A Day of Much-Needed Rest in Joseph, Oregon

Hi Everyone!
The trip has been amazing so far, we're all safe and sore and having a great time. We've been riding for 9 days straight and finally get a day of rest here in Joseph with our friends Shannon, Wade, and Wade's family. The last couple of days have been really intense, with the heat begining its' suffocating blaze and the 10 and 14 mile climbs continually arriving.

A quick daily recap:
Day 1 Friday June 20, 2008: Carl G Washburn Memorial Beach to Eugene, OR 77.7miles
Joined by our good friends Gabe Bluestein and Michael Hammer, we tested out our gear and legs on a ride that took us from a tire-dip into the Pacific Ocean, over the coastal ridge and into Veneta for some Chicago Joe's cheesy beef that almost comotosed us from finishing the last 12 miles.

Day 2 Saturday June 21: Kickin' it in the Euge 0 miles
A day to scramble to tie up loose ends. We moved beds, went shopping, and spent a long time fixing up our bikes. We think we're ready to go. The night ends at the house of Ian, Isobel, Hailee, Hammer, Nikki, and James with a chill bonfire and some farewells.

Day 3 Sunday June 22: Eugene to McKenzie Bridge (almost) 56.57 miles
The true adventure finally begins! We all gear up in the morning and set out, joined by our close friends Ian, Isobel, Kevin, and Gabe for the first 20 or so miles, we set out of our comfort zone and into 3 months of unknown. After a sad farewell we take off on our own. We meet our first fellow cyclists, Brian and Jeanne are doing the transamerica route (the route generally taken by cyclists going cross-country, organized by a company based in Mizzoula, Montana) on a tandem. Nice folks, remind me (Pete) a little bit of my parents. We stop at the Vida cafe and the pie is so hot it breaks the plate. So far, everything's looking good. Especially us. In spandex.

Day 4 Monday June 23: McKenzie Bridge to Hoodoo Pass Summit 34.55 miles
Holy moly. The Cascades are high! We spent nearly the entire day climbing, the scenery was phenomenal, and we were able to camp on top of a mountain. It's hard to put the experience into words, it's brutal and amazing and satisfying in a multitude of ways. The biker tan lines are coming in nicely.

Day 5 Tuesday June 24: Hoodoo to Bend 43.74 miles
A cruise downhill is always really nice. The ride to Bend was nice and easy, and upon arrival we went immediately to the Deschutes Brewery and Public House. After some delicious brews we've never before tasted, as they do not come in bottles, we decided to stagger on. We spent our first night as couchsurfers, which was very exciting. For those of you not familiar, couchsurfing.com is a really great site that connects travelers all over the world who are looking for a place to stay on their journey. When you are home, if you are willing and able, you let people sleep on your couch and maybe show them around town a little. When you are traveling, you crash on other people's couches or floors and enjoy their hospitality. We lucked out big time with our stay in Bend, as Lauren, a youngdog-loving waitress, and her friends and dogs were all super nice. After drinking some beers and playing with Uffta, Grace, Dixie, and Foxy, we were invited to a birthday dinner of a friend of Lauren. We got to eat some great food (which is quickly becoming one of life's biggest highlights) and met some fun people, played some foosball, and met an albino ferret who wasn't even half as cool as Chesturrr, but was fun to meet anyways. I miss Chesturrr. Anyways, we thanked them profusely for their kindness and food and went on our way, stopping at the bar Lauren works at before heading home for the night.

Day 6 Wednesday, June 25: Bend to Ochoco National Forest 60.4 miles
Foxy peed on Lauren's floor (and a little on Nate's sleeping bag), a humorous way to wake up. We got a late start out of Bend because of eating, shopping, bike-fixing, and calls home, but finally made it out around 1. The ride out of Bend was pretty sketchy, as merging with highway traffic isn't the most fun, if not exhilarating. But don't worry, we all made it out safe and unscathed, and the day went along very well. After a massive descent into Prineville we were abruptly stopped due to the unleashing of a herd of bulls through the streets for the annual rodeo. It was hilariously cartoonish watching the bulls take a left down a road they weren't supposed to, watch the pink-shirted cowboys chase them, then see the whole crowd come barreling across the street, missing the turn back onto main street and instead running straight through to the right of main street. Think Sylvester and Tweetie chase scene in a hallway. After that excitement we rode up into the Ochoco Forest and hauled our bikes up a hill to a sweet secluded campsite. So far all of the campsites have been beautiful.

Day 7 Thursday June 26: Ochocos to Tri-Creek Ranch 55.86
The morning found us in the midst of some road construction. Gravel roads and alternating one-way traffic was the trip for the first hour and a half or so. Our water sanitizing pump isn't really working so we use the iodine tablets instead for water purification. So far our setup has been really great. Our bikes are loaded to about 70 pounds total, but it's been okay as long as we're not lifting them up huge hills to camp. Our camping setup has been great, with hot dinners every night on our little stove, and plenty of water from our dramadary bags. The weather has been beautiful as well, and we've slept most nights out under the stars. It's been a long time since I've seen a clear night sky away from the city lights. I'd forgotten how much I missed that.

Day 8 Friday June 27: Tri-Creek to Dixie Pass Summit 65.08 miles
A long day of riding. A lot of good times, although no big stories really. John Day has got way too many things named after him as far as we're concerned. After riding all day we reached a huge summit and decided to camp up their. Another beautiful spot and sleeping under the stars.

