Goin’ home….

Here we are in Bozeman waiting for our flight home to NY…we are both stunned at how quickly we were able to dismantle the trip we had painstakingly planned for so long! The re-entry into our “regular” lives will be jarring, especially given the circumstances but there is no way we could continue with Michael’s Mom so sick. Our thoughts, concerns and hearts have already left the road and it’s time to go home.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us by following our blog. We loved reading your comments and knowing that so many were sharing our experience, keeping us close, and wishing us a safe journey. Love to you all,
Judith

August 26, Bozeman, MT, Complete Change

Since last week when we reached Yellowstone, we’ve been sightseers rather than active cyclists. Now we have a more radical change.
We are shutting down our trip and returning home. My Mom has had an emergency open heart surgery and quadruple bypass procedure. She also has very significant blockage of both carotid arteries that is still going to need attention. The first procedure went well and she’s in good shape right now but it looks like she’s going to be in care for a while. Family comes first, of course and it would be impossible to keep riding while knowing that we should be home with Mom & all the rest of the family.
Thank you to everyone who has been following our trip and our blog. Thanks for your emails, your comments and your support. Thanks to all the great people we met over the last month in Oregon, Idaho, Montana & Wyoming. It has been an amazing experience, beyond description really, and we’ll go back to it sometime in the future when we can.
Michael

Sat. and Sunday, Aug 22 & 23, West Yellowstone & Bozeman

Leah flies back today so we drove her up to Bozeman, part of the drive thru Yellowstone and of course it’s beautiful. We’ve decided to skip ahead somewhat across Wyoming due to the distance between services and the fact that our prime targets of interest are all in eastern Wyoming so we also pick up a rental truck which we can do as a one way and drop off somewhere east of here. We call it our Redneck RV and return to West Yellowstone. On Sunday, we catch up on laundry, do some in town museum things and we’ll head out of town thru the park over the next days. It’s turned quite cold and rainy and it seems today as if Judith is wrestling with a little bug so it’s a good thing we’re off the bikes for a little bit.
Happy trails.

Friday, August 21, Yellowstone Park

Thank god we don’t have to get back on the bikes today. For the first time in this trip my legs are totally gone, just numb and distant.
We got a nice breakfast and headed into the west entrance of the park. Great luck. Within the first 12 miles we see elk at a little distance, bison at a similar distance and then encounter a young elk crossing a road, wandering into a stream and basically posing for our cameras. Great stuff. We also passed a steep mountainside that had just had a huge rock slide, with dust billowing up all over. From there we drive into the fields of geysers which are other-worldly, we do the classic Yellowstone Old Faithful thing and then drive down to Grand Teton National Park which is very high on Judith’s list. The views of the mountains with snow and glaciers are really something. It’s amazing that it’s 80 degrees where we’re standing, the mountains are quite close and yet snow covered. American Alps.
We don’t see any more wildlife of significance but the drive back is beautiful, we had a nice dinner and settled in for the night.

Thursday, August 20, Ennis to West Yellowstone, MT, 75 miles

We got a nice early start, found a bagel shop so we could fuel up and then hit the road. Leaving Ennis we spook two good sized deer with big racks, at least eight points each, but it happens so fast we can’t get pictures. Fairly quick ride the 11 miles to Cameron and sure enough is has everything we would have needed for an overnight stay, but everything I closed up and shuttered. Good thing we caught that before counting on it. For a while the ride is pleasant, nice weather and temperature, etc. We see pronghorn antelopes for the first time on the trip (where the deer and the antelope play). They have a very funny way of running, they almost seem to bounce along from the ankles like a cartoon character. Our elevation map has shown that we’ll gain a 1000 ft over the course of the day but it should be a steady pull with no steep climbs. We’re counting on that (warning, warning). The first 20 miles are pretty easy but also become very boring, very little change of scenery and the horizon doesn’t budge. Sure enough it gets hot and we also pick up a head wind as the ride turns into one of those where we check our mileage every ¼ mile or so. Not good. We ride into some change of scenery at least with the river picking up palisades to our east which our actually quite pretty. But the miles grind on and we are all getting beat too quickly. Our path takes us towards Earthquake Lake (which was formed abruptly in 1959 when a 7.5 richter scale earthquake hit the Yellowstone area, killed a couple dozen people and created rock slides which dammed the Madison River) and we’re targeting the Rangers Visitor Center there as someplace to take a break. When we turn towards the Lake (oh no), the road goes straight up. By the time we get to the visitors center it is time for some serious reconsideration of plans. We’ve ridden 48 miles, most against a headwind and are tired. Judith is totally out of gas. After a break and some discussion we decide that Judith will wait here, we’ll leave all our gear with her so we can ride unencumbered and Leah and I will ride the rest of the way into West Yellowstone, get the car and come back to get her. We have 27 more to go but without the gear it will be easier. The first third is easy, despite a couple of climbs, the middle third just grinds. About 11 miles from our destination I have a little trouble with a soft back tire but pump it up and hope not to have to change it out. The last 8 miles turn into a direct headwind and take forever, but we finally find the motel, call the rental car folks, etc. Stash our bikes in our room and notice that my rear tire is totally flat. Drive back to pick up Judith who has survived her 3 hour wait and bring her into town. Late dinner by the time we get cleaned up and out but finally and fed and crash for the night.
What a day. Tomorrow – Yellowstone Park. Should be fascinating.

August 19, Sheridan to Ennis, Mt, 37 miles

We got a very nice breakfast in Sheridan before getting a good early start. We’re planning to ride from Sheridan to Cameron on Rt 287, splitting up out total remaining distance to West Yellowstone nicely and putting us in position to get to Yellowstone right on schedule. We have a motel and rental car lined up in West Yellowstone for end of day Thursday so Leah can see a little of Yellowstone on Friday before her return to Albany.
We saw a fully loaded solo rider zip by our motel just as we were loading up but he didn’t stop or even notice us.
A very pleasant morning, great weather and the ride to Laurin and then to Alder is relatively flat and easy going. Very shortly into the ride, I snap the cable to my front derailleur and we stop so I can replace it. We’re at a historic marker that explains the history of bandits, robbers who regularly struck stage coaches in this area and the subsequent rise of vigilante groups. Cool history. Around Alder we also see markers explain big time prior mining and the extent that it tore up the countryside. Soon we come across current small time mining doing the same and making all sorts of noise and dust, etc. Pretty messy and wild. About this time we are passed by a solo rider, who just waves going by until I notice he is riding a Rivendell (our bikes) and I call out to him. He turns out to be a young guy in his 20s from northern CA, near the Rivendell shop and quite talkative. He says maybe he saw us earlier and is the rider who went by our motel room. Says he had been “stealth camping down the road” (hates to pay to sleep) but had missed a sprinkler system when he set up so had gotten an early wake up call. Exchanged some horror stories about traffic and drivers then restarted. We offered that he was welcome to ride with us if was willing to go slow, he said thanks but I have to get to Yellowstone tonight, (our destination for tomorrow) says he’s doing pretty big daily rides, did 107 miles the day before and needed to keep booking. Then he disappeared into the distance.
We reached Nevada City and took a short break. This is an old time western town, assembled from historic buildings from all over MT, diverted and reassembled here, used for film set purposes and as a working village with hotel, saloon, bakery etc. Pretty cool. While hanging out here I happened to talk to one of the workers and when she heard we were targeting Cameron for the night, she said, geez, I don’t think there’s anything there anymore. Oh, oh. Need to check into that later today.
Leaving Nevada City we then went thru Virginia City which is a similar deal and then attacked another big climb. This is a pass that reaches 6400 ft but doesn’t even have a name. The indignity. We worked pretty hard getting up this one and at the top christened it “Cookie Pass”, celebrating with cookies. The descent from here extends about 6 miles and is very fast and even scary and takes us into Ennis. Ennis is a good sized tourist town with lots of fly fishing guides, shops, etc. We got a nice little lunch and I tried to find out more about Cameron, about 12 miles further and our planned destination. According to ouir waitress there is nothing there anymore and nothing for about 40 miles. I double check across the street at the Chamber of Commerce. Oh, yeah, there used to be a store, a campgrounds, a café and a convenience store. He gave us, everything is closed. That will not work for us, in terms of time of day, etc and so we decide to stay in Ennis but that means we’ll have a +70 mile day into West Yellowstone tomorrow.
We find a pretty nice little RV campgrounds with great facilities and a restaurant right next door so we’re good for today.
Two notes – during the night I am outside the tent for a while (nature calls) and the sky is absolutely stunning. We’re a long ways from any city of any size so there is no light pollution and it is so clear it’s like going to a planetarium. The milky way is awesome.
In the morning, Judith reports that we must have set up out tent over a gopher or mole because she has had something poking up at her through the bottom of the tent during the night! Too funny.

