Dragline!
I foolishly decided that today would be a good day to ride Kevin Brightbill’s Dedalus Diggle Populaire (not a good idea for a couple of reasons; first, it was hot, which made the return leg of the trip somewhat more painful than usual, and secondly because Oregon has replaced the oxygen in the atmosphere with pollen, which made the outbound leg a festival of breathing difficulties.) Much to my surprise I finished the ride (the cutoff was 7 hours, I finished in 6h58) but it was all worth it because when I was looping around in the flatlands immediately east of Scappoose I discovered CalPortland’s Marion 7450 working on a gravel bed.
If I could have breathed you probably would have heard my squeals of delight as far away as Portland, but as it was I only startled a few grasshoppers and whatever other insects that are out when it’s so warm.
Yeah, stripmining is aesthetically displeasing and an enviromental trainwreck, but Dragline! OPERATING dragline! Oh, lord, I’ve died and gone to heaven haven’t I?