As the adventure last stood I was in the middle of the eastern Oregon desert, just outside of Burns. I spent the an interesting night camping along a ridge, wind buffeting my hammock as I watched a lightning storm slide across the valley below. The next day I found myself in Vale, Oregon. As I stopped at a supermarket to charge my phone and munch snacks I started talking with some younger folks who were trying to cash in at the recycling machines. Before parting ways they offered me two icy cold gatorades...a welcome treat after the high desert sun!
While trying to scout out a place to sleep in the park two reassuring things happen. One was that I met and spoke with the mayor (he happened to be coaching a little league team). Although he couldn't give me "permission" to stay in the park, he said that he didn't think that it would be a problem and he would let the proper authorities know. After speaking with the mayor I wandered over to the pool and asked if I could use the showers. The girl at the front desk said I was free to use the showers but warned me they had no doors. She said my best chance was to be quick before the pool closed and all the kids swarmed the bathroom. After a brisk and invigorating shower I decided that all that desert riding deserved a bite to eat at the Mexican restaurant I saw on the way into town.
Sticking to the budget is important so I don't take decisions like this lightly but often (as in this case) it works out to save me in the long run. As I munched on my taco salad (with lengua, mmmmmm!) the owner of the restaurant struck up conversation with me. After hearing about my crazy trip Edgar called out to his god-son Carlos. The two quizzed me with the usual questions including the "where do you sleep". When I answered that I was planning to sleep in the park, Edgar quickly offered me the empty apartment above the restaurant! If you ever find yourself in Vale, be sure to drop into Chabelita's for some tasty grub and friendly people!
The next day I struck out for Boise. After a late start (had to get more salsa at Chabelita's!) I rode the short and relatively easy 60 miles to arrive in Boise about 6 or 7 PM. Luckily I had been able to arrange a couchsurfer; big thanks go to Dan for hosting me on such short notice! Dan had an amazing project going on in his backyard following the principles of permaculture. This is something I've become more and more interested in as I first encountered it in Croatia and on other farms. It basically takes the idea of sustainable agriculture even further. Had a great salad from Dan's garden and after he retired (darn 9-5 jobs) I had a nice evening hanging out with his roommate Becki and and her visiting friend Chris. Chris made a super cool sketch of me, I'll try to upload it.
Moving on from Boise I found myself in the small town of Buhl, Idaho. I stopped by a restaurant to relieve myself and fill water bottles before finding a camping spot but was tempted by cheese tots. Once again this purchase proved wise. A young man sitting in the next booth over became interested in my strange story and by the end of our respective meals extended an offer to sleep on his couch. I pretty much always prefer a couch over the unknown perils of a small town park (bored teens are the most dangerous wildlife of all). Travis had to work early in the morning but we had a hearty bacon and eggs breakfast together and he loaded me down with lots of goodies for the road.
Working my way east from Buhl to Burley was slow going with a headwind....REAL slow going. About 15 miles from Burley I got tired of crawling along while truck after truck buzzed by with empty beds. I started the technique of thumbing while riding with hopes of getting to Burley. From there my direction would head south and the torturous wind coming from the northeast would be eased. Around 8 or 9 miles out someone FINALLY pulled over and offered me a lift. I crammed my bike into the back of the SUV and had an entertaining chat with a fine family from Kimberly. Jim, Diane and their daughter Laura dropped me off at the high school and gave me even more treats for the road!
I started my journey onward feeling somewhat apprehensive about finding somewhere to sleep in such empty desert with no size able towns for at least 50 miles. Just as I was about to leave Burley a car full of raucous teenagers gave me some cheerful shouts. I circled back and asked them what was going on. They were inviting me to come over and have a bite to eat! I followed them back to one of their houses. The Handy family was no stranger to having loads of crazy kids around and they gave me a warm welcome. A restful sleep on the trampoline and the next day I was working my way south to SLC.