August 18, Wisdom to Dillon, Dillon to Sheridan, MT 38 miles

Oh my god! It’s 27 degrees when we wake up. We’ve been up most of the night listening to coyotes howl and the sheep in the field next to us being nervous. No way to get started. We head back to the Big Hole Crossing Restaurant and hook up again with the woman who owns and runs the place. As we order breakfast and talk with her about the problem of getting started she ends up hooking us up with a local from Dillon who has just come over to Wisdom to deliver some salt to a rancher and is headed back to Dillon in his pickup. After a little talk he’s glad to haul us to Dillon and we’re glad to take him up on it. We break camp quickly, load up his pickup while he has breakfast and then skip ahead 65 miles and 30 degrees of temp with him. Another blessing. (Also while getting breakfast I talk with a young guy riding west on the transam route, he has been averaging 90 miles a day!)
After he drops us off in Dillon and we regroup with snacks we decide to head off to Twin Bridges on Rt 41 and have a ripping good ride for about 25 miles. We had a nice little lunch in Twin Bridges’ lost most of the truck traffic which is going or coming to/from ID and then grind out the final miles to get to Sheridan, MT where we find a cheap but very nice motel room at the Moriah Motel. A decent dinner and we’re good for the night. Tomorrow we have to do one more climb to get to Yellowstone. In Sheridan we’re at about 5100 ft and have to get over a 6900 ft pass just beyond Virginia City and will then descend into Ennis. We have two days to get to West Yellowstone and have a shot if we can make the climb and then put in a long softly uphill day. We’ve had a chance to do laundry, dry out the tents, etc and will get an early start in the morning.
This is an awesome experience.

August 17, The Climb, Sula to Wisdom, 40 miles

Got a good early start, loaded up with pb&j sandwiches and started up the climb. The first few miles are easy but pretty quickly we run into the “chain up area” alongside the road. We have learned in this ride that those signs always mean the beginning of hard work and this time it is really the case. Sula is at about 4500 feet of elevation. We climb first thru “Lost Trail Pass” at 6990 feet (named by Lewis & Clark as they repeated lost the Nez Perce Trail they were trying to follow over into present day ID) and then the Chief Joseph Pass at 7241 feet of elevation which will also mark the continental divide. So we climb 2700 feet in about 9 miles. My inclinometer says we are riding at a 7% grade, popping to 9% and then to 11%. This is really hard going and I also feel some effect of the altitude, in that when I get winded it’s hard to come back. About 2/3s of the way up we begin to be passed by a number of riders who are not carrying any gear and soon find out there is a supported group ride of The Cascades Bike Club out of Seattle following the same course we are. They have a supported lunch waiting at the rest area at the top of the first pass and have invited us to join them there. Very nice. It seems like it takes a lifetime but we made the first pass, took a break with the Cascade group and hen head out for the final climb. We reached the continental divide and stop for pictures. Some well deserved celebration follows.
After that we enjoyed a long soft descent (good, we’re not giving up everything we just gained) and work our ways towards Wisdom, MT., our target for the night. Wisdom is pretty small and, no surprise, the Cascade group has taken up every available room and camp site in the area other than in a true dump called “Clem’s Coyote RV and Camping”. We take it out of desperation and take a very poor shower but get a very good dinner at Big Hole Crossing Restaurant. Settle in for the night, exhausted but very proud of ourselves.

August 16, Hamilton to Darby to Sula, MT, along RT 93, 33 miles

Woke up to a cold morning and a steady rain. Poked around for a while hoping for a change, hiked up to the gas station for some breakfast, hung around in the tent awhile, etc. Finally just geared up and got on and rode, but with a very late start.
Weather cleared as we rode on and we found a nice lunch in Wisdom. The fire damage all along our route from the fires back in 2000 is just stunning. The whole Bitterroot Valley was very hard hit and it seems like every other house we see is new construction since that time replacing homes lost in the fires.
We have a huge climb soon, over the continental divide and need to get as close to it as possible so we can hit it with fresh legs, but we are not seeing much and several places we should find have little to offer. Our last possible option is Sula (before the beginning of the climb and before a desolate stretch) and lo and behold, the Sula General Store has RV slots and “sleeping cabins” which are just a cabin with beds and heat, no plumbing. Sold. The only short coming is no food other than the store. But we got fixins for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some other snacks and we are golden. Tomorrow a huge climb.
We are literally on the path of Lewis & Clark right now, so historically things are very interesting.
The Sula General Store sign describes the place as a resort and also says “Lewis & Clark came here”, sort of like “Washington Slept Here” signs everywhere back home.

August 15, Missoula to Lolo to Stevensville, Corvallis and then Hamilton, 63 miles

A very eventful day. We left the hotel early and discovered halfway across the parking lot that Leah’s bike will not shift in the 9 speed cluster. Headed right back to the bike shop, hoping possibly they open early, they don’t but someone inside sees us and tries to help. NG. Her shifter is stripped – which is frustrating given that the bike was supposed to have been thoroughly tuned up back home and then these guys here supposedly set it all up after it was shipped. Anyway, they don’t have one but target us towards a bike shop in Hamilton that should.
Headed out to Lolo in mixed rain and sunshine. Only thing open in Lolo is MickeyD’s, so we had a first for our entire trip. Back on the road and Leah immediately has a flat – pebble thru the tire and tube. She’s riding a thin tired road bike and it may be an issue going forward. But for now, a very quick tire and tube change and we’re good to go.
At a gas station before Stevensville we met a local (fresh transplant from CT) man who was very interested in our trip and incredibly helpful. He offered us a place to stay for the night and although that of course was not useful for us it was a very nice gesture. A few miles down the road he caught us with us again – he had printed up googlemap directions to the bike shop we need to find in Hamilton. So many people on the road are so helpful.
Struggled against terrible headwinds throughout as we rode down Rt93. Turned on to local rt 269 towards Stevensville to escape the traffic and quickly crossed paths with a farmer market that was being held by Hutterites – they are an upper mid-west Amish like sect that we’re likely to see more of.
Stopped at a small shop just before Corvallis for a snack. The woman there said she’d never ride a bike on 269. I said we had left 93 because of all the terrible traffic there. She said, yeah, but nobody gets hurt over there, everybody gets killed on this road. Thanks for the encouragement.
Headwinds make for very tough going and the bike shop – Red Barn Bicycles – is actually 3 miles past Hamilton, sort of deflating. We’re pushing hard to reach them before 4:00 when they close. Finally find them and the guy there knows his stuff, is very helpful, fixes Leah up perfectly and gives us directions to our campgrounds. Not far and not bad but no café or restaurant. So after setting up camp (after riding all day), we backtrack towards Hamilton looking for food. Found a gas station with a Quiznos and that was the end of the journey.
Back at campgrounds, we are right on the Bitterroot River and many people are fly fishing. Fascinating.
Two final notes – during the day we crossed paths with a sole young man riding transam for Parkinson’s disease. You can find him on the “teamfox.org” website, his name is Bailey. He was being supported on his trip by his father trailing in a van, his Dad is a Parkinson’s patient. Great story.
Other note – in Red Barn Bicycle there was a signed and framed US Postal, Levi Leipheimer jersey. Turns out the mechanic has a connection with him. Awesome stuff.

August 14, Missoula, MT

We took a rest day at the hotel, replaced some gear at a local outdoor shop, bought new pedals, did laundry, etc and hooked up with Leah. Had a nice dinner and early evening so we can hit the road tomorrow and head towards Yellowstone. Leah is towing a “bob trailer” for a first time experience so just as we had to adjust to weight; I expect she’ll have some challenges. But she is 20 years younger than we are, so she’ll be fine.

Thanks to Dad

Back in Riggins I mentioned that one of my pedals was self destructing and that I had to do a creative rebuild in my motel room. Well, the pedal made it all the way into Missoula where I was able to get some new pedals. Why thanks to Dad?
Years ago my Dad told me and showed me that you can fix almost anything if you look at it carefully and think about it for awhile. Without that frame of mind I wouldn’t have noticed the pedal failing, wouldn’t have dared to take it apart and would be stuck somewhere in ID trying to pedal up mountains with one foot. There’s a lot of substance in what he taught me. Thanks, Dad.

