Grand Tetons

While biking thru the Tetons (which was really cool), we met a woman cyclist named Lisa who was biking from Arizona on her way to the Rainbow Gathering. We met her again on our way to Grants Village, so we biked and camped out with her there. At Grants Village we met 4 more cyclists doing the TransAmerica Trail. The next morning we all shared Lisa’s special oatmeal and then parted ways.

The Great Divide

Lisa

West Thumb, me, and some waterfall

After touring through Yellowstone in a day by bus on the 28th (because we knew we didn’t have enough time by bike), we met up with Sarah and Stewart (friends of Vicki’s who’ve offered us a place to stay in Newcastle on the east side of Wyoming), who were visiting Yellowstone with their two kids, Klaus and Nathalie, and their friend from down under, Rizz. We quickly confirmed by sight that there was no way for us to fit in their car, so we left the next morning out of the East Entrance. Going up Sylvan Pass wasn’t too fun, but riding down was great. We did 93 miles by the time we reached Cody, beating our previous record of 86 miles. By sheer coincidence, we were passing by the motel my bro stayed in last time he was here when we decided to look for a motel. That night I uploaded all that stuff that was posted on the 29th.

our stay in Cody

We biked to Greybull the next day, and then decided that we had to make it to Sheridan if we wanted to see Devil’s Tower before going on to Newcastle. Seeing that there was quite a steep pass between Greybull and Sheridan, we finally accepted our destiny and hitchhiked for the first time. A nice family got us to almost the top. We biked for about 5 more miles and camped by the side of the road right at Granite Pass. Dee woke me up at 2:30 so we could check out the stars. Dee showed me where Delphinus the Dolphin is!

Granite Pass

view coming down the Granite Pass

On the 1st we made it to Sheridan by noon, doing a record 60 miles before lunch, 40 of it the longest downhill we will ever do. We stopped at a KFC and hung out there for about 2 hours assessing the situation. Since we were supposed to be in Sheridan the day before we were still behind schedule. We saw that there was a train going from Sheridan all the way to Newcastle, passing Gillette and Moorcroft. Unfortunately, we found out it was not a passenger train. We decided to hitchhike again. While we were at KFC we met quite a few people. Forget youth hostels; forget hiker/biker campsites; if you want to meet travelers, nothing beats the 11 herbs and spices. Another nice family (on their way to Montana) chatted with us, took our photo, and then gave us a little book of excerpts from the Bible and $20. While neither of us believe in God, we do believe in kind acts and good deeds, so I convinced my brother that we should accept the gift as a kind gesture and not worry about the motivation.

Before we hitchhiked, Dee convinced me that we should bike another 40 miles so that we could say that we had done 100 in a day. The biking map showed that the best route to take would be thru Ucross along a country highway instead of along the Interstate thru Buffallo. We couldn’t have chose a poorer time to leave. There was a little 5 minute hill right at the start. I sweated more in those 5 minutes than I had the previous 5 years. Our entire bodies were drenched with sweat. You know how Shaq looks by the 4th quarter, with beads of sweat dripping down his face? We had sheets of it. It was the weirdest thing. After the hill we stopped and looked at each other wondering, ‘what the hell?’

We made it to Ucross (97 miles) and decided that hitchhiking was out of the question since there were no cars on the road! We couldn’t stay in Ucross (no places and we hadn’t made 100, yet), so we continued on to Clearmont, but this posed a slight problem because we had run out of water and it looked like some rainclouds were behind us catching up fast. Dee stopped by a house and asked for water. ‘Cold right out of the well,’ the nice lady said. He filled up one of his bottles and came to pour half of it in one of my bottles. We took sips then left. It was the most godawful, foul smelling, sulfur laden water we’d ever tasted. No time to mix in Kool-Aid; the clouds were right behind us and Dee was being a bastard. Four miles from Clearmont I got a flat tire. I was hurriedly fixing it when my brother was able to get a pickup to pull over and offer a lift right as the thunder and rain started. We threw everything in the back and got in ourselves since the cab was full of people. My front wheel was still being worked on and unattached. We still got wet since we’re in back. We arrived at Clearmont and Dee’s hurriedly setting up the tent in 50 mph winds while I fixed my tire. We were able to camp out right next to an RV park for free. To my horror, I realized that, in my haste, I must have loosened the nut for my skewer too far and it fell off. In other words, I lost the axle part of my front wheel, and we were 50 miles from the closest bike store.

