Author: Dennis Blanchard

Dennis Blanchard was born in Bristol, Connecticut. He and his wife Jane moved to New Hampshire in 1980 where he has climbed thirty 4000-foot mountains, biked the trails and enjoyed the wilderness. Never living very far from the Appalachian Trail, Dennis was always aware of the seductive siren’s call to hike it. Dennis is an electronics engineer who has freelanced for amateur radio, technical and motorcycle adventure magazines. He now lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Day 22: Grangeville, Idaho to Lowell, Idaho

I Started out early from Grangeville. Prior to leaving, I sat on the steps outside the motel office to call Jane. I had to sit there because the WiFi service was terrible and that was the only place I could get a signal.

While talking to her, dogs started showing up. All sorts of dogs. Big ones, little ones, and all sorts of colors and breeds. Before I knew it, I had five dogs surrounding me, all wanting for attention. Everybody wanted an ear scratched or a belly rub. It was crazy. My next door neighbor, Elizabeth, who works with rescue dogs would be thrilled, especially since the leader of the pack seemed to be a little white dog.

Riding east from Grangeville I was looking across huge fields of oats or wheat. I stopped to photograph some combines harvesting the crops and even took a video. I figured my grandson, Ronan, might get a kick out of the combines since there is a scene in the Pixar movie Cars where a combine gives chase to the protagonist in the film, “Lighting McQueen.”

The terrain was mostly flat with an occasional 200-foot (70-m) steep climb, just to keep things interesting.

20160803_102215 — The wide-open spaces out of Grangeville, Idaho.

Then came the descent down to Stites, Idaho. I don’t have the stats on the descent but it must be several thousand feet over about two miles (3 km). I’m a seasoned mountain bike racer and have no fear of going down a rapid descent, but this was quite another thing. My bike weighs about 30 lbs (13.6 kg) and the gear and panniers add about another forty lbs (17 kg). If you know anything about bicycle brakes, they’re just two little rubber pads on each wheel and are operated by a small cable to each wheel.

20160806_151718 — Note Stites, Idaho, at the bottom of that drop on the right.

I was going down grades that would easily allow me to get up to about 60 mph (96 kmh)! I could just envision those little rubber pads turning into molten rubber smudges on my bicycle rims. It wasn’t so much the speed but the fact that there were turns at the end of a steep downhill run that were posted 10 mph (16 kph) turns. Going into a turn such as that with melting brake pads didn’t appeal to me. I stopped at least five times on the way down to cool the brakes. The descent was insane.

20160803_115312 — If you miss that turn, it is a long way to the bottom.

At the local pizza place in the town at the bottom, Stites, I asked if they ever have any problems with people losing their brakes on the ride into town. The gal behind the bar didn’t recall any. I was amazed.

I ordered a rather nice pizza and couldn’t eat but half of it. I asked if she knew anyone that couldn’t afford a pizza and if she could box it up and give it to them, and she did. I hate to see perfectly good food go to waste. That was nice of her. Score one for the Stites Pizza parlor.

When I arrived in Lowell, Idaho, there was talk of temperatures in the mid 30’s F (2 C) so I wimped out and got a motel room. The thought of a hot shower, warm bed, and the Internet was just too compelling. Of course, as was often the case across Idaho, the Internet connection was a myth. There was hardly any signal in the room. I went sniffing around for the WiFi router and found it at the end of the building. Even standing next to it, with five bars of WiFi signal, the connection speed was abysmal. Smoke signals would have been quicker.

Idaho, being the potato state must be using a copper and zinc rod stuck into a potato to power the WiFi routers, I can’t believe how weak the signals are.

Day 21: White Bird, Idaho to Grangeville, Idaho

20160802_121719 — The sign lies; the old route actually goes up higher, maybe another 300-400 feet! Old route takes a right at the sign.

21 Miles. Only 21 miles and I was spent. It all started out well enough. I slept in the White Bird, Idaho, municipal building. I slept until about 04:00 am and then there was a very loud “bang.” I figured somebody was just shooting a rattlesnake somewhere and went back to sleep.

What I didn’t notice was everything was very dark. From the school house, I had seen some street lights when I went to sleep but didn’t pay much attention. The loud “bang” was a pole transformer blowing out. Not long afterwards, a crew showed up to repair things. I awoke to voices and flashlights, very powerful flashlights, shining everywhere. There must have been six or so people working on replacing the damage. It wasn’t an easy task, the pole isn’t on the road and is halfway between the highway above and the main road I was on.

