Portland to Grand Junction

 

Fall 2024

 

Denis Kertz, ©2024

 

Day 1: Sep 1 - Naperville, IL [45.9, 4:18:05, 10.7 mph, 22.3 max, +643', -712']     

 

My Amtrak train to Portland didn't leave until 3:05 pm so that gave me 2 options to get to my train at Chicago Union Station.  In the past, I've taken the Metra commuter train to Union Station because it was a safe option that took about 60 minutes to make it to Union Station.  However, the 3:05 pm time gave me enough time to ride to Union Station with time to spare.  To be safe I needed time to allow for some kind of bike failure like a flat tire.  I also needed to get to the station an hour ahead of time to pack up my bike.  Usually, Amtrak will allow you to reserve a bike slot and then you can just hand your bike to the baggage handler at the baggage car.  However, there is only one bike car on the Empire Builder and it splits at Spokane, WA, with part of the train going to Seattle and the other part of the train going to Portland.  Unfortunately, the bike car goes to Seattle so there is no bike car for Portland.  That meant I had to pack up my bike and check it as luggage.

 

I eventually decided there was enough time to ride to Union Station. That would give me some bike exercise.  Otherwise, I would be going 3 days without any bike exercise.  So, I ended up leaving home at 6:45 am, figuring that gave me plenty of time to make it to Union Station and pack up my bike.

 

My route to Union Station was basically the Northern Illinois Trail that would have me taking the Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) to Maywood, jogging north about a mile to pick up Augusta Blvd that would take me to Milwaukee Ave.  From there it was a short ride the rest of the way to Union Station.

 

It was 6 miles from my home to where I picked up the IPP.  I figured I couldn't get lost on the IPP but somehow I did.  Somehow, I ended up on the Great Western Trail (GWT) without realizing it.  Then when I saw a reference to the Elgin Branch I panicked since Elgin was west.  I couldn't imagine how I could have gotten turned completely around.  I started backtracking but then saw a sign for the distance to the Fox River Trail.  I also saw a sign in the other direction for I355.  Not sure exactly where I was, I queried a couple on the GWT.  They confirmed that I was heading in the right direction.  Turns out the GWT continues east at a bit of a diagonal and eventually meets up with the IPP.  I also checked my smartphone.  I used to use MAPS.ME, an offline mapping program, but then they started limiting their free service.  However, a group of MAPS.ME developer split off and created Organic Maps (OM) which was what MAPS.ME had been.  Using OM I was able to give myself confidence that I was headed in the right direction - to Chicago.

 

Sometime after crossing over I355 there was a sign for the IPP a 1/3 mile south.  So, I took that and picked up the IPP the rest of the way to Maywood where the IPP ended.  But my route finding was not quite over.  I managed to ride past the end of the IPP.  This wasn't that hard to do because the IPP wasn't always on a crushed limestone surface and there usually weren't street signs when the IPP crossed a road.  So, I never saw 5th Ave which was my turn off point in Maywood.  However, there was a young woman also riding the IPP and she rescued me when I dead-ended.  When I explained I wanted to get to Washington she led me to a short backtrack and then north to Washington.  This was actually a better route than what I was planning to take.

 

At Washington, my savior headed east and I did a very short jog west and then north on Keystone to get me to Augusta St in Oak Park.  At that point it wasn't possible to get lost since Augusta took me all the way to Milwaukee Ave.  From Milwaukee, a diagonal street, I rode southeast until Desplaines and then a short distance to Jackson.  I planned to take Jackson to Canal but there looked to be some construction going on so I took Clinton instead.  This turned out to be good because Clinton had a handicap accessible entrance with a ramp.  Using this ramp, I rolled my bike down the ramp and I was on the right level without needing to use an elevator.

 

Unfortunately, construction made the ticketing and boarding areas an absolute mess. But I found the Amtrak check in location for baggage service.  There I was able to get an Amtrak bike box for $15 that only required me to remove my pedals and turn my handlebar sideways.  That's as easy as bike packing gets.

 

It turned out the ride to Union Station was 46 miles, about 10 miles longer than I expected.  Some of that was probably bonus miles from my detour off of the IPP.  I ended up getting to Union Station at 11:45, a 5-hour bike ride.  By the time I got my bike packed up and rearranged my panniers for carry on I only had an hour or so before boarding.  However, one of the perks of having a sleeper accommodation is that I was entitled to use the Amtrak lounge in the Great Hall.  This was a convenient place with snacks and drinks to wait for boarding.