Day 9 Saturday June 28: Dixie Pass to Baker City 63.15 miles
We awoke to find Kelvin's biking gloves eaten by packrats in the night. They still do the job, but his hand tan is going to be all messed up now. During a late morning breakfast down the pass we met a young cyclist named Cody Edwards, an Illinois farmboy, blond, burly recent Stanford grad school grad doing the transam route. A really nice fellow, he joined us for the day's ride. We swam in a creek and mobbed into Baker City ready for some brew. We were directed by the locals to Barley Brown's Brewpub where we tried out many of their site-brewed beers, including the hot blonde, a delicious jalepeno-infused ale. We ate their death burgers (best burgers of the trip so far, no question) and had a good ol' time. From there we decided that a trip to a local bowling alley was long overdue, asked the waitress for directions, and things went off from their. Elkhorn Lanes was a wonderful place, with above ground ball returns! Some may find the exclamation point humorous, but this was something I was very excited to discover and was amazed that it happened at our first bowling alley. We cosmic bowled for awhile and, after sufficiently soaking up the scene, decided to call it a night. As it was dark and we had adequately quenched our thirst, we decided that the local high school's practice field was a great place to lay our heads for the night.

Day 10 Sunday June 29: Baker City to Hells Canyon 67.34 miles
We awoke in a field next to a high school next to a neighborhood, an amusing sight to be sure. We said hello to some local dog walkers as we gathered up our gear and headed to a gas station for some coffee and snacks to appease the belly from last night's imbibery. Cody was still with us and rode with us until a small town along the route. We encountered an extremely gnarly climb after said small town, which was our first case of truly intense biking. First of all, it was 2 in the afternoon and the sun was blistering, there was no shade and it was a 7% grade for 3 miles (That means steep for a long time). We all individually thought that we had problems with our cranks, but later discovered that we were merely slipping on the melting tar on the street. It was that hot. We made it though, it feels so good. From there we cruised into Hells Canyon, leaving the transam route and into less familiar territory. We plan to ride into Joseph tomorrow, hopefully the terrain isn't too steep.

Day 11 Monday June 30: Hells Canyon to Joseph 45.31 miles (Pete and Nate), 57.13 miles (Kelvin)
Obviously this college education hasn't taught us everything. Something to note, riding OUT of a canyon probably isn't going to be lacking in steepness. This being our 9th day in a row of riding, we are tired and sore to start the day. We are welcomed to the canyon by a 14-mile climb. Whoo, what the hell was that?!? We decided against an additional 3 mile climb to see the actual Hells Canyon overlook, I've never been within 300 miles, but 3 miles uphill was way too far at that point. After a really crazy downhill ride we stopped to get some water from a river. This is where we realize that our tablets are not in fact iodine tablets, but iodine taste nuetralizing tablets!! Luckily, giardia doesn't make itself known to you for about 2 weeks after you've drank contaminated water! So we'll see in a couple of days if we're going to be alright or if we'll have some extended stay somewhere, heaving and thrusting in a glory of cold sweat. It's really the anticipation of the unknown that keeps life interesting, no? So, we try out our pump again, but it's working really slowly, and we need to get a move on if we're going to finish in Joseph. So we fill our water bottles, but don't have much extra, and start again on our way. We round the first corner to encounter a sign notifying us of a ten-mile climb ahead. What the hell! Kelvin rides up ahead as Nate and I stop again for another bottle of water-pumping. Nate goes on ahead and I think I'm going to die. The sun is beating down and water is low, I have no energy and the climb seems endless. Luckily for me, a forest service truck has broken down ahead, and they have a coller of ice-cold water they gladly share with me. Fully watered, I find another wind and the sun kindly sinks behind some clouds. The fear of death behind me, I cruise up the rest of the way. I encounter Nate at the bottom of the descent, he's just filled up some more water with the pump but has not caught up to Kelvin yet. There are some mean looking clouds to the north (where we're headed) and we're getting a little anxious, but it turns out that I've just come down the hill with a broken spoke that needs attention. Somehow the nipple got caught up inside the tire, so Nate McGuivers that biznass with a needlenose pliers, a ripped dollar bill, and a bent spoke. After a half-hour of working on my tire, we're ready to go, but we've still got around 15 miles and one more nasty uphill climb, and those daunting clouds have started booming some crazy lightning and thunder, and it's getting chilly. We rush up a hill as fast as we can, and on the descent it gets even sketchier. A deer almost runs out in front of Nate, but turns around as I pull my brakes that make a crazy loud screech, then Nate's bike pump falls off of his bike, then the wetness comes. It hasn't started really raining, but the descent is steep and the street is wet, the lightning is still a ways off in the distance, but it's getting closer, and it's getting colder, and it's getting darker, and we still don't know where Kelvin is. We stop on the way down to put on our rain gear when our luck changes; a white pickup comes from behind, we wave it down and a nice couple from Idaho agree to put us in the back and take us into Joseph. We cruise in the back of the truck, and it's almost like a scene from the movie Twister, the wind is going nuts, the lightning is blowing up on either side of us, and the rain keeps teasing and threatening, it was really exciting! We turn into Joseph onto Main street where Kelvin has been waiting for something like 2 hours, worried sick. Safe and sound, we call up our friend Shannon Leever and organize the evening. Wade comes and swoops us, leading us to a nearby house where we can stash our bikes, then we pile in with Wade and his friend Christian to the other side of the lake where Shannon was working at Wade's parents' restaurant, the Glacier Grill. Afterwards we went back to the homestead and drank beers with Wade, Shannon, Christian, Wade's little sister, Wade's old roommate who's now living with them here Johnny, and Wade's mom. Whew, what a day.

Okay, so I'm caught up for now. I hope to keep this up for the whole trip, but computer time will be limited. We miss you all, your e-mails are very much appreciated. Hope you are all well. Keep the rubber side down!

~The boys