They had to manually lug all that equipment up there to make the repairs. With all the rattlesnakes in the area, that must be a joy. I had considered going up to the local swimming hole before going to sleep but was warned that the area is crawling with rattlers, especially around sunset and I opted to avoid a confrontation.

20160802_071504 — The pole that needed repairs, in the dawn light.

Breakfast was not an option. The one cafe that does serve breakfast didn’t open until nine and the convenience store was not opened on the previous day, so I couldn’t stock up on anything. I set out as the sun was rising, hoping to make it over the pass in good time.

The climb up to White Bird Pass is long, arduous and hot. There is almost no shade at all and the sun just pounds down on anyone exposed to it. I started around sunrise, but by 10 am, it was stifling. I did have a good quantity of Gatorade and water, so at least I had liquids.

In spite of suffering the heat, the views were breathtaking.

20160802_085936 — Looking back from whence I had come. This is about a third of the way up the climb.The schoolhouse I started from is in the upper right-hand corner of the photo.

20160802_081037 — The road just keeps going up and up. The new modern highway is way off in the distance on the upper-left of the photo. At one point this road joins it for about a mile. Add 100+ degrees F to really enjoy this.

In all, I spent about six hours climbing. I ended walking for about the last 1.5 miles (2.5 km), it was just too steep in my weakened condition to pedal. The new, modern, highway is an alternative, but it so busy with tractor trailer truck traffic and speeders that this older road is the better alternative. As it is, the old road does join the new highway for about a mile, and it is no joy.

I rolled into Grangeville, Idaho in mid-afternoon and made a beeline for a Mexican restaurant. I still wasn’t that hungry but knew I had to eat. I can recommend the Palenque Mexican Restaurant as an excellent place for a hungry biker. I must have looked a mess, yet they treated me with kindness, caring and lots of cold drinks and the food was very good. I had Arroz con Pollo (Rice with chicken) and finished it all. I ordered from the luncheon menu, hoping for smaller portions, but it was still huge.

I decided, once again, that I just wanted to be indoors tonight and opted for a hotel. I’m going to break the bank, but the heat is killing me.

After a shower and nap, I walked into town for a milkshake, I’ve been yearning one. I had one at a place called Yummies. The fellow that runs the place told me he has been thinking about expanding into something to go along with the ice cream business. I suggested he think about an idea that my father-in-law had, the late Roger Veilleux. Roger was from Maine and thought that a fast-food business based on beans and potatoes would be a winner. I agree. So many people like beans and baked potatoes. The trick would be to come up with a cone-like container for beans and a convenient way for someone to walk away with a ready-to-eat baked potato. Idaho, being the Nation’s potato capital could easily fill that bill. I could see the young man’s gears in his head whirring. If he tries this and succeeds, you heard it here first.

20160802_191224 — Grass-fired steam tractor.

One of the great things about hiking and biking, as I’ve mentioned before is getting to see the local towns through a different lens. As I walked around Grangeville this evening, I took in many of the historic markers around town and this tractor caught my eye. It looked big, heavy and powerful and ran on burning dried grass, or wood when they could get it. It was impressive looking and I could just see them out in the fields sweating away, feeding fuel into this monster to keep it running.

Not far from where I am staying there is a museum of Mammoth bones that have been found in the area. This area of the world is known for its mammoth finds. As much as I should spend some time seeing all this, I will head out in the morning. It is essentially a long, gradual climb to Missoula, Montana from here and I could be there in a few more day, it is about 166 miles.

Day 20: New Meadows, Idaho to White Bird, Idaho

After a good night’s stay, with a really decent motel, good WiFi, and good sleep, I was ready to go. The evening meal the night before was just so-so. I went to a BBQ place and had the smallest plate of ribs, baked potato that I could find. The food was okay, but the service was terrible.

Outside my room there were two chaps from California that were seeing the country on motorcycles, one was riding a Triumph, and the other, a Suzuki. I was surprised that they’re still making the Triumphs in the UK, I figured by now it would just be in name only.

