Walking Around Bend

So Thurs 18th I spent the afternoon walking from the east side (stopping here and there) to downtown, and to the west side (getting back to base around 18:30). Stops included:
1. saw a store called "Longboard Louie's" - I thought it would be a board shop (duh) but it turned out to be a Mexican food café (go figure). (Later on saw another one. Must be a franchise)
2. Humane Society Thrift Shop - scored a really cool penguin T-shirt, brand new from Christ Church, New Zealand.
3. a bicycle/snowsports goods consignment store - got a couple items and dropped off a Momentum Magazine.
4. looked at a municipal bus stop pole/schedule ($1.00 per trip, no transfers. $2.00 all day pass. Only 6 routes for the town, but most of it pretty well covered. No Sun./Holiday service, only half service on Sat.)
5. the local Visitors' centre (got a couple brochures).
6. had a smoothie (bought at a store before my walk began) sitting on cement wall during my downtown wandering.
7. lunch in a crêperie (but it was a bagel with lotsa filling stuff. Really good).
8. a record shop (got a Nick Cave double CD).
9. the public library (1hr on the internet).
10. walked though a park on my way to...
11. ...a bicycle shop (a pretty good shop, cool stuff, didn't buy anything) chatted for a bit and dropped off another Momentum.
12. decided it was time to return to base, but spotted another bike shop 2 blocks later and went in.... lotsa snooping on the bargain table (got some deals), got some free stuff (but weight prohibited me from taking more), handed out another Momentum and had a good conversation with the guy there.
13. a bakery beside the bike shop (got a couple raspberry scones. Mmmm... yummy).
14. ...another bike shop (1 block away) beckoned, but I resisted due to time (it was 17:50), and returned to base.

Had dinner, the usual evening visiting stuff. Then to bed.

Bend OR

So We left ~23:48 (some 'about', eh?) and arrived 07:45, with only 1 gas stop & 2 pee breaks (all that tea, water, & energy drink I had). It sure does remind me of Kamloops and some other Okanagan places (as it should, pretty much the same geography but further south). Especially the pines. The weather is great today. Nice and sunny, about 20C outside (I guess). Rode around a bit on Marc's road bike (nice & smooth, very light). Tomorrow I plan on walking around, now that I get the general layout of the place. Maybe pick up a beater that I don't have to worry about, and ditch when I'm done, as I'll be coming back the day after tomorrow. I met a South African woman just after she fell of her bike (I saw her getting up slowly, and another woman not on a bike was there), so I went over to see if all was OK. She was on a Kona "Jake the Snake" that she got a couple days ago (also with a Chrome messenger bag which she said had some beer & wine bottles which surprisingly survived the crash. She had a good sense of humour. The crash would have been really bad if any bottles were broken). So I wished her & the Springboks well after a little chat.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that a little west of Bend (west of "Warm Springs" too) there was this plateau (btw, it was completely dark at the time, the moon had set too) sort of area that stank like cat pee. Some weird local flora, I assume. The stretch of road which smelled was several miles long .

On a Bender

...or make that, Off to Bend, OR.
So, I won't be at Midnight Mass on Thursday, but should make it to Critical Mass Friday.