Day 14 – Portland

16km out of 955km so far

Lazy start

Lazy start

Greg's Room service

Excellent Room service

Today I had a few things in the agenda. The morning was still a bit lazy, but by 11 I was on the road for downtown. It was nice to wonder around the city again and the weather was pretty nice.

The view of Columbia River from one of the many bridges

The view of Columbia River from one of the many bridges

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More food carts

More food carts

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First stop was at the Art Gallery, which even if I had visited again back in March, they had some new work on display worth checking out.

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Black Box

Black Box

Next stop was an outdoors mega store to get some supplies and finally buy a new stove that can fit the type of canisters that are commonly sold in north America. Again the one I wanted was out of stock, but since I was running out of time, I ended up buying one which is a little more expensive but I guess a little better. I can’t wait for some extreme cooking in the wild!

Heading back to the southeast part of the city, the most important mission of the day was a stop over at a local bike shop to check a couple of things. Bike Stuff is just around the corner from home and you can rent a bike stand and tools for $10 per hour and do the work yourself. The gears had been a little problematic since the time I put the bike on the train to Jasper, as they probably just threw it without much caution in the cargo area. The derailleur hanger was bent and at the time I had just unbent it by hand. At the bike shop I managed to align it a lot better using the proper tool. I spent some time to remove about half a kilo of black mud from the chain and cogs and applied fresh oil. I also tightened the left shifter and tried to stabilize the front mudguard that keeps rattling at the smallest bump. Now the bike feels like new again, ready for some more kilometers.

At the shop

At the shop

After that, I caught up with the rest of the guys and we headed off to Kennedy School for some lectures in alcohol and swimming. This venue was an actual elementary school, that has now been converted to a complex of hotel, restaurant and a few different bars, together with an outdoors hot-tab. A really nice atmosphere and vibe in there. My muscles really appreciated soaking in hot water.

Back at school

Back at school

If you are a nad student, you are sent to the detention room for some whiskey

If you are a bad student, you are sent to the detention room for some whiskey and cigars

If you are a good one, you can also have a drink

Good students also deserve a drink

Not bad way to spend the evening

Not bad way to spend the evening

Later on we had a hefty amount of Thai food and a few more beers at a local pub, trying to taste as much beer as possible. There are so many breweries in Portland, that I would need to spend a full year here to try them all out.

3 grades of beer

3 grades of beer

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