In summary, this leg of the trip was characterized by amazing kindness and hospitality by people who didn't even know me. I suppose what I do is a rarity and people get a kick out of it, but I think the unending kindness I'm constantly shown is much more stunning. Maybe I had lost faith in people (especially in the US) but bit by bit, pedal stroke by pedal stroke my confidence in kindness and love is restored.
Coming in the next installment: the final leg to Salt Lake, a little R&R and the road onward to Colorado!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
The Trouble with Transience
As if my glorious rest with Bentley and Andi in Corvallis wasn't enough I extended my laziness for another 4 days or so. Cate, a friend from UNC who had been living in Portland, happened to be moving down to Eugene for law school. After dropping a Uhaul of her belongings she whisked my bicycle and me northwards to Portland. A couple of fine days were spent visiting old friends, making new ones and soaking in the vibes of Stumptown. I hadn't ridden from Portland to Ontario (the border with Idaho) but I had done the route from Eugene and loved it. Knowing this, I again hitched a ride with Cate down to Eugene. It felt rather funny to arrive back to the same town I had ridden through a week earlier!
That puts us on last Wednesday morning I believe. The forecast called for rain and wasn't going to change anytime soon but alas I forced myself back onto the road. After such fine companionship for the last week it was a very dreary ride into the storm-soaked hills, taxing me mentally perhaps more than physically. This is the "trouble with transience" I'm referring to; the desire to stop and hang out with good folks in a town or city you like but the conflicting urge to keep moving and stick to your "plan". I could easily have given up and lived happily ever after in the Bay Area, norCal, Eugene, Corvallis, Portland or Bend not to mention about one hundred other places I've been. Oh well...at least I know I have friends to go visit as soon as the call of the road hits!
So after leaving Cate and her awesome pup Sawyer behind in the dismal gloom of Eugene's weather (don't feel bad for her, she's on vacation in Hawaii now) I climbed into the mountains to reach Bend. Two wet, long, miserable days later I rolled into the sunny pleasant high desert town of Bend. The final leg from Sisters to Bend is a straight shot of about 21 miles on the highway but I got a bit audacious with my GPS and turned that 21 miles into God-knows-what of horrible, loose gravel forest service roads. A one and a half hour ride became 4 and a half hours. Finally rolling into Bend at around 10:30 PM, I was graciously hosted by fellow cyclist Brett on the first night. He had traveled a bit through Eastern Europe and we recounted our favorite moments until way past bedtime. Brett had to head to Portland to coach a youth lacrosse team he is involved with but I decided to stay on in Bend for one more day at least and catch the USA-England match.
Met some top-notch folks (tip o' the hat to Kai, Zach, Sean, et. al) throughout the weekend and once again was totally shattered to have to leave it all behind. Got a late start Sunday (had to visit a hardware store and grocery store for fuel and food) but the Desert Gods were with me and a tailwind pushed me about 95 miles towards Burns. Woke up this morning and cranked another pleasant, albeit warmer, 40 miles into Burns. I'd like to do another 60 or so and be halfway to Idaho but for now I'm letting the sun go a bit lower. Because the sun is up until about 830, you can ride super late into the evening here. Two more reasons to do so are that the GIGANTIC mosquitos come out at dusk (better to be moving!) and you can't sleep when its that light anyways.
I don't really know what to expect as I continue through Idaho and south into Utah. I've done sections of Idaho before, but those were farther north in the Sawtooth mountains. As much as I'd like to revisit those towns and sights its too far out of the way to Salt Lake.
From SLC the plan is to head loosely towards Denver where I hope to get a train to Chicago. The train will save me roughly 1200 miles thus extending my budget to allow more destinations back east. My apologies to all of my fans in Nebraska and Iowa. After Chicago its onwards through Ohio and PA up to NYC before dropping down the eastern seaboard to DC. This would technically conclude my trip, but I hope to also ride the Blueridge Parkway down to Asheville and then finish in true fashion with a ride through the Ole North State (brings tears to the eyes folks!).
That's about all I've got for you now folks. Hope you all are enjoying this spectacle as much as I am!
