Days 62 & 63: Portland Bound

Day 62: 70ish miles
Day 63: 85 miles

I apologize, readers, for my utter negligence and failure to keep my blog updated. It turned out to be rather difficult to keep up with when I was traveling on my own, and after I got to Portland I just got distracted! Seeing as I am several days through with my journey, I'll just update y'all quickly on my trip up the Oregon coast.

After leaving the B&B outside of Yachats, I biked north along the Pacific Coast highway, stopping to purchase a used book (Dry by Augusten Burroughs) and venture down to the Devil's Churn to snap a photo.

Demonic, I guess

I had gotten a late start due to the excellent conversation at breakfast, so I only made it about 30 miles before stopping to eat lunch in a park with a view of the bay in Newport.

My afternoon trip to Lincoln City was uneventful. I ended up riding past town to get to a cafe I had heard a lot about, and then rode 6 more miles to an RV park to find a spot to camp.  The park was full, but a woman, a tent, and a bike don't take up much space so the owners set me up in a cozy spot behind the office. I got a shower and a nice place to set up my tent, and they didn't charge me a thing! And, I spent an hour that evening sitting around a fire with a group of Native Americans who were in the area for a powwow. I've never before heard the traditional singing and drumming of any tribe. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them, moatly listening but telling a bit of my story as well.

The next day I rode mostly on the highway, following 18 almost all the way to a Portland. The road transformed from a twisty rural highway to a multi-lane speedway about 15 miles from the RV park. But, the shoulder was plenty wide and I felt safer there than I have on many roads this trip. I stopped at a health food store in McMinnville to treat myself to a kombucha and eat the lunch I had been carrying with me. I stopped at the public library while there and printed out some bike maps of Portland.

My afternoon ride into Portland was hot and a bit long. The roads gradually became more and more bike-friendly (i.e. bike lanes began to appear in sporadic patches). But there were also numerous traffic lights to contend with and it took hours to slog through the suburban sprawl outside the city.

By some miracle (mostly Google Maps) I was able to navigate a reasonable bike route through the city to my hosts' house in northeast Portland.  Once I got into the city, there were bike lanes everywhere. I felt a tad bit strange to be staying in a room that I had found by talking to the owners of the house, not those who actually lived there. But Tess, their daughter and resident of the house, had been super helpful helping me get there and really friendly via text message so I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

I arrived around 7 and was greeted by Ross, Tess's brother and housemate. He showed me around, got me settled in  imy room, and was generally incredibly kind. When his housemate, William, got home we all ordered Thai together! How wonderful to be in a place with interesting food. If anything, Portland has too much nice food - its a bit overwhelming and its weird when there are multiple Thai restaurants within easy walking distance.

That night, I stayed up late hanging out with my hosts and reminiscing about the trip. I realized that there were many places and people I had forgotten about, many of which had made quite an impression on me. Mentally revisiting those things, I realized just how much the trip had shaped my attitude toward the world and the way I interacted with that world and with the people in it.

Day 61: To the Coast! (Eugene to Yachats)

Miles: 95

This morning began with a fantastic breakfast of eggs, bacon, and smoothies created for us by Kurt and Lorna. Then we got a sweet demonstration of Kurt's "row bike," which happily combined my interests in rowing and cycling! The thing itself was rather complicated and seemed to involved a chain unlike any I have seen before. I hope I run into another of these down the road. I'd love to try it out myself!

It even has a sliding seat!

 I left Alice behind when I left for the morning ride. She was headed to the airport later that day for her flight to see family in Chicago, and it was sad to say goodbye.

Kurt steered me via bike paths to the edge of town, where I headed northwest out of Eugene. I rode on quiet country roads for awhile before running into major construction on one of the bigger roads. Thankfully, the trucks gave me enough space and, after I rode through a smelly, dirty construction zone for a couple of miles, disappeared entirely. The rest of the ride to the intersection with the Eugene-Florence highway was perfectly lovely.

The blackberries in Oregon were unbelievably lush and productive, in the way that only hyper-invasive species can be. For the past week, Alice and I had been riding by patch after patch dripping with ripening fruit. Using all my willpower, I was somehow able to like myself to a single blackberry stop.