Anyway, I digress. After an egg and sausage sandwich (obviously a frozen thing cooked in a microwave and not very good) from the motel, I was off. I was looking forward to today, the profile map showed a mostly downhill ride to White Bird. The first thirty-five miles did not disappoint. I hardly had to pedal. On the other hand, the weather was cold, so much so, that I had to put on all my warm clothing and had to stop about every ten miles to let my hands warm up, even with good gloves.

I recall at one stop the cows all stood in the field and just looked at me. Like so many of the cattle I have seen along this ride, they just don’t know what to make of me. Am I a weird looking predator? Do I have a treat? They look at me with a wary eye, yet something else is there in their gaze. The young bulls eye me up as if daring me to jump over that fence and the females with calves seem uninterested and the calves view me as something they could frolic with. A few even jump up and down and romp around.

20160801_082047 — I’m getting closer to the North Pole, I wonder when it will start getting cooler?

I could see the breath from all the cows and they seemed relieved to have a break from the hot sun, we all did.

As I was flying downhill for a change, I came upon some sort of ruckus on the road ahead. I could see a few vehicles and motorcycles pulled over in a rest spot and then realized that there was a crashed motorcycle off on the left side of the road, a big motorcycle. It was a shiny and new looking Harley Davidson full dresser. It appeared the driver had lost control in the turn. The machine was really messed up, the front wheel was hanging off, but the rider was limping around and appeared to be relatively unscathed. He was lucky, those turns around there have thousand foot drops on one side and walls on the other.

20160801_123618 — Riggins, Idaho, considers itself the White Water Capital of Idaho. With such a dry season this year, it wasn’t too “white.”

I stopped along the way to watch the white water rafting, it looked like fun, but the water was a little tame with all the drought this year.

20160801_124144 — There are dozens of signs warning of stock and game animals. I can attest to running into dozens of deer.

I get a kick out of the hunting channels on TV. They make it sound like the most difficult thing in the world to bag a deer, yet this old geezer on a bicycle could have bagged about twenty so far. What gives?

As I travel eastbound, I am seeing many riders going west, finishing their cross-country rides. They make me feel so inadequate. I’m only approaching my first 1000 miles (1660 km) and they’ve already done three or four times that. I ran into a group of fourteen young people today, a group that is riding an Adventure Cycling Assoc. ride from the east coast, to the west. I hope to hear from them, they took a photo of me and I wish I had down likewise.

It made me proud to see all these young people out, walking-the-walk, so to put it. These rides are difficult and trying, and here they are out facing one of the toughest challenges of their young lives. More power to them, they’ll carry this experience with them forever.

20160801_131103 — Old gold mine along SR 95 out of Riggins, ID

I ran into a gold mine just out of Riggins, ID. It was right next to the road, across from the Salmon River. Oddly, few people see it as they whiz along at 80 MPH. I stopped and poked around. I guess somebody found a huge nugget of gold here at one time, maybe 1875. The area had several gold rushes.

20160801_134341 — The results of hydraulic mining. All for some gold.

I stopped a little further along and viewed a historical marker that described hydraulic mining. I wonder how much gold they actually found?

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This is the beauty of traveling by bicycle, as tough as it can be. By slowing the world down you find things that you’d never see flying along.

20160801_165418 — Bar in the Mac’s Supper Bar. One fellow told me the bar has been there since 1873. The bar itself was built in St. Louis, MO and shipped there.

Mac’s Supper Bar in White Bird, ID is a mostly, family-run business. I was just about totally dried up and parched when I arrived there. I didn’t even want anything to eat. The heat was just so oppressive. The bar keepers, Jason and Asher, kept the liquids flowing. They then filled me on on the town, it’s history and where I could camp for the night.

They also pointed out several bullet “ricochets” in the bar. I’d bet there are some stories behind those.

The camping choices were across the street from the bar, on what they called the “park,” really just a small lawn with a very nice veterans memorial, or up at the school. After cooling down I went to check the park, and would have stayed, however, it lacked any sort of bathroom facility and the electrical outlet on the side of the building had no power. They did have running water.

20160801_195243 — Note my camping spot for the night, where the bicycle is.

The school is no longer an operational school, it is just used as a municipal building. It has a nice playground next to it and green lawn. The problem with green lawns as any hiker/biker knows is: if everything is brown in the area and the grass is green, there must be sprinklers. Many sprinkler systems are timed to run during the night. Not wanting to risk getting soaked, I opted to sleep in the vestibule to the building. As it turns out, the sprinklers never did run, but at least I didn’t waste time putting up a tent. With my sleeping pad, the concrete is not as bad as it seems.