That puts us on last Wednesday morning I believe. The forecast called for rain and wasn't going to change anytime soon but alas I forced myself back onto the road. After such fine companionship for the last week it was a very dreary ride into the storm-soaked hills, taxing me mentally perhaps more than physically. This is the "trouble with transience" I'm referring to; the desire to stop and hang out with good folks in a town or city you like but the conflicting urge to keep moving and stick to your "plan". I could easily have given up and lived happily ever after in the Bay Area, norCal, Eugene, Corvallis, Portland or Bend not to mention about one hundred other places I've been. Oh well...at least I know I have friends to go visit as soon as the call of the road hits!
So after leaving Cate and her awesome pup Sawyer behind in the dismal gloom of Eugene's weather (don't feel bad for her, she's on vacation in Hawaii now) I climbed into the mountains to reach Bend. Two wet, long, miserable days later I rolled into the sunny pleasant high desert town of Bend. The final leg from Sisters to Bend is a straight shot of about 21 miles on the highway but I got a bit audacious with my GPS and turned that 21 miles into God-knows-what of horrible, loose gravel forest service roads. A one and a half hour ride became 4 and a half hours. Finally rolling into Bend at around 10:30 PM, I was graciously hosted by fellow cyclist Brett on the first night. He had traveled a bit through Eastern Europe and we recounted our favorite moments until way past bedtime. Brett had to head to Portland to coach a youth lacrosse team he is involved with but I decided to stay on in Bend for one more day at least and catch the USA-England match.
Met some top-notch folks (tip o' the hat to Kai, Zach, Sean, et. al) throughout the weekend and once again was totally shattered to have to leave it all behind. Got a late start Sunday (had to visit a hardware store and grocery store for fuel and food) but the Desert Gods were with me and a tailwind pushed me about 95 miles towards Burns. Woke up this morning and cranked another pleasant, albeit warmer, 40 miles into Burns. I'd like to do another 60 or so and be halfway to Idaho but for now I'm letting the sun go a bit lower. Because the sun is up until about 830, you can ride super late into the evening here. Two more reasons to do so are that the GIGANTIC mosquitos come out at dusk (better to be moving!) and you can't sleep when its that light anyways.
I don't really know what to expect as I continue through Idaho and south into Utah. I've done sections of Idaho before, but those were farther north in the Sawtooth mountains. As much as I'd like to revisit those towns and sights its too far out of the way to Salt Lake.
From SLC the plan is to head loosely towards Denver where I hope to get a train to Chicago. The train will save me roughly 1200 miles thus extending my budget to allow more destinations back east. My apologies to all of my fans in Nebraska and Iowa. After Chicago its onwards through Ohio and PA up to NYC before dropping down the eastern seaboard to DC. This would technically conclude my trip, but I hope to also ride the Blueridge Parkway down to Asheville and then finish in true fashion with a ride through the Ole North State (brings tears to the eyes folks!).
That's about all I've got for you now folks. Hope you all are enjoying this spectacle as much as I am!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
On the move again
So it has been quite awhile since I've updated this here blog, and for that I apologize. I would say this is the result of a complex mixture of elements, namely laziness and spotty internet access. In any case I'll do my best to relate the last month or so to you folks without much ado.
I would say the larger part of my time here in the US so far was spent just generally bumming around the Bay area. I spent time crashing on various friends' couches and floors in Berkeley and San Francisco. A big thanks to all the folks who made that possible. I managed to find some cash flow (multiple streams of income as Benji would say) by doing a promotional gig for Comcast and a language study, both at Berkeley. The Comcast promotion was just handing out moving boxes to students in exchange for them texting in a survey. The language study was pretty interesting. I had to learn an imaginary language called Sillyspeak and then was tested on it. Good thing I was already an advanced Sillyspeaker, as anyone whose met me after 11pm would probably attest to.
