June 30, 2007 - Jet Ski Workout

With help from Myran Trina and Ilene this is what happened.

Myran was driving down at the beach and kept looking at this launch that no one used at Nestucca Bay out of Pacific City. It looked like a doable launch but the weather had taken its tole. The launch was about two miles from the ocean. It was put in, run over to the bar, and out to the ocean with our jet skis and yes fish. Now if you do this, there are some unknowns to think about. I will tell you the biggest one first. People think you are crazy for even thinking about it.

It starts out that the jet skis are buried. We dig them out. We had to start the 1972 pick up that I want to sell with the 402 in it. That was not a problem; it started right up with a jump. Then we moved the trailer up to the jet skis and loaded them there. There was only about two inches of clearance to get it by Myran’s house. We pulled them on to the trailer. With three of us it was not a problem.

In preparation to go out and get our “Free Fish” we had to deal with a couple of minor expenses up front. First of all the battery is bad on both Jet Skis. New batteries around - just under a $100. We put them in and charged them up. Now you can’t go fishing without a pole so we went down and bought two new short poles ($10.00), net ($8.00), fishing tackle times two about $50.00, license the ski ($27), get a fishing license ($46), get a bag and rope for the fish if we catch some ($40), get two boxes to keep things dry ($22 and $15). Plus the big hitter was Gas for the Truck and Skis ($103). Thank goodness Myran already had a wet suit and I had a dry suit or these free fish could have become expensive.

Now the fun part - test the boats down at the river (about two miles away). OH yea it is raining hard. No problem Myran, Vellen and I have our gear on if we fall in. Now let me tell you at 45 mph I have the slow ski. The rain hurts your eyes and closed you can’t see. It doesn’t feel that great on your face either. The test went good and we went to Portland. The next day we only went ten miles. The skis started having a problem cutting out and sounding real bad. Last year’s gas and the tank was getting down so when we put them on reserve, they worked great.

We THINK we are all set. What time tomorrow? 4:30 a.m. Trina says, “Let’s wait and get the next one. There are two of them each day you know.” We get up. Ilene, Trina, Myran and I - Vellen wanted to go but hurt his shoulder and that is not a good thing on a jet ski. The morning went good. Stopped at my favorite gas station to fill up - $103.00. Skis and truck are full. We were ready and we were off. Free fish here we come.

It was good weather all day, sun and no wind till noon. Myran drove down and we got to the launch and there were some fishermen fishing. We saw a guy bring in about a 30 lb Salmon. It was 8 a.m. and low tide. As we went two miles, it was hard to see where the deepest water was and you could hear the rocks going through the jet. We ended up walking the skis a couple times, almost going down one channel with no outlet. Yes, at the end it was deeper and we got up to speed (45 miles hour). Myran was looking at the breakers and the channel turned. Oops: 40 feet is how far Myran’s ski goes on dry sand. With a lot of pulling and about six rests it was soon back in the water. I think we finally figured out what Nestucca means - Shallow bay.

Now I am hot and there is not way to cool off in a dry suit and a little winded. Back onto the skies and over the surf about five feet tall and breaking. We should have waited till there was an opening in the waves, “Not”, we came to ride the waves and fish. We hit the breaker. Oh yea the ski is full of gas - a good thing in a way, but the 14 gallons of gas is in the front of the 9 foot boat. It went through the wave and washed Myran’s sun glasses off and on mine it washed the lanyard and the plastic on the front of the boat off. There was no way I was letting go of the handles. The motor died and as I watched Myran go through two more breakers, I pushed the starter and nothing happened. Wave is coming, the lanyard is not on. Quick, put it back on and it started! I was going again. Myran said he looked back and saw my rock of a jet ski 2+ feet out of the water.

The ocean was smooth. There were big rollers that you go up and then fly through the air for about 10 feet and set down gently on the other side. If it was not for the motor revving up, you would never know you left the water. We Salmon fished for two hours and I caught a fish. No, I don’t know what it was and it didn’t taste that good. Some kind of a hake I think. It was about 16 inch long.