The Famous Michael O’Leary

Well, a couple of days back, when we rode from New Meadows to Riggins and stopped for lunch in Pinehurst, I mentioned meeting “the famous Michael O’Leary” (the biker with the six gun and the lady friend from Southern Cal). Later in that segment I mentioned the roadside signs declaring segments of the road adopted for litter control by Yahweh’s 666 Warning Assembly. Little did I imagine they were connected. I was curious enough to do a web search on the Warning Assembly and lo and behold, they are one and the same.
Check out the web site - http://eliyahsmessage.com/index.htm. Michael is a fundamentalist zealot living in the wilderness like the Israelites, preaching outside of bars in Riggins and wandering Idaho with a six gun.

Thru Lolo Pass, several days catch up

Thursday, Aug 13, Lolo Hot Springs into Missoula, MT, 40 milesWell, it rained all night and is showing no sign of letting up so we break camp in the rain and head for Missoula. We did a very quick 20 miles to Lolo where I had our first flat of the entire trip just as we found a gas station that had hot coffee and cookies. Not a bad rest break at all and a quick fix to the flat. Rolled into Missoula and sought out the Adventure Cycle headquarters so we could sign in and have our picture taken, where we also ran into Kevin for probably the last time. He’s headed up to Glacier National Park while we’re hooking up with our daughter Leah and heading south to Yellowstone. Headed off to our hotel (a free Doubletree for the next two nights, what a luxury as all the nights in Hampton Inns finally pay off), got a very nice meal and called it quits early.
Tomorrow is a complete off day, no riding at all, just connect with Leah, do some laundry and so on. Saturday morning we’ll head out to Yellowstone with a couple easy days followed by a very big climb up Chief Joseph Pass.

Weds. 8/12, Powell to Lolo Hot Springs, ID, 21 miles over Lolo PassWe started the day slowly. After such a long day yesterday and a short target (in terms of miles) today, we wanted to get a full breakfast and let it settle before starting out. We connected with Kevin and had a nice breakfast where we were also joined by a full gear cowboy, Phil Dawson. Phil is from ID and is the 2nd guy we’ve seen carrying a six gun. He is riding a quarter horse with a pack mule on a 2000 mile trek thru ID, WA and MT that is meant to be a fund raising effort for children needing organ transplants. Phil is full of horse talk and interesting stories about his struggles on the road. He can only cover about 15 miles a day, has had many animal issues and so far isn’t raising much money. He can’t give me a card so I can’t pass on his website. (found it – www.americafundraisers.org) He is an interesting mixture – he’s in full old timey garb (plus the pistol) but is also carrying a GPS device that lets his wife track him from home and post his progress on their website . Phil is very interesting, but talks so much (so slowly) I think he may do 2000 mile without learning anything about the people whose paths he has crossed.
We finally head out, with Kevin going on ahead, possibly to meet again. The first 7 miles of the climb to the pass are hard but doable and then it got really nasty, basically straight up (9-11% grade in the switchbacks) and we ride and walk, ride and walk. It got colder and very windy and the mountains around us are getting very sparse and desolate. Finally it levels off some, 6-7% grade but at this point we are also beat so the last 2 miles are a major struggle but we made it. Took a nice break at the Ranger Station at the top of the pass (this one is open) got some pictures taken and then started downhill. It’s supposed to rain soon and looks bad, so we target Lolo Hot Springs in order to get set up prior to the weather.
Lolo Hot Springs is somewhat dismal, basically a biker bar and a hot springs complex (that becomes clothing optional after 9:00 PM, at which point we’ll be long asleep). Camping is across the street where a major effort is underway to set up an outdoor concert stage for Friday & Saturday night shows by Dark Star Orchestra (a Dead tribute band). Vendors and deadheads are already showing up and I expect the weekend will be very interesting but we won’t be sticking around.
This was a day for the record books and we have earned a good night’s sleep.

Tuesday, Aug 11, Lowell to Powell, ID, 67 miles
Put this day in the books! It was very hard but did huge things for us in terms of getting us ready for Lolo Pass.
We started out with some breakfast at Ryan’s Wilderness Inn. A back room is full of mounted bear, deer, elk and two cougar skins. Both were taken right here in Lowell, one recently, which gives a little pause about the day. We loaded up with all the water we could carry and headed out. It looks like 25 miles to the first Ranger Station so I’m thinking we can reload there.
It’s a beautiful day for a ride but we are also pulling steadily uphill every inch of the way. Predictably, it gets hot, the Ranger Station is nothing more than some info signs and we fall back to the notion that there is a major USFS campground at about 56 miles which should have water.
We are riding steadily up river along the Lochsa. We pass camps on the other side of the river which are accessed only by cables & gondolas, much like ski lift systems. We are passed by a solo rider, fully loaded who doesn’t pause for much conversation but pushes on by. At one point, there is a gun blast somewhere not too far behind us that startles the hell out both of us. Latter in the day, similar situation with an RV passing us that blows out a tire just as they go by. Ouch. That makes you jump for the shoulder.
The big campground, Jerry Johnson, is closed. No water and now we are out. Fortunately we have only 8 ro 9 miles left to go and although we are running out of steam, we get thru them.
In one of the serendipitous events that make up this kind of ride when we arrive at the Lochsa Lodge in Powell it turns out to be a beautiful little spot with FREE camping, great facilities and a very nice restaurant. The young man who passed us earlier is also here, Kevin, he’s a musician from Portland who turns out to be a very pleasant and interesting guy.
A huge day. We gained 2300 feet in elevation over 67 miles, pushed hard every inch of the way and feel pretty proud today.

Monday, Aug 10, Grangeville to Lowell, ID, 53 miles
A very good day. Couldn’t find anything open for breakfast in Grangeville as we left but made do with coffee and the inevitable fig newtons. Left highway 93 and turned onto rt 13. Enjoyed a section of rollers, up and down hills but then hit a long stretch of serious downhill riding from Grangeville down into Harpster.
At this point we picked up the Clearwater River and crossed paths with a support van for “Womans Tours”, a fully supported women only cycle touring outfit. The driver told us to be on the lookout for 30 riders and we crossed with them for the next hour or so.
Somewhere along here we passed what we thought to be wild horses on the other side of the river and soon thereafter saw several mule deer who seemed as interested in us as we were in them. When we reached Stites the one restaurant (café) in town not only didn’t open until 11:30 but only opens Thursday thru Sunday. Great. There is a grocery store, which is going to be serving food in a while but the kitchen (on the way to the toilets) doesn’t look so good, so we snacked again and headed towards Kooskia. We’re in and out of Nez Perce reservation as we approach Kooskia which is fully within the rez. We crossed with a couple from London headed west who wanted to know about the climb they were coming to. We couldn’t offer them much encouragement as it had been a very steep descent for us. Oh well.
Pushing up river now towards Syringa, which is noted on our maps as having no services, we got a very pleasant surprise. There is a very nice little café here where we get great, very cold (it’s gotten over 95 again) iced tea and Judith also decides on pie and ice cream, which both turn out to be great.
We reached Lowell, where the Clearwater joins the Selway and the Lochsa rivers and we set up camp at Three Rivers Campgrounds. They also have a restaurant on site so we don’t have to get back on the bicycles at all. Good deal.
However…this turns out to the rowdiest campgrounds we’ve found yet, with many people doing camp fires, lots of drinking and loud stuff going on and teens running around thru the tent sites chasing each other. After several efforts shouting out to them to cool it, I end up getting up again, going out and being a serious grouch.
Have to get some good sleep because tomorrow is a very big day, all climbing and crossing a 66 mile stretch that has no services at all.
Michael

Aug 13, in Missoula, MT - thru Lolo Pass

We are mighty happy with ourselves right now, we made it over Lolo Pass, at 5235 ft of elevation and into MT totally under our own power. Will update more soon now that we have a connection.

