Waiting for the wind to calm down I walked to get some beer and had to go up this super steep road with NO shoulder. There was a "sidewalk," maybe a foot wide.
With a wall on the other side it was a pretty narrow space to be walking. I saw my life flash before my eyes as a fully loaded hay truck and trailer scraped the curb as i flattened out against the way, Indiana Jones style. Luckily someone gave me a ride after that.
We got the majority of the way to Portland the next day and found all the boaters. It was Sunday and they were everywhere. Speedboats and tubers and fishermen, all speeding past us like total dicks. Some of them didn't approve of our journey with comments like, "Fuckin' hipsters. I'm sick of this shit."
We stayed on Kelly Point that night. It was our last night camping. It rained. We were ready to be back in regular life. We watched the freighters roll by all night.
We made it to Portland the next day. It was raining and we rowed up to a park in an industrial part of town. The vintage boat repair yard was right next door and the nicest guy let us store the canoe there.
More nice homies from White Pass gave us a place to stay and clean up (which was super necessary.) A big thanks goes out to Kirsten, Aaron, and Jerry. You guys were such wonderful hosts.
We went out on the town Wednesday night and saw some band that sounded like the Black Keys playing. Talked to some people and it was a good night.
My awesome parents picked us up, and so begins the journey home. It was strangely anticlimactic arriving in Portland. After almost a month on the river, we were more excited to be done than about what we had accomplished. I guess we had a month for it to sink in. We officially canoed 306 miles, portaged 5 dams, and crossed two different ecosystems. It seems like it all went by in the blink of an eye.
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