After a 66 mile day, it was time to sleep!

Day 19: Cambridge, Idaho to New Meadows, Idaho

Managed 48.42 miles (78 km) today. This morning’s weather forecast stated: “Today will be MUCH COOLER than yesterday. Yesterday was 104.8 and today’s temperature will only be 92.0 degrees.” The bold text was in ice cold blue, with icicles. Break out the ear muffs and mukluks. I wondered if I’d need snow tires on the bike.

Seriously, I couldn’t believe the forecast. It must be automated and they didn’t consider what the temperatures really were. That said, it wasn’t a bad day, although I didn’t make it as far as I had wished. I was hoping for 72 miles (115 km), but I’m satisfied. Tomorrow I should be able to do nearly 80 miles to Riggins, ID, which is supposed to have a very nice park to camp in, in honor of veterans.

I say I should be able to make it because from all the information I can gather it will be practically all downhill to Riggins. Riggins will put me in a good strategic location to get to White Bird, ID, the next day. White Bird is at the foot of a, almost, 4000-foot (1219 m) climb. I suspect that I won’t go much beyond that climb on Wednesday. The profile of the climb looks like an upside-down icicle. That should be the last serious climb until Missoula, Montana. However, from Thursday on, it is one, long, gradual climb all the way to Missoula. Nowhere to go, but up.

20160731_103539~2 — Pass, just east of Cambridge, ID

It may be hard to believe, but I started climbing shortly after sunrise from Cambridge, Idaho, only to get to the top of the 1400 foot (427 m) pass, then go down, and do it all over again.

One thing I enjoy here is lots of historical markers, here was one at this same pass:

20160731_103531~2

The crops here wouldn’t have been frozen this morning! When I took this photo it was already near ninety degrees F. (32.2 C).

The day ended in New Meadows, ID. Seeing a few Confederate flags around is a bit disconcerting, makes one wonder what is going through those heads?

Spending another night in a hotel, it is just too hot out there to get a good night’s sleep. When it is that hot it is too hot to go out and set up the ham radio and have some fun with that hobby. Maybe tomorrow night, we’ll see.

Day 18: Woodhead Park, Idaho, to Cambridge, Idaho

Only 26.39 miles (42.5 km) today, for a grand total of 639 miles (1028 km).

There was one serious climb over Brownlee Pass, 4131 feet (1259 m). Actual climbing from the campground was something like 2400 feet (732 m). The first 2/3 of the climb wasn’t too bad. I had stopped for breakfast at the cafe/general store two miles from the camp. I had pancakes that were way bigger than I could finish. Fueled with a big breakfast and extra Gatorade, I was off around 09:00 am.

As the altitude and temperatures started to climb, I started to look for shady places to take breaks and have a drink. The drill is pretty simple, look ahead for shade, pull over and rest the bike against something secure, take out the liquids, check the shady area for rattlesnakes and then sit and cool for a while.

I spotted a cattle loading dock right next to the road. They locate them there so the truck doesn’t have to get too far from the pavement. I decided to pull over and take a break and then changed my mind. It wasn’t rattlesnakes:

Dogs that beat me to the shady spot. One is under the ramp.

The dogs just gave me a sideways glance and I suspect I could have taken up space next to the brown one and he wouldn’t have cared, it was too hot. They didn’t even bark. I wasn’t about to tempt fate, I moved along.

Up the road, I eventually found a cement wall the Forest Service had built and took shelter there. You can see by my face that it is hot out.

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Eventually, I did summit and had a mostly downhill ride to Cambridge, ID, and air conditioning.

20160730_121414~2

It always feels so good to see that elevation sign, this means it is time for some well deserved downhill.

Day 17: Halfway, Oregon to Woodhead Park, Idaho

38 Miles, (61 km). I had planned to bike twice that distance, but the sun and heat had other plans for me.

On the way, I stopped at a general store by Hell’s Canyon Inn, about 15 miles into the day. The ride was unusually easy and I was making good time, although it was warming up. At the store, I ran into Alexis and Brian (sorry if that isn’t correct, my memory gets foggy with heat!)