Stop signs aren’t safe from us if we’re between cities.

typical day in Wyoming

The storm lasted all of 10 minutes and everything dried up after an hour or so, but by then it was dark so we waited until morning before deciding what to do. I woke up a 6:30, put the skewer from my trailer on my front wheel, and biked back the way we came while Dee cooked and ate oatmeal. Four miles down, to my astonishment, I found the nut; I guess it was heavy enough that the wind didn’t blow it away. We put every thing in order then continued on our way. We ate breakfast around 9 at RBL Buffallo Ranch. They told us that 30 miles down was a cafe where we could get lunch and 30 miles after that was Gillette. We fought headwinds the whole way and it was around 2 when we reached the cafe, Spotted Horse. Apparently, a single cafe is enough to put you on the map in Wyoming. There was nothing else there and it was closed. By now, we’d eaten all of our food for the last few days and again we were out of water, but luckily we found a garden hose and filled up that way. Around 6 we started nearing Gillette while watching a thunderstorm rage on ahead of us. Our second thunderstorm! I guess they’re all the rage in Wyoming. We watched lightning and heard thunder for a good 40 minutes before we started getting really close. When we started to feel rain we paused to discuss the situation.

‘We could pull over and cover ourselves with a tarp until it blows over,’ Dee spoke but then said, ‘Ah, let’s just go for it.’ And with that he started pedaling again. I follow.

Then we were hit with harder rain and a sudden burst of wind which nearly knocked our bikes over. I’m guessing it was around 50 mph, but I’m not a very experienced judge of wind speed. I do know that it was fast enough to make cycling impossible. We were putting our jackets on and getting ready to dive to the side of the road when a white sedan pulled over. The teenager asked if we wanted to stay in his car until the storm blew over and that he wasn’t in a hurry to be anywhere. Dee said no, but I yelled heck yes, so we piled in after laying our bikes down. Nathan turned out to be a really nice guy whose father used to cycle quite frequently. We asked him questions about Gillette and laughed at the storm once in a while, like when the rain turned into really heavy rain and when the really heavy rain turned into hail. ‘Even under a tarp,’ Nathan said, ‘you’d definitely feel that hail.’

Huge tire

Half an hour later, we’re back on the road to Gillette. Gillette isn’t where they make razors, but it is one of the richest cities in Wyoming due to relatively new coal mines. Environmentally speaking, it’s quite unfortunate how much coal there is, but from a visitor standpoint, it’s pretty neat watching all that heavy machinery. Those dump trucks must be kind of fun to drive. Each tire weighs more than 3 times my car, and I have a Volvo 240 which weighs more than many SUVs, 2 tons. Each tire of one of these dump trucks weighs 6.5 tons and costs $36,000!

We ate at a Chinese restaurant, where they made us dishes that aren’t on the menu. Most white Americans have no idea what they’re missing. Unfortunately, we were so hungry when we entered Gillette that we also ate at a Burger King before we saw the Chinese place, so we ended up with tons of leftovers.

The next morning (the 3rd of July) we were ready to ride to Devil’s Tower and then to Moorcroft and maybe all the way to Newcastle. We went about two blocks when we stopped for groceries. I went shopping while my bro tried to lube up his rear derailleur since he was having problems shifting. When I exited the store, it looked like my bro’s bike exploded; he had decided to overhaul the derailleur since lubing it wasn’t working. Two hours later, we decided to go to a bike store to get them to fix it since we weren’t having any luck. We biked to the first one. Closed. We called the second, and last, one. No answer. I guess the 3rd is also a holiday, giving people a nice 4 day weekend. To make a long story just a little bit shorter, Stewart came to Gillette and picked us up, and we had a lovely view of Devil’s Tower from the road.

While in Gillette, I had time to think a little about Wyoming. Two things that I think give it character: fireworks stores – actual stores, not just little seasonal shacks – and drive-up liquor stores – which probably account for 60% of the litter on the highways. I guess the bison are neat, too.

