Olympian Undertakings

On Wednesday 5^th August, both Fred (via a stop in New York for some handbag shopping) and I (direct from Heathrow) flew out to Seattle.  We were met by my uncle Malcolm who drove us North to his house in Olympia and what followed was a thoroughly enjoyable maelstrom of great food (French toast for breakfast seems likely to become part of my staple diet), building the bikes (which seemed to have survived transit almost intact), getting them serviced (many thanks in that regard to the boys at Alpine Experience who gave their labour free of charge) , last minute buying of equipment, playing with my cousins Valentina and Anasacha (who I am sure were cheating on the Nintendo Wi) and finally driving down to Astoria with Malcolm.  Huge thanks to Rosemary, Malcolm and the kids, without whom we would simply not have been in a position to do the ride.

After all that activity Fred and I were finally ensconced in the Rivershore Motel, Astoria on the evening before the start of our journey.  We wandered through “historic” Astoria, which though a little run-down had retained the charm that older American towns have –especially along its Main Street; a sense that the 1930’s never actually came to an end.  Big bowls of pasta (served by a waitress who seemed somewhat new to the game of waiting tables) and some serious repacking were followed by a fairly early evening.  We had big plans for the next day.