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After an excruciating time spent at the Hertz rental car counter this morning, Clara and I finally got hold of our rental Prius and cruised on out of Portland, Northern California in our sights. To be fair, we were pleased that Hertz actually had the Prius for us (think of Seinfeld: “You know how to hold the reservation, you just can’t keep the reservation). Onward: Ken snapped this pic of us as we got on the road. Note the cool posters Clara made for our trip, which are being proudly displayed on the side windows of the car.

So we made it all the way to Eugene before stopping. Clara nicely entertained my wish to visit the one and only bar where I have ever worked (I’ve never sucked at a job except when I was a bartender, so of course, I had to go back to those roots). After I realized that I no longer know my way around Eugene at all, we finally made it to High Street, where I gobbled some hummus and a beer before we got back on the road (no worries — Clara was the DD, or Sober Sister, for the day).

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Holy crap, did it take a heck of a long time to get to California. When we got there, we had to mark the moment with a photo of us with the wooden bike from Rwanda, which, yes, we have brought on the trip with us. Thanks to the nice dad who was wearing an Oregon Beavers shirt who waiting while we hauled the bike out of the car and posed for this photo, which he shot.

So here’s Clara, good and cautious driver that she is:

Anyway, today was never scheduled to be anything other than a big ol’ driving day, which is why there is no bike news here. However, we did manage to make friends with a nice man who had a crazy bike here in Eureka, Calif., where we’re crashing for the night. Also, Clara posted some BTR logos around the local pool hall. Tomorrow we head to Thanksgiving Coffee, and we can’t wait!