Also, I did some editing and additions to the Riggins and Grangeville days previously posted. I had a minimal connection when I posted and was hurried. I'll catch everything else up now.
Michael

Sunday, Aug 9, Riggins to Grangeville, ID, 40 miles

Another terrific day. Riggins was so nice that we didn't want to leave but we finally did, somewhat late as we were planning a short day to White Bird. Beautiful day, more downhill, more headwind. Saw deer (mule deer, I assume) and quail and pheasants in the scrub. Also as we rode through canyons downriver we saw many holes in the rock faces and other remnants of small time gold mining operations
We were passed by a young solo rider who rode with us a while and talked. He was from Barcelona, Spain . He flew to NYC, rode from there to Florida, from there to Southern CA, rode up US 101 to Florence, OR (our start point) and was now riding the transam cross country to VA. Unreal. After a short time he said good bye and disappeared in front of us.
As the day went on we did some big time climbing towards White Bird and then dropped about half a mile into the village. Bad news. There is no camping here and the only motel is a total dump. We are faced with a terribly steep 6 mile climb that we had planned to do tomorrow while fresh, or a slightly less steep but 11 mile long climb or spending the night camping in "the town park" with no facilities. We wandered into a bar to get water and ask about other options. Judith asked if anybody there had any interest in giving us a lift up the mountain and a fellow at the bar said, sure, if you can hang around a while. We took him up on it and said we'd wait outside in the shade while he finished up. He was quite a while and we were starting to worry about how many rounds were going to pass before our ride and how exciting that might get when Judith went in for water and came back out with him. Introduced ourselves to "Cactus Merrill" (it was right there on his belt buckle) and he gave us a great lift up the mountain and some good advice about hills to come (he's been driving truck thru this area for years). Another blessing.
In conversation, Judy mentioned how beautiful ID is and how natives don't seem to leave while others come here. Cactus said “the only reason anybody leaves ID is to make a living, cuz they darned sure can't make one here”.
After his boost we were able to get all the way to Grangeville and have found a very nice campgrounds - The Bear Den - for only ten dollars. That and a good dinner in town and we are loaded for bear tomorrow.
While we waited for Cactus we met a couple going west who had just come over the big climb. They were both pulling bob trailers and carrying a lot of gear. Very grizzled, very odd couple. She recounted a number of incidents on the road with traffic, some of which had given her a pretty good battering and a buzz in her head. “Some folks pay for that buying drugs, I got it for free”. Okaaay.
One more note on White Bird: although this White Bird is named after a Nez Perce Indian of some historical note I had been carrying around a connection in my head to a special song from 1969, “White Bird” by “ Its’ a Beautiful Day”. This was an iconic hippy song, evoking beautiful images, fully of jazzy violin and I had connected the place with the song at some level. Double bummer to see the place.

August 8 Riggins, Idaho

Finally got out of New Meadows - it was a pretty dismal little motel in a pretty dismal little town but as we rode from the drizzle & cold into the sun my mood improved considerably....what a difference a day makes! Idaho is breathtakingly beautiful - the capitol is Boise, the flower is the mock orange and their motto is "Famous Potatoes" and it seems that everyone we meet is either a cowboy or from California! I can't seem to keep track of what time it is much less what day it might be and that's a tad disconcerting and but life on the road is getting easier. A day like today is just about as perfect as it gets and I'm reminded again of how lucky we are to be able to do this,

Judith

Saturday, August 7, New Meadows to Riggins, ID, 39 miles
Well, today was our reward for the last couple of days. It was an awesome ride through indescribably beautiful country. Plus we got several doses of interesting color.
To begin with, it was cold and raining, again. We hung around the motel hoping for things to clear but they showed little improvement. Riding in the rain, even cold, is not as bad as you may think, if it comes upon you while you are riding. But as a mental thing it is very hard to get on the bike and start riding into rain. We set a deadline and waited but things didn’t improve so we finally suited up in all our rain gear and headed out. The riding was fairly easy and, of course (as often happens), either the rain ended or we rode out of it in within 5 or 6 miles. Our ride for today was targeted to take us to Riggins, as the setup for going to White Bird, which in turn is the setup for positioning us for a very hard climb after that. Our entire ride to Riggins is somewhat downhill, or at least gives up a bunch of elevation in the course of the day. We rode downriver (finally), down the Little Salmon which is white water in parts and took us thru some beautiful canyons. Strangely enough, whenever the canyons tighten in us, the wind picks up velocity and as it is a headwind we end up having to work fairly hard to go downhill. This, like walking downhill a few days ago, violates a principle of cycling but, hey, it is what it is. Could be much harder.
We stopped for lunch at a small pullover called Pinehurst. Pinehurst General Store & Café. Turns out to be a tiny place that manages to contain a complete general store, a gas station and the café has a pretty complete menu. The place is being run by a father and three boys who are all very friendly, we had a good chat about growing up in this part of ID and the chance to move to Boise for something new (oldest son), although it’s very clear that Dad has made exactly the life he wants tucked away in this hidden part of Idaho. As we waited for lunch a fellow entered who had been riding on a motorcycle and was soon joined at the snack bar by an older, very thin woman. She looked very out of place – although she was dressed in river rafting style she also featured a very tight face lift and a full ‘do. She teased me some about my fashion statement – I was still wearing tights under my riding shorts as part of my rain gear and looked sort of like a silly elf. We got talking some and she introduced us to the fellow with her – the famous Michael O’Leary, as she put it. It was then that we noticed Michael had not only ridden up on his big bike (Iron Horse, he called it) in full cowboy boots but was also wearing a holstered six gun. Very curious for someone from NY where such things are not common (understatement). Anyway, everyone was very friendly and it turned out the woman, Beverly who runs the “resort” next door, is not only from southern CA (half the people we’ve talked to in ID are from CA) but she lived in Montecito and Santa Barbara where Judith is from. Bizarre. They chatted and compared stories about old Santa Barbara and we over hear a young fellow at another table mention the Adirondacks! He turns out to be from Hague (15 miles from us on Lake George in NY) spending his summer in ID interning with a whitewater rafting company. Too weird, what a proverbially small world.
The rest of the days riding was awesome, steadily against the head wind but beautiful and just what we had hoped for. Along the way we say a real oddity – for a stretch the road side signs describing who had adopted the roadway in terms of litter pick up credited ”Yahweh’s 666 Warning Assembly” for taking care of the highway. Well, we are in ID, which has been famous in the past for survivalists, paramilitary groups and off beat religious rapture and end of world groups.
Rolled into Riggins early and unlike New Meadows it’s actually a pretty little town showing some signs of life. Found a great value at the “Big Iron Motel” (yes, there’s a picture of Marty Robbins in the lobby) who offer a special rate for cyclists and are equal to a good campgrounds. Got a decent dinner and a good night’s sleep after a solid day.
Two notes. First – I’ve mentioned how the rough roads are chewing up our bikes. Tonight I made the chance to clean them both up good and go over everything. I found one of my pedals is self-destructing and spent part of the night getting creative with petroleum jelly, chain lube, tweezers and ball bearings trying to rebuild it well enough to get me to Missoula. Here’s hoping.
Second – I’ve had some great news, it appears the Bob Daniels has not suffered any significant damage from his stroke event and is both home and on the mend. Great relief.
Michael

New Meadows, Friday, August 7

Well. we're stuck here for the day. There is a severe weather warning for thunder storms and lightning with an inch of rain and the temps are in the low 50s. Not riding weather for sure. Especially when you add in tandem tractor trailers on our route. So here we are. Fortunately, the place we're staying has a very nice coffee shop (even tho the rooms are below basic)so it's way better than stuck in our tent somewhere.
Not much more to add today.
I'm posting two pictures from yesterday's trek in the rain. Two to be fair, if I'm putting up Judith's, I ought to post mine. Pretty silly looking, but it worked somewhat. We actually have rain covers for our helmets that don't look quite as silly but couldn't dig them out quickly and used the covers to our handlebar bags instead. Certainly made us highly visible, right?

Thursday, August 06, McCall to New Meadows, ID, 15 miles

Wow, what a difference. Today was the living proof of the maxim about being careful what you ask for. We’ve been suffering in the heat and wished for cooler temps. Surprise! We spent most of today’s ride in a pouring rain at 50 degrees.
Anyway…we started out at the campgrounds in McCall. Stopped for breakfast at a huge touristic place where the service was so bad and the servings so sinfully huge that I will never mention them by name (ok, it was The Pancake House and Christmas Shop). The sky was dark and looming when we entered and it was raining hard by the time we finished. We waited around as long as we could and then suited up in our raingear and headed off. First couple miles were easy in spite of the rain and then we began climbing, ending up over a mile up in elevation. We then began a 3 mile downhill where we violated a basic principal of cycling – we walked down hill. Unreal. We had no shoulder at all, traffic was heavy with both RVs and logging trucks and it was pouring. Discretion being the better part of valor, we walked.
We have a very basic, cheap room where we can get dry and plan our next segments. New Meadows was shown in tourist materials back in McCall as having at least three different restaurants and an outdoor equipment store – everything here is closed up and out of business. We ended up with sandwiches from a grocery store that also had a full hunting gear shop and everything from moose heads to rattlesnake skins mounted on the walls. Pretty good sandwiches considering.
Not sure what tomorrow will hold. We need to do either a 35 or a 70 mile day (almost all downhill) but there are severe weather warnings out and even if we can ride in rain, we can't ride in lightning. We'll see what the night will bring.
Side note: we had another night of violent thunder and lightning, listening to the Forestry Service planes and helicopters across the street at the McCall airport as they are fighting many fires back near Cascade (which we passed thru 2 nights ago). I’ve been entertained and impressed by the storms, not really considering the fire damage. Even more so not considering the lightning as dangerous. We learned at breakfast that the night before lightning struck the airport and seriously injured 4 fire fighters working on a helicopter. Two are hospitalized in serious condition. And last night I was lying in our tent listening and watching as it was striking fairly close and saying “how cool”. How stupid is more like it.
Michael

