Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain at bed time, rain in the morning! We had to wait until 11:00 to get on the road again. Sabrina had enough with the riding downhill in the rain yesterday to not want to start off in the rain today! Finally a break in the clouds, let’s go. We did meet a very nice couple in the park yesterday who were riding coast-to-coast self supported. They were very happy to set up their tent under the pavilion, out of the rain. They had a very interesting setup, as he was riding a recumbent bike and pulling a trailer with all the heavy gear and she had full front and back panniers. He was a wheat and beef cattle farmer and she was a music teacher on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. He had an interesting story about the recumbent bike he had built and started the ride with in Florence, OR. But his engineering of this homemade rig wasn’t quite perfected and he scrapped the whole attempt after 40 miles. He went to a bike shop and bought the new set up and started off on their C-to-C adventure on a new rig! They seemed to be a very determined and confident couple, they must be, to be farmers from S.D. Best of luck to you Lindy and Carolyn. May our paths cross again somewhere on the roads of this great country.
Well, start off at 11:00 with 7 miles of uphill. About 5 miles up the hill are Lindy and Carolyn, stopped talking to a young biker, Dave, who is coming riding down the hill. He has been on the road for a week and is trekking from Salt Lake City to somewhere (?) in CA. Today he came over the pass from John Day and just biked up 30+ miles of 4-5% grade and was still enthused enough to be videotaping us riding up the climb towards him. It seems very freaky that you can be riding uphill, yet the road looks flat or sometimes even downhill, but you get a reality check when you look behind and know you’re pumping hard and going slow. Almost to the top and here comes the rain again! Now, 30+ miles downhill in the pouring rain. Out comes the rain coat and my leggings. But, this time it’s to keep warm. Forty-eight degrees, rain and 15 mph make a bone chilling ride, not to mention that we’re coasting so you really feel it. With all that complaining said, it’s a beautiful trip. The scenery is gorgeous. After the downhill trek, we came through “Picture Gorge” and onto the flatland and through the John Day Fossil Beds. Wayne,Mom and Ben found another great campsite just before John Day called Clyde Holiday State Park where we tried to out bike yet another rain cloud. Wayne cooked a delicious Father’s day feast, on our first camp fire, steak, baked potatoes(Mom being from Idaho, was very excited about that) salad and chocolate cake! We ate before the rains hit for the night to play another game of Bid Exact, our evening ritual.
The next morning sunshine! Ben was ready to join us, after a day of rest and he SMOKED us the entire 57 miles to Unity Lake State Park, yet another spectacular Oregon state park. Wayne and Ben decided we should change the course to cut off some miles so we continued on Rt 26, Oregon’s Scenic By-Way up 2 summits, Dixie, 5277 and the Blue Mt summit 5109. The road was lightly traveled, perfect for biking through the state forest. I sighted 2 mule deer but no bears. Unity Lake was beautiful with snow capped mountains in the distance. We had another camp fire with a dessert treat, peach cobbler. Ben decided a cherry cobble with chocolate cake should be on the next campfire dessert menu. No rain, a good day.
This morning we had a long ride to Ontario, 88 miles. We pilled on the sun screen and headed on Rt 26, another beautiful stretch of highway with no traffic except for the occasional logging truck. The summits were not a big as the previous day with mostly rolling hills of sage brush. We spotted an eagle in flight (we think a young bald eagle)lots of horses, cows and a big goat farm. Ben is very interested in finding a goat milk source back home so he can make some cheese. We met Wayne and Mom outside of Vale where Ben called it quits. Paul and I continued 15 miles of new surfaced roads with loose gravel. Not fun after a long day. We decided to camp in Fruitland, which is over the border in Idaho! One state down. We truly enjoyed the beauty and bike friendly roads of Oregon.
Paul and Sabrina