Day 42
Dillon and his mother made us breakfast before we started out. It was a beautiful morning that promised to get quite hot out in the desert of southern ID. The day started with two good climbs. We had to climb up out of the river valley to the desert where it did get quite hot. The other fun part about the day was that we got to ride on the Interstate again. This time it was only about twenty miles or so, it wasn’t so bad. We rode until me met up with Russ Bushert, our contact who was going to take care of us for the night. He rode out onto the interstate until he found us and then turned around and caught up to us just as we were getting off the interstate and headed for lunch. Russ then proceeded to guide us through Boise about 20 miles to his home and we stayed mostly on bike paths that were primarily shaded. I was quite impressed with Boise. Later that night Russ proceeded to school Neal and I on all things relating to bikes and the way they work. We took our bikes almost completely apart and cleaned them up. My bike was looking good and I began to think it just might take me all the way home. This is the point where Neal was to take off and fly back to Nebraska. So Russ helped him disassemble his whole bike and pack it into a box and ship it. It was quite fun to watch them try and fit it into as small of a box as possible. It was quite nice of both Russ and Janet to take care of us, feed us and take us to the airport. Then they let me stick around for another day to rest up before taking off for my final leg of the journey.
Day 43
Russ decided to ride with me because he needed to train for a double century (200 mile) ride that he was going to do the next weekend. He had an extra GPS and heart rate monitor that he let me use for the day. It was quite interesting to measure my progress by my heart rate and not my speed. I also found out that I my heart rate needs to be about 160 in order for me to be getting an aerobic work out. Any ways Day 43 was a big day because I finally made it to Oregon. I was supper exited about that. The ride in general wasn’t the best, in fact it wasn’t much fun at all aside from the company. When I finally got to Vale Russ turned around and took off. He needed to get back to Boise and I had taken much longer than I think he thought I would to go the eighty or so miles he had decided to go with me. The thing that made me nervous about today was that it was the Fourth of July and so camping was going to be a problem. I asked a sheriff what she thought I should do and she told me to head up the road to a school where there was a church as well. There she said I could camp and the pastor of the church would probably help me out, as he was a nice man. I rode out to the school and it looked like a grand place to camp, but no pastor. I asked a woman at the school if she new were the pastor was and she said she didn’t, but that her family was having a huge reunion and that I was invited if I wanted to join them. I did, so I rode up the road to where the party was. Punky, the grandmother took me out to the yard where every one was and yelled, “hey everyone, listen up, this is Dustin and he is going to spend the evening with us.” That’s how I was introduced to the family. They were the nicest people ever. They fed me and took me to the rodeo where I got to see a pig scramble and mutton busting for the first time (there is a video of the pig scramble below). Later they all busted out the home made ice cream and opened the fire works up. The fire works were nice all but the one that went off about three feet from my head. That’s why happens when you let a 13 year old boy be in charge of lighting off rather large fire works. Any ways one of the more humorous things that happened was the 16 year old grand daughter was having an “attitude problem” and her parents made her sit down next to them. Then the uncle said, “It’s the fourth of July and apparently a NOT so independence day.” That was about it for the evening until. I was really tiered and wanted to get to bead so I went and crashed after that.
Day 44
I got started a bit late because the family I was staying with wanted me to stick around for breakfast. I figured that was the least I could do. Then I took off. They warned me about the pass that I was going to have to climb. The one uncle said, “boy you have a hard climb a head of you.” Then the other said, “how would you know, you have never rode your bike up it.” And then he replied, “Yea but I have to really shift down when I drive up it.” It was a humorous exchange of thoughts. Any ways the one uncle was right, it was a tough climb. I had two such climbs that day. Both of them were roughly 2,000 feet apiece. It was rough climbing, but I got it done. Once I was in Unity I found a nice little lake campground and took the night really easy. I got to shower at the lake and that is always a huge blessing at the end of a long day or riding. I went to bead early and was sound asleep by about 9:00. But then some dumb ass started lighting off fire works at about 11:00. That was probably one of the biggest tests of my patience for the whole trip. Thankfully they only lit off a few because it is illegal in Oregon to light off fire works in state parks.