Wednesdays, August 4 – Cascade to McCall, ID, 30 miles

Wednesdays, August 4 – Cascade to McCall, 30 miles
Last night was pretty exciting. We had a fierce thunder storm early in the night and then a pretty good rain during the early morning. I was really encouraged by how well our tent held up in very heavy winds. When I first got up I had the presence of mind to throw some of our things in a drier and we broke camp and left both early and in pretty good shape. One more time I want to complement the Arrowhead RV and Camping Grounds, Cascade, ID for a very tidy little operation and a nice value.
We are sort of like frogs jumping from lily pad to lily pad now, in that, as much as possible, I want to plan our days so the worst of our climbing comes early. That obviously won’t be possible thru out but it lays out pretty well for the next few days. It means we target a short day today, with a hard early climb and the same thing tomorrow, followed by a long day. We’re headed into an area called Long Valley, so I’m pretty optimistic about the day. So we started out early under very heavy threatening skies, got a good breakfast and put in some miles under cooler temps. About 5 miles in we hit our climb. ( Looking back towards Cascade at one point, we can clearly see a lot of smoke and we’re thinking that last night’s lightning has started a fire) Some parts of the climb were quite steep and we did some walking but then as promised the ride opened up into a large open valley that looked somewhat like the Champlain Valley at home. We rolled into our half way point at about 11:30 where once again there was heavy construction going on, one way traffic, etc and once again the road crew was really great in terms of giving us all the chance we needed to get ourselves through successfully. We saw many more osprey and lots of cattle, some of which was very curious about us and came to the fence lines to greet us and followed us along the road. I saw cattle with actual brands on their sides which I think is a first. A very pretty ride also. We reached McCall at around 1:00. McCall is a very big tourist destination so traffic was pretty nasty, but all in all it was a nice ride despite temps once again climbing to around 100. We looked around some and chose a campground and settled in. The campground is a real bargain and has pretty good wifi so I’m able to catch up on some of these postings and on some email. Campground is right across from the McCall airport and there are Forestry Service planes and helicopters coming and going constantly so apparently our early morning view of the smoke really is a fire of some size.
Got some dinner in an okay Mexican restaurant and settled in.
All in all it was a really great day. Tomorrow should be very similar but shorter still, taking us a little past New Meadows which should then set us up for a long day following. I hope I’m not being deluded but based on the climbing we’ve already been doing and the time we have to get some more hard riding in, I’m feeling more optimistic about us going over Lolo Pass. That’s a huge target and who knows how it will actually work out but it’s a week away so far now I’m a happy camper.
Separate note: I haven’t been able to get any update on Bob Daniels so I am concerned about that and hoping to hear something tomorrow.
Michael

The Ride 8/3, Boise to Cascade, ID, 67 miles

Today’s ride was great and inspiring in multiple ways. We took route 55 out of Boise and it was both amazingly scenic and very challenging. And we made it.
We were finally able to get an early start and were on the road by 7:15. We’re at the far western edge of mountain standard time so it wasn’t light much earlier than that. At that point it was still cool and we knew we had a climb coming early so it was especially important to get going. We had a great first 5 miles and then began a 7 mile climb that gained 1500 feet in elevation and took us up to 4270 ft. It was very hard but the fact that we started it early in our ride and that it was initially cool helped us finish. By the time we finished it was back up to 95 degrees, but getting some significant progress in some cooler temps was really rewarding. We then had a downhill of almost 6 miles into Horseshoe Bend.
This was really interesting as the entire downhill shoulder was littered with bungie cords. I was ripping along thinking that if I were closer to home I could have collected dozens of perfectly good bungie cords (for what who knows, but you know how that works) when it occurred to me that everyone of them had flown off a descending vehicle, probably at some sort of ballistic speed. After that I braced whenever I was over taken by anything. At some point in this stretch I added to the debris when my (newly purchased at REI in Eugene) tail light shook itself lose and left the program. I heard something but was in no position to stop and only figured it out later in the day.
Horseshoe Bend was kind of bleak. The convenience store we stopped at had heavily barred windows and a prominent sign out front offering to take WIC coupons. We got a 5% discount for paying with real cash. I hit the post office as we left town to ship my first culled stuff home and drop my pannier weight. The clerk was more interested in telling what I saved with their flat rate shipping program but also told me I was sending home almost 6 lbs, so that was a great thing. Leaving the PO, we ran in to an old farmer who was very curious as to where we were headed. He told us what a beautiful ride we were going to have and then headed over to his pickup. Before we had ridden off, he came back over handed Judith a beautiful fully ripened tomato he had just picked that morning. “Here, you might like this later today.” And we did at lunch time.
Our ride followed the Payette River north. The river gorge is very scenic and a big time attraction for white water rafting and kayaks. Which means, of course that it was a steady climb the entire distance.
More Americana – early on we passed a shop that made us think of our good friend Jan. A “sportsman’s shop and general mercantile”. They had prominent signs for Lugers, Glocks, survival foods, ammunition and Amish quilts (!). The special of the week was 1/3 off on Amish quilts with purchase of an on sale handgun. You can’t make this stuff up.
Back to the ride. Long, beautiful, steady hard work in temps that once again went up over 100. Yuck. But beautiful. At lunch time we enjoyed our tomato near a rafting company in the shade near the river and then headed back out. The day went on forever. With the temps so high even our drinking water was getting unbearable and just about then we passed a state campsite named “Cold Springs”. I saw it in time to stop and reload all our canisters and that helped. A short while later we found a state site where were able to get to the river and cool now for a while. Another godsend. At the site, we ran into a fellow about our age who had grown up locally and was bringing his family back to see things. He was full of useful info about the areas we’re headed into over the next few days.
Back on the road, more of the same: some of the most beautiful scenery you could imagine, steady heat and climbing that made it very hard to appreciate anything.
Finally as the day wore towards an end we reached a large construction project taking traffic down to one lane and using a guide truck to take groups thru. Tough for us. As we struggled thru this one of the guide trucks pulled over. The driver looked like a bedraggled Jesus, full beard, long hair, very lean. He suggested we load our bikes into the pickup and he would drive us through the mess. And, oh by the way, might as well take us to the top of the climb. We weren’t saying no. I rode in the back with the bikes and Judy talked with him as he jumped us ahead about 3 miles. Turned out he was a lay minister (holy roller, as he said) and felt obliged to help us out. He offered some good advice to us as to how to deal with Lolo Pass when we reach it and told us somehow greed is spoiling the high country of Idaho. Thank you, Reverend Hershel Coulter.
Another 6 miles took us into Arrowhead Campgrounds in Cascade (very tidy, great value) where we did the subs and collapse thing. Great day in many, many ways.
Two more notes:
Wildlife – we continued to see many osprey throughout the day and also saw an ermine as roadkill. I’ve never seen one in the wild, dead or alive so I’m counting it.
Totally different – we heard this morning that my good friend Bob Daniels may have suffered a stroke. Bob is a special person, who created Copperfield Chimney Supply (in his own image in many ways) and has been a key figure in the American TM movement for the last 25 years. I had the chance to work with him for several years and we became good friends. I’m sending good thoughts to him while we wait to hear more.
Michael

More catching up

A couple of things I didn’t mention in the last posts that I should have:
For our good friend John Neun and for Aaron, Dan and Jesse – I neglected to mention that OR is in contention for having the best beers in the country. When we were in Eugene, we ate at a Steelhead Brew Pub and their stuff was awesome. The only other I specifically remember is a Black Butte Porter, but I didn’t have a disappointing beer in the state. And we all know that beer is the perfect cycling restorative – quick carbs and rehydrating all in one.
Also, while still in Boise I was able to do the multiple minor bike repairs I needed to. That was a good thing. The pavement we’re dealing with has been very rough and the bikes are literally shaking themselves to pieces. It will take regular attention just to go over them and retighten everything needed every other day or so.
Michael

Catching up - the REAL story

What Michael has neglected to mention was that on each of these first three days of riding I would frequently stagger off my bike and throw myself down on the pavement to keep from falling off from exhaustion. I didn't care if I was off the shoulder of the road or not, I just needed to be off my bike. I have pine needle sap in my hair and I smell like road tar. I have (what I'm sure is permanent) bike chain marks all over my legs and bruises all over my body in varying shades from purple to yellow. And all this time I'm wondering, when does the fun part start???? Oh,well....this is a real test of perserverance and fortitude.