I had a daydream in which the blackberry plants to over all the roads, and eventually the entire state of Oregon

I didn't have a lot of time to spend in Florence, but I visited the historic waterfront district (and the grocery store) while I was there. Then I rife the last 20 miles to Yachats, where my aunt was kindly putting me up in a bed and breakfast (thank you, Aunt Karen!).

One of the prettier parts of Florence

A few miles before I arrived at the B&B, I stopped at a roadside pullover and enjoyed a close up view of the beach. Standing on the coastline, I finally realized that I had made it to the other side of the country!

My bike enjoyed the view, too!

 I arrived at Ambrosia Gardens Bed & Breakfast a little before seven. Mary, the owner, was incredibly welcoming and excited about the journey I had made. She even let me choose the breakfast the next morning :) It was nice to totally relax and sleep in a cozy bed that night! It wadone first stay at a bed and breakfast; it turns out that they're a lot like staying with a Warmshowers host, except you don't get dinner, there are other guests, and everyone is surprised by what you've been doing for the past two months. Also you feel less indebted to the world/the people you're staying with and you get to hang out in a jacuzzi. All in all it was a great experience, and I would really recommend this place for anyone visiting the coast! Mary's great, and they have entirely reasonable prices due to being on the beachless side of the highway.

I stayed up too late eating, jacuzziing, reading, and talking to the other guests, a couple who was charmingly curious about my trip. Caught a view of the sunrise along the way!

Even though I had theoretically complete my cross country journey, I had decided to fly out of Portland, so getting to the coast felt rather anticlimactic. I still had about 160 miles to go!

Sunset in Yachats

Day 60: McKenzie Bridge to Eugene

It was pouring rain this morning and we didn't want to leave our tent! Also, we didn't have too far to go to get to Eugene (and it was all downhill), so we weren't in any rush. We ended up packing up in a drize and riding a mile to a dry gas station for coffee and breakfast.

Lucky for us, we spent enough time there that the local chainsaw art festival had begun by the time we left! We pedaled to the next town over and found numerous artisans at work with an astounding variety of chainsaws. Their work was on display. We decided that carrying one would be a little too challenging, but we checked it out anyway.

I have never seen such an unhappy looking snail

Art in the making

We also stopped to pick blackberries and eat pie, which further delayed our entry into Eugene. As a result of all our dawdling, it was almost dinnertime by the time we got to Eugene. Our hosts (Kurt and Lorna) weren't responding to our text messages, so we decided to try our luck and just show up at their house. When we arrived, Lorna was just heading out the door. Luckily, she had time to get us set up before she had to leave on an errand.

Kurt came home a bit after she returned and we got to spend some time with both of them. We found out that they like square dancing, so we felt like kindred spirits! Then they were kind enough to drop Alice's bike by the shop for shipping and take us out to a fantastic dinner at a local brewpub (awesome burger, awesome beer, awesome dessert, awesome view from the back porch). They even brought Alice to the airport the next morning! It was a really wonderful start and I wish u could have stayed for another day or two to see all that Eugene had to offer.

Day 59: Prineville to McKenzie Bridge

Miles: 88ish

I have lots of photos for today so I think I'll let them speak for themselves. We had a rather uneventful ride to Sisters in the morning, where we enjoyed some excellent kombucha & lunch at a little cafe. Then we headed up McKenzie pass, where we found the most bizarre landscape waiting for us. We dodges storms all day but luckily bever for poured on!

At the top of the mountain, we arrived in Mordor

The Ovservatory

Definitely Mordor

At the top of the observatory

 During our 3000 foot drop to the other side of the mountain, we experienced an entirely different landscape: lush green trees coated with moss.

Ahhhhhh 

Day 58: Mitchell to Prineville

Total mileage: 55ish

Our ride wasnt long today, but it took us up a massive climb out of Mitchell. Whew! It was long and pretty darn steep for this part of the world.  All along the way were burned out sections of forest.

