Hood River

Tuesday, July 4 -
We have spent the last several days hanging out in the Hood River, Oregon area, biking (road and mountain), hiking, and catching up with Jim and Heidi.

Tunnel on Historic Columbia River Highway

Friday we spent taking care of chores again.  We have been driving the Geo more than we thought we would due to the unique location of our camping spot and other circumstances so decided it should have an oil change.  The cupboards were looking a little bare and Nick needed to get a run in that didn't involve multiple laps of our tiny campground so we headed into Hood River.  After finishing chores and eating breakfast, we headed to Jim and Heidi's house.   Heidi had driven down from Seattle that morning but was needing to work remotely for the day.  After a very quick visit, we left Nick with Jim to go mountain biking and learn some of the techniques of single track riding.

Ted's plan was to install the towed car breaking system on the Geo, which necessitated a trip to The Dalles to hit a Home Depot for some additional parts and for Beth more grocery shopping at Fred Myers since she was not able to find everything at the Walmart store in Hood River.  Not sure where the afternoon went but most of it seemed to be spent driving.

Then back to Hood River to pick up Nike.  He survived his adventures with Jim but did have a few scrapes from a fall at the end.

Columbia River Gorge near Hood River

Saturday - July 1, we started with a short bike ride out of Mosier toward Hood River along more of the Historic Columbia River Highway.  Highway 30 was left partially intact after Interstate 84 was built and efforts are underway to create a vehicle-free path from The Dalles to Portland.  The section we rode today is closed to traffic and is a well used running/hiking/biking path.  Nick needed a 1 1/2 hour run and we were looking for a little flatter ground.  Flat ground is hard to come by here in the Columbia Gorge and this path was no exception.  It was a pretty good climb to reach the flatter sections but the views were amazing and the trail travels through two tunnels.

Sunday - July 2, Ted went into Hood River to mountain bike with Jim while Beth was working remotely for EASi and Nick hung out watching "Vikings" a series that we had started earlier in the trip.  Ted had a good time riding the mountain bike trails near Hood River with Jim and no blood was shed which means he wasn't pushing himself on the trails.

Jim and Heidi came to our campsite at Memaloose State Park to check out the new RV and have dinner with us.  They were impressed with the room inside our 28' "tiny house".  We have now been on the road for over 3 weeks and no real complaints about the living accommodations.

Pretty sure you can figure out which way the wind blows from
the lack of tree branches on one side of the tree.

Monday - July 3, After Nick finished his multiple laps around the campground, we headed to Mosier to meet Heidi and hike the Mosier Plateau trail.  The trail leads past the local swimming hole in Mosier creek and then on then on up the bluff to the Mosier Plateau overlook.  It is another great view of the Columbia River Gorge and a great place to experience the howling winds of the area.

After the hike we headed back to the RV for some down time and then packed up the laundry one more time and headed to Jim and Heidi's house.

While we have been in Hood River, Jim and Heidi put in an offer on a house that is just 2 blocks from their rental.  It was accepted on Saturday so, we had the opportunity to go check it out.  It is fairly new construction, has a massive open concept kitchen, dining, living room with a wall full of windows and a view of Mt. Adams.  Three really nice sized bedrooms and finally A GARAGE!!!  When you own a dozen bikes that is a really nice thing to have.  Their house in Seattle has worked because of easy access to the basement and a room just for the bikes.

As payback for mountain biking, Nick took Jim out for a run to put a little hurt on him... all in good fun.  Jim and Heidi took us to dinner on the Washington side of the Columbia River to get the experience of riding over the steel grate covered bridge (would hate to ride a bike or motorcycle over this thing) and to get a great view of Mt. Hood.  As Jim said, it is odd that you can't see Mt. Hood from Hood River.

Tuesday - July 4th  It is now time to pack up and head to the Seattle area where we plan to watch the fireworks over Lake Union near downtown Seattle.  We have a couple of nights booked at the Flowing Lake County Park outside Seattle.  The plan is to drive the Geo with the bikes down close to Jim and Heidi's house in Wedgwood/University of Washington area and then ride the bikes on the Burke-Gilman bike bath to the Gas Works parks to watch the fireworks.  We'll see how that goes.