Battered but not broken, Judith Joy

Catching Up - Mon. August 3, Boise, Idaho

I went back and added a shot of Sahalie Falls which was near Belknap Hot Springs in OR. How much complaining can you do when you're seeing sights like this?

Boise? How'd we end up in Boise? Well...
Read below on the days since my last post. The heat has continued to be relentless and has deflated us substantially. We paid a real price for giving into our optimism and adrenaline on day one and riding the 61 miles straight up over the freshly laid blacktop. And have sagged since. When we finally reached Belknap Hot Springs (posts below) we decided that we needed to regroup if we are possibly going to be in Missoula by August 13th. So we back tracked, rented an SUV and drove us diagonally down across OR to Boise to leap frog forward and get a running start towards Missoula. Fall back to move forward kind of thing. So, we're in Boise and are all set for tomorrow when we are going to ride 70 miles north on route 55 to the town of Cascade. It's still 100 degrees but finally about to break. Tomorrow and another 2 to 3 good days after that will put us back on the official route to MT thru Lolo Pass. Which will be it's own story. Stay posted, I may not have a connection again for awhile but will update as soon as possible.
Neat story: last night driving over, there was a huge electrical storm and sections of rain all the way over. Heat lightning lighting up the entire sky, cloud to cloud lightning (which I've never seen) and your standard western sky to ground bolt that stands your arm hair on end. Awesome stuff, our own persoanl fireworks for hours.
Another neat side story: as we were camping at Belknap Springs on Sat morning trying to figure out our options, a big white van rolled into the campgrounds with a bike on top and multi-bike rack. As he turned in I noticed the Adventure Cycling logo on the door and it turned out to be a guided and supported transam group traveling west with 11 riders. What a coincidence? Interesting, very mixed group. All more our age, a couple even in their 70s (!). Also mixed response at this point, three days from their end. A couple have had the time of their life and a couple were much more than ready to be done. A lot of bike comparison and envy went on amongst us all and they told us many harrowing stories about traffic, trucks, RVs and dogs. Has us thinking twice about some parts of the mapped route. All were very encouraging about our challenges with the heat and recounted their own struggles to get started 76 days ago in VA. Some good advice from the official guides about some equipment we have with us that we might want to send home for weight lose. We were really glad to have run into them and we both feel better for it as we go forward.

Friday, July 31, Nimrod to Belknap
First mechanical failure – I notice mounting my front panniers this morning that two nuts have vibrated off the mounting. I’m able to steal a nut from elsewhere to get by but will have to fix this properly when I can. Today will be a short ride but will start to bring us to Santiam Pass thru the mountains so we’ll get our first real view of what’s to come. The first day’s ride and the relentless heat have taken its toll and I’m concerned about climbing through the passes ahead. We are making this trip to have an adventure and ride as much of the country as we can, but not to kill ourselves. Our plan all along was to ride ourselves into shape but this upcoming segment – the high desert of OR – may not be the best place to do so. After Belknap things get very sketchy for a long chunk in terms of support. So we’ll take a good look at what we’re headed into and then organize from there.
Fairly easy ride thru Finn Rock, Blue River and to McKenzie Bridge. We pass a solo rider headed west pulling a trailer and then another sole rider, a young man with serious blonde dreds who looks like he’s been on the road for quite a while. No stopping to talk but friendly greetings across the road. Steady pull up river, not steep but steady and it takes a toll. Another mechanical failure from the heavy vibrations on the pavement – one of Judy’s pedals has shaken itself apart. Of the four screws that hold the cage on the pedal core only one is left. I back track searching the road and get amazingly lucky, find one and borrowing one from her other pedal am able to get her back together. Something else to fix properly when I can. (Note to self – check over the bikes and retighten anything and everything.)
At McKenzie Bridge we stopped at a general store and ran into two young men headed west. They’re part of a loose group that includes the rider with the trailer we saw earlier and a girl who joined them shortly. They started out in VA. They were doing Sisters to Eugene today, about 80 miles including a pass but they are at the end of three months on the road and look like civil war re-enactors between beard growth and zero body fat. Youts. Great kids to talk to, they’re near the end of their journey. Both said the MT thru ID section was the most beautiful of the entire trip. We’ll see.
A sad sight in McKenzie Bridge is a hitchhiker who is very badly wasted, drunk before noon, out here in the middle of nowhere in the scorching sun. Dangerous situation but the folks in the general store have an eye on him, so we’ll hope for him from there.
The last segment after McKenzie Bridge is only five miles but once again it’s gotten close to 100 degree, the road is out in the full sun and we stop after about 3 miles at a ranger station and information center just for a break. Reached Belknap Springs campgrounds/resort after putting in 25 miles. Two pools here but both fed by the hot springs. Must be great in the winter but not so great right now. Tent sites are also pretty yucky, but that’s seems to be a regular problem with so much “camping” being RV oriented. The showers, etc are good though and they do have a snack bar where we’re able to get some good burgers. We’re both somewhat discouraged by the heat and the challenge of the ride at this point and thinking hard about some way to make things more bearable and the trip more doable. We’re going to take a rest day here and explore options tomorrow.

Thursday, 7/30, leaving Eugene, targeting Belknap Springs
We were too whipped to get the early start we had hoped for but it was very pleasant leaving Eugene. Bike paths for a good part of the way and then a beautiful ride along McKenzie View Drive to skirt around Springfield. We saw a deer and her two fawns and later an osprey nest (very close) with young. We stopped at a grocery store in Walterville to get something cold and eat some left over subs. We ran into a father and son from the Buffalo, NY area headed west. Both riding recumbents, Dad with a trailer. They have been on the road since sometime in April and ridden +5000 miles (!) most of it along the Adventure Cycle routes. They were both looking pretty road weary and were within about two weeks of finishing up but having an awesome time. Riding was quite pleasant again and very scenic, we’re following the McKenzie River. The McKenzie is clearly a big tourist site for the Eugene area with a little kayaking and a lot of rafting going on. Once again the temp began climbing rapidly and although we had no steep climbs we were pulling steadily uphill along the river. Traffic heavy but a pretty good shoulder everywhere. Once again, as the afternoon drew on, the heat took its toll and we regrouped. Called ahead and pushed off the arrangements at Belknap and found a cottage along the river somewhere near Nimrod. Stopped in Vida at a general store and loaded up with sandwiches and drinks. We had noticed the air getting very hazy or smoky and all the talk in the store was about a forest fire somewhere around Bend (80 miles away). The rest of the ride was beautiful, steady pull up river and we ended up riding 49 miles. The cottage turns out to be perfect with a small deck hanging out over the river and we sat and watched ducks, ospreys and fishermen. There is a big thing going on in this area of the river with wooden dories and aluminum facsimiles thereof. Pretty neat. Great evening.
Michael

July 29, Florence to Eugene

Well, today was one for the record books. We left the Lighthouse Inn at about 7:30, it was in the high 50s, foggy and the first 15 miles along the river to Mapleton were gorgeous and easy. Eagles nests in the trees, a few folks fishing quietly in the river. We had breakfast in Mapleton at The Depot Inn and crossed the river to begin climbing. Man, did we begin climbing! After about 3 miles there was a stretch that seemed straight up. There was construction going on and the temp had already climbed to near 90. By the time we reached the tunnel it was 95 and tough. We cleared the tunnel and as we continued towards Walton it climbed to 105 degrees. We were feeling really deflated until we were joined by a solo rider who looked to be in his late 20s, rail thin, he had been riding for the last two weeks starting in Sacramento and finishing south of Eugene. He said he had almost given up and tried hitch hiking the final leg. We figured if he was suffering as we were suffering, it wasn't just us and wasn't so hard to take. One more tough climb out of Walton thru Cougar Pass (seriously).
Mid afternoon we changed plans a little, called and canceled our tent camp site and set up a motel with AC to help recover. We struggled to finish but did. We ended up doing 61 miles and made it to Eugene.
Added a coyote to our wildlife list as well as multiple eagles.
Today we'll ride to a hot springs lodge & campgrounds near McKenzie Bridge, still following Rt. 126. About the same mileage as yesterday but very little climbing and the temp is breaking, the high today headed towards only (!) 95.
Happy trails - Michael

Worst day for me ever in the saddle! Who's idea was this anyway??!!!!
Tiredly, Judith

