So . . . I finally did it, and it was so easy I feel silly about all my fretting. I ended up going down Sam Jackson and picking up Terwilliger at the Shell station. I encountered 1 motorcycle on the way down the hill and 1 car on the way into town. It was quick and never at all scary. I stopped to visit with a friend in Old Town and then took Naito down to the Hawthorne bridge, and home from there. So, I feel silly and yet satisfyingly empowered.