Ok, problems got set aside today. First order of the day – Farmers’ Market! Two of them! The first one had some pretty good stuff, we got bread and some fruit. The second? What a disappointment! Mostly folks selling crap that has nothing to do with a farm or a farmer. It’s a shame, but this seems to be what ends up happening to most Farmers’ Markets. The doodad sellers drive out the farmers. Bummer.

Well, after that, we head for some bike shops. Had lunch at Whole Foods first, as we wanted a good lunch, and while there we saw this, which was really, really cool:

What is it? It’s a bicycle repair stand, complete with tools and an air pump. Very nice!

Anyway, while checking out at WF, the girl checking us out overheard our conversation about mountain biking, and mentioned there was a bike shop just around the corner – George’s, so of course, we headed straight there, where we talked to a very helpful guy named Lars, who was happy to sell us a map and a pump. Yes, we already have two tire pumps, but the ones we have are for road bikes, and it takes fifty (yes, 50!) strokes to get my tires from flat to 30psi, so a high-volume pump was in order. We got it, and I can’t wait to try it!

The second shop was World Cycle, where we were helped by Brett, who actually DID give a damn! Ha, ha! I love my obscure references! Anyway, maybe we should curse him instead, because, besides telling us where good rides were here in town, he told us that if we REALLY like to mountain bike, we’ll go to Bend, Oregon, and then also Oakridge, Oregon. That last place has over 400 miles of trails, all of them through old-growth forests! Bastard! Now we have to really wonder what we’re going to do next! Go North or go South? Problems, problems …

Anyway – a decision for another day. We also stopped by an RV dealer to try to figure out what’s wrong with PUP. Yeah, I’ve also named the pop-up. Everything should have a name. They were no help on that score, but were kind enough to show us some old and new rigs, should we need to replace PUP.

Long day, go get some rest.