Tuesday, July 28 – Last day in Florence, OR

We have made a trek out to the Pacific today and dipped our rear wheels in the ocean. Tomorrow morning we’ll start east, riding Rt 126 back to Eugene where we’ll camp for the night. The time here has gone well and been valuable. Since arriving Sunday night I’ve had time to get the bikes assembled and tested and we’ve done a little riding here in the Florence area, found a bike shop to buy some spare spokes, shipped our train trip clothes and some odds and ends home and packed and re-packed our panniers. They don’t get any smaller or lighter with repacking. But I’m pretty sure we have everything we’ll need.
Bike specific comment – I had a bright idea, inspired by something I saw on someone’s blog. I used expanding aerosol insulation foam as filler/protection in the bike boxes. Worked great for structural protection but raised havoc with paint (stupid, stupid, I should have put the frames in plastic bags first) especially on Judith’s beautiful new bike. I owe her for this one.
Florence is a great place to start this trip. It’s beautiful in a very northwest manner, forests right down to the river and the ocean and massive sand dune area. It’s also been a good chance to load up on seafood which I doubt we’re going to see a week from now in ID.
Tomorrow will be our first real challenge. Need to cover about 70 miles, twisting and climbing, with the bikes fully loaded. We saw part of our route on the drive here and it was beautiful but there was more traffic than I had hoped for and an inconsistent shoulder. Driver’s here are pretty bike aware so it is what it is and we’ll deal with it. I’ll try to post a couple of pictures tonight before we leave.
Michael

Oregon

Day 3 travel to OR, July 25
Welcome to the Dakotas. Things don’t look much different but as the morning goes on things slowly change and are looking more like MT as I remember it.
People on the train are a very interesting collection. There are quite a few Mennonite and Amish families, which I guess makes perfect sense as they’re less likely to fly anywhere. Seating in the dining car is managed to fill out every table so as a twosome we eat each meal with another couple. We’ve had the chance to meet some nice folks (and some not so nice, or at least not so happy folks) and as always, it’s fascinating to watch their responses when we explain where we’re headed and what we’re going to be doing. For people who do not bicycle the entire idea often seems impossible or at least incomprehensible. You can sometimes see in their faces the unasked question – Why, why would you do such a thing? We try to explain the whole thing and some connect pretty enthusiastically.
As the day progresses we work our way across ND and into MT. We also change from central time to mountain standard time which means we’re two hours behind family and friends back home. This serves to increase the mounting sense of disconnection from home. That’s going to be a strange dimension to deal with. Email will make it handier in some respects, but not everyone emails yet, so it will be different. We’re hoping that my son will get my Mom & Dad set up on basic email within a week and that will make everything much easier. The puzzle here is that being disconnected from home and routine is in many ways a big part of the point of this trip, but at the same time being disconnected is hard. We’ll sort it out as we go.
Around dinner time we approached Glacier National Park and then drove through a large part of the Park as we ate. Absolutely gorgeous views. In some ways not so different from the Adirondacks at home, but even more so. The train stopped in Whitefish, MT long enough to get off for some fresh are which was cool in that we were here in 2000 as part of a bicycle trip and I remember Whitefish well.
We’ve already begun to track wildlife that is different for us. We saw a prairie dog in one of the small dusty towns in ND and a small group of antelope (prong horn?) on a hillside in MT. Still waiting for that first grizzly (me, not Judith, who says she’ll be fine with never seeing one).
During the night the train will split with part continuing to Seattle and our part (we hope) going on to Portland. From there we’ll take a bus that is somehow part of our Amtrak ticket to Portland and another to Florence, OR.
Day four, travel to OR – July 26
Well, it was a short night. We stopped in Spokane, WA so they could split the train. That woke me for quite a while. During the night we passed into Pacific standard time so with my body still somewhere between EST and CST it was very early here when I was up for good. We’ve begun to follow the Columbia River which is the border between WA and OR. The scenery is very different from home and very impressive again. It changes quickly from desert-like buttes to heavy forest on both sides of the river with Mt Hood very clearly in sight to the south.
I’m very curious to see what the weather is like as we hit Portland and then Florence. Crossing ND and MT the rest stops were brutally hot and it has been very hot throughout the North West. It has something to do with us – in 2001 we rode for a week in Maine and they experienced the hottest temps ever recorded there.
We arrived in Portland on time and had only about a hour before the Amtrak bus to Eugene. Staff was enormously helpful and friendly, gave us recommendations for lunch in Eugene and pointers for Florence too. Their advice about Eugene was great and we ended up getting a nice lunch there just a couple of blocks from the train station. Guess what – it’s 96 degrees here and people are stunned by the heat. So am I – and the idea of riding thru this soon with fully laden bicycles is daunting to say the least.
We arrived in Florence at about 6:30 after some delays with the bus link for the final leg. Our motel (The Lighthouse Inn) looks fine, modest but clean and friendly and only steps from where we were dropped. Our bikes are both waiting for us in our rooms and it is a full 30 degrees cooler here on the coast than in the inland area. We got some dinner in the Old Town riverside section of town and turned in. More tomorrow.
Michael
Welcome to Oregon
Oregon's state flower is the Oregon Grape, the bird is the Western Meadowlark and the motto is "She flies with her own wings". I think this means "She rides on her own bike"! The capitol is Salem and the state slogan is "We love dreamers". (Not sure why a state needs a motto and a slogan but there you go.)

It's really beautiful here and everyone is warm and friendly but I can't wait until we actually get started....
Judith - the Glorius flyer

Day two - travel to OR - July 24

Well, the bunk arrangement wasn’t bad and true to reports, sleeping on a train was actually pretty good. Occasionally the rocking or noise woke me up, but generally it was great.
Train travel is different, the tracks of course run through very different parts of communities than the roads we use most often. Generally these are the more industrial and often the more run down areas of towns. I was awake for awhile at around 4:00 am (no surprise to those who know me) and watched out my window as went thru Cleveland. I know Cleveland pretty well from past travel but it was fascinating to watch it from a perspective I don’t know and stranger still to be horizontal watching out a train window.
Dinner was about what you would expect considering that some poor folks are trying to prep your food while rocking (sometimes violently) down the tracks at 60 miles an hour. Our waitress Mary is a classic. I asked about how they do this, where they start and finish, etc and how long she’s been doing this? “Too long, honey. Thirteen years. My legs are shot, my knees, my legs and my back are shot.” They use paper order forms at the table which you sign and note your room number on. Judith also went ahead and checked off her own selection for dinner. Mary was quick to start her all over again, no, no honey, that won’t work, these go thru a computer, I have to do that part.
Entertainment is where you find it.
We arrived in Chicago and had a couple hours layover which allowed us to get outside, get some lunch along the river and enjoy a beautiful midday. Next segment, the “Empire Builder”, train 27 to Portland. This is a double deck train called a Viewliner and we have a roomette for two again, this time upstairs. Guess what? This one is even smaller and we’re in it for 2 nights. Oh well. We departed on time and make great progress across IL and WI, though the Wisconsin Dells area which was pretty scenic and into MN. Maybe compensating for the view tighter quarters, the food on this train is not bad at all. Have to keep loading for the upcoming ride.
We go to sleep in MN and will wake up in ND.
Michael

On our way...to Oregon at least - Departure July 23

Today was crazy. Doing everything necessary to shut the house down for three months in addition to tying up all the loose ends of the bicycle trip created a fair bit of buzz and tension but we made it.
Our daughter Leah picked us up in the afternoon and took us to the Albany Amtrak station where we were joined by Leah’s wife Donna and their two and a half year old daughter Sarah (one of four grand-daughters and two grandsons). Had fun watching trains with Sarah, who was very excited about the whole train thing (somehow she decided trains were going to Coney Island?) but she also got it into her head that she was getting onto a train, so of course there was some upset as we boarded. We’ll miss all the family but particularly the grand children.
The Amtrak part of this trip should prove interesting. Our train left Albany on time, which is a great start and not necessarily a given for Amtrak. We’re on the Lake Shore Express to Chicago, which is just a single overnight and we have something called a “Viewliner Roomette” which provides us seating and converts to sleeping arrangements for two. This turns out to be a fascinating study in space utilization that crams a toilet (!), a fold down sink and two comfortable seats into a space about the size of two phone booths. The space converts into two bunk beds for sleeping. The sleeper car has a fulltime onboard attendant to help with whatever needs you might have and there is a full service dining car with meals included as part of sleeping car booking. In our case our attendant is a pleasant guy from Eastern Europe with heavily accented English. This turns out to be very appropriate as I’ve decided the whole roomette thing reminds me of nothing so much as a space capsule for two and specifically a Soviet space capsule – everything almost sort of works.
Bonus (maybe) – leaving at 7:00 pm, I figured we were too late for dinner and we didn’t grab anything while leaving but we’re in luck at will be eating at 8:00.