The final coup de grace of my stay in the area was the sheer insanity of the Bay-to-Breakers "race" in San Francisco. Hung out with my gracious hosts of Hayes Street and watched the hilarious antics of all the wierdos, drunks and drunk wierdos. In case you aren't familiar (I wasn't) B2B is a race in its 99th year where folks run from the bay side of the city down through Golden Gate park to the ocean. Somewhere in the last 100 years its morphed into a BurningMan/Lovefest-esque self-expression celebration. If you want to walk around San Francisco buck-naked, this is the day for it. Cross your fingers though...there is talk about canceling the event because it has become such a ruckus. ING, the sponsor, pulled out after this year!
Anyways, I departed the Bay area and pointed the bicycle north. I spent the first 6 days riding up Highway 1 along the coast. The scenery was a bit austere but beautiful nonetheless. Quite a rough re-introduction to bike touring however! Continuous climbs and downhills along the coast coupled up with some pretty strong headwinds and a month of (mostly) sedantary living to make for a rough couple days. The final deathblow to my willpower came in the form of 2 days of rain-riding in the Redwoods followed by a forecast for 4 more days. However, right when things looked their bleakest, serendipity found me a ride through the rain. I was remarking (okay, okay....complaining) on the weather to the kind lady at a coffeeshop in Redway, CA and she pointed out that her son was driving to Ashland, Oregon the next day. My new friend Evyn and I cruised right on up through the weather, saving me at least 3 or 4 days of rainy, cold riding. From Ashland I had a mostly pleasant cruise on backroads northwards. One great night was spent in the Threehorn campsite of the Umpqua National Forest. Kind neighbors there treated me to chilidogs...a welcome warm meal after a long day of climbing. As I neared my destination in Eugene on the third day out the clouds moved in once again. Visited my favorite bar in Eugene (called Max's...supposedly "Moe's" in the Simpsons is modeled after it) and then shuffled off into the drizzle to setup camp for the night. The next day I awoke with a less than optimistic outlook for the remaining 45 miles to Corvallis. Packed up all my wet gear and climbed onto the bike, squinting as I rode through more of the interminable Pacific NW scuzz. Things started to look up as I had the "Champion's Breakfast" (2 corndogs and 20oz of coffee at 7-11). The skies dried up but never quite cleared. Nevertheless, the ride was calm, almost no traffic and a relative straight-shot to Corvallis.
I arrived in Corvallis and struggled to find my hosts' place due to some "transcription errors" in getting their address. I found the street easily enough but the house number I had didn't exist! After wandering around town and campus for 2 hours without any luck in contacting them, I decided to tour the street once more. I knew they had moved recently so I hoped to spot an out of state plate. Sure enough my Dick Tracy skillz paid the billz and I found the house. I apprehensively rang the door bell (looking the way I do I was really worried I would give some old lady a heart attack). Andi (Bentley's Lady Friend) answered the door and after about 10 seconds of dumbfoundedness on my part, recognition clicked and I said "Uh....hey" or something equally impressive.
I took a shower for the first time in 5 days, ate 2 giant homemade pretzels and then we were off to a wine tasting Bentley was working at! What a welcome (take notes, folks in my path!). By this time the sun had broken through the clouds and mingled with a little jazz, some Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, and a gorgeous view of the vineyard and valley. In other words, the perfect way to top off a pretty solid day. Then to really put things over the top, we had dinner at a nearby brewpub. I hadn't had a huge appetite at first but as plates of hearty pubfood were put down I couldn't help myself.
So now its raining again. And the forecast is calling for more through the whole week. I'm trying to decide whether to face the facts and get wet or to hope that the elusive summer shows up soon. I've got some rough plans for whats next on the tour and when but I'll save that post for a few days. Until then, happy reading and riding!
I would say the larger part of my time here in the US so far was spent just generally bumming around the Bay area. I spent time crashing on various friends' couches and floors in Berkeley and San Francisco. A big thanks to all the folks who made that possible. I managed to find some cash flow (multiple streams of income as Benji would say) by doing a promotional gig for Comcast and a language study, both at Berkeley. The Comcast promotion was just handing out moving boxes to students in exchange for them texting in a survey. The language study was pretty interesting. I had to learn an imaginary language called Sillyspeak and then was tested on it. Good thing I was already an advanced Sillyspeaker, as anyone whose met me after 11pm would probably attest to.
