I think Portland poop scoop laws should extend to horses.
In my quest to navigate my new neighborhood, I struck out on yet a new route in my commute to the house for the "van exchange." This time I decided to be adventurous and follow out the road that runs parallel to my apartment. As it turns out, this is the perfect route. There is only one little hairy intersection/jog that is a bit life-threatening, especially if you have a big semi-truck turning left and half of its trailer is encroaching on the right-side bike lane (true story. I STILL have all my limbs). Anyway, after you get past having to become a cyped (a hybrid between a cyclist and a pedestrian. I think I startled the pedestrian as I swerved into the crosswalk to avoid getting flattened by the semi's tires) in that little bit, it's fairly low traffic until you get to the Springwater Corridor, which has always been my favorite bike trail in the Portland area.
As I'm cycling along Springwater, I start having to dodge foot-high piles of crap left on the multi-purpose path by the horses that have passed by previously, MANY of them. For a good segment of the path, it was smelling like a cow pasture...er...horse pasture. Cow/horse. Poop smells pretty much the same, only horses' waste may smell a little grassier. It started me to thinking about what that would look like if people had to scoop up after their horses, big packs on either side of the saddle with hot steaming horse excrement. That would probably curtail horse rides on city trails pretty fast.
I also observed that the closer I get to Portland the more "Pat" moments I have, those moments where you encounter someone and it takes you a really long time to figure out if they're male or female, EVEN when they are wearing a tank top AND I was wearing my contacts! There was one where there was a good 2 minutes or so where I was going back and forth, "male...no female...no male...no DEFINITELY female...wait...no male...no..." I'm STILL not sure, really.
Another amusing sight was there must have been some kind of organized bike ride going on or something because just a few miles into the path I passed under a great big banner with the words "Rest Stop" emblazoned on it. There was a big tent and tables of refreshments and brightly hued whippets EVERYWHERE in various stages of repose. Have you ever seen a whippet (I have blatantly stolen this term from a friend who used this term to describe the rabid Portland cyclist) at rest? It is truly a rare moment, and a little startling, all that spandex and neon, motionless and not streaking by in a rude blur.
Anyway, I think this is going to be my go-to route for commuting to Northeast. It's the least unnerving and quite enjoyable (also probably has the higher likelihood of a longer life expectancy--mine) and I think I actually made it in better time than I have in my previously more direct routes. Listen to me..."made it in better time." Pardon me, my whippet is showing.