 

When I rearrange my 4 panniers and my duffel bag, I emptied one of my front panniers so that I could lash my 2 rear panniers into a single luggage unit and stow it and my duffel bag in the baggage compartment of the sleeper car and I carried my other front pannier, which contained my essentials and electronics, into my sleeper compartment.  However, it was quite a walk to carry my 2 luggage units and my single carry on to where my Amtrak train was located.  At least, my sleeper car was the last car for the train and, hence, the closest car when we got to the train.  Turns out the Portland section of the train had a single sleeper car and 3 coach cars.  They were all at the end of the train so they could be disconnected in Spokane when the train split into a Seattle and a Portland train.

 

Another advantage of a sleeper car is there is a shower facility.  After riding 46 miles, I wanted a shower to clean up.  However, I couldn't shower immediately.  A sleeper car includes meals in the dining car but the dining car requires reservations for dinner.  Reservations are made by an attendant who walks through the sleeper cars and asks folks for their reservations.  Fortunately, the attendant started first with our sleeper car before proceeding with the 3 Seattle sleeper cars.  I feared we would be last and I would get stuck with a late reservation which also increases the chance they will run out of your first meal choice.  As it turned out, I was able to get a 5:30 reservation which was great.

 

Then I had to wait for the attendant for our car to walk through our car, introduce himself, and explain everything.  He also asked when we wanted our compartment to be converted from sitting to sleeping.  I chose 10:00.

 

Then finally I was able to get my shower and clean up to be more comfortable and presentable.

 

Unfortunately, seating is assigned for meals at 4-person tables.  As it turned out, the guy across from my sleeper was traveling with his 2 kids who were about 10 years old.  Since they were a 3-some I got assigned to fill out their table at my 5:30 reservation.  This wasn't a great conversation assignment since the dad was spending most of his time making sure his kids were okay.  Nothing wrong with that.  It just didn't offer much interesting conversation.

 

After my meal I spent some time on my kindle reading.  Then I wanted to record my day's log.  That's when I faced my big Amtrak disappointment - no Wi-Fi.  It is hard to believe that Amtrak doesn't offer WIFI on this long-distance route.  That means I can't use my chromebook to do my standard internet surfing.  I could use my smartphone but that wouldn't be nearly as convenient plus I have a very limited data package on my tracfone and I want to use it only for more essential things that don't require a lot of data usage.

 

A harder than expected first day.  But in a way that was good because I won't be doing any significant cycling for the next 2 days.

 

Day 2: Sep 2 - Amtrak

 

I slept reasonably well but I was ready for breakfast when the dining car opened at 6:30. I had an omelet and was joined at my table by three other folks.

 

I spent much of the day reading my kindle.  However, I also mulled over what happened on my ride to Union Station yesterday that turned out to be about 10 miles longer than I expected.  I found a map I had of the Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) and was able to work out what I think happened.  The IPP is basically a Y turned on its side with the base of the Y pointed towards Chicago and the 2 arms pointed towards the west.  These 2 arms are the Aurora branch and the Elgin branch.  I started riding on the Aurora branch until I reached what is called the main stem of the IPP.  At that point I managed to pick up the Elgin branch rather than the main stem.  That had me riding northwest and away from my downtown destination.  Fortunately, after about 5 miles this Elgin branch intersected with the Great Western Trail (GWT).  That's when I noticed signs that made me aware that something was awry.  After checking with a couple on the trail I confirmed that I was then riding the GWT towards Chicago.  But I had to ride about another 5 miles until I was even with the main stem.  So that accounted for the roughly 10 miles longer than I was expecting to reach Chicago Union Station.

 

I actually have a bike GPS computer that should have recorded my route.  Unfortunately, Amtrak does not provide Wi-Fi service on their long-distance trains.  Once I reach Portland and get Wi-Fi access, I should be able to upload my GPS computer's route and confirm the route that I took.  In the end, the extra 10 miles didn't hurt.  I still made Union Station with plenty of time to spare and got in 10 extra miles of training.  But it did cause some extra stress until I was able to confirm that I was headed in the right direction.

 

Lunch was a bit strange.  Normally, it starts at noon but right about that time we were crossing into Montana and changing to Mountain Time.  So, somebody decided that lunch should start at noon Mountain Time which was really 1:00 pm for us travelers.  That meant more people would be hungry at that time, having to wait an hour longer than usual for lunch.  This meant more folks would be trying to eat at this time and creating more congestion.  Since I had an early breakfast, I didn't want to wait an hour longer for lunch so I got to the dining car 10 minutes early to get into lunch right away.  Lunch was okay and I had an angus burger, joined by a couple and another guy.

 

As yesterday, dinner required reservations and an attendant walked through the sleeping cars taking reservations.  Whereas yesterday, reservations were taken starting at the end of the train, today reservations were taken starting at the beginning of the train.  That meant I would be the last one to make a dinner reservation.  So, I was concerned that I might get stuck with a really late reservation.  However, I ended up having the option of a 5:00, 5:45, or 7:30 time so I picked 5:45 which worked out well.