Day 45
Today was wonderful. It started with two climbs, both taking me up to about 5,000 feet and then dropping me back down to 3,000. Because it was Sunday morning, on July 6th there were no cars on the road, so as I was going down the pass I got to slalom down the road using the striped lines as obstacles. It was quite exhilarating at 40 mph. The thing that was so wonderful about them was that they took me up into a high enough elevation to get out of the desert. I was so very exited about that because I have been in deserts mostly sense Kansas. Aside from the Grand Teton National Park my rout has all been pretty much desert. I stopped to fill my water bottles up in between the two passes at this little café there in the mountains and the woman inside told me that I could if I purchased something. I always carry enough water and food to never be caught in a desperate situation so I just walked out. I was quite disappointed in that this woman would take advantage of cyclists’ desperate situation there in the mountains. I was quite happy to not be in a situation where I had to support that awful business. So I rode to Prairie City where I stopped at a little café and ate breakfast there (my second of the morning) because they were very nice people who filled my water bottles for free. The rest of the day was rather boring as far as the ride goes. But I did meet a homeless man at the laundry mat and we got to talking. He told me of his travels and why he was out traveling about. Apparently he was in a bad relationship and just walked out one day. It wasn’t even worth packing up his things apparently. He just up and walked out. The only things he had were what he could carry. We chatted for about an hour all about life and how are travels had been going. He was a nice man. Then later I rode to Dayville where there was a church that takes in cyclists for free. They have a small donation box, but they ask for nothing. They have towels hanging out for cyclists and everything. On their stove that I used to cook was a little plaque that read (purchased by cyclists donations). I donated a good bit due to the fact that they use the money in places that both the community and those traveling through can benefit by. Later as I was settling down another cyclist showed up. His name was Shawn and we decided to ride together the next day.
Day 46
Shawn and me got up early and took off. There were two more climbs today (yea that makes six in three days). Both up to about 5,000 ft. These were a bit different because they were steeper. Basicaly the day was going to be spent ether climbing or going down, there was not going to be much else. Sure enough about ten miles down the road we began climbing a pass that would take us a few hours to get up. We reached the summit and headed down to a little town where we ate lunch and then decided to take a twelve-mile detour to see the painted hills. I have always wanted to see them ever sense I was a little boy and I finally got my chance. They were more beautiful that I imagined them being. I was shocked and wanted to stay there for a good while. Partially because I new there was another climb coming up and it promised to be more physically taxing than the one we had already climbed. When we got to the base of the pass we looked at our maps and found out that it was a a6-7% grade for 6.5 miles. We decided to see if we could do it non stop in one hour. It was a pull, but we pulled it off in about 55 minutes. It was without a doubt the hardest climb of the trip. Once on top I was pretty much out of water, I only had a half a bottle left and Shawn had none. But there was this nice woman up there just hanging out in her camper who gave us both two bottles of water. It was quite nice of her. Then we descended to the bottom of the pass where we camped at Ochoko Reservoir for the night. The camp ground was quite fun, there was an old care taker there who told us this story of a woman in a bikini who wanted her photo with him. So, he, not wanting to disappoint his campers agreed to the photo. Then she gave him a big kiss (smooch is how he put it) on the cheek and walked off. After he told us the story he grinned from ear to ear and said, “it really made an old man feel special.” I bet it did. Later when I was sitting on the toilet the old man reached under the stall wall to give me some toilet paper, he was just that easy going.
Day 47.
Me and Shawn split up today. Not because we were not getting along, but his rout headed south and I was going west. I really liked riding with him, so I was a bit sad when we split up, but that’s life. I needed to keep moving. It was going to be a short day, it was mostly flat and I was going to go and camp right at the base of my last real climb of the trip. So I took it easy. I headed into sisters and there did my laundry and decided to stroll around town. I looked pretty funny in my cyclist cloths and flip-flops. Then on my way out of town I stopped at a store to get food for the night. At the store I met a woman who asked me if I needed a place to stay. I told her I was going west and it turned out that her place was a few miles back east. But I couldn’t refuse a warm bead and shower so I decided to back track a little. On my ride back she pulled up beside me in her van and told me I could put my bike in there and ride with her if I wanted it. So I did. It didn’t take long before we realized we had mutual friends. Her niece was my high school sweet heart. I took her to prom. It was quite funny. Any ways me and Patty ate dinner together and enjoyed one anthers company very much. Her and her husbands had traveled much of the world and were really some of the most wonderful people I had ever met. There home was beautiful, it was below the Sisters (three huge mountains) and I got to eat dinner chatting and starring at the most wonderful view I had seen in a while. They also had a pond that was all fresh snow melt, it was clean and clear and I got to go for a swim. It was so refreshing.
