Made it to the Pacific

I know it has been a few days since I last posted but things have been a little hectic.
On August 1st we did our usual morning thing and got on the road around 7 AM and headed for Colburg, a small town just north of Eugene.  Four of us rode into Eugene to a bike shop and made arrangements to get our bikes  packed and shipped when we arrive back in Eugene in a few days.  My British friends then went to Fed Ex to find out the cost to ship their bikes home. $550 was a little bit of a shock to them so one is shipping the bike and one is taking it as luggage. Costly either way.
After a nice lunch in Eugene we headed up to Colburg where we camped next to a truck stop and I-5. I-5 is the major North south interstate on the west coast and is a very busy road. We did eat at the truck stop and the food was pretty good. Food at most struck stops that we ate at on this trip has been good. It did not matter about the road noise on this night since I had s moderate case of intestinal distress and made a number of trips to the rest room throughout the evening. I know you wanted to know this.

Tuesday we headed to Salmonberry park which is north and west of Eugene and the riding was typical of Oregon, through a river valley. They even have covered bridges out here and this is Sjef riding from across the bridge. There was a couple of decent hills on today's ride but after what we have done it was easy and we are all pumped up about getting to the Pacific. Salmonberry Park was isolated but nice with very good showers and rest rooms. Our evening meal was delivered to us from a country store a few miles away, Pizza was the meal on this night and it was the best pizza we have had on the trip. We were missing four of our group since they decided to ride directly to Florence today and miss our group wheel dipping scheduled for Wednesday. Their loss.

Well Wednesday everyone wanted to get going early, this is the big day, The Pacific. We rode the thirty two miles to Waldport where some of us stopped for breakfast and then we rode about three miles to Beachside State park for the Wheel dipping.

That's it! The Pacific and I felt fantastic to say the least.

And here are the five Amigo's at the Pacific!

Well we still had a thirty five mile ride to Florence where we were camping for the last night. Now after all of this riding we all rode carefully along the Pacific Coast Highway, RT 101. There were spots where this road was very hilly and curvy with no shoulder on the road and many logging trucks and RVs being driven by gray hairs. oh what a fun thirty miles.

I took this picture along the coast ride and I think it is one of my best on the trip. As I rode into Florence I stopped at the UHaul dealer and picked up a truck so we could drive back to Eugene on Thursday instead of riding.  Our campground in Eugene was at the port and it was typical. I opted to sleep in the back of the truck instead of putting the tent up one last time. We did have a very nice celebration at the local seafood restaurant and it was really a good time with the sharing of lots of memories and stories about the tour.

Terry's wife drove up from Moab, Utah to meet him at Florence and she joined us for the party.

During the tour I carried the table cloth, (plastic of course) and somehow it ended up being a cape for me at the party.  We really did have a good time! The food and wine were excellent but the friendship with the Amigo's is something that I will treasure always!

OK just a couple of stats for the trip. 4,590 total miles ridden, and I rode every mile. We climbed a total of 192,793 feet in 79 days of riding. I was the only person on the tour who did not have a puncture (flat tire) on the ride and I rode on the same tires without changing their  position on the bike.

OK, so you think riding across the country is tough, well when I got into Eugene on Thursday I turned in  the truck and then went to the bike shop to drop off the bike and got that taken care of. Packing and shipping the bike cost $125. This morning (Friday) I took my gear to Fed Ex to send it home.  I wanted to send my helmet and a couple of other things by overnight but that turned out to be $185, so the helmet will not go overnight. All told shipping my gear back cost $150. Crap, this is the most expensive part of the trip, getting everything home. Might have been cheaper to ride back home. Yea Right ~!@#$%^

Bright and early Saturday morning (6 AM) I board a flight for home and should get in around 6 PM.

Life is Great!

Bobo

Over the last climb

Prineville was a nice town of over twenty thousand people and we camped in a great campground run by the county.  Our cooks outdid themselves by making up a curry fish over rice.  I was skeptical when I heard what they were cooking but it really turned out very good.
Saturday got us on the road a little later than usual, everyone is taking it easy since we only have forty four miles to ride with no major climbs. On this ride we did get our first look at the Cascades, our last mountain range to cross.

This is a picture of the three sisters mountains.

