-up truck.
I wandered down to the office to register and pay my overnight camping fees.
About 11:00 a.m., a small group decided to follow Glenn to his home (near a little town with "Brown" in it) so that he could pick up his motorcycle. Brenda rode with Glenn in his pickup, while Dirty Harry, Evelyn and I followed on our bikes.
We rode back toward Oregon, across the bridge into Astoria in the fog, then over hill and dale to Glenn's rural home, where he parked the truck and got his Road King out, then we visited with dogs and goats, sheep and mini-horses, camel, emu, pigs, llama and alpaca, before saddling up and riding back to U.S. Highway 30.
We rode into Westport OR and waited for the ferry, then boarded ($2 per bike) and crossed the Columbia River, went around Puget Island, and landed at Cathlamet WA.
From there, we rode west on WA Highway 4, through Skamokawa, where I saw signs for Peter's Duck Inn and "The Drake Room." A short while later, we stopped for lunch at Duffy's Irish Pub, in Gray's River WA, about 2:30 p.m.
On the outside, this was a fairly plan little bar, but they served food, so we sat at a table on the back porch overlooking the river, and Glenn was able to fill us in on some of the local color.
I had ribs and Henry Weinhard's Root Beer, while others had fish, other entrées, and other beverages. Some of us topped it off with blackberry pie à la mode. It was just wonderful!
After lunch, we continued west on WA 4 and then south on U.S. Highway 101 into Long Beach, where traffic was bumper-to-bumper, and we got back to Ma & Pa's about 5 p.m.
A bunch more people had arrived at the RV park: Indy, Oly, Randy Scurr, Curly, Hoppy & Patty, Jake, and Derek.
I checked the dipstick on the Road King and found that I was quite low on oil, so I added a quart. Glenn and Randy agreed that the oil level was way low, and felt that I must be burning oil, since I had over 119,000 miles on the odometer. They also agreed that it needed changing, so I made a note to do that soon after I got home.
A few folks took off for dinner, but I stayed in camp with others. Ma came by for a visit. I then realized that she was the one who had checked me in. She was a lot younger than I thought "Ma" would be.
Others arrived: Rob from Clear Lake, Chuck & Barb from Idaho in their yellow sports car. Several watched while Chuck erected their snazzy-looking tent. V-Town Tom, who had just moved from CT, arrived, followed by Darcy from Edmonton, Paul Shirron (and his son Nicholas) with his trailer (they brought a canopy), and somewhere along there, Phil B. and Sarah rolled in.
I went to bed around 11 p.m. There was a very noisy crowd in the campground beyond us. Thump, thump, thump went the music, and there was nearly constant car traffic on the trail, just feet from our tents. I'm sure they were having a great time, but they were not very considerate of others.
Miles for the day = 116. Miles for the trip = 950.
Tomorrow: Hot rods, classic cars, Mexican food, and rain.