Day 48
Patty woke me up as I asked her because I didn’t want to over sleep and have to ride up my last real pass in the heat of the day. We ate breakfast together and chatted. She laughed at me and said, “Your cute, you eat so much.” I must admit I looked kind of funny. She had been giving me a serving bowl to dish my food up for both dinner and breakfast because a regular bowl would not hold all my food. After breakfast I packed up and got ready to go, then Patty came up to me and said good by and I could tell she wanted to give me a hug, you know the way people stand when they are going to say good by and want to give you a hug but they are not sure how well it will be received. So I reached out to give her a hug and boy was it wonderful. It was the first real hug I had gotten on the trip. It had just been to long sense I had last got a good hug. Then I took off. It was hard to go, I think I could have stayed there for a month, maybe more. The climb wasn’t to bad, I submitted in two hours and then began the decent down the western side of the cascades. I was finally really on my home turf. It felt great. I rode for about fifty miles along crystal clear streams and lakes. One of them was called “clear lake” and boy it was. I have never seen a lake so clear in all my life. I could see through it like glass. Then I stopped at a waterfall or two and then took off down the road to a campground where I spent the night. It was funny, I was cleaning out my bowl at the sink in the campground and a guy asked me where I rode from. I told him and he just couldn’t believe it. He ran back and told every one at his campground about me and then I had about ten people over examining my bike and asking me questions as well as giving me all the food I cold possibly pack down. I had two dinners that night.
Day 49
The day wasn’t supposed to be as hard or as long as it was. I ended up riding 100 miles today and it was only supposed to be about 80. I’m not sure why but it just drug on and on and on. I ended up being hungry most of the day, which slowed down my speed, and I had a flat tire or two. Simply put, it was not a good day of riding. I did like Eugene though and am now considering applying for school there. It seams like a nice little town. I did though quickly move through it and got on my way where I climbed my last pass. It was 1,022 ft high and boy was it steep. Thankfully it was not to long. I finally reached my campground and just as I always dread it said, “campsite full” on a little sine at the entrance. I really didn’t want to go another 25 miles because I was beat. So I rode down prepared to beg and plead with the owner to see if there was anywhere I could sleep. As it turns out she reserves one spot for cyclists because she realizes that it’s a long ways to the next campsite and she is just that nice of a woman. Again word spread around camp that I was almost done with my trip and that I had started in Virginia. I had a few people stopping by to chat with me, which is always nice. The one person that most sticks out to me is a seven year old little girl who wanted to show me she could also ride her bike a long ways. She did fifteen laps at a rather rapid pace around the campground as I counted each lap for her. It was quite cute. I was worried she was going to pass out though. After all that excitement I rolled up in my sleeping bag and went to sleep.
Day 50. The last day
I woke up early and made breakfast, then packed up and got on the road. Needless to say, I was ready to get on the road and finish up my ride. It was a beautiful ride as the coastal climate is nice and wet so there was lots of beautiful vegetation all along the road. I stopped at a little café half way to the coast to eat a second breakfast because I was hungry and I didn’t want to rush it to much. From the café it was 15 miles to the coast and I held a 20 mph pace the whole way with a head wind. I just couldn’t get my legs to slow down. They pumped so fast I couldn’t keep up with the momentum and my peddling wasn’t doing me any good any more. I was really spinning. As I got closer I began to count down the mile markers. The road started where I was going to stop so it was easy to count them down, 5,4,3,2,1. As I passed the one-mile marker I began to smile a goofy grin that I could not get off my face. I held that stupid smile for at least twenty minutes after I finished while I stood there on the corner of hwy. 126 and hwy. 101 watching the cars go past. The rest of the day I spent in town weighting for my grandparents to come so I could ride to the coast with them. When they got there we rode all the to the water where I got my final photo of the trip. It was over. I finished up. It was a long good ride. I have no regrets about it and quite frankly, I wanted to turn my bike south and keep right on riding.