In Sisters we stayed at a ranch about 3 miles east of town.  Many of us arrived early and unloaded out gear and then rode into Sisters. This is a nice tourist town with a lot of shops and restaurants. We had a good lunch and then went to the coffee house for a good cup of coffee. We did our shopping for the evening dinner and headed back to the ranch.  Our hosts were very gracious and we were able to shower and use their kitchen to prepare our evening dinner, steak! This was another great meal and the five amigo's played a couple of games of cards before hitting the hay.

Speaking of the Amigo's, we have had a lot of fun on this trip and I believe I have made four lifelong friends.  Terry is an es Olympian (biathlon) and a custom furniture maker. Sjef, from Holland is semi retired and has a small farm with horses at home. I do not think his wife will recognize him, he has lost so much weight. David, from England, is a great guy who can ride very well and plans on going to Sardinia, with his wife, when he gets home. Tough life.  Jason, also from England has his own electrical contracting business and will get back to work when he gets home.  All great friends who I hope I will get to see again after this trip.

OK, enough of that stuff, on Sunday we got up as usual and headed out by 7:30 AM and we had our last big climb of the trip, a twenty two hundred foot climb up McKenzie Pass to an elevation of over 5200'.

Here we have Sjef on the right and David on the left at the summit standing on lava rock

The top 400 feet of this pass are lava rock and not much else. There is a sign stating that this is a national forest but there is only lave rock. 

The descent down the pass was one of the best, nothing like saving the best for last. Lots of switchbacks and hairpin turns. To bad there were slow cars and RVs on the road down. I still had a lot of fun on this downhill.  We are staying in a campground in McKenzie Bridge and head for Colburg in the morning.

Life is Good!   Bobo

Into Central Oregon

Our rest day in Baker City went as we planned and we relaxed a lot after cleaning the bikes and making sure everything was ready for the push to the coast.
Wednesday the 27th we got up and headed out as usual and we got to do three big climbs today, a 1400" , a1000" and a 1200 " climb all in about 35 miles.  Up and down, up and down. Oregon does have a lot of mountains in this eastern part of the state.We made it to Prairie it good time after 72 miles and after setting up camp we headed into town to see what was going on. Not Much! We did find the Branding Iron Saloon open so we had a couple of beers and some wings. Nice thing about all this riding we can indulge a little after a good ride. Our cooks did a good job tonight with dinner and our campground was nice for a small town.

Just a couple of pics of eastern Oregon

On Thursday we rode to Mitchell where there was even less going on than in Prairie. The ride itself included a twenty mile long two thousand foot climb in 95 degree heat. But as usual the downhill was excellent.

The campground was OK but a shower would have been nice. Once again our cooks did a really good job with a limited menu. Everything in this little town was closed at 7 PM . Oh well, we all needed a good nights sleep anyways.Friday brought a short 48 mile ride with only on climb of twenty four hundred feet.This one was a little work but the five Amigos made it in good time and I have been able to get laundry done, shower and I am now sitting outside the local Library  on the ground using their wifi.  They must be having government budget problems like everyone else here. Its a furlough day to save money. At least they leave the wifi on.

We have two more days with decent climbs on the rides then we head down toward the coast which will have some small hills.  Looking forward to that.

RBC Day Riders get ready, I will be back soon!

Life is Good!  Bobo

Finally into Oregon, the last state

Well, if you remember we had two of our ladies cooking in Grangeville and for dinner they made tacos. I am not a big fan of tacos and after eating one I decided to go into town and purchase some real food for dinner.  Tacos just do not fill me up at all and they are a pain in the butt to put together and then eat. I did get a good nights sleep and a couple of other folks commented on the tacos also.

Friday we headed to Riggins, ID and the ride was beautiful with a two thousand foot climb to start the day. That wakes you up fast.  Now the downhill was twenty six hundred feet and it was one of the fastest and longest downhills yet with many switchbacks.  The nice thing was that you could look over the side of the mountain and see if there were any cars coming the other way ( not one car came during the descent) and then take the switchbacks as fast as you want.  It was a blast because it went on for over six miles. The rest of the ride was along the Salmon River into Riggins and this town is a rafting hub on the Salmon. 

We camped on the banks of the Salmon and this is a picture of our camp. There was a group camped next to us and some of them did not arrive until about 11:30PM and then of course they all had to gather in a tent nearest our tents and smoke a lot of dope and make some amount of noise.  So Bobo being Bobo got up and went over and asked them nicely~!@#$ to quiet down. It helped but not much. Well, paybacks can be fun, and we got up at 5:30AM and made some of our own noise, a lot of noise actually, and we did manage to wake our neighbors up. Darn!

