Goonie Birds and Bicyclists

I never saw the movie "The Goonies," but apparently it is a cult classic, filmed in Astoria, and released in theaters 30 years ago tomorrow, which is Goonie Day hereabouts. I'll get back to that in a minute, even though it is almost completely off the topic of this blog ... but not entirely.

On a completely different topic, however, let's talk about the Goonie bird (GB). The GB is an albatross that lives in the middle of the Pacific, as do I. The albatross is famous for its ability to stay aloft for weeks at a time, ranging across vast expanses of ocean. In that way, I'm hoping to be like an albatross, able to cross great expanses of territory effortlessly. Technically the GB is a specific breed of albatross, but the one I'm familiar with is the Laysan albatross that nests on the northwest tip of the island of Oahu in a bird sanctuary called Kaena Point, among other places. As long as you stay in designated areas, you can watch the birds in their nesting and mating habitat. While watching from a safe distance, I once showed a friend my interpretive dance that imitated the male GB during mating season ... something like a very exaggerated "walk like an Egyptian." I must have done it right, because one of the GBs took a liking to me and returned the favor of a dance, and started following us. I think that is about the time we decided to exit stage right.

Anyway, no GBs today, but I got to ride with the rest of the Bike Trip America crew today for our first official ride as a team.

Here's the boys, Bryce, Jonathan, and Ryan on one of the trails through Fort Stevens State Park.

We left Astoria at around 9:00 am and headed across the bridge to Warrenton. On the way, we saw dozens of blue herons, who I presume are migrating through here. Some were floating, some standing in the mud flats, and some in flight. Spectacular to see so many in one place! We then followed bike trails, and meandered past a pre-planned photo shoot from one of the local newspapers, then on into Fort Stevens State Park, from which we will be departing on June 18, less than two weeks from now. We scouted beaches where we could dip our tires in Pacific Ocean before embarking on our albatrossian jouney.

One of our sponsors, the Astoria Co-op Grocery, wanted a photo of the entire crew with Co-op tee shirts on. So here we all are, including the boys, our support driver Pat, our mascot Annie, and of course me.

The patch on my forehead is actually a small mirror attached to my glasses ... I wasn't attacked by an albatross or anything dramatic like that. And the beach is the one where we will dip our tires in the Pacific 12 days from now. The beach is the beach where you can find the wreck of the Peter Iredale, which foundered in a storm in October of 1906.

So, how does all that relate to the movie "The Goonies"? Well, according to the on-line synopsis (I haven't seen the movie), kids are trying to save their house from foreclosure by searching for a sunken pirate treasure. Do you think we could help them? They could look in the buried hull of the Peter Iredale, maybe. If you have any hints, we'll be back at the shipwreck site on June 18 at 10:00 am to launch our coast-to-coast journey. Perhaps we could search for buried treasure before we set off. And yes, I really did say "albatrossian" journey earlier.