Dillon and his mother made us breakfast before we started out. It was a beautiful morning that promised to get quite hot out in the desert of southern ID. The day started with two good climbs. We had to climb up out of the river valley to the desert where it did get quite hot. The other fun part about the day was that we got to ride on the Interstate again. This time it was only about twenty miles or so, it wasn’t so bad. We rode until me met up with Russ Bushert, our contact who was going to take care of us for the night. He rode out onto the interstate until he found us and then turned around and caught up to us just as we were getting off the interstate and headed for lunch. Russ then proceeded to guide us through Boise about 20 miles to his home and we stayed mostly on bike paths that were primarily shaded. I was quite impressed with Boise. Later that night Russ proceeded to school Neal and I on all things relating to bikes and the way they work. We took our bikes almost completely apart and cleaned them up. My bike was looking good and I began to think it just might take me all the way home. This is the point where Neal was to take off and fly back to Nebraska. So Russ helped him disassemble his whole bike and pack it into a box and ship it. It was quite fun to watch them try and fit it into as small of a box as possible. It was quite nice of both Russ and Janet to take care of us, feed us and take us to the airport. Then they let me stick around for another day to rest up before taking off for my final leg of the journey.
Day 43
Russ decided to ride with me because he needed to train for a double century (200 mile) ride that he was going to do the next weekend. He had an extra GPS and heart rate monitor that he let me use for the day. It was quite interesting to measure my progress by my heart rate and not my speed. I also found out that I my heart rate needs to be about 160 in order for me to be getting an aerobic work out. Any ways Day 43 was a big day because I finally made it to Oregon. I was supper exited about that. The ride in general wasn’t the best, in fact it wasn’t much fun at all aside from the company. When I finally got to Vale Russ turned around and took off. He needed to get back to Boise and I had taken much longer than I think he thought I would to go the eighty or so miles he had decided to go with me. The thing that made me nervous about today was that it was the Fourth of July and so camping was going to be a problem. I asked a sheriff what she thought I should do and she told me to head up the road to a school where there was a church as well. There she said I could camp and the pastor of the church would probably help me out, as he was a nice man. I rode out to the school and it looked like a grand place to camp, but no pastor. I asked a woman at the school if she new were the pastor was and she said she didn’t, but that her family was having a huge reunion and that I was invited if I wanted to join them. I did, so I rode up the road to where the party was. Punky, the grandmother took me out to the yard where every one was and yelled, “hey everyone, listen up, this is Dustin and he is going to spend the evening with us.” That’s how I was introduced to the family. They were the nicest people ever. They fed me and took me to the rodeo where I got to see a pig scramble and mutton busting for the first time (there is a video of the pig scramble below). Later they all busted out the home made ice cream and opened the fire works up. The fire works were nice all but the one that went off about three feet from my head. That’s why happens when you let a 13 year old boy be in charge of lighting off rather large fire works. Any ways one of the more humorous things that happened was the 16 year old grand daughter was having an “attitude problem” and her parents made her sit down next to them. Then the uncle said, “It’s the fourth of July and apparently a NOT so independence day.” That was about it for the evening until. I was really tiered and wanted to get to bead so I went and crashed after that.
Day 44
I got started a bit late because the family I was staying with wanted me to stick around for breakfast. I figured that was the least I could do. Then I took off. They warned me about the pass that I was going to have to climb. The one uncle said, “boy you have a hard climb a head of you.” Then the other said, “how would you know, you have never rode your bike up it.” And then he replied, “Yea but I have to really shift down when I drive up it.” It was a humorous exchange of thoughts. Any ways the one uncle was right, it was a tough climb. I had two such climbs that day. Both of them were roughly 2,000 feet apiece. It was rough climbing, but I got it done. Once I was in Unity I found a nice little lake campground and took the night really easy. I got to shower at the lake and that is always a huge blessing at the end of a long day or riding. I went to bead early and was sound asleep by about 9:00. But then some dumb ass started lighting off fire works at about 11:00. That was probably one of the biggest tests of my patience for the whole trip. Thankfully they only lit off a few because it is illegal in Oregon to light off fire works in state parks.
