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May 30, 2008 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 70F, dry, mostly sunny

Comments:
Oregon Trip '08 - Day Six

Today we got in a nice sleep in again -- 0730 -- before quickly packing up. The great thing about a hotel (especially when tents need not be unpacked) is that the load/unload process is so much quicker.

This morning we had an amazing breakfast crawl. Our hotel was near the airport, as were several others, making it a quick and easy "crawl"! Ironically our own hotel did not have breakfast, which only strengthened our resolve to "get our money's worth" elsewhere! We started off at Comfort Suites, then made our way to Holiday Inn Express before wrapping up at the Hampton Inn. We seriously could've hit two or three more, but it doesn't take too many spots to get jammed full!

We were on the road by 0930, headed west toward Bend. It was another long, arduous drive across high desert today, punctuated by our first sights of >$4 gas. The price was so ridiculous that I refused to fill-up in Burns, OR, the midway point of the trip.

By 1PM we made it into Bend, with our first stop at Shopko so Behrs could finally get a wrench to adjust his bike seat. From there, we zipped over to Shevlin Park for our last bike-and-run. We were greeted at Shevlin with our first legitimately good weather of the trip since the first day, with sun, temps close to 70, and calm winds.

Our bike loop took us back into town, which we circumvented via Mt Washington Drive. That lead us to the north end of town, where we hopped on O.B. Reilly. This end of town was my old stomping grounds, and the site of the "original settlement" of me, Casey, and Melody during our internshps at Bend Research. Behrs and I biked past the old house on Lava Crest before continuing north down O.B. out of town. After the quick down and uphill, we actually biked onto Bend Research property so I could show Keith where I used to work. From there we hammered west down Tumalo Reservoir Rd. At the end is, you guessed it, Tumalo Reservoir. We stopped and hiked down the dirt road into the huge expanse, representing what was once entirely filled with water. Keith and I speculated as to how this got emptied; chances are it was dried up with all the development in the area, but neither of us are sure about that...

We wrapped up the bike loop by backtracking to Tyler Rd and finally Johnson Market Rd, which took us back to Shevlin. Once there, we locked up the bike and went for a nice run in the park, on the same loop we'd hit back in '05. Keith kept it short, per usual, and I pressed on to complete the six mile loop.

The plan after the run was to ice in Tumalo Creek, which bisects the park, but the water was both raging and near-frozen; filled to the brim with fresh snow melt and likely 32.0000001F. I wasn't sure there'd be even a safe place to stand or sit, but we found a spot where a downed log had created a calm pool. Though I wasn't in dire need of an ice, I took the attitude of "get busy livin', or get busy dyin'", so I took a seat in the freezing water, immersing up the the waist, for a good ten minutes! It was definitely in the 40s, if not colder, because it was PAINFUL.

After climbing out and drying off a bit, we hopped into the car and headed to Casey's. I've been to Casey's place in Bend four times now, and each time it has served as this glorious oasis, since seemingly every time I've been either road or trail-weary (or in this case, both!). The "ol' boy" himself was there and after some hearty hellos we unloaded our things and even did a bit of laundry before heading out for some chow and brews downtown.

The three of us heading to Deschutes Brewery Pub in downtown Bend. There we met my friend Shana, who was in town visiting from Portland. I met Shana at DIII cross country nationals back in '06, as we were both in the same (shitty) hotel outside Cincinnati. It was great of her to come up, as we hadn't seen each other since that fateful, mud-filled day.

Per usual, the food and beverage at Deschutes was terrific: I started off the night with their new seasonal brew, the "Cincer Cone Red", which was wonderful. With my meal, however, I switched to the ol' standby, the "Black Butte Porter", which is one of the best dark beers out there, with great flavor without being over-powering. The company was great, too: Casey and I talked about Bend Research, and the gains he's made there, and well as reflecting on my departure, now almost seven years ago! Shana added some great spice, as we got to talking about a myriad of topics, ultimately leading to the importance of "sexual chemistry". This somehow earned me several kicks in the leg under the table from Casey! Ha! He might be almost 30 but he's still a nice li'l tyke!

We didn't stay out too late, as we were all pretty beat. The three guys bid adieu to Shana and busted back to Castle Rd. Before that, we decided I'd whip up some TRANcakes for breakfast, so we stopped off at a grocery store for the necessary supplies.

Great day!