You might be asking yourself, "what in the world?", when you read the title for this posting, but soon all your pressing questions will be answered.
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| Taylor, Me and Mom at the start of the big ride |
Today the BLTs embarked on our 4th bicycle ride on the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway. We started out around the Buena Vista Ferry and ended up on Highway 20, near the I-5 interchange in Albany. Along the way we had a bit of an adventure. Poppa and Kate dropped us off about 9am. We decided to get an early start to try and beat the heat. It was the perfect time of day. The air was crisp, and I truly love the smell of freshly cut hay and/or grass. We encountered some not so refreshing smells on our route as well. Like the huge piles of dung that appeared to be from a dinosaur, but were more likely to be from a cow, that was smashed upon the road. Our guess was that they were intended to be distributed as fertilizer and instead had a bit of a "drop" off the back of a truck.
The Willamette Valley is truly beautiful though, and seeing the farms and animals that grow and live here is all part of the ride. As the BLTs commented on our awe-inspiring surroundings, Mom mentioned someone she knows who has "traveled the world" (he's a famous musician in a local Portland band, can you guess who it is?), and says that through all the places he's been, the Pacific Northwest is by far the most gorgeous.
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| Mom and Taylor riding in "downtown" Jefferson |
On our previous trips we have stopped for sustenance only at the end of our journey. Don't worry, we do bring our water bottles along! For this ride, we thought that stopping in Jefferson to have a small bite to eat would add a new dimension to our adventure. What we discovered there on Main St. was the cute little cafe named Papa's Place. We tend to like anything with one of our family member's names mentioned. Sitting in their delightful outdoor seating area were two older gentleman dressed in typical biking attire. We got to talking with them and learned that they were on a ride from Corvallis to Buena Vista. Although we completely looked dressed the part of "bike enthusiast" ourselves, they thought they were informing us we were on the WVSB. We let them know we had maps in hand and this was a part of our journey to Eugene. At first they looked a little shocked and impressed, then we confessed that we were breaking the 135 mile ride down into 20 mile segments! The very nice men then told us of an alternative route we might try to get us to Albany...More on that to come.
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| Taylor and Mom with Marge and Maggie Simpson |
Here's where the title of this post comes in. When we finally made it inside the cafe, much to our surprise, were two of the beloved (not so much by me, but still) characters from one of the longest running cartoon sitcoms ever...Yes, The Simpsons. Totally out of place in this little eatery, and yet somehow it made the pit stop there so much more worthwhile. I had not brought any money or debit cards, etc along and so we relied on Mom to foot the bill for our fine dining. With $10 to our names we were able to get Tay a lovely breakfast of sausage, scrambled eggs, home fries, and toast. Mom and I each had a delectable homemade biscuit and Mom had a lemonade. As we ordered, Mom kept asking the server how much each item would cost. Eventually she divulged to the kind server we only had $10, and guess what? We got one biscuit for free. Guess we look more pathetic than I thought! All in all, it was a great little place to rest and refuel before heading out again on the open road.
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| Tay taking a water break at the top of a big hill climb |
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| Here's what Kate was doing while we rode up the hill. She and Poppa went to the "paaark!", as she likes to say. |
The last portion of our ride is where the advice from those two gentleman from Papa's Place comes back into play, and where my not believing in kismet comes back to bite me in the, well, you know what. We carry with us on our rides written directions that Mom has printed from the WVSB website. We've always just followed along, and have yet to become lost. That is until today.
Now all you readers out there, yes, I mean you Mom and Dad, don't you worry. We did make it and I live to tell you this exciting tale on my blog! We decided to follow our fellow cyclists advice and venture off the beaten path a bit. All was well until it was time to get back on the path to our destination and things did not fall into place. The truth is we weren't really lost, we were in Albany the whole time. It was just a matter of trying to find the exact predetermined rendezvous location where we would meet Poppa and Kate.
iphone out and I was trying to orient myself with road signs, the written directions, and the map app on my phone. I hate to admit that despite growing up with a father who was a geography teacher, I'm lacking in the navigation department. That's usually where Mom comes in, but unfortunately for us, Mom cannot see without her reading glasses. So, there we were, "discussing" as Taylor decided to lay down in the grass and rest in the shade. Probably a good choice for Tay to exit from the conversation. I had pretty much given up hope, but Mom thought we should press on and that kismet would be on our side. Kismet is big for Mom. Well, eventually we did make it to Highway 20, which was close to where we needed to end up. So as I mentioned above, I had to eat my words and let Mom know she was right.
On a side note, children should never doubt their mothers. Mothers are almost always 100% right!
Although we made it to Highway 20 and we were in Albany, we didn't quite make it to the park where we were supposed to meet Poppa and Kate. That's where the trusty iphone came in handy again and with one quick call Pops and Kate were on their way to pick us up on the side of the road.
In the end, another lovely biking experience. Seriously, if you haven't ever biked before, you should give these routes a go. It's so wonderful to see the outdoors from a bicycle, not to mention getting to spend time with the people you love!
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