Arriving in Hood River, we checked into a hotel and hit the Subway for dinner. One thing about the start of the trip is that as prepared as we were, we still had to get our road legs. At the start, putting in a day of riding gets you exhausted even when there are no hills to contend with. We’d get into town, hit the shower, put on some fresh clothes, get some food and sack out. (Thus the reason for the less than hoped for blogs and videos).
The next morning we struck out for our camping site about 50 miles away. I’d been having some gearing problems with my new recumbent but try as we might, we couldn’t locate the issue. (Come on! It’s not rocket science! Grrrr). Dad looked ahead and found a bike shop in The Dalles so we pulled off and drove into town. We stopped at a little bike shop (SPR Bikes) and met Calvin. Talking about an answered prayer. Calvin knew his stuff! About an hour later we were pulling out of town and what a difference! A couple of hours later we pulled into a gas station, got some cans of food and headed over to our dry campsite along the Columbia (thanks to the Army Core Of Engineers!). How was it? Rough but definitely refreshing. Soaking my feet in the Columbia at the end of the day was just the ticket.
The next morning after a cup of coffee ate the same gas station, we headed off to Boardman, OR. There’s not much in Boardman, OR. At least not close to the highway. We got a cheap hotel (cost and condition) and got dinner at the Mexican restaurant attached to the hotel (we make no excuses about our love for Mexican food). Afterwards, I struck out to wash our clothes at the laundromat across the highway and then came back and turned in.
The trip from Boardman to Pendleton was uneventful. Riding into Pendleton, I was struck by how “Cowboy” the town is. There are signs everywhere about the broncs and rodeo and the like. I would have liked to stop in to see the Pendleton store but you guessed it, to tired and hungry (and I think it was probably close to closing by that time). We got cleaned up and went to the Prodigal Son Brewery for dinner. REALLY good food!!! (Though I’m afraid I let the cat out of the bag that I was a foreigner when I asked what fry sauce was. She asked – where are you all from?) FYI, it’s a little ketchup, Worcester sauce, Mayo, and a spice – kind of like Thousand Islands.
Leaving Pendleton, we had no idea what was in store for us. We started to climb, and we climbed, and we climbed, and …. well, you get the picture. Many rests later and ~4200 feet later we made it to Baker City. Here we met our Warmshowers host Nancy. She let us store our bikes in the garage and then get showers and dressed. It was bike week in town and so we went down to see the ‘craziness’ and got Chinese. Then it was back to Nancy’s and off to bed. Nancy was a real angel and a blessing to us.
Having suffered the climb from Pendleton we were very intimidated with the climb out of Baker City. However, the joke was on us. The worst part of the climb was the on-ramp. Once on the highway, there was a gradual climb so it was much easier to tackle and then at the top we either had flats or long downgrades. We’d planned to camp in Farewell but we made it to there by lunch and decided to press on to Ontario, OR but on a side road not over the next mountain. That was another 3 hours of rolling hills but we finally made it into Ontario and got a hotel. This day, while not having the huge climb, was probably the worst due to the 80+ miles in 100 degree heat during the last 3 hours. In spite of having back up water, I had run out of water about 1 hour from the end and it was no fun.
We showered and got some bravado up to walk out and got dinner at a Country Kitchen. The food was good and I must have drank 10 glasses of water and 2 root beers. Afterward, we went to the Walgreens so dad could pick something up and I bought a 52oz lemonade and downed that when back in room.
We decided that since the previous day had been so much, we’d make a shorter day and so stayed for the continental breakfast. What a great choice (eggs, sausage, potato hash brown, English muffin, coffee, OJ). Then dad wanted some stuff from Walmart, so we headed that way. When al was done, we didn’t even leave until 0930. This day, we had a leisurely ride and stopped mid-day at a Subway in a small town and then headed into the campground in Caldwell. The site has large trees and is along side a pond and has a nice breeze so we’re anticipating a good rest and an early start to tomorrow.
583.4 miles so far….only 3000+ to go 🙂
Wishing you all best,
God Bless from the road!