The final coup de grace of my stay in the area was the sheer insanity of the Bay-to-Breakers "race" in San Francisco. Hung out with my gracious hosts of Hayes Street and watched the hilarious antics of all the wierdos, drunks and drunk wierdos. In case you aren't familiar (I wasn't) B2B is a race in its 99th year where folks run from the bay side of the city down through Golden Gate park to the ocean. Somewhere in the last 100 years its morphed into a BurningMan/Lovefest-esque self-expression celebration. If you want to walk around San Francisco buck-naked, this is the day for it. Cross your fingers though...there is talk about canceling the event because it has become such a ruckus. ING, the sponsor, pulled out after this year!
Anyways, I departed the Bay area and pointed the bicycle north. I spent the first 6 days riding up Highway 1 along the coast. The scenery was a bit austere but beautiful nonetheless. Quite a rough re-introduction to bike touring however! Continuous climbs and downhills along the coast coupled up with some pretty strong headwinds and a month of (mostly) sedantary living to make for a rough couple days. The final deathblow to my willpower came in the form of 2 days of rain-riding in the Redwoods followed by a forecast for 4 more days. However, right when things looked their bleakest, serendipity found me a ride through the rain. I was remarking (okay, okay....complaining) on the weather to the kind lady at a coffeeshop in Redway, CA and she pointed out that her son was driving to Ashland, Oregon the next day. My new friend Evyn and I cruised right on up through the weather, saving me at least 3 or 4 days of rainy, cold riding. From Ashland I had a mostly pleasant cruise on backroads northwards. One great night was spent in the Threehorn campsite of the Umpqua National Forest. Kind neighbors there treated me to chilidogs...a welcome warm meal after a long day of climbing. As I neared my destination in Eugene on the third day out the clouds moved in once again. Visited my favorite bar in Eugene (called Max's...supposedly "Moe's" in the Simpsons is modeled after it) and then shuffled off into the drizzle to setup camp for the night. The next day I awoke with a less than optimistic outlook for the remaining 45 miles to Corvallis. Packed up all my wet gear and climbed onto the bike, squinting as I rode through more of the interminable Pacific NW scuzz. Things started to look up as I had the "Champion's Breakfast" (2 corndogs and 20oz of coffee at 7-11). The skies dried up but never quite cleared. Nevertheless, the ride was calm, almost no traffic and a relative straight-shot to Corvallis.
I arrived in Corvallis and struggled to find my hosts' place due to some "transcription errors" in getting their address. I found the street easily enough but the house number I had didn't exist! After wandering around town and campus for 2 hours without any luck in contacting them, I decided to tour the street once more. I knew they had moved recently so I hoped to spot an out of state plate. Sure enough my Dick Tracy skillz paid the billz and I found the house. I apprehensively rang the door bell (looking the way I do I was really worried I would give some old lady a heart attack). Andi (Bentley's Lady Friend) answered the door and after about 10 seconds of dumbfoundedness on my part, recognition clicked and I said "Uh....hey" or something equally impressive.
I took a shower for the first time in 5 days, ate 2 giant homemade pretzels and then we were off to a wine tasting Bentley was working at! What a welcome (take notes, folks in my path!). By this time the sun had broken through the clouds and mingled with a little jazz, some Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, and a gorgeous view of the vineyard and valley. In other words, the perfect way to top off a pretty solid day. Then to really put things over the top, we had dinner at a nearby brewpub. I hadn't had a huge appetite at first but as plates of hearty pubfood were put down I couldn't help myself.
So now its raining again. And the forecast is calling for more through the whole week. I'm trying to decide whether to face the facts and get wet or to hope that the elusive summer shows up soon. I've got some rough plans for whats next on the tour and when but I'll save that post for a few days. Until then, happy reading and riding!
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