 

I shared a table with an older couple who were regular train riders.  The wife said her husband had been riding trains for 80 years, starting when he was 2 years old.  They took several trips a year and were on the way to Seattle and then were flying to Alaska and also taking the Fairbanks to Anchorage train as part of the Alaska vacation.  The wife was pretty much a constant talker which was fine by me. Her husband and I contributed when appropriate.

 

Amtrak doesn't change their menu so I had the same choices as yesterday and picked the same meal.

 

While Amtrak is known for delays, our train was on schedule throughout the day.

 

Day 3: Sep 3 - Portland, OR

 

During the night our train stopped in Spokane, WA.  This train was actually two trains - train #7 and train #27.  Train #7 continued on to Seattle whereas train #27 veered southwest to Portland.  For that to happen our train had to be separated.  Our Portland train #27 took the last 4 cars - 1 sleeper car, 3 coach cars, and the observation/cafe car.  Of course, a locomotive was required to take these 5 cars to Portland.  As a consequence of this breakup, we lost our dining car.  So, in the morning folks who were owed breakfast because they had a sleeper berth had to order their breakfast from the cafe car which was, of course, no charge.

 

During this breakup the original train had to be powered down to allow this breakup.  I slept through this breakup and only woke up shortly before our train started on its way to Portland.  As usual, I was up early and ready to eat by 6:00 but the cafe didn’t open until 6:30.  So I waited in the observation car until 6:30 and then ordered my breakfast - oatmeal, coffee cake, and coffee.  I ate my breakfast in the observation car while watching the sun come up.

 

Shortly after this the train rode along the Washington (north) side of the Columbia River the rest of the way.  So, I positioned myself on the south side of the train so I could watch the Columbia River and associated terrain go why.  It turned out to be a good way to spend the morning.

 

Our train actually arrived in Portland shortly after 11:00 am, about 15 minutes early.  When I got off the train I found my bike in the bike box in the baggage area inside the station.  Putting the bike back together was easy since I only had to reinstall the pedals and reattach the handlebar to the stem. However, when I inserted the lower bolt of the handlebar clamp, I apparently got it cross threaded.  It was hard to turn but I was able to get it tight enough to work.  I suspected I would have to replace the stem after the trip.

 

I also had to repack my panniers somewhat since I had emptied the front right pannier to reduce my carry-on luggage count.  So, I attached my 4 panniers and reshuffled some things to load up the front right pannier somewhat.  This wasn’t the real packing that I would do later but was good enough to get me going.

 

It took a bit coming out of the station to get oriented but I was less than a mile from my Marriott Courtyard hotel. Everything went surprisingly well with the train getting in a little early, no problems getting the bike ready for travel, and then, surprise, I immediately got assigned a room even though the official check-in time was 3 pm.  I actually made it from the train to the motel in less than 2 hours and was in my room before 1 pm.  I was sure either the train would be significantly late or the hotel wouldn’t give me a room until the official check-in time.

 

Since I was in a good location around Old Town, I took advantage to do a little exploring.  It was a short walk east to the path along the Willamette River.  Then I walked a few blocks west of my hotel where I stumbled on to Portland’s famous Powell’s Books, a multi-room, multi-story book store famous for its variety of books.

 

When I started exploring, I was hungry and stopped at a hamburger place.  I made the mistake of ordering a full pulled BBQ pork sandwich when a mini pork sandwich would have been fine.  Later, I checked out an outdoor food court where I got a General Tso’s Chinese dinner which also turned out to be much more than I needed.

 

One downside to this Old Town location is that there were a fair number of homeless folks around.  At least some of them were obviously dealing with mental issues.  One poor soul was in a wheelchair and complaining loudly with no one around.

 

Day 4: Sep 4 - Camas, WA [20.9, 2:22:06, 8.8 mph, 20.2 max, +925', -686']

 

The goal for today was to visit my cousin who lived in nearby Camas, WA. It was only 20 miles to Camas on the other side of the Columbia River so I was in no hurry to leave town.  Yesterday, I stumbled on to the Mumbo Jumbo Cafe that looked like an interesting place for breakfast.  Unfortunately, they weren’t open at 7 am as they advertised and there didn’t appear to be anyone around.  I checked later and there was still no sign of life so I guessed maybe they had changed to post-Labor Day hours and hadn’t gotten around to updating their schedule.

 

I ended up walking around the area and found another restaurant possibility.  However, when I checked their menu, I was unimpressed by their fancy options.  I stopped at another place that was more like a gourmet donut shop.  I decided to have their panini but was told they were sold out.  In the end I gave up and just ate at the Courtyard restaurant.  They had a rather sparse breakfast menu so I ended up with a classic breakfast of ham, eggs, potatoes and toast.  At least it was convenient to just charge the meal to my room.