July 4th Thanksgiving dinner – Rizz, Max, Mark, Klaus, Stewart, Sarah, and Aunt Nat

We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with Sarah and Stewart, the kids, Rizz, and Aunt Nat who brought the turkey. They wanted to give Rizz from Australia an extra dose of American culture. Stewart and Sarah got married in Japan while on their 6 year bicycling tour of the world. They met Vicki while on that tour (in Thailand, I believe it was) and they met Rizz and a bunch of Rizz’ friends in Australia who were also touring. I cannot imagine ever having better hosts. They make cool friends, too, and Klaus and Nathalie are so easy to get along with. We then checked out fireworks at one of their friend’s places. It seemed like each block had at least one very patriotic homeowner. All through the night, we were surrounded by fireworks displays. Fun.

June 26:

‘So, do you think we should get a ride with them?’ I ask furtively.

‘Naw man, we can’t get a ride,’ Dee replies, then pauses, ‘Well, let’s think about this.’

In the background, we can hear the TV movie playing for some of the other people staying at the hostel in Jackson. The basement bunkhouse is nice and cool, and the social room has plenty of room for us to spread our maps.

‘Okay… if we leave today, we can spend a couple of days in Yellowstone then bike thru Wyoming in about 5 days and meet them on the 3rd, right?’

‘Okay…’

‘And if we get a ride, we can hang out with them in Yellowstone from the 28th to the 2nd and then just ride with them across Wyoming. The question is: Is the rest of Wyoming as interesting as Yellowstone?’

‘Hmmm… I don’t think so. I mean, last time I went thru Wyoming it was pretty boring, but I think a lot of it was at night.’

‘Well, okay. I think we should just spend our time in Yellowstone then.’

‘Okay fine, but we still need to call them to make sure they can meet us and offer us a ride.’

‘Hello?’ A mans’ voice, third ring.

‘Hi, is this Stewart… Shipman?’ I ask.

‘Yes.’

‘Hi, this is Mark Chen, Vicki’s friend who’s riding across the US.’

‘Yeah! Hi Mark. Where are you guys?’

‘We’re in Jackson right now. I remember you saying that you’re going to be in Yellowstone, and that maybe we could hang out with you.’ I explain our thinking and how we’d love a ride across Wyoming.

‘Hold on a sec and I’ll get Sarah on the line, too.’

‘Hi Mark!’

‘Hi Sarah!’

‘So,’ Stewart explained, ‘Mark was wondering if he and his brother could get a ride to Newcastle after checking out Yellowstone with us. He thinks they’d like to spend more than just a day in Yellowstone and if we give them a ride, they can do that.’

‘Well, let’s see…’ Sarah reasoned, ‘there would be 7 of us in the car plus all our stuff plus the two bikes. I don’t think we’d have enough room. We could try getting bike racks and maybe we could borrow our friend’s Suburban.’

‘Whatever is least inconvenient for you, and we’d be more than happy to pay for gas…’ I say, ‘um… and we have trailers, not panniers…’

June 30:

‘Too bad we couldn’t fit,’ Dee remarks.

‘That’s okay. We’ll meet them on the 3rd in Newcastle,’ I reply.

‘It’s before 10, mostly downhill, and we’ve got our shades on. Maybe we’ll beat our record.’

‘Let’s roll.’

There is a certain peaceful simplicity to camping, chopping wood, gouging a two inch deep chasm in your shin, and screaming like a banshee. Alas though, we have been sleeping in a hostel, watching HBO, and catching shows at the local movieplex. Chicken Run and Titan AE to be exact. Both were a bit short but entertaining nevertheless. There were so many things wrong with Titan AE but it was fun anyway.

Three things that make you go hmmmm:

1. road signs of semi trucks tipping over. no explanation or speed caution, just a warning that it happens.
2. a dozen little grave markers along the road signifying road accidents. probably from drunk driving.
3. huge fallen branches in the bike lane during a very windy day. um, excuse me Bell Helmets, but do you have a falling tree test?

