It’s hot. If you live in Portland you are well aware of this already.

I snapped the photo above in the car yesterday.. the “official” recorded high that day was 106, same as today. The highest EVER recorded temperature in Portland is 107 so, we aren’t far off. They say this is the longest 100+ heatwave since 1981. Going on nine days. HOOH!

Another ‘weird thing’ in Portland homes that I neglected to mention is that most don’t have central air conditioning. Most of the year you don’t need it. But this week we sure could use one. Yesterday Peter and I went to the mall to walk around and caught a screening of Pixar’s UP (very good!). The mall was really busy for a Tuesday at 3pm, so I can only guess everyone else had the same idea we did… get out of the heat!

We left Lucy at home, but with a bowl of ice water in her crate and two fans on high pointing at her, so she seemed to be doing fine.

I grew up in the south: Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee. I know what this heat is like. But I did not expect Portland to ever remind me.

Peter and I are night owls. The temporary dwelling we’re at while we house hunt has a bizarre cable package… only like 20 channels and nothing good ever seems to be on. We’ve been watching some public access and old sitcom reruns.. there are some interesting things on TV here.

Here was some..thing on public access recently:

Local commercials are a treat too.. check out this one from Outrageous Audio:

There are countless dateline commercials and local college commercials that drive me to hit mute whenever they’re on… specifically one for Anthem College that pretends to be a telethon with awful actors. The premise is fine aside from the nonstop ringing telephone sound track they added on. It’s obviously not a live telethon, I have seen the same commercial for weeks straight. Jig is up.

There was bizarre television in St. Louis.  Becky Queen of Carpets & Dirt Cheap Beer comes to mind. But I rarely watched TV. And based on this short time with cable television here, Peter and I have decided not to get cable at the new house. TV on DVD and internet is the way to go.

Today I set out to check out bicycles and learn some things. I went to two bike shops in town – Bike Gallery and River City Bicycles. I left both feeling overwhelmed and rather dejected.

I felt like my $500ish budget was HUGE, but obviously I don’t know jack about bicycles because that is what will buy you the cheapest bicycle at one of those shops, and not the kind that I want. The kinds I wanted (I think?) were closer to $1,000 and up. I mean the one I thought was awesome was over $4,000 and I could buy a new Vespa for that!

After pouting at home for a little while I decided to look on Craigslist. And then I nabbed this puppy:

For $180. 1973 Schwinn Suburban in java brown. It’s just been completely overhauled: new grease and bearings adjusted in wheels, headset and cranks, cables and cable housing replaced, brakes and derailleurs adjusted, new brake pads, new tires, chain cleaned and regreased, wheels trued.

And it’s exactly what I wanted.

I’ve named her Ramona, which is a fitting accompaniment to my scooter, Beezus. And if you are familiar with the Cleary series whose characters are the namesake of my bikes, you may know it is based in Portland. Aww so cute.

Ramona rides great, and is so lightweight. It’s a 10-gear but it shifts with levers, not a crank thingy on the handlebars. I like it bein all old school.

And here’s an awesome tip… on the Portland Online Transportation site you can download PDF maps of bike and walking paths to figure out a safe route. Or if you want to have a map with you when you go or just like paper maps like me, you can request them to mail you the maps. And they’re free – even the shipping.

I have been thinking for a long time about buying a bicycle, and with Portland as the most bike-friendly city in the US I want in!

I sold my old one in our yard sale (to Courtney!) because the reason I never rode it was because it was really heavy and inconvenient to ride. It is a mountain bike and I need a slim road bike with not a lot of gears.

Beyond that though I am 100% bike-challenged. I am prepared to drop a wad of moolah but I want it to be on a good bike for me that is comfy to ride and not too heavy, and is good for riding around town. There are a lot of bike shops here so I figure I will go into one and let them school me.

Another thing is that I don’t know much about bike etiquette and practices re: riding and parking. I know hand signals and I get that the bike lane is for biking but what’s the rule of thumb on riding by other riders? Who gets the right of way at intersections with cars? Can I chain my bike up at any ol pole if there isn’t a bike rack? What can I do to avoid these uber cyclists scoffing at me? I am a little intimidated!

Yesterday marked one month since our pilgrimage to Portland. In that time we have accomplished a lot. Sadly the accomplishments do NOT include updating this blog nearly enough. But, thanks for reading anyhow. Last night the city of Portland celebrated our one month Portlandversary by setting off an incredible display of fireworks. It seemed like everyone in the city attended. I thought it was a nice gesture. ;)

We enjoyed sharing the celebration with an amazing country we are grateful to live in. A country we are free to roam about and settle where we please.