7/31/17 Birthday Ride

Doing exactly what he wanted most for his birthday, Jules stood up Rascal and took off for the mountains with me hanging on to him.

Leaving Morton, a town built on the logging business, we passed trucks loaded with fresh cut lumber and heavy equipment used for harvesting trees. Clear cuts, new growth and mature trees checkered the landscape.

And then we went on a rodeo ride. Out the chute, into Pinchot National Forest by the back door, we bucked and weaved over heaved and creviced road for miles. I hung on with a grip so hard, Jules has bruises. The space between my butt and the seat reached alarming distance on some dips,  but I stayed on and began to relax and enjoy the ride shouting  "yahoo" and "yeehaw"!

Bumping our way up to Spirit Lake, we were cut short by a road closed due to mudslides. So we took a break at a viewpoint of St. Helens. Facing the massive cavity where the mountain exploded in 1980,  I was numbed as always by the power that lurks beneath the surface of these Cascades. Any one of these stately peaks could go rogue, creating extreme destruction  and natural mayhem. A small wisp of smoke visible through the haze that surrounded St. Helens let us know that she's not done cooking yet.

The rest of the ride through this enchanted forest was magical. Ancient pine and spruce crowded the road, allowing only trickles of sun to randomly poke through. Jules' birthday present came in the form of a perfect performance of man and bike, taking repeated switchbacks with gravity defying leans as we careened up and down the mountainous terrain. 

Too soon we were out of the forest, but there was cake icing to be had on this birthday. The mighty Columbia River sucked us down into its gorge as we crossed The Bridge of the Gods into Oregon. Through gnarly cliffs we ran the river past towering Multnomah Falls into Gresham for the night. 

When you're about to go on Medicare, the best cure is a challenging romp through redwoods, wrangling rough road and shouldering 180 degree inclines. Forever young, we will forge on, squeezing every drop of life out of  the road stretching before us. Happy birthday Jules, my guide, my companion, my fountain of youth.


Morton: a logging community

St. Helens steams in the background

Mountain girl

Enchanted Pinchot forest

Mountain Man

Forming the Gorge

Feeding the river

Crossing the might Columbia 

The River and Gorge  

Multnomah Falls



The Gorge

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