Yellowstone

It is rainy and cold in Yellowstone right now as I write this message. The body acquires a certain stickiness and odor after this many days without a shower and repeated applications of sunscreen, bug repellant, and aloe. I can do shampoo hairstyles without the shampoo. It is an interesting feeling when the residue prevents me from feeling if I’m wearing any clothes. I swear I wore something yesterday when biking but it has all become a blur.

There are a lot of mosquitos here.

It seems like its been a week or so since you last updated your webpage… what’s up? Nothing happening? Or were you tricked and then trapped by aged confederate soldiers who kept you in their tumbledown cellar fattening you up in order to eat yah? Or were you bitten by radioactive spiders giving you new and strange powers as well as a lousy sense of direction, unable to tell where you’re heading with your eight directional eyes? Did Mark eat too much of his ‘fastfood firsts’ have an alergic reaction, turning purple and swelling up and being mistakenly rolled away by singing Umpalumpas?

What’s going on?

If there were a prize to be had for being completely inconsiderate to forms of transportation which do not require fossil fuels, Idaho might take first place. I had noticed by the time we reached Caldwell that it was very difficult to bike in Idaho. No bike lanes and sometimes no shoulders even. By the time we reached Nampa I realized that there were hardly any sidewalks! ‘Well,’ I thought, ‘maybe these cities are too small and Boise will be different.’ Boy was I wrong. In all of Boise I noticed two streets with bike lanes and they don’t take you to any place useful. Asking about bike shops brought blank stares from almost everyone I tried. When I finally found a bike shop, I asked them for a bicycle map of the city. ‘Sure we have maps,’ they said; then they showed me a rack of mountain biking books of Idaho. No one commutes by bike I guess.

I love Idaho

Leaving Boise was not much better. We had to take I-84 most of the way to Bruneau Sand Dunes. Interstate riding kinda sucks. There was a frontage road most of the way, but a lot of it was gravel, so we couldn’t use it. The road from Buhl to Shoshone was also difficult due to the 40 mph side wind. I guess that and all the thorns aren’t anyone’s fault…

The only part of this website that gets periodic updates is the log section. Before we left on the trip, we created the whole site including template files for the log. We are using some special Cold Fusion tags to help automate the entries.

For a new entry. all we have to do is write the paragraphs and add code for the photos. Then we save it as a numbered file (ie. 0615.htm) and upload the file and photos. We then update a list file so that we can annotate our entries (ie. written by…). When you click on a link in the list, a template file is loaded with the content of whatever number entry it is. Gee, I hope this makes sense.

Idaho

I mentioned that we are using Cold Fusion. Cold Fusion Server is known as middleware. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Mark’s employer, is generously hosting our site for us. When you click on a link on OMSI’s server and that link has the .cfm extension then the Cold Fusion server intervenes and translates any Cold Fusion code into straight html which it then passes to the regular web server. This allows us to generate dynamic pages where the pages’ content depends on circumstances of the instant. The template files are examples of these .cfm files and the log entries are the content.

Most of the entries written by Mark are written on his palm-sized Windows CE device, a Casio Cassiopeia E-105. This device runs on an OS very similar to Windows for the desktop computer. It has a compact flash slot which is also the media that his digital camera uses. To edit his images he copies the image files from the camera and then uses a program called Pocket Artist to crop and rotate and color correct or adjust the brightness/contrast. The text and images are uploaded with a compact flash modem and an ftp program called Scotty FTP. Mark has an account with AT&T which has local numbers in most urban areas and an 800 number as well. Unfortunately, there are some long dry spells where we don’t have access to a phone jack.

Max writes his entries using a Sharp Pocketmail device. He can send and receive email using almost any phone. He just calls an 800 number and holds the device to the phone receiver. So he emails his entries to Mark which Mark then edits with the Cassiopeia (Mark telnets to his Reed account to get his email) and uploads to OMSI.

Max’s photos are taken with a Sony Mavica, so they get uploaded when we have access to a PC with a floppy drive like at a local library or internet cafe.

For more info on any of this, just do a search for what your interested in using any search engine or email us.

We are in Jackson Hole, Wyoming now and time is definitely ticking. We have the option to keep going today and rush through Yellowstone which we hear is quite bike unfriendly, or stay with a family which would stress our tight schedule.