We would fish here and there and then go out farther. We just had to run fast and jump a lot. At the end we were out about five miles so back we came to do some bottom fishing. We saw some boats fishing so we went in the center of them and let our lines down. Myran hooked a big rock fish 20 inches long on the ten dollar new pole. Where is my camera? The challenge was the net is tied on and getting it untied to net fish was fun to watch. His fish bag was under the seat so he had to take the seat off while holding the fish in the net in one hand and the pole in the other. What hand did he use to pull the seat off? Finally he got the fish in the bag and tied it on. Oh yes, the wind is starting up and the boat is rocking a lot. I hooked a bottom fish and it takes about five minutes to get it off the bottom then it came right up. It was about the some size. Myran caught a smaller Rock fish and we moved to another spot. It was now noon and nature is calling and there is no way to take this dry suit off out there. We decided to go and yes, Myran hooked a 23 inch lingcod. It was fun to watch him with two fish already in the bag trying to put in a third. Well five more minuets and we left. We had are free fish.

Now the wind was really coming up and it was a rough five miles to the bar. The spray over the end of the boat was a lot and the potty problem was there too. It jarred you around a lot but it was fun jumping the waves.

The bar on the way back was interesting. Did I say something about the wind? It was three times as bad as when we came out. We were looking at a wave that came up behind us. We turned and almost made it straight on. We gunned it just in time to get the entire boat way too far out of the water (It had to be at least 4 feet, but no one was there watching to prove it). Both of us hit just off square and landed, almost rolling the boat over. Scary – Very Scary!!! But I would go out there again in a heart beat.

After taking a quick breather back out in the ocean, we finally got up the courage to try it again. With breakers cresting in front and back of us we were still learning the tricks of the ocean. (If you are ever in the surf on a jet ski and you think you will have power in the curl of a wave braking, think again. Air will not push the ski forward.) Finally our patients quit and we gunned it through the smaller waves and we were safely back in Nestucca Bay. The whole process took almost a half minute, but it seemed like an eternity.

The trip up the bay was much better during high tide, but was still none too deep. We quickly made it back to the launch and I was off to keep my dry suit dry. We both wanted to go back out and try our luck with that bar again, but our bellies were telling us it was lunch time and we might have been a little tired and sore. Myran and Trina drove the skis onto the trailer (I got to back the trailer down) and off we went.

We found a nice little pub for lunch and we were off to find a better bay. On our way home we checked out Sand Lake and discovered that we probably could even launch there at high tide, plus the bar would have been no better then Nestucca. With all that behind us we finally found our way back home. It was a full day and a great adventure. Looking back at the whole thing, I think the people that thought we were crazy for trying this were probably right.

It was just fun to have a wild adventure with my son. I even got Myranized by my own family.

June 22, 2007 - CYCLE OREGON WEEKEND


It was the weekend before my birthday and time for Cycle Oregon weekend. Ilene went to Vernonia with me on Friday and was going to pick me up on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. This worked well.

It was exactly 58.3 miles from our house via the Sunset highway to Vernonia. Ilene made it a loop and went home through Scappoose on the Columbia River highway. It was actually closer – only 54.2 miles.

I couldn’t use my cell phone from there so I bought a phone card at the local Sentry. 1084 minutes for $20. That’s 18+ hours of talking. So you are thinking two days for him.

I found a spot to put up my tent. There was no one within 100 feet. I went to town and came back and there were about six tents that liked my spot and put up next to me. I was thinking, “What about the rest of the field? The guy next to me apologized for everything.

I was drinking a beer waiting for the riders’ meeting that never happened. I talked to a volunteer who said that there were 750 riders this year and the week long one was 2,500 with 500 on a waiting list if anyone wanted to drop out.

Saturday: I was up 5:30 a.m. and got ready for the ride. I met this guy that every one knows or has met. Being the shy guy that I am, I started to talk to him. “How is it going?” I asked as I was going to the blue room.

I was in the blue room taking care of business. It was time to finish up. SO . . . there were these two rolls of paper. I know why there were two roles there because when I went to get some I got one square. Now this can’t be happening to me, I say to myself. With five separate squares of paper I said, “paper do your thing. “ I tried it a few more times. There was more to come.

