July 7, 2003 Austin Junction

Got going at 7:00. Got to Mount Vernon and stopped for drinks. The captain entertained a couple women (with bikes on their roof rack) until he accused them of cheating by driving and not riding. Killed that conversation. They passed us a couple miles outside of town and didn't stop to offer us a lift. Got to John Day and stopped for more drinks and to go sandwiches for a later lunch. While we were outside sitting, a guy walked up and started talking to us. Turns out he was one of the motorcycle riders from yesterday. We never recognized him in his cilivian clothes. Next we got to Praire City. Finally we were surrounded by groupies. That's Kyla, Kelly, and Maggie. from left to right. Time for a climb. Dixie Pass. was a tough one. The captain waited so long for swabbie that he almost came down to see if swabbie was still alive. While we were sitting at the top, we heard some thunder and started seeing lightning. A quick 7 mile downhill brought us to the single building in Austin Junction: Post Office, General Store, Gas Station, and Restaurant. Our maps also said we could talk to the proprietor about camping in the back. What the maps didn't say was that this place was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Fortunately, the woman running the store was there and opened up to let us buy some stuff and told us we could camp in the back. Unfortunately, the back also turned out to be one big rock field. We found the best site we could and pitched the tent as it started to rain. We got the tent up and decided to have a little soup for supper. Cappy tied up a tent flap and cooked it under the small canopy. Dixie Pass. Note that the captain can find beer to buy even if the only store in the area is closed! After dinner we listened to the only thing available on radio: country music and the Gordon Liddy show.

Groupies Kyla, Kelly, and Maggie Dixie Pass another mile high Cooking in the rain

July 6, 2003 Dayville, Oregon

Got going at 7:30. First order of business: 7 miles of 6% grade to the top of Keyes Creek Pass. Fortunately, the next order of busines was 25 miles of downhill with almost no pedalling. We ran into some pretty interesting buttes(?). At this point, we decided to take a side trip to the John Day Fossil Beds Vistor Center. It was small but interesting and a welcome break from the day's heat. We got to watch an interesting movie about the formation of the beds and this part of the country in general. It was produced by a local high school (but had some professional help for example with the claymation) and was as good as you'd see on say a similar PBS program. You can see the strata a little better with this closeup. One of the things we learned was the John Day's claim to fame was to have fallen into his namesake river and to have had all his possesions, including his clothes, stolen by the Indians. After rejoining the route, we went through the rest of the canyon. and more fossil beds. 7 more miles and we were at Dayville. For once it was the captain, not swabbie, who begged to call it quits because of the heat. Chatted with three motorcycle riders while we cooled down in the shade with our drinks. We stopped at the local church. We were able to camp, use the showers and kitchen facilties all for free although we did contribute to a donations can. Turns out the refrigerator and stove had been purchased from bicyclist donations. We got a frozen pizza before we discovered they also had spaghetti etc for our use. We did down a few pancakes the church had left for bicyclists the next morning. The captain thinks all the food was just left over from some function. Swabbie wasn't so sure. There was a lot of syrup and margarine (alas no butter). Seems unlikely to have had a function with both pancakes and spaghetti. Also, the boys got there before any Sunday evening supper would have been over.

Buttes on the way to Jogn Day Pass John Day Fossil Bed Visitor Center John Day Fossil Bed Visitor Center Closeup More Fossil Beds Coming out of the canyon

The Captain has ventured into Illinois and logged 3,375 miles! Read all about it below.

Hi gang, here's an email we received today from the Captain:

Greetings all,

I’ve been out of touch for a while since riding has taken up so much of my
time. I’ve just crossed the Mississippi and taking a rest day in Chester IL
(home of Popeye). My odometer now has 3375 miles for the trip and I think I’m
about 3 weeks from the Atlantic Ocean at Yorktown, VA.

After descending out of the Rockies I went through Pueblo CO and started to
head east through Kansas. While Kansas was flat, there was always a headwind
and for a least three days the scene never changed: railroad on the left, grain
fields to the right and the next town’s grain elevator on the horizon. People
in Kansas were very friendly and I often camped in city parts that allowed me
to use their swimming pool (certainly nice as the days are getting hotter).

As I entered Missouri, things really started to heat up with five days above
100 degrees and high humidity. Missouri for a bicyclist is like a “self
propelled roller coaster”, constantly up and down fairly short but unbelievably
short grades (your doing 45 mph at the bottom and slow to 3 mph by the top). I
met Ted in Missouri and we traveled together for four days, nice to have
company.

Today I’m taking a rest day and going through all my possessions to shed as
much weight as possible before the Appalachian Mountains. I’m only about three
weeks away from Yorktown, VA, but three weeks still seems like a longtime.

Captain Bob

July 5, 2003 Mitchell, Oregon

We left the lake and began the climb of Ochoco Pass. Skippy went ahead. Swabbie ended up taking a break just before the top. (around a curve about 1/2 mile). While swabbie was loafing, Scott and Darryl came by from a beer run and offered to put him in the back of the pickup to hide while they ran him up to the top. Of course swabbie declined to cheat. The view of the top was pretty impressive. The bottom of Ochoco pass turned things back into shadeless brown again. It was also getting pretty hot. We climbed about 1/3 of Keyes Creek Pass to Mitchell. Mitchell was mostly, but not quite a ghost town. A few stores were open, but most were boarded up or otherwise closed and dusty. Of course the captain found somewhere to buy beer. The city park was free for camping, so we went to take a look. Despite the general feeling that the town was past its prime, the city park turned out to be a nice campground. There we ran into Eric (did we mention him back at Belkin Hot Springs?) again. swabbie had suggested we eat at the Hotel we found as they claimed to have just hired a "world renowned" cook. Although, why would a world renowned chef be here? Eric introduced to a couple kids who were stranded there because their VW bus had broken down. They were waiting for the girl's father to show up with his pickup and a u-haul. They had eaten there and after their tale, we fired up our stove. One thing Mitchell did have was a small visitor center. It had showers that you could pay $2 to use over at the general store. There we learned of Mitchells better past and the 30 foot flash flood that had come down main street decades ago. The other interestng, perhaps a little sad, was the Mitchell bear. Henry lived in maybe a 20 x 20 cage at the local commercial gas station. The sign indicated that Henry was happy but we had our doubts.