Anyway, we met another NBG rider who left from Santa Cruz on June 4th. Alex rode through Nevada and has been doing crazy 100 plus mile days and nights. Man, compared to a bunch of other riders, we’ve been taking it quite easy. We met a guy in Idaho Falls (the only tourer in all of Idaho) who has been living on the road for a while and doesn’t carry any money. Also, check out http://www.cycleology.com/NBG for other stories. Especially read Stav’s. He’s totally crazy. Biking at night, pulling a dog, eating only fast food, and suffering from serious headwinds. He’s the MAN – read: fool.

So Alex got his laptop stolen from this hostel here. bunch of savages in this town. Other than that Jackson has been pretty cool. I watched a rodeo last night on the way to Albertson’s. Everyone here oggles at my recumbent. I pretty much laugh at their Ford F250’s. We might watch Titan AE tonight.

I almost took a spill yesterday in some muddy road construction. Saved by quick reflexes and dashing good looks. We’ve been plagued with flats in the past few days. I actually shredded a rear tire too. Strong cross winds and tailwinds were with us for a while in Idaho. I thought it was great fun. I love extreme weather. Almost got sucked into the underbelly of a semitruck and nearly road into a river, but hey, it’s all fun and games until I die, right?

Bruneau Sand Dunes

Movie of Max rolling down a hill

So in summary, after staying at the extremely hospitible Jensen’s residence in Nampa we stayed in the Robb Hanson party house in Boise. After some great Chinese food, he gave us a tour of Boise. We saw the potato mack daddy’s house on top of the hill. Then off to Bruneau Sand Dunes via the hellish I-84. The dunes were cool, especially the observatory program. It reminded me of the long Friday nights at the Cornell Observatory.

Teepee

Movie of our teepee

The next day was really hot and we chanced a frontage road that ended at a ferry dock at the Snake River. That sucked, so we turned back and chanced yet another frontage road (84 is not fun) which ended in gravel. After this ten mile detour we decided to take 84. I felt super sleepy and bloated after lunch (another college reminder) and we only ended up at Glenn’s Ferry. Just our luck there was one teepee still available! We are Indian, we have teepee. (that’s a quote from Cannibal the Musical, and is not meant to be a racial slur) dang that was one nice teepee.

Then to Buhl. Bo thought it would thunderstorm but nothing happened. His shoulders were all blistery and pussy from the sunburns. yay! Then to Shoshone via Twin Falls and after a disappointing Wok and Grill Mongolian BBQ. [Mark’s note: the waterfalls sucked, too, because they divert the water in the summer months for agriculture; try mid Spring instead if you plan on seeing the falls.] More specifically, a bed and breakfast in Shoshone because no motels were still in business. There was a guy living in a shack with a motel sign in front of it. [Mark’s note: the B and B we stayed at was also home to two foreign exchange students who were summer interning at a cheese factory; how someone in a foreign country finds a cheese factory in the middle of Idaho to work at, I have no idea.] We sure are living the good life. oh, this was the day when I almost died crossing the Windy Bridge of Death and we had to struggle across the Gusty Plains of Certain Peril.

Craters of the Moon

Craters of the Moon. Cool beans. Caves. My flashlight died so I explored by the light of my Sony Mavica. Once again it has saved my life. A mouse ran across my arm during the night. There were big signs throughout the campgrounds warning against feeding the rodents because they carried a respiratory disease. The stars were worth the risk of early pulmonary cancer though.

More Craters of the Moon

Flying a kite at Craters of the Moon

Then to Arco. We played minigolf and ate at Grandpa’s BBQ. Not as good as San Francisco’s Brother’s in Law, but ok nevertheless.

Mark’s note: Unfortunately, we didn’t visit the first nuclear reactor after we left Arco… If you want to learn more about it, you can ask my friend Chris who gives tours there sometimes.

70 miles of desert nothing to Idaho Falls. Almost became like Clint Eastwood in the beginning to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly when our water ran out at mile 40 or so. A minivan family blessed us with four bottles in the nick of time.

Warning outside of Idaho Falls?