After another wonderful camp breakfast we headed for Cambridge, ID on an 82 mile ride with a slow twenty four hundred foot climb. We are into some hot weather and it has been bothering some of our group, especially those who still do not like to hydrate while riding.  Sjef, David and myself pulled poor old Jason into Cambridge. No wifi or cell service here.  Idaho is really lacking for cell service, of course having people live around here would help.  Towns with 100 people living in them do not get cell service.

Sunday the 24th is a day we will all remember, a nice 67 mile ride into Halfway, Oregon, yes we are in our last state.

Since I had cooking duties on this day, I rode fairly hard and got to Halfway early to discover that our camp site was literally a barn yard! After kicking the horse poop out of the way, I did get my tent set up and then Sjef and I went shopping so we made it simple, Ever have Dinty Moore Stew? We doctored it up with various spices and it actually turned out pretty good, at least not bad. Oh the temperature today was right around 100F and the barn yard actually did not smell nor were there bugs around.  Once the sun set, it cooled off nicely and we sat around talking for a long time.

The barn yard, fenced in and all!

Out of the barn yard on Monday morning and we headed back to civilization in Baker City, OR about 55 miles away.  This was not an easy ride with two good climbs of fourteen hundred and twelve hundred feet.  After seven days and four hundred miles of riding Sjef and I decided to get a motel room in Baker City and it was good to sleep in a bed last night.  We have a rest day today (Tuesday) and we will relax, do laundry, clean the bike and then of course hit the Baker City Brew Pub. 

Eight more days of riding to the coast and the great wheel dip!

Life is Good!

Bobo  

Riding in Idaho

On Sunday evening we did in fact go back to the Iron Horse Brew Pub for libation and dinner.  Both were excellent and I had salmon for dinner. 
Tuesday morning we took our time getting going and had breakfast at a diner in Missoula.  On the way out of town I stopped at a Starbucks and purchased my packets of decaf VIA. This makes tasty coffee while camping. Leaving Missoula we had a forty four mile accent up Lolo Pass with the last four miles being about 7%. At the top of Lolo Pass we entered Idaho for the last time and will spend four full days riding across the state.

From the top of the pass we descended another sixteen miles to Powell, ID where we camped at the Lochsa Lodge. The lodge had excellent food and beer and we made sure that we enjoyed ourselves since it was raining our.  At least I got camp set up before the rain started.

Wednesday found us riding from Powell to Lowell on Rt 12 along the Lochsa River.  This ride has a very slight downhill grade all of the way and it follows the river through the valley which has steep pine and ceder covered walls on both sides.

The river is actually on the left side of this picture and sometimes we could see it very nicely. But to ride this for over eighty miles got old quickly.  Very green and the river was running fast with many rapids but I was very happy when we got out of this valley on Thursday morning.

Anyways, we rode on Wednesday to Lowell and stayed at the Three Rivers Lodge.  The lodge is located at the confluence of the Lochsa and Selway Rivers and forms the Middle branch of the Clearwater River. Another nice camp at the lodge with food that was OK.

Up and at it early on Thursday we rode to Kooskia twenty three miles away for breakfast. Again along the river but when we left Kooskia we also left the valley and the scenery opened up and the riding was much more enjoyable, even with the 2200ft climb that we had for the last eight miles to get to Grangeville, which is a nice sized city and the first place with good wifi and cell service since entering Idaho two days ago. 

We are camped at the Lions Park and two of our ladies are the cooks tonight so we will see what delight they will put together for us.  Right now I am going to join Sjef and Jason at the local saloon to fortify myself for dinner, maybe have some wings also.

Life is Good!

Bobo

To Missoula, MT

Saturday the 16th dawned bright, sunny and very cool with temps hovering around 45F. We packed up and had a quick breakfast and headed out on another beautiful ride.  We rode to the Big Hole Battlefield and the Visitors Center was closed for renovations.  I asked the ranger why the work wasn't done in the winter and his reply was that the work was scheduled to be done by mid April """But"" now it is to be finished by October, just in time for the snow.
Our ride over Chief Joseph Pass was great, long stretches with no vehicles and just the wilderness and me and my bike. Very quiet and tranquil. The climb was not too bad and the summit was scenic.