Fire damage every few feet

Halfway up the pass

As we rode down the other side, the forests became groves of occasionally massive ponderosa pines. Logging has been a huge industry in this area, so its rare to see particularly large trees. Currently the groves of pines we saw are managed as part of the Ochoco National Forest. 

Prineville greeted us with all the luxuries that a town of thousands has to offer. We were starving when we got in, so we went to lunch at a sandwich place in town. We both got 1/2 lb burgers, which it turns out is rather a lot of food. I wish I had documented the size of the burgers by photo, but I guess you'll just have to imagine it. Of course, we had 0 problems finishing our food!

Our hosts that night advertised themselves on Warmshowers as biodynamic farmers with a yoga studio that cyclists could sleep in. We were intrigued. We had had some confusing email exchanges telling us that we could use their kitchen but that we would have to buy their vegetables if we wanted food, so we weren't sure what to expect. We had gotten in early, so we killed time at the Prineville public library before heading over.

When we arrived (right before it began to pour), we found an incredibly peaceful house with CSA shares set up for pickup in the front room. The walls were decorated with all sorts of interesting/beautiful photos/paintings. Our host welcomed us in, showed us upstairs to the yoga studio, and left us alone to shower. 

Once we got situated, we crept downstairs to ask for some veggies for our dinner. Much to our surprise, our host sat us down and offered us beer instead! We chatted with her for a while and began to relax. In the end, they ended up cooking us dinner and taking us to see their farm a couple of miles away. All in all, a very unexpected turn of events. Our mattresses in the yoga studio were very comfy, so we slept well that night.

Day 57: Fossils and Fires (Prairie City to Mitchell)

Total Mileage: 86

We rode through miles of smoke today, towards the fire outside of Dayville. The view was almost nonexistent, the mountains hazy figures in the background.

The smoke finally cleared once we got past Dayville, since the wind was blowing to the east. Several miles to the west of town, we rode through Picture Gorge, from which you can apparently view Native American pictograms. We asked the ranger where to look for them, but she wasn't allowed to tell us! We looked for them, but couldn't spot them and ride our bikes on a narrow shoulder at the same time.

We got rained on a bit, but also enjoyed a fantastic tailwind as a result of the storm. After a long uphill, we zipped down into Mitchell, where we camped in a city park. It was a very small town (I have officially categorized it as Kind Of A Place), but the park was busy! We shared our spot with several other cyclists, two runners, and a driver of a car that night.

Day 56: Three Passes (Baker City to Prairie City)

Total mileage: 72

I'm not sure I made a big enough deal earlier over the fact that THIS IS THE LAST AND FINAL STATE OF THE TRIP! Really it's pretty incredible. 8 weeks in and only a few days from the coast! It's hard to contemplate the prospect of not bike touring sometime soon.

Oregon knows that cyclists exist!

We got a late start out of Baker City because we were leaving from a comfy house, because we had to go grocery shopping, and because I discovered a cracked link in my chain. That and my back wheel is slightly out of true! We couldn't fix the true this morning, but we replaced the broken link.

Our ride took us up and over three passes, each of approximately 1000 vertical feet. The climbing was actually really fun, since none of the passes were too long or too steep. And they were all in the  trees, which was a lovely change from the ride to Baker City. About 15 miles out of town, we had someone pull over and offer us cold water, which always makes us happy!

We were especially appreciative because getting water was a bit of a challenge on this ride. We even ran into a bit of trouble later on when the store we were counting on for water was closed. The owners had left a sign on the door for those looking for drinking water, directing us to a pipe next to the road that apparently spurted fresh spring water. We weren't excited about retracing our steps a mile to get there, but it seemed to be the only option. Sure enough, we found a pipe jutting out of the hillside on the side of the road gurgled a steady stream of water. It was a bit bizarre, but we decided to trust the sign's assurance that the water was safe for drinking.

Top of Dixie Pass (named by Southern sympathizers during the Civil War)

After crossing the third and final pass, we whooshed quickly down to Prairie City. The view along the descent was marvelous (if a bit hazy from smoke) and we stopped to take a couple of photos. Little did we know that the world's largest fungus was only a few miles from where we rode! Even better, the fungus is actually the world's largest living thing (check it out at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-largest-organism-is-fungus/). We didn't find out about the humongous fungus until the next day; otherwise, we might have gone looking for it.