Take that you vultures! You won’t be eating my eyeballs today! In Idaho Falls we met Dean Miller, a fellow Cornellian. He fed us yummy pesto and let us stay in his basement. His dog Solo was very friendly too. Thanks Dean! Dean told us of his mountain bike friend who on races drinks cheap salad dressing because they provide high calories with just enough hydration, and eats Little Debbie Cakes because they have the most calories per cent. That too is Manly – read: hella stupid. We also met Johan, the biker with no money.

Palisades Dam, bad photo vs. good photo

Camped at Alpine, just before the Idaho Wyoming border. The very last day in Idaho was actually pleasant biking. The proximity to the Snake River let us cool off anytime and the surrounding mountains were gorgeous. Lots of mosquitos though. Lots of mosquitos. Did I say lots of mosquitos yet? Well there are lots. of mosquitos that is.

into Jackson

now we are in Jackson. so it goes.

It’s been almost a week since my last update! Max’s update dated the 11th was written then, but actually posted just five minutes ago. It is about 11 PM in Nampa, near Boise.

Now a little side note: Max has been referring to me as Bo. I guess since he’s doing that, I might as well start referring to him as Dee. Ask your Mandarin speaking friends why.

As you can read in my brother’s latest, we ended up staying an extra day in Prineville. They have the best freakin library I’ve ever been in except for the number of books. Not many books, but dang that is a nice library! Dee told me that they should have made a deal with San Francisco, who recently threw away tons of books because their new library was too small to hold them all… Yikes.

Whole in the Wall, Mitchell

After Prineville, we biked to Mitchell. Mitchell is a really small, one street town with two stores, a couple of motels, a nice city park, and a gas station right next to it. I have no clue why the town exists. As far as I could tell, that was all that was in the town, as if their whole purpose of being is for bikers to buy stuff from their stores and camp out in their city park or stay at their motels. If you were in a car, you’d just keep driving until you got to a more respectable place to stay. Oh, wait, I forgot. There’s two purposes for the town. The second one is for semi trucks to come by and sit idle at the gas station for about 3 hours stinking up the whole town and especially stinking up the nice city park.

While dining on some fine ramen in the stinky city park, we met two more bikers (in addition to John who was staying at a motel and Sean and Virginia (the superheroes) who were also camping in the smelly city park) who were traveling the opposite way. They started out in Missoula and were just going west, probably going to go up thru Portland to Seattle and then down the coast until the summer is over.

some Oregon scenery

The next day we left pretty early to tackle a really steep climb out of Mitchell which we thought we might have to walk at one point, but it turned out to be easier than we thought it would be and as a result we made some awesome time after the climb. We biked to John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, stayed for lunch (mmm.. peanut butter and honey and banana sandwiches), biked through Dayville, and made it to Mt. Vernon. Interestingly, Mt. Vernon is named after a horse or something like that. Get it? Mount Vernon? 🙂 We weren’t able to update the webpage since our motel room didn’t have a phone! Apparently this is not uncommon with small town motels, as it happened three times in a row… The scenery was real nice. I’ve come to really appreciate Oregon scenery. I remember I kept thinking everything was soo green and red, but then I also remember that I kept forgetting I was wearing high contrast lenses.

Kam Wah Chung and Co. Museum

On Sunday, the 11th, we left Mt. Vernon and got to John Day. I was hoping that I could replace my cassette there, but the bike shop closed a while back… There was supposed to be this cool old Chinese shop museum type of thing in John Day called the Kam Wah Chung and Co. Museum, but it wouldn’t open for another two hours so we went to the library. The library was also closed. So we stopped at a cafe and hung out there for two hours reading our books. Dee bought two books from the library in Prineville (yes they sold books too), and I got his hand-me-downs, The Never Ending Story. In the cafe we met an older couple who were also biking. They were on a tandem (two person bike). Pretty cool. The museum turned out to be pretty cool. Dee will write more about it. No photos allowed, but I took a couple before reading the sign…

Sag’s Motel

After checking out the museum, we decided to keep biking to Prairie City. We stayed in a swank motel two miles east of town. No phone, but they had everything else: VCR, something like 5 comfy chairs, a kitchen, room decorations, cabinets, bookshelves, a few books, lots of American Rifleman and People magazines, and a little store run by the proprietors of the motel that featured bootleg videos to rent (including Spanish or Mexican porn) and lots of various Mexican canned foods. Apparently, the motel (Sag’s Motel – run by Mr. Sagmeister) is usually home to a lot of migrant workers who stay for an extended period.