20160729_103513 The store was exactly 4000 miles (6600 km) from where they started their bicycle ride, from New York to Virginia and on to the Pacific coast. They made me feel like such a wimp, I’m only up around 600 miles. I had stopped to talk to a friend of theirs earlier, he was a few miles ahead. He is limping along trying to make it to Baker City, OR with a broken spoke issue on his front wheel. That can be a dangerous situation roaring down these mountain roads at fifty miles per hour. I hope he makes it okay.

I crossed into Idaho over the Snake River, which also meant a new time zone, one hour closer to home.

When I reached Woodhead Park I needed to stop. The temperature was 108 degrees F (41.222 C) and I was done in. I sat at the registration booth, which is also the restrooms and showers and tried to fill in the form for a tent site. I was so light-headed that I had to sit on the concrete walkway. I knew if I stayed standing I would go down. I’ve never passed out in my life, and this was as close as it gets.

As I sat there trying to sum up enough energy to fill in the form, a couple stopped to use the restrooms. They are regulars at the campground and were pulling their boat behind their green Chevy Tahoe. The woman passenger, Stephanie, hopped out and took one look at me and decided that maybe I could use a hand. I asked her how far it was to the restaurant since the campground doesn’t have any store. She said she thought it was five miles up the road further. She was incorrect, it is just over two miles, but that was the right answer for my situation.

I replied that I would just wait until breakfast time, I was too bushed to go that far in the heat. She informed me that she, and Jason, were on their way to the store for ice and would pick me up something. She asked what I would like and all I could muster was a sandwich and some Gatorade.

They left and I struggled to finish signing in and managed, somehow, to put up my tent. A while later Stephanie returned with the finest turkey sandwich I have ever eaten. She said she just threw it together at the cafe since they were in a hurry, but to me–it was a lifesaver. I was very depleted and didn’t even realize it. I’ve been taking in so much liquid that I have not had much of an appetite. I wasn’t so much dehydrated as just very low on energy from lack of food.

They drove off and I didn’t get a chance to pay for anything. I asked where their site was and she pointed down the hill.

Later, after I had regained my strength, I walked down to where she pointed, but I didn’t see the green Tahoe.

Finally, an hour before sunset, although still very hot, I gathered the strength to ride the bike to the restaurant and gorged myself on a very good taco dinner, a ton of drinks, and followed it all with some ice cream.

I rode back to the camp, rode around and spotted their Tahoe and ran into Stephanie’s mom, Lisa. She found her daughter and I couldn’t thank her enough. She was astute enough to see someone needing help and took action. This is America at it’s best. Thank you, Stephanie and Jason.

I told her I would send her a signed copy of my book, Three Hundred Zeroes, since she wouldn’t take payment for my life-saving lunch.

Tomorrow morning I should be out bright and early, I have a 4000-foot climb to a pass, first thing.

Day 16: Baker City, Oregon to Halfway, Oregon

56.62 more hot miles today, for 571.52 miles total. There was a very optimistic bicycle store sign leaving Baker City, for a store in Kansas. Only 1510 miles (2430 km) ahead.

20160728_081236

It was super hot out there. It was so hot that I stopped at Richland, 13 miles from my destination and slept in the shade for a few hours.

The Grange organization in Richland has a really nice park with a pavilion, so I went in and napped on the stage.

20160728_170407

There was nobody around. The woman at the cafe in town suggested I go there, she said nobody would bother me and she was correct. I didn’t check the thermometer, but I suspect 100+ F. I can’t imagine what it was like for those settlers coming across on the Oregon Trail. I’ve made several attempts to put a photo of an Oregon Trail memorial in here, but WordPress keeps insisting on putting it in upside-down. Why? I have no idea.

The cafe was interesting. It was all old cowboy types and tall tales. Off in the corner was a big screen TV playing some hunting channel. What caught my eye was that the whole time I was there they were doing a show on the AR-15 and then went to a show about some machine gun. Hunting? I couldn’t make the connection.

I stopped at Richland because the profile map showed a huge climb going to Halfway. It was just too hot for a climb where there is no shade. I wisely waited and made it to Halfway just as it was getting dark. Tired, I opted for the first place I found to stay—a motel.

Of course, the town restaurant and convenience store closed at 8 pm, and I was about five minutes late. With all the heat I wasn’t hungry anyway, so I grabbed a few cans of soft drink, a bunch of water and some trail mix I was carrying on the bike, and nibbled before going to sleep.