 

I left around 10 am which I figured was plenty of time to make it to my cousin’s home in Camas by 2 pm as I suggested for my arrival.  I used a Google Maps bicycle route to Camas and it was generally pretty good.  It was actually easy to get across the Willamette River (pronounced Will-LAM-et) on the Broadway Bridge using a bike lane and then the wide pedestrian lane on the bridge.  On the other side I rode north on Williams Street which was one way and had a bike lane.  That was all easy and straightforward.

 

Then I had to wind my way east to get to the bicycle path across the Columbia River.  I think Google Maps came up with a somewhat convoluted stair step route of heading a little east, a short jog north and repeating this process several times.  These were lightly traveled roads but I’m pretty sure a regular Portland cyclist would have found a mostly straight shot east to the bicycle path.

 

In any event I got to the bicycle path across the I205 Columbia River Bridge.  Interestingly, the bicycle path ran between the north and south lanes.  The traffic was very congested in both directions whereas I had the path mostly to myself.  There were, however, a couple of homeless people using the path.  One guy was pushing his worldly belongings in a shopping cart up a fairly steep incline.  I wouldn't wish that on anyone.  However, another guy came barreling down the inclined path on roller blades while guiding his shopping cart.  I could foresee disaster so I watched him very carefully as he maneuvered past me.

 

Not so lucky was the motorist in the south bound lane who had been towing a RV trailer when it apparently caught on fire.  There were 2 fire trucks in the area to deal with the fire and 2 lanes were shut down due to this fiasco.

 

When I got to the end of the path, I basically did a U-turn to get on the Evergreen Highway, which let me avoid using the high speed WA12.  This took me almost 7 miles to an underpass for WA12 and then a traffic circle.  I had to take the 2nd exit out of the circle and should have done an immediate left which I missed but circled back.  From there I rode a short distance and then turned to climb a short, steep hill, and then another short, steep hill to get to my cousin’s home where Rich and Lonnie, his wife, were waiting my arrival, a little after 2 pm.

 

After some basic catching up, I got a tour of the inside and outside of this home which was built on the side of a hill with the kitchen/living room area on the top floor.  It was a designed solar home with a heat pump.  Inside there were hardwood floors throughout the 3 stories with carpeting in the bedrooms.  Turns out Rich had done a lot of the interior wood work that was very impressive.  He also had a garden that he was rather proud of.  Since this land was on a hill, his garden had multiple terraces.

 

For dinner, after some deliberations about home cooking we went out to a local restaurant, the Roots.  Before heading to the restaurant Lonnie gave me a driving preview of my next day’s route through Camas and Washougal to avoid getting on to WA12 until necessary.

 

The Roots restaurant was a fairly fancy restaurant, one that was much fancier than I would have chosen but one that Rich and Lonnie liked so I deferred to their wishes.  Between the 3 of us we had Alaska Salmon, Halibut, and pork chops.  All very good but somewhat wasted on my primitive taste buds.  But Rich and Lonnie enjoyed it so it was a good choice.

 

Back at the ranch we spent more time getting caught up on family histories and such.  Then we learned from the news that there was smoke forecasted tomorrow due to east winds and the temperature was expected to hit 100F for the next 2 days.  It was an auspicious forecast.

 

Day 5: Sep 5 - Hood River, OR [54.1, 6:34:24, 8.2 mph, 31.0 max, +3,264', -3,261']

 

Rich made oatmeal for breakfast for me and then also shared his granola as well.  So, I ended up with a good breakfast for the ride today.  However, when I was looking at my printout of the route elevation profile, I noticed that the route said 78 miles to the Dalles but the profile only showed 55 miles.  That’s when I realized all my route profiles had gotten chopped off in the landscape mode printing.  I printed these 10 pages of route profiles at my public library so I suspect someone had set up the library printer on the PC I used to cut off the end.  Fortunately, Lonnie came to the rescue and reprinted my route profiles using her printer.  These turned out just right.

 

Rich and Lonnie were great hosts.  With their help I was able to ride off around 7:45. I wanted to leave reasonably early because the weather prediction was for a high around 102F with some headwinds and some smoke due to the east headwinds.  So, the earlier I got going the better.

 

The goal for the day was to first cross over the Bridge of Gods at Cascade Locks and then ride on to Hood River, about 55 miles total with some climbing.  Eventually, I needed to get on WA12, a high-speed road but Rich/Lonnie showed me how I could ride through Camas and Washougal before having to get on WA12.  WA12 was not only high-speed traffic but it had a variable shoulder that ranged from marginally okay to virtually no shoulder.

 

After about 10 miles I started a significant climb when the wind suddenly pummeled me with about 20 mph winds.  Given that I was already riding less than 4 mph on the steep climb this strong wind stopped me in my tracks several times.  Worse, it was rather dangerous because I was getting blown across