Keyes Creek summit and Blue Mountain Pass – I don’t remember when we passed each one, but here are the photos anyway

On Monday, the 12th (Robin’s birthday), it was raining pretty bad, but we decided that we had to keep going. We had two hills to climb before reaching the town of Unity on Hwy 26. Soaking wet. Really tired. Out like a light at 5, but Dee wanted to fly his kite again since it was really, really windy. When we flew the kite, the local chicks digged us a lot, but never did anything other than cruise their one street making catcalls. Who knew cruising existed in a town with like 100 people?

Unity, we’ll miss you…

The scenery drastically changed in the last two days. It went from forest to shrubs. Still nice, but different. Drier I guess… Yesterday, it was very warm outside. We made some awesome time doing like 73 miles, and it was mostly a gradual downhill all the way to Vale, but man was it warm. Surprisingly warm. I am burnt crispier than KFC. I’d take a photo and show you all, but I’m embarrassed by my pudgyness compared to Dee’s six-pack.

flat tire and lunch

Yesterday I called Vale, “The City of Gravel.” There are soo many traps waiting for unsuspecting bikers like us. Today I dubbed Vale a new name, “The City of Flat-tires.” I fixed my rear tire in the morning and biked three blocks to discover it had gone flat again from a different puncture. What a pain. We ate at a Diary Queen, our first fast-food since day 1 in Newberg. My first Diary Queen ever. It was weird because they came and took your order after you sat down and brought you the ticket after you had gotten your food, like a regular restaurant… Should we have left a tip?

As a consequence to my sun-burns and general soreness, today I was in pain most of the day. Ibuprofin, my angel in heaven… Today we crossed the Oregon/Idaho border. This trip will be a lot of fast-food firsts I guess, since today we had lunch at an A and W, famous for their rootbeer floats. It was pretty good. We’re now staying with the parents of one of Dee’s former co-workers. They are really nice and hospitable. Tomorrow we make it to Boise, which is only like 20 miles away, but we also need to stop at bike stores.

I already miss Oregon…

After Eugene we went up Santiam Pass. It took us about three days to get over it. Near the top there is a place called Clear Lake. It was a really popular fishing spot but I wouldn’t want to swim there since the neighboring campsites were called Ice Cap and Cool Water. Bo thought there would be a gas station at the junction near the top, but instead we were stuck splitting a can of Chef Boy R Dee Ravioli for dinner. Oh well.

Don’t remember when this was, but this photo was too funny to pass up.

The past few days have been hilly. The long stretches of downhill where Bo almost dies from instability I have found totally awesome. There’s nothing quite like going 40 mph for miles on a recumbent. Wheeeee!

We’ve met a group of superheroes who have their own webpage. http://www.responsiblemonkey.com/haulofjustice

The two, Dragonfly and Silversteak, are hauling a 50 lbs. dog in a Burley trailer. That better be one grateful pooch. We also have been hanging out with a retired high school teacher named John on a Trek recumbent. He’s kicking our young punk butts too. Then again he’s carrying a lot less gear. yeah, that’s the ticket.

I can only guess that Paul Husby and Amy Shen are a day behind us.

We ended up spending an extra day in Prineville. We became honorary natives actually – I mean we went to all three of the restaurants and two motels. The public library is amazingly nice – funded by the Oregon Lottery. The day we were going to originally leave the town, we got off to a late start and checked out at 11. (I blame Clerks, South Park, the Simpsons, and Crocadile Hunter.) By the time we got everything ready it was already 12:30 and it started to rain. Well that did it. Laziness prevailed and we spent the rest of the day in the library. I finished the Neverending Story. (it just kept going and going and…)

I got to fly my kite in Prineville too. Two signs that caught my eye: “What are you hung for?” in the grocery store and “no household waste or offensive material” on the public trashcans. The word hungry was partly covered. We also passed lots of llamas. And Operation Santa Claus, a reindeer camp, and Tom Jones Used Car Lot, how the mighty have fallen. Many field mice along the road for a while, followed by many small sparrow things.