Top of Ochoco Pass The view from Ochoco Pass Mitchell City Park Mitchell Attractions Henry the bear

July 4, 2003

So it was independence day when we said goodbye to the sisters and the cascade range. Not that we would stop climbing, but we were headed for the not quite desert region. The the next zillion miles (or about 20 this day) much of the terrain would be like an old western movie set. I think we have more pics of this particular area, but they may be with Paul and Rachel. We ended up at Ochoco lake. The captain bought some vegetables a couple miles before the lake in Prine. We also hit the only real 7-Eleven on the trip and had some real slurpies. Right outside the campgrounds were Scott and Darryl. Scott had a large motorhome, but Darryl had the pickup truck which was all important for beer runs. We plied them with stories of our adventures like the ministrels of old in exchange for some cold ones.

Didn't know how much we'd get to missing those cool mountains Wait, we are supposed to be in the Northwest! Is John Wayne out here somewhere?

Bob entered Pueblo, Colorado on Saturday, August 9th!

July 3, 2003

As I said earlier, we took a rest on the 2nd. We started at about 7:30 in the morning for our McKenzie Pass climb. We started at about 1600 feet and had to climb to 5325 feet over 22 miles. The first couple miles were pleasant enough, but then it got steeper and steeper. Finally we hit the switchbacks about 2/3 of the way up. They were a little less hard. You can see this switchback was only maybe 50-60 feet in a few hundred yards. You can see a little bit of the switchback below the main one through the trees. About 2/3 of the way up, we hit some Lava Beds. Not sure that the picture brings out the sense of devastation. Several times the road cut through the lava and you could tell that it was at least 8 to 10 feet thick at that point. I'm pretty sure I don't want to get in the way of a live one. At last! We hit 5000 ft of elevation. Unfortunately, about a 1/2 mile further and the road heads down for awhile. ARGGGGGGHHHH!!!! All that effort lost! One final push and we're at the We hit top!!!!!!!!!! I think it's about 4:30 in the afternoon now. It was pretty cool and breezy up there. In fact my bike blew over. There was lookout area (that I don't seem to have a picture of) that you climbed up to. It pointed out the various mountains. I'm not sure at this point but I think that this is of two out of the three sisters, but it could be this one. I forget the downhill, but think it was about 15 miles. Almost no pedaling, but we did have to stop to let the rims cool. When we got to Sisters we checked in to the Sisters Motor Lodge, bought groceries, and went to a bar for supper. The captain got mad at the poor service there. But it really was a management fault. Only a single person to tend bar and wait on tables in a pretty crowded place.

Switchbacks Lava Beds Almost There? At the Top! Sisters? or Sisters?

He's hit Colorado!

Here's the text of Bob's email, sent today:

Well, I’ve finally made it to Colorado. Crossed over from Wyoming this
morning and am camped in the City Park of Walden. Things have been
somewhat lonely since my brother left and the other day I dropped and
ran over my CD/radio player so I guess I’ll have to get another.
Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons were very pretty and interesting, but
the remainder of Wyoming seems to consist of long stretches of range
with the occasional mountain thrown in for good measure. Head winds
also make for an interesting time. The thing I’ve missed is trees,
although now that I’m back up in altitude, the heat hasn’t been that
bad.

I’ve met some interesting people along the way (both bicyclists and
non-bicyclists). This morning I met a pair of Brits that were heading west
(boy were they in for a head wind) and had been on the road for 3
months. Today in Walden, I ran into a couple of local cyclists and we
had lunch together. For those of you I haven’t told, in Eastern Oregon
my brother and I ran into two guys that were running across the
country. They had all of their camping stuff packed into one of those
runner’s child strollers and took turns pushing it. They had left NJ
in February and should probably be done by now.

My odometer passed 2000 miles today, and while I sometimes get
discouraged, I’m still planning to do the whole thing. I think that by
the end of this week, I’ll be at the ½ waypoint with plenty of flat
ridding coming up in Kansas.

Well, that’s it for now; they’re getting ready to kick me off this
terminal. More as I find libraries.

Captain Bob

July 1, 2003

We made it to Belknap Hot Springs at the base of McKenzie Pass. As this was to be a climb to be feared we would take a rest day here before tackling the mountain. The place was pretty nice, except for the tent area. This was pretty typical. It appears that people actually seem to think that tenters like to pitch their tent in the mud, on rocks, etc. You can see here that our view is that of the resort's backhoe. On the other hand, maybe they have prior experience with the antics of bicyclists. The hot springs were a little weird. You actually got into a swimming pool that was fed from the springs. Getting in was a little like getting in the pool at your swim club. You might do it slowly and try to become acclimated to the cold water, or you might take the plunge. Same thing here only it was hot water. Skippy found where it was feeding into the pool. I think you could get scalded there.

Belknap Hot Springs Belknap Camp Site Why Bicyclists get crappy sites

I brought back a couple of CDs of pictures and thought I would go back to where they start. Although I'm home now, you might enjoy the show. My plan is to do two or three a week. Sit back and enjoy.