It’s now Tuesday morning. We made it here last night at around 7:30 local time. A couple of things…after riding over 3,000 miles, I’ve decided I’m not getting in the car again to drive back. I’ve either moved here permanently, or I’ll sell the Jeep and fly back. I used to like my car, but I’ve come to hate it. My back was so sore yesterday from the constant “bouncing” in the car seat, and being in one position, that I forgot about the knee pain (until we unloaded the car). Matt’s girlfriend, Heather, is petite, and she carried more things than I did.
Matt called ahead, and Heather made appointments for massages today at 6:30. It’s about a block from Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant (best Margaritas in San Francisco), so I’m guessing we’ll stop by there afterwards. Matt tells me the massage place is definitely “no frills”, but they give great massages and it’s $35 for 70 minutes. He swears it’s not one of those “happy ending” massages, but when he was telling me that, Heather said “Oh! Yours wasn’t?” I guess I’ll find out tonight.
We has a great time on Halloween in Alberton, Montana. We stayed with John Wilcox and Annie Mead (both from Hastings), and they were excellent hosts. We made a trip to the local watering hole, met some really friendly people, then went back to the cabin for Elk burgers and homemade white chili. Good friends, good beer and excellent food. How much better can it get? I must have had altitude sickness ‘cuz in the morning I had a bad headache. It couldn’t have been the “tasters” at Big Sky Brewing and KettleHouse Brewing in Missoula, a couple of Coldsmoke Scotch Ales at The Sportsman, and a couple of half bottles back at John and Annie’s.
The next day we were off through the mountains. They are absolutely beautiful, but not easy to drive through. We had the car so full of beer from our various stops, plus our luggage, plus my bike and related gear, plus two guys that had eaten way too well (Matt and I…not hitch hikers), that the Jeep had to work hard on the uphills. I could almost see the gas gauge move lower on some of those five mile climbs. I noticed on one of the long downhills (not steep but long) there was a paved bike path on the other side of the freeway fence. Jean would have loved it!! Riding up, of course. We went through Couer D’Alene (sp), Idaho but didn’t stop to check out the Ironman course.
We got into Portland, Oregon around 4:30 after stopping at Full Sail Brewery in Hood River for some tasters and a light lunch. We met Matt’s friend Shannon Fuller (originally from Hastings), her friend Daryl (she grew up in Naples, Florida) and my cousin-in-law once removed, Tina Kimmey (Jean’s cousin Marlene’s daughter) at Horse Brass, a well known beer bar. Again, good friends, good beer and excellent food. I was not all that hungry since we stopped at Full Sail around 2:30. So I got Bread Pudding. You wouldn’t think that a Black Butte Porter and bread pudding would go together, but it did.
After no exercise for weeks due to the knee issue, too much food and no exercise for five days in the car, and tasting our way through all the good breweries along I-90, I feel a little bloated (the understatement of the year). When I look down I can’t see my shoes without leaning forward. So it’s off to the Diet Center and Betty Ford Clinic. Well, I’ll go after tonight at Tommy’s, the California State Homebrewers Competition on the 7th, a party at Aaron’s house on the 7th, and the Barrel Aged Beer Festival in Hayward on the 14th.
Just (Using Today To Recuperate) Jack