Timing is everything.

Days 12, 13, 14, and 15: Baker City, Oregon

20160727_112404 515 Miles ridden from Lincoln City, Oregon to Baker City, Oregon. I’m almost into Idaho and should be there by tomorrow.

As mentioned previously, I had to spend several days in Baker City to repair my Chromebook computer screen. Most of the days were spent eating, sleeping, swimming in the motel pool, and going to the park. They have some very nice parks here and the citizens use them.

Most of the time I would go to the park and throw a wire into a tree and get on my ham radio. Since I didn’t have the Chromebook, I would mostly talk to people on Morse code, or what we hams call, “CW,” it has to do with how the signal is formed and means, “Continuous Wave.” Actually, it isn’t continuous, the code key turns the signal on-and-off to form the characters, but such is how things get named.

On my last night in Baker City, I was in the park after dark. Some local group sponsored a movie night in the park pavilion and there was a great turnout of young kids to watch it. Everything ended about 10:00 pm. I had just finished talking with a fellow in Santa Clara, California, KK6ZHK, Ken, when a police officer walked over and asked me what I was doing.

I had the computer, antenna, radio, batteries, wires everywhere and I’m thinking he must see me as an Al Qaeda operative. At first, he looked a little nervous. I explained what I was doing and I saw a light go on in his head, he had heard of ham radio. Whew.

He told me the park was closed and I’d have to tear down. He explained that they had had “youth” problems lately after dark. I explained that I wasn’t a youth, but he didn’t have much of a sense of humor, so I went back to the motel.

Water source about 15 miles up SR-7 and 31.5 from the center of Prairie City, going east.

Going back to the ride from Prairie City to Baker City: The difficult part of the day’s ride to Baker City was not only the 68 miles but riding over three passes that were all over 5000 feet (1524 m). After that, there was another section that had various ups and downs before truly descending along the Powder River into Baker City. I left Prairie City shortly after sunrise and arrived late in the day in Baker (the locals just refer to it as “Baker.”)

The other big question riding from Prairie City to Baker city is water. The map showed nothing between their home and Baker City, but Jimi and his son, Daniel, filled me in on some sources that were not on the map. Just about a mile after the restaurant at Austin junction with SR-7, there is a water pipe coming from a spring and it had plentiful water. It is directly across from the entrance to the Bates State Park

At 31.5 miles from their place, mile marker 15 on SR-7, at a highway maintenance building someone leaves water out for bikers. True to their word, both places offered plentiful water. Thank you, citizens of Oregon.

When I finally pulled into town, I wasn’t certain about where to stay. I called Jimi and asked him because he had mentioned a few places and I made the mistake of not paying attention. He suggested that he call a friend that was sometimes on WarmShowers and even though I considered it very late in the day, he gave the friend a call and then called me back.

His friend, Gayle, said yes, come over. I arrived, almost delirious from the heat and exertion. I felt that I was just babbling, but she took it in stride, showed me some of the nicest soft grass to put my tent on and, like everyone else, set me up with a shower and towels. I washed and crashed into my bedroll, oblivious to the world.

I slept like a dead man.

The next morning I told Gayle I was interested in taking a “zero day,” a day with no miles, to rest up and she suggested several places that were reasonably priced and had WiFi. I opted for the Oregon Trail Motel, on the other side of town.

Thanks for following along and please do leave comments.

Day 11: Prairie City, Oregon

Today’s ride from Dayville to Prairie City was almost 47 miles. Once again, relentless heat and blue skies. I can take the skies, and I haven’t had rain since beginning this journey, but cool air would be refreshing.

The ride wasn’t too bad. I managed to do it in about five hours and saw some really spectacular country. Mountains in every direction and a few even have traces of snow on them.

I’m seeing midsummer plant life now. Most of the fruit on the trees, such as apricots and juniper are ripe. They use the juniper berries to make gin.

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I arrived in Prairie City in the late afternoon. I once again had arranged to stay with a WarmShowers.org family. Nobody was home when I arrived, so I collapsed on a bench in their garden and fell fast asleep. About an hour later, I heard a car stop on the road below and Jimi hopped out and ran up the bank to the garden where I was. He didn’t seem surprised in the least and invited me in. He showed me around, gave me a place to put my sleeping gear, pointed out the all-important shower, and then left me alone.

