Sunday Ride

 
Tideman-Johnson Nature Park

On Saturday, I got a new bicycle basket. On Sunday, I decided to test it out by tossing my camera in it and hitting the trail. We went from about SE 29th past Johnson Creek Blvd., then wove in and out of little side streets in the neighborhood near the creek.

 
Adirondack chair and apple tree: my dream.

These photos look simply pastoral and bucolic, I know. But in fact the Corridor runs along some heavy traffic around here; the trail is rather crowded, and the neighborhood can be sketchy.

 
Tree-trunk table, and a gate to the creek.

I don't know what streets we were on — the view above is from a little bridge that led into the neighborhood. We pedaled forward with a sense of disorientation and uneasy wonder: We'd driven down busy Johnson Creek Boulevard (fast with traffic and lined, at this point, with industrial businesses, warehouses, and barbed-wired lots) probably a hundred times, but turn just a bit to the south, go only a few yards down a road that is more gravel than pavement, and you're in a shady fir grove.  

 
Someone's yard, tucked into the ferns.

It reminded me, in the strangest way, of a campground I'd been to many years ago in Quebec, with horse-shoe pits and shuffleboard, and sites tucked far back among towering trees — one of those places where people had been coming every summer for fifty years, their campers seemingly permanent and hung with lighted strands of bulbs you can't find replacements for anymore. The houses looked mossy and dim, the yards padded with inches of pine needles, the gardens half-wild or forgotten.

 
Keep Out. No Trespassing.

We pedaled up and down the looping roads. A wheelchair left under a tree. A tilted doghouse with a chain. An enormous buckskin teepee. A rusted boat under a buckling carport. A stack of firewood as tall as the house. A border of rhododendrons dusted with powdery mildew. It was very quiet. I wondered what pockets of forgottenness there were all over the city. Places that look like they haven't been bought or sold for fifty years.

 
An Alice-ish playhouse

Everytime there was a turn to make, we turned toward where I thought the creek and the road that fronted it should be, and eventually, miraculously (since we really had no idea where we were after a while), we came out right where I was hoping we would, and got back on the trail, and rode back into the woods.

 
Andy sits on the wall near the waterfall thing.

I asked Andy if he remembered a spring day we spent in Galesburg, Illinois, seventeen years ago when we were first together, when he drove me from Rock Island to the train station in Galesburg after I'd come to visit him for the weekend. It was Sunday morning, and raining. The train was delayed several hours, and we were so happy. We went to Pizza Hut. We sat and talked and talked and talked. He remembered.

A strawberry-bedecked basket.

Sometimes I forget that there were two years in the beginning when we lived two hundred miles apart.

Comments

[Julie G. in Iowa]

Just what I needed today! Thanks for taking me on your bike-ride. Now I need to get my own bide out of the garden shed. I also need to get one of those lovely woven baskets (mine is very utilitarian-looking being of metal). And strawberries! How perfect!

[BellaKarma]

Love it! The closest thing to wilderness and creeks in my 'hood are Frontierland and The Rivers of America at Disneyland -- 2 miles down the street. ;-)

[Connie]

You make me want to move to Portland... well, visit Portland, at least! The tourism board should put you on the payroll!

[Leslie]

This was a wondeful ride!

[Kendra]

Wonderful pictures! Speaking of Rock Island, we visited your Augustana on Friday, searching for the right college for our daughter. It was our first time there-what a beautiful campus, even in drizzling rain!

[Ann]

So cool...I just love these semi abandoned looking places...the greenery in the Northwest reinforces that mysterious aura.

[Sandy]

What a wonderful day and beautiful memories. Thanks for taking us along. I really enjoyed it.

[Dave]

My wife has the same basket on her Raleigh, also from Clever Cycles :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/poetas/4508485216/in/set-72157610946160663/

Looks like a great ride! Indeed, that area is a bit sketchy, and I'm not sure I would generally choose to ride through there, but I'm glad you made it un-scarred and had a nice time! Were you just riding along the Springwater Trail?

[Sarah west midlands England]

The countryside in your area of the world looks so interesting. I love all the buildings you take photos of!
Too many main roads round where I live to cycle safely.
Do you do bed and breakfast at your house? with a tour thrown in.

[Coconut Library]

a.) I'm impressed that you ride your bike for such a long time... I get winded going up my street :) b.) I'm wondering why that area is sketchy? I've lived in L.A. for the past 8 years, so it looks like a wooded wonderland to me (though I don't doubt you know what you're talking about, just wondering). c.) I love the stories you tell about you and your husband... it reminds me to keep my eye on the prize and not get sidetracked by the superficial.

[Erin]

How wonderful that you can still find a new bike path to explore. You are the intrepid cyclers. Thanks for the tour - you've inspired me to dust off my bicycle and take it for a spin!

[sharon stanley at farm and fru fru]

a pretty reminder that even ramshackle buildings and houses unattended for years past can be quaint and charming seen through the right eyes....very pretty indeed...

[Alisa]

what a great ride!

[Tanya]

Oh how sweet and fun! Love the ride, stories and the basket!

[Mrs Soup]

Oh that looks amazing. I would love to have one of those hidden little places tucked away. Gorgeous!

[Jeanette Mc. from Everton Terrace]

The more I read your blog, the more I hear Oregon calling my name. I live in the desert, which I love, but something about where you are is so very enchanting. I know what you mean about your husband. I often tell mine I wish we could have grown up next door neighbors so we could have lived every day of our lives together.

[Gloria]

I love that you found some place new to you, that had been there all along! Beautiful pictures!

I adore the Alice-ish house, and your new basket for your bike (lovely photo too!). I want one!!!! This makes me remember we bought bicycles that we haven't been using like we ought to! :)

[kate]

That was a lovely trip we just took with you. Great pictures! Love your bike basket too!

[Debbie]

Beautiful! We live in Ohio and have a wonderful bike trail near us that stretches for miles. Used to be old railroad tracks and they were ripped up and the entire thing paved with asphalt. I can't wait to get back on it and will have to remember to pack my camera. Thanks for the inspiration!

[sharon]

love the basket full of strawberries - we have been enjoying them this week too:)

[Jennifer]

Those baskets are gorgeous. I have been wanting to get one for my bike for this summer and haven't found any brilliant ones yet. Thanks so much, those are perfect.

[Jamie V]

Glorious Day! Thanks for taking us on the ride with you! Jamie V in MT

[Anne]

Thank you for such a lovely bike ride.I feel sooo much better at the end of a very trying day-it is balm to the soul and I also love your bicycle-perfect. love from North Yorkshire x

[Trisha]

I've been thinking about getting that very same basket (from REI, in my case). I am glad you like it. Thanks for sharing the lovely pictures.

[Delilah]

I especially loved the "haven't been bought or sold in fifty years" pic, my imagination goes wild with forgotten places like that.

Thanks for sharing your ride.