Sheep Rock, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

For a fur trader who got lost and was robbed nekkid by American Indians, John Day sure has a lot of stuff named after him. Fossil Beds, a city, a river, a golf course, etc… If only fame could be had as easily these days. Why, my brother would be world famous for his acts of stupidity.

We’ve gone about 400 miles so far. It hasn’t been easy and I don’t agree with my brother that the hardest is over. I actually found some hummus out here so I’m a happy camper.

I guess anywhere you go you will always encounter a homeless guy. Max and I stayed at Blue River, just west of McKenzie Bridge on June 5. After McKenzie Bridge we (I think) did the toughest climb of our entire trip. We stopped at a little market in Blue River before going on to Delta USFS campground to get our dinner (pasta) and right outside there was this homeless hitchhiker guy who was eyeing our bikes while we shopped. When we got out of the store he hit us up for some change.

in front of Paul’s house

For the past couple of days we’d been staying with a total luddite (his own description) who apparently is pretty well known in Eugene. He’s Paul Nicholson, founder of Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life, former member of the local government, former professor, total bike afficcionado. On Sunday he gave us a tour of the Solar System. If you have no idea what I’m talking about then you should bike around the waterfront park in Eugene. Even if Paul claims it’s getting screwed up by the local government, Eugene still seems like a cool place to live. I have a sticker on my rear fender that advertizes Portland as the best bicycle city in the US, but Eugene beats it easily. I’d say Corvallis is better than Portland, too. Our gratitude to Paul, his wife, and his daughter for letting us crash at their place and treating us so well!

When we stopped at a cafe in Vida, we met a fellow cross-country bicyclist who is traveling with a woman and her dog (being pulled in a Burley trailer). She was making a phone call across the street so we didn’t get to meet her. They are part of a larger group who are stopping at local non-profits and working for a day or so at each one. We invited them to share a campground with us at Blue River and they agreed but never called us on our cell. We were probably unreachable. The next morning we met yet another biker and found out that he stayed with them at an RV park.

Blue River, Delta USFS Campground

June 6 was our big hill day. We went from McKenzie Bridge to just west of the Santiam Pass stopping for lunch at Clear Lake. There was a school group at Clear Lake and there was this little fat kid making fun of our bikes and trailers. There’s another thing to add to my ubiquitous list. The whole day was straight up hill. We couldn’t make it over the top because our legs were jellifled after our lunch. Also we felt a slight drizzle and were afraid it would rain harder, and we didn’t want to ride down the pass while wet. Dangerous, you know? But we weren’t near a campground so we decided to just pull off to the side of the road and camp illegally.

Illegal camping

It was only around 4 or 5. I think I slept for 11 hours that night. The next morning we left at 7 and got to Sisters for breakfast. On the way down I almost died. I was going about 34 mph when I saw in my mirror a whole line of cars coming led by two semis. I just grit my teeth and braced myself since I knew the wind from the first truck would push me then pull me. I had no idea it would be as bad as it was though! Right as the first passed me I started to wobble back and forth uncontrollably, the weight of the trailer exacerbating my situation. I applied the brakes but immediately decided that it would worsen the wobbling. All the while I keep overcompensating with my arms, first going one way then going the next way. Back and forth, thinking ‘Oh crap. Today I die.’ Finally, I relaxed a little and miraculously straightened out. This is when I realized that the second semi was braking quite hard and that I had drifted to the middle of the lane. Needless to say, I think that from now on, I’ll slow down a little if I see a semi coming down on me and I’m going over 30.

Santiam Pass

On the 7th we reached Prineville and became lazy bastards. We just vegged out in front of the TV and read a little; talked about our motivation a bit. I looked at maps for a while and Max told me to stop since it was pointless to look so far in advance, so then we talked about the trip and how hilly it was and how I wanted to be sure it wouldn’t be so bad anymore. Today, the 8th, we were ready to go at noon. I put on a new chain I got in Eugene. It skips when on the two smallest cogs on my cassette. I took a look and it seems I need to replace those two, since a few of the teeth are worn. I guess I just won’t use those gears until Boise.