20160723_165944 — View of Strawberry Mountain from my sleeping position. 9042 feet (2756 m)

The view from the room was breathtaking, looking out towards Strawberry Mountain. He had offered for me to join him and Karen for dinner, but I opted to walk down to town and get a few things. The next day’s ride was about 68 miles (109 km) and I wanted to have something to eat. Food wasn’t certain until Baker City. I learned later that there was a restaurant/convenience store about 20 miles (32 km), but there was some question as to whether it would be open on Sunday…it was.

20160723_161152 — You know there are rednecks around when you see a sign like this.

I slept a deep sleep in Prairie City after going out and looking at the star-filled sky. The stars are brilliant here, something one rarely sees in Florida.

Thanks for following along and please do leave comments.

Day 10: Dayville, Oregon

I’m writing this entry on Day 15, in Baker City, Oregon, but didn’t want to jump ahead, I might fail to come back and fill in the story. Yes, for those of you that read my last posting, Day 9, I do now have my Chromebook computer back.

The ride out from Mitchell, OR, faces another steep climb to the top of Keyes Pass. At 4369 feet (1332 m) it isn’t highest climb thus far, but it averages about a 7% grade.

20160722_111013 The good news is, the downhill to Dayville is about 33 miles (53 km). It was gradual, I don’t think I broke any speed limits, but it was a relief to not pedal too hard in the desert heat.

About halfway down, I was approaching a ranch entrance off to the right. I think the ranch was named, Great Creek Ranch. In any case, just as I neared an entrance gate to a field an animal jumped out in the road in front of me about 50 feet (15 m) ahead. At first, my foggy, heated, brain didn’t register what it was. Dog? Pig? Antelope? Gradually my brain started to assemble the pixels and it registered that it was a cat. It was then that I realized that the cat was large, very large. In fact, this was the largest cat I had ever seen in the wild. It was a cougar, also known as a mountain lion or puma.

It all happened so suddenly that I think we were both surprised. The bicycle is silent and the animal was used to hearing traffic on the road and chose the silence to cross. It stopped right in the middle of my lane and looked right at me. Instinctively, I rode directly towards her (it did look like a female cat, I could be wrong). After what seemed an eternity but was probably a few milliseconds, she turned, darted and ran off into the bushes on the side of the road.

I didn’t even have time to be scared. I was rolling along about 10-15 miles per hour. I think they can run about 40 or 50 mph. What if she took me for game? Whew. Nonetheless, that cat was a breathtaking sight. The locals here tell me I was lucky, not many actually get to see them, sightings are rare even though the cats are not.

In midafternoon, I arrived in Dayville. It is just a few buildings and has a population of 148. A quick stop at the cafe for some cold drinks was in order. I’m certain I was a sight, all sweaty, dusty, and sun burnt. After cooling down I went down to the church, which was reputed to be a biker hostel. I didn’t find anyone there, so I just parked on the lawn in the shade and laid on the grass and promptly fell asleep. After an hour or so a neighbor, Cindy, came along to mow the grass and water it and told me where I could find Rose, the hostel proprietor.

She lives just behind the church and immediately made me feel at home. She opened up the church and attached meeting room/kitchen and invited me to use the place. Nobody else was there, although she thought there were two others that would show.

I unpacked, put down my mat and sleeping bag on the floor and connected the electronics to the WiFi. I also put up an antenna on a nearby tree for my ham radio later that evening. Following a refreshing shower and cleaning up, I put on some regular clothes, as opposed to bicycle riding clothes, and headed back to the cafe for dinner. When one of the waitresses they spied me she commented: “Hey, you’re not half bad, once cleaned up.” I wasn’t quite certain how to take that, was I that bad before?

Back at the church, the other two did show up, Issac and Kevin, both young fellows doing an east coast to west coast ride. They’re doing it on a budget and have about a week left. Issac had an interesting arrangement for his gear. He was pulling a trailer and the hitch had broken quite some time ago. It was rigged up with bolts, tie-wraps, and bailing wire and seemed to be working. I couldn’t have imagined how one would replace the rear tire, should that be necessary. Sadly, I didn’t think to take a picture. Maybe if he sees this, he will send one along.

The rest of the evening was uneventful and I did mess around with the radio for a while before turning in for a very good night’s rest.

I may come back and add more photos to this later, the Internet connection is so slow here that it is impossible to do at this time.