Not the best picture but you get the point, its the top of the pass. The decent was excellent with speeds up to 42 miles an hour.  I do like the speed and the curves.

We rode on into Darby, MT and this weekend was the Darby Days Celebration and our campground was across the street from the park that had the Lumberjack Competitions  and of course the band at night.  Well the band played until 1 AM.  I did have the cooking duties and I vowed not to cook pasta, enough is enough, so I grilled Chicken breasts and we made nice sandwiches with a 4 bean salad and cheese cake for desert.

The 5 Amigo's did go to the local saloon for a couple of beers after dinner and the place was packed, noisy and smokey, they still smoke in bars here.

OK, well getting to sleep after a 77 mile ride is no problem for me, so the so called music did not keep me awake, but some of our group complained the next morning. Life can be tough on the road.

Sunday we headed for Missoula and this was another wonderful ride.  We rode to Stevensville where we stopped for breakfast, our first breakfast was at camp, but is was not enough. then we rode on through Florence and Lolo before riding into Missoula

This is the most bike friendly city we have seen yet.  There are bike lanes on all of the  main roads and Many, Many people ride bike here.  It is really wonderful to see and the vehicle drivers are also great, maybe because so many of them must ride bikes.

Rather than stay 3 miles out of town at a campground, I got a room at the Days Inn in the center of town.  Close to everything like to post office, Adventure Cycling HQ, two bike shops, and of course the local brew Pub.

Today we went to the Adventure Cycling HQ and got a tour and they provided lunch and took a group picture, and I purchased a TransAm jersey.

I did go the the bike shop today and purchase a new rear cog set.  The old set was badly warn and causing me some shifting problems but now we are a good as new.

Tonight we will be going out for dinner and of course a stop at the brew pub, well maybe both together.

Life is really Good

Bobo

Into Jackson MT

So now we are in Jackson, Montana, they seem to have Jacksons all over the place in the west.  This Jackson is extremely small, blink as you ride your bike thru and you will miss it.  But is has a great lodge where we are camping.
OK, so I did have a great birthday in West Yellowstone. The five Amegio's went out for dinner and that was a very good time.  Well we had to get up and ride on Wednesday and we rode to Ennis, Mt. We rode up to Hebgon Lake and then on to Quake Lake which was formed during an earthquake in 1959.  The side of a mountain slid into the Madison River, damned it up and formed the lake.  It does look like a lot of earth was moved to put in the new road after the quake. Then we rode for about 50 miles along the Madison River, a storied fly fishing river.

The detail on the picture is not the best but one of the fishermen has a fish on and just after I snapped the picture he lost the fish. Not a happy angler.

Well Ennis, MT was nice with a OK camp and the Long Branch Saloon. Turns out one of the cast from Gunsmoke, an old TV western series is from Ennis and the bar is decorated with piictures form the actors. Well the beer was good also.

I set a new speed mark on this ride at over 18 miles an hour. The ride had a 50 mile long easy downhill grade.  It was great after all of the passes we have been climbing.

On Thursday we headed for Dillon, MT with a ten mile climb to start the day up and then into Virginia City, an old mining town that is being born again.  On the way down into Virginia City I had the helmet cam on and came around a corner and there was a herd of cattle in the road.  I mean a big herd of cattle spread out for about a half mile on the road.  The cattle were being moved to higher pasture and the roads are the easiest way to accomplish that.  It was interesting to ride thru this herd.

We had a nice lunch in Twin Bridges and turned a little south for the ride into Dillon and the wind had been  predicted to be in our face but it did not happen, in fact we had no wind at all. We stayed at the Dillon KOA and it was not the best KOA that we have stayed at but it had all of the needed services.  I did go to the Patagonia store and I purchased a pair of rain pants.  My old ones did nto hack it at all.

Friday (today) bropught us a climbing day, first up Badger Pass at 6760 ft. and then up Big Hole Pass at 7360 ft.  We did have some wind to contend with but is was not too bad. Coming over Big Hole pass the Bitterroot Mts came into view and they still hold a lot of snow. The last ten miles of the ride were basically downhill and enjoyable to ride, especially with a herd of elk on the left side of the road. I am currently sitting in the Jackson Lodge on the computer but the beer here is local and very good.

That is Sjef on the left and Terry on the right.

Life is Good!     Bobo