Beautiful viewpoint + bizarre oversized wagon monument (I didn't actually take a panorama photo, but I found one on my phone later. Sometimes technology scares me.)

=)

Riding into Prairie City

The mountains in the photos are very hazy due to an immense wildfire raging near Dayville, not too far away. Actually, our hosts (Jimi and Karen) had sent us a message letting us know that they wouldn't be home until late that evening because they were aiding the firefighting effort. We arrived at their house around 6pm to find a note welcoming us inside. Their home was beautiful, with a spectacular view of the mountains. We took our time showering and settling in to the "Bob Marley suite," an excellently decorated room that used to be their son's.

The mural in our room

Even though we couldn't meet them yet, our hosts sent us updates about the fire and let us know what they were up to. Jimi sent us an excellent photo of himself tending to a firefighting plane!

The wildfire (photo taken by Jimi's pilot friend)

Jimi keeping the planes going!

At our host's lovely home

Since our hosts had to be away until late and no restaurants in town were open, we ended up scavenging ourselves dinner from their fridge. They had lots of wonderful food, so it worked out fine! We finally got to meet our hosts (and their son and family!) at around 9:30pm. Even though it was late, Jimi took a look at my back wheel and helped get it back in true. We were impressed by the hospitality they showed us without even being there. We're glad they were out stopping fires, but we wish we had gotten to spend more time getting to know them!

Prairie City at sunset

- Alix

Day 55: Back in the Desert (Halfway, OR to Baker City, OR)

Total Mileage: 60ish 

We had a rather hot, dry, and uneventful trip from Halfway to Baker City. Lots of sandy soil and sagebrush - we figure this is the part of Oregon that Oregonians like to pretend doesn't exist.

We were looking forward to stopping at the Oregon Trail Interpretation Center outside of Baker City, though, since we had both heard good things about it. Unfortunately, no one had told us that the museum was off the road on top of a mile long hill and a climb of almost 400 ft! We decided it was worth it and made the trek up the ridiculous grade. We arrived hot and thirsty and set about getting water/eating our lunch before we did anything else.

When we were ready to look at the exhibits, the kind woman at the front desk let us in for free! This was excellent since the cost was $8 (no student discount) and we didn't actually have that much time to spend there. Alice needed a new cleat for her road shoes and we had to make it to the bike store in town before 4pm.

The parts of the exhibit we did see were pretty cool. Interesting/educational/interactive - everything you would want a museum to be! We thought the massive diorama in the front room was worth photographing.

The dead animals lend a surprisingly life-like quality to the thing

Complete with voice recording of a mother mourning a dead child

After skimming the exhibits, we rode the 8 miles into town and hit up the bike shop. Disappointingly, they didn't have the type of cleat that Alice needed :(  Alix did end up buying an extra derailleur cable and tube, though. If you buy more tubes, you don't get flats, right?



Road into Baker City

That evening, we met up with Luke, our Warmshowers host. He kindly showed us into his parent's house. They had just gone on vacation so we got the whole place to ourselves! It was our first shower in a week - woohooooo! After going to dinner with Luke, we curled up in our cozy beds and went to sleep.

Day 53: (Riggins, ID to Council, ID)

Total mileage: 62ish

It seems that this day wasn't very memorable, since I completely forgot to post about it! The scenery did leave something to be desired, especially after the natural beauty of Riggins. In retrospect, though, several nice things happened this day. Here are the highlights:

1. Waking up along the river in the beautiful park in Riggins and taking our time before leaving (just in time before the sprinklers were turned on!).

2. Being given water on the side of the road by the couple we had talked to in Grangeville! They said hi as they went by and then we found them half a mile later waiting on the side of the road with cold water in hand. They even gave us their contact info in case we ran into problems on the road. This was a really wonderful surprise.