Bicycle trip specific – I updated all the Adventure Cycling route maps in the morning before we left (while watching the final time trial stage of the Tour de France where Contador put the icing on the cake). Adventure Cycling maintains and sells maps of various bike specific routes across and around the country. As cyclists using the routes submit updates on road changes and such with camps and motels addendums are published on their website. Since we had bought our set back in 2001 there was quite a bit of updating to do. It’s a cumulative process where you must review every one issued since your map print date, so it’s pretty interesting. Also fascinating to watch various inns, restaurants and camp sites close up, reopen and even close up again during this time span. No great surprise when you consider that the route by design goes thru some pretty sparsely settled areas.
Also, got an email that our bikes have arrived and are waiting for us in Florence, OR. We’re going to the Lighthouse Inn in Florence which has been cited by several transam blogs as being a good value, convenient and cyclist friendly. We’ll arrive there Sunday night, I’ll use Monday to assemble our bikes, Tuesday for a loop out to the Pacific ocean and then we’ll set out Wednesday morning on the ultimate trip.
Michael

WAIT House connection

Well…..here we are. In less than 3 days we leave and I am skittering around the edges of panic! I’m excited about this huge adventure but it’s mixed with a large amount of WHAT THE HECK ARE WE THINKING??!!

We’re fresh off a week on the Cape with our family and that does make leaving a little easier for me plus I’ll be carrying the latest pictures of our beautiful group to show off whenever the opportunity presents! We both know how enormously fortunate we are that our children and grand-children are all secure, happy and well and this brings me to the charitable component of our cross-country trip.

During this past year I have been volunteering with WAIT House in Glens Falls which is a great organization for homeless and at-risk youth from 16-21 years old. I have come to really admire the staff and other volunteers and am so impressed by their passion and commitment to helping these kids. Our own interest in this cause comes from very personal experience as it occurred in our own middle class, suburban family with our son James during his last couple high school years. His drug and alcohol use caused him to make choices that lead him (like too many others) to leave home but having no place to go, he stayed with friends or just crashed wherever he could. He was homeless, had no direction or guidance and his downward spiral continued until finally at 21 he started the long way back to reclaiming his life. We are grateful to be able to say that today he is strong and healthy in mind and body and we are so happy to have him back as a fully participating and beloved member of our family (yea James!). And while we very much admire the strength and determination it took to do this on his own, I wonder if it would have taken him as long to find his way back to us or if his journey could have been easier if WAIT House had been available to him then. Plus, we’re very excited about the “Transitional Living Program for Homeless Pregnant and Parenting Youth” that will open in the spring of 2010 (ground-breaking will be while we are on our trip and I’ll be so sorry to miss it!). In this program, WAIT House will be able to give shelter and support services to homeless kids who have, or will soon have, kids of their own. Youth who often have not been parented themselves will be able to learn how to become successful mothers and fathers in a stable, nurturing environment and I feel like we have a real chance to offer hope for a good future to them as well as their kids. When we get back from our trek in the Fall I will be excited to see the progress on the new house and will be anxious to get back to being a part of this terrific organization.

As far as Michael and I go, we’re not looking for pledges or for anyone to “buy miles” as you would for a traditional charity ride but please, take some time to check out the WAIT House website (www.hycwaithouse.org) to get a full appreciation of what programs are offered and, if you are inspired by our trip or simply because it’s a great cause, a donation to WAIT House would be greatly appreciated.

Happy trails,
Judy

Equipment

So a little about equipment and what not. First, of course, there are the bicycles. We're both riding touring type bikes from Rivendell, a small speciality builder in Walnut Creek, CA. Mine is a Saluki, Judith's a Glorius. Both steel frames, beautifully built and featuring comfortable geometry with relatively upright riding positions. No clip pedals, no special riding shoes. We'll be using both front and rear panniers to carry all of our clothing, bicycle support stuff and camping gear.
Camping equipment is all pretty much standard backpacking stuff with a focus on light weight where possible. (REI, Backcountry and EMS have become our friends over the last months of prep). We'll carry a small tent, sleeping bags with pads and some cooking gear. We don't expect to cook that often but want to have the option and certainly want the capability to make some morning coffee to get ourselves going. We expect to camp most of the time and, depending on weather and inclination get a room of some sort once a week or so.
A great mystery and challenge in all this is clothes. Even in August it's likely to be cold in the morning at altitude so we need to be able to cover a fairly large temperature range and yet not carry so much that we need a pack horse (not an option, I'm not volunteering for that duty...). But again, backpacking stuff to the rescue - technical hiking clothes are pretty good at just this kind of thing so we think we have it covered. We'll have full rain gear of course even as we hope to never touch it (sure...).
Even tho the plan and intent here is to really disengage from our usual routines we will be carrying a small netbook type PC so that we can update this blog and stay in touch with essential emails. And cell phones, cameras, etc. It's looking like we're each carrying about 35 lbs of stuff and I'm interested to see how it all sorts out in the first couple of weeks. We can always ship stuff home as we identify things we don't actually use.
All of these things are becoming pretty much locked in now, as we'll be leaving later this week. We decided to take a train from upstate NY to Oregon, feeling that the lost time (three days out vs a flight of half a day) is worth the transitional nature of the train trip. Things have been very hectic for weeks and the train trip should make for a real change out of all that and into this new daily mode. The train also takes a northern route that looks pretty interesting. We've never done an over night (let alone several) on Amtrak so are very curious about that part too. I'll let you know how it goes.
Michael

Route

Alright, so a little about the route we'll follow. We'll be riding most of our way along one of the classic transam routes mapped by Adventure Cycling. That means we'll stick mostly to secondary and back roads, we'll ride through many national forest areas and availability of services, food, camping and other lodging is pretty much laid out in front of us. We'll follow their route across Oregon, across Idaho, into Montana where we'll go through Missoula and then down through the Bitterroot Valley to Yellowstone National Park. We've wanted to ride through the Bitterroot since 2000 when we were scheduled to ride there with Cycle Montana and much of the area was on fire. Rode up and around Flathead Lake instead, watching ash fall like snow on our tents. Now we'll have our chance. Our daughter Leah will join us for this Montana section.
After Yellowstone, we'll leave the standard route for a while and cross Wyoming towards Devils Tower in the North East corner of the state. From there we'll head into South Dakota and ride the Black Hills and parts of the Badlands. These choices were made in part to see these pieces of special land and landscapes and also to visit some sites with Lakota and other Native American significance.
After South Dakota, we'll work our way down to Iowa and cross Iowa to Fairfield where we have some history and some friends that we would like to see. Iowa down to Missouri (in and out of Illinois), into Kentucky and though Virginia to the Atlantic along a standard transam route. Parts of South Dakota into Iowa will be on the Adventure Cycle Lewis & Clark route and the Iowa to Kentucky will be on their Great Rivers route.
We're thankful (in advance) for this system of maps and also to many people who have previously blogged their own similar trips. The availability of riders diaries full of camping and eating tips as well as journals of daily experiences, good and bad, is a huge advantage and lets us feel somewhat prepared for what is in many ways a sort of daunting departure. Nothing like Lewis & Clark of course, but compared to our regular daily routine, this is radical. We're excited, a little nervous and getting more ready by the day.
More soon on equipment and other prep.
Michael

Begin at the beginning...

After many years of dreaming and hoping, we will soon be bicycling across country. Beginning towards the end of July, we'll be doing a "self contained" ride, meaning that everything we need will be carried on our two bicycles. We'll be camping most nights, with a regular break in a hotel or B&B. We'll roughly follow the classic "TransAmerica" route developed and promoted by Adventure Cycling (http://www.adventurecycling.org/) with some deviations for personal interests and connections. We expect the trip to take us about three months and to be the classic "adventure of a lifetime".
Time is getting near, so I'll soon post what I can about our route, our preparations, our equipment choices and, a little bit about a cause. A trip of this sort ought to have a charitable dimension and ours will.
For starters, a little about us. We're both pretty avid cyclists, although not "beasts" by any means - a beast being those hearty folks who ride year round even in the North East and clock multiple thousands of miles each year! But we ride our share. We've done charity centuries (100 miles or more, great example: Tour de Tucson for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training); causal centuries with our local club and family; organized tours such as Cycle Montana, or the defunct Moose Tour in Maine; and self directed week long tours in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and along the Erie Canal here in New York. By the time we take this trip, we'll be sixty years old (at least one of us), so for this trip it seems like now or never.
Check back for more posts coming up soon and then follow us as we ride and blog our way across the country.
Michael