I went to breakfast and the guy that I said hi to was just leaving. I got my food. He came back and told me about riding all over Portland. He got up at 4:00 a.m. every day. He got his first flat in 30 years because he put 6 ounces of slime in his tubes. I am thinking, “Why did I get so much breakfast?” I was eating as fast as I could and was thinking he was going to fallow me into my tent when I got through. It makes you think, “Am I like that? And if I am, suck it up!”

We rode through the country. There were very few cars. We went up so we could look at the Columbia River, then down to it and back up a lot of hills but not steep. There were two rain showers in the day but not long ones.

As I rode by myself for a long way, I was thinking it would be good to talk to someone. Being shy it is hard for me to find someone to talk to. When I do, I loose them at the rest stop. I am thinking I talk too much about my biking trips. So, I am off to a new way of thinking. (Not really but it is good for the story.)

New friend, Gerri Sue - we rode the rest of the day together and it made the time go faster and the hills seem smaller. I had to stop talking about bike trips because they even getting boring for me. SO there was this big city bus in the brush. It was a bus with moss on it and lots of other things. Oh yes, it was an old bus. There were two of them like this and I said, “We need to buy that bus and travel all over the USA. Gerri Sue said, “What do we buy it with?” We can pick up cans.” (Do the math on that one. We did.) We were talking about how we could ride our bikes back and forth in the bus and would not need a car. Oh yea, we need cans for Diesel for the bus. I want to paint it Lavender. I was going to let her pick out the color for the inside. As we came around the corner, there was a bus for sale. (It didn’t say how much and that didn’t help on the can count to buy it.) On the next corner there was a 30 foot 1950 boat to put on the back of our new bus. It too was for sale. This would be a dream come true. I think I might just live on recycled cans the rest of my life. Is this a dream or what? (Maybe a nightmare!) At the rest stop I tried to get more people to go with us and help with the cans.

It was a 74.5 mile day - A lot of fun.

I went to Gerri Sue’s tent after the ride and asked if she wanted to ride with me the next day. She said, “Yes.” Yeah, I was thinking.

At breakfast Gerri Sue, Molly and I all ate together. I said I would get my things and meet at Gerri Sue’s tent. WELL, I got my rain gear on and went to go ride with her but she said she was going home. Why? I asked. No gloves. I offered her my hand heaters. She said, “No.” It turned out to be a wise decision because it rained until noon. So, I went off riding by myself. (Don’t you feel sorry for me?) Yeah right. I look at the bright side. I had someone to talk to almost a full day and this made me feel good.

I pulled into a rest stop and a van full of volunteers showed up to help the other six volunteers help the other rider and me. There ended up being quite a few - I would guess about 200 or so riders at Stub Stewart State Park. Some did come by car but not a lot.

Gerri Sue and Molly drove by with their car heater on full. I don’t think they felt guilty that I was riding in the rain by myself (crying and blubbering along in the rain). It’s fun to ride in the rain and see the water come off the tire. (Watch the road not the tire.)

I was talking to the gal sitting in her pick up at the trail to Buxton trail-head park. They asphalted the trail with 8 inches so it was smooth riding, three miles long and a rails to trails. To think it was originally made with horses kind of makes you think. The canyons are deep. If you get off the trail, there is a railroad crossing sign and as you go on back, a picture of a train coming down the track. HE HE I was telling people there was a picture of a train back there. They didn’t believe me. It was only 50 to 100 feet back, so they went back and looked at it. The one gall asked me my name and I gave it to her – Gerard. She said, “Ok Gerard Byran.” It was on the back of my bike. If it was not back there she was going to look for me. That was fun.

On the way back I stopped and talked to the same person at the trail head - she finally said, “Don’t you have some place to be?” (Could this be a hint?)

I looked over the new park and back to camp in good weather. The sun dried out my tent so I didn’t have to do that when I got home. Yes, there were five tents left when I got there. Not one next to mine and Ilene was early to pick me up. We stopped and got a Slurpee and helped my son-in-law, Matt, with his fence and ate dinner. It was time for bed. What a great day!

I was finally talked out but I will recover very fast. As you read this, I am looking for you to talk about my other biking trips. Now where did I put your phone number?

Come ride with me and be Byranized.