Day 45
Today was wonderful. It started with two climbs, both taking me up to about 5,000 feet and then dropping me back down to 3,000. Because it was Sunday morning, on July 6th there were no cars on the road, so as I was going down the pass I got to slalom down the road using the striped lines as obstacles. It was quite exhilarating at 40 mph. The thing that was so wonderful about them was that they took me up into a high enough elevation to get out of the desert. I was so very exited about that because I have been in deserts mostly sense Kansas. Aside from the Grand Teton National Park my rout has all been pretty much desert. I stopped to fill my water bottles up in between the two passes at this little café there in the mountains and the woman inside told me that I could if I purchased something. I always carry enough water and food to never be caught in a desperate situation so I just walked out. I was quite disappointed in that this woman would take advantage of cyclists’ desperate situation there in the mountains. I was quite happy to not be in a situation where I had to support that awful business. So I rode to Prairie City where I stopped at a little café and ate breakfast there (my second of the morning) because they were very nice people who filled my water bottles for free. The rest of the day was rather boring as far as the ride goes. But I did meet a homeless man at the laundry mat and we got to talking. He told me of his travels and why he was out traveling about. Apparently he was in a bad relationship and just walked out one day. It wasn’t even worth packing up his things apparently. He just up and walked out. The only things he had were what he could carry. We chatted for about an hour all about life and how are travels had been going. He was a nice man. Then later I rode to Dayville where there was a church that takes in cyclists for free. They have a small donation box, but they ask for nothing. They have towels hanging out for cyclists and everything. On their stove that I used to cook was a little plaque that read (purchased by cyclists donations). I donated a good bit due to the fact that they use the money in places that both the community and those traveling through can benefit by. Later as I was settling down another cyclist showed up. His name was Shawn and we decided to ride together the next day.
Day 46
Shawn and me got up early and took off. There were two more climbs today (yea that makes six in three days). Both up to about 5,000 ft. These were a bit different because they were steeper. Basicaly the day was going to be spent ether climbing or going down, there was not going to be much else. Sure enough about ten miles down the road we began climbing a pass that would take us a few hours to get up. We reached the summit and headed down to a little town where we ate lunch and then decided to take a twelve-mile detour to see the painted hills. I have always wanted to see them ever sense I was a little boy and I finally got my chance. They were more beautiful that I imagined them being. I was shocked and wanted to stay there for a good while. Partially because I new there was another climb coming up and it promised to be more physically taxing than the one we had already climbed. When we got to the base of the pass we looked at our maps and found out that it was a a6-7% grade for 6.5 miles. We decided to see if we could do it non stop in one hour. It was a pull, but we pulled it off in about 55 minutes. It was without a doubt the hardest climb of the trip. Once on top I was pretty much out of water, I only had a half a bottle left and Shawn had none. But there was this nice woman up there just hanging out in her camper who gave us both two bottles of water. It was quite nice of her. Then we descended to the bottom of the pass where we camped at Ochoko Reservoir for the night. The camp ground was quite fun, there was an old care taker there who told us this story of a woman in a bikini who wanted her photo with him. So, he, not wanting to disappoint his campers agreed to the photo. Then she gave him a big kiss (smooch is how he put it) on the cheek and walked off. After he told us the story he grinned from ear to ear and said, “it really made an old man feel special.” I bet it did. Later when I was sitting on the toilet the old man reached under the stall wall to give me some toilet paper, he was just that easy going.
Day 47.
Me and Shawn split up today. Not because we were not getting along, but his rout headed south and I was going west. I really liked riding with him, so I was a bit sad when we split up, but that’s life. I needed to keep moving. It was going to be a short day, it was mostly flat and I was going to go and camp right at the base of my last real climb of the trip. So I took it easy. I headed into sisters and there did my laundry and decided to stroll around town. I looked pretty funny in my cyclist cloths and flip-flops. Then on my way out of town I stopped at a store to get food for the night. At the store I met a woman who asked me if I needed a place to stay. I told her I was going west and it turned out that her place was a few miles back east. But I couldn’t refuse a warm bead and shower so I decided to back track a little. On my ride back she pulled up beside me in her van and told me I could put my bike in there and ride with her if I wanted it. So I did. It didn’t take long before we realized we had mutual friends. Her niece was my high school sweet heart. I took her to prom. It was quite funny. Any ways me and Patty ate dinner together and enjoyed one anthers company very much. Her and her husbands had traveled much of the world and were really some of the most wonderful people I had ever met. There home was beautiful, it was below the Sisters (three huge mountains) and I got to eat dinner chatting and starring at the most wonderful view I had seen in a while. They also had a pond that was all fresh snow melt, it was clean and clear and I got to go for a swim. It was so refreshing.
Day 48
Patty woke me up as I asked her because I didn’t want to over sleep and have to ride up my last real pass in the heat of the day. We ate breakfast together and chatted. She laughed at me and said, “Your cute, you eat so much.” I must admit I looked kind of funny. She had been giving me a serving bowl to dish my food up for both dinner and breakfast because a regular bowl would not hold all my food. After breakfast I packed up and got ready to go, then Patty came up to me and said good by and I could tell she wanted to give me a hug, you know the way people stand when they are going to say good by and want to give you a hug but they are not sure how well it will be received. So I reached out to give her a hug and boy was it wonderful. It was the first real hug I had gotten on the trip. It had just been to long sense I had last got a good hug. Then I took off. It was hard to go, I think I could have stayed there for a month, maybe more. The climb wasn’t to bad, I submitted in two hours and then began the decent down the western side of the cascades. I was finally really on my home turf. It felt great. I rode for about fifty miles along crystal clear streams and lakes. One of them was called “clear lake” and boy it was. I have never seen a lake so clear in all my life. I could see through it like glass. Then I stopped at a waterfall or two and then took off down the road to a campground where I spent the night. It was funny, I was cleaning out my bowl at the sink in the campground and a guy asked me where I rode from. I told him and he just couldn’t believe it. He ran back and told every one at his campground about me and then I had about ten people over examining my bike and asking me questions as well as giving me all the food I cold possibly pack down. I had two dinners that night.
Day 49
The day wasn’t supposed to be as hard or as long as it was. I ended up riding 100 miles today and it was only supposed to be about 80. I’m not sure why but it just drug on and on and on. I ended up being hungry most of the day, which slowed down my speed, and I had a flat tire or two. Simply put, it was not a good day of riding. I did like Eugene though and am now considering applying for school there. It seams like a nice little town. I did though quickly move through it and got on my way where I climbed my last pass. It was 1,022 ft high and boy was it steep. Thankfully it was not to long. I finally reached my campground and just as I always dread it said, “campsite full” on a little sine at the entrance. I really didn’t want to go another 25 miles because I was beat. So I rode down prepared to beg and plead with the owner to see if there was anywhere I could sleep. As it turns out she reserves one spot for cyclists because she realizes that it’s a long ways to the next campsite and she is just that nice of a woman. Again word spread around camp that I was almost done with my trip and that I had started in Virginia. I had a few people stopping by to chat with me, which is always nice. The one person that most sticks out to me is a seven year old little girl who wanted to show me she could also ride her bike a long ways. She did fifteen laps at a rather rapid pace around the campground as I counted each lap for her. It was quite cute. I was worried she was going to pass out though. After all that excitement I rolled up in my sleeping bag and went to sleep.
Day 50. The last day
I woke up early and made breakfast, then packed up and got on the road. Needless to say, I was ready to get on the road and finish up my ride. It was a beautiful ride as the coastal climate is nice and wet so there was lots of beautiful vegetation all along the road. I stopped at a little café half way to the coast to eat a second breakfast because I was hungry and I didn’t want to rush it to much. From the café it was 15 miles to the coast and I held a 20 mph pace the whole way with a head wind. I just couldn’t get my legs to slow down. They pumped so fast I couldn’t keep up with the momentum and my peddling wasn’t doing me any good any more. I was really spinning. As I got closer I began to count down the mile markers. The road started where I was going to stop so it was easy to count them down, 5,4,3,2,1. As I passed the one-mile marker I began to smile a goofy grin that I could not get off my face. I held that stupid smile for at least twenty minutes after I finished while I stood there on the corner of hwy. 126 and hwy. 101 watching the cars go past. The rest of the day I spent in town weighting for my grandparents to come so I could ride to the coast with them. When they got there we rode all the to the water where I got my final photo of the trip. It was over. I finished up. It was a long good ride. I have no regrets about it and quite frankly, I wanted to turn my bike south and keep right on riding.