3. Running into a nice guy (at a rather small, sad city park) who had done the TransAm a couple of years before.

4. Charging our phones at the loading dock behind the post office in Council.

I think that sums it up!
-Alix

Day 54: Halfway to Somewhere (Council, ID to Halfway, OR)

Total Mileage: 80ish

Morning: 22 miles of rangeland before breakfast in the little town of Cambridge. We ate outside a drive-thru espresso shop, across from a miscellaneous store covered in viscously anti-Obama posters. We meet some wonderful people at the coffee shop, one of whom owned a trail building company that had done work on the Eno River in NC!

Afternoon: a gradual climb and a nice  long downhill into the Snake River valley. The view over the Brownlee reservoir was one of the mist spectacular we've seen on this trip (or anywhere for that matter). We speculated on what it might have looked like before the dam. The roadsides were covered in blackberries and an assortment of fruit trees. So much fruit that you could smell it warming in the heat before you saw it! We limited ourselves to a couple of sessions of berry picking, so as not to get too far off schedule.

Late Afternoon/ Evening: traveled away from the river into Hell's Canyon area. We found ourselves covered in dust as we moved into a drier zone. Took a siesta outside an abandoned restaurant to avoid the hottest part of the day and enjoyed a slightly cooler ride into Halfway. Halfway proved to be a cute little town, with a nice park to camp in, plenty of groceries (including coconut milk ice cream), and just enough kitschy stores and restaurants to catch a tourist's attention. We still don't know what we were halfway between!

Day 52: Forest Fires (Kooskia, ID to Riggins, ID)

Total mileage: 75

We were a bit sad to leave the town of Kooskia in the morning, after having such a wonderful experience there the night before. So we took our time getting on the road and stopped at a local cafe for a coffee. In retrospect, we probably didn't do much to help the town's economy, since each cup (with unlimited refills) cost only 50 cents. Cheap coffee = yet another reason to visit Kooskia, ID.

Our ride that morning took us uphill on a winding back road. For the first time in weeks, the road was actually steep! We climbed up and up until we reached a rolling plateau covered in freshly harvested fields of wheat. We saw a harvester at work in the distance. Suddenly it felt like we were back in the Midwest.

The morning climb

The plateau: a radically different landscape

 We stopped in Grangeville for lunch after working our way along the farmland grid. On our way into town, we ran into a couple who was eager to talk to us and hear about our trip. They gave us directions to the library, the grocery store, and a funky little coffee shop that they recommended we check out.

The coffee shop was indeed worth a visit. It was cool and cozy, and their iced drinks and tasty muffins were a welcome respite from the heat of the road. Not to mention that the shop was full of friendly people! Alix enjoyed chatting with both barista and customers while Alice for some work done at the library next door. The barista even gave us directions to some choice swimming holes down the road. Alix is quickly falling in love with northern Idaho.

Our afternoon ride had us climbing again, this time at a much more reasonable angle. The road was gloriously shaded and empty of cars, winding through a hilltop forest.

At the peak, the landscape changed dramatically once more. The trees disappeared and we were left with a sweeping view of a deep, dramatic valley. The mountainsides were loosely wrinkled and tan with dry grasses. The descent ahead of us twisted along the mountain's edge, without even a guardrail to protect us from the drop!

At the peak

Riding on the edge!

 Our descent into the valley was both breathtakingly beautiful and a bit nerve wracking. It was long and steep, with numerous switchbacks that we couldn't navigate without slowing down. But, it was also fun, and we both made it safely to the bottom without seeing a single car the whole way down!

We arrived in Whitebird to a smoke-filled sky. Apparently a nearby forest fire has been raging for a couple of days. The plume of smoke it produced blocked out the sun and gave it an orangish hue. We had been riding through haze for days, but hadn't yet seen a fire so close.

The next thirty miles brought us along the Salmon River to Riggins, ID. There we found a tourist town squished between the river on one side and steep mountains on the other. Annoyingly, we also crossed back into mountain time zone! Oh well. We stopped at a lovely riverside park and went for a swim before eating dinner and setting up camp.

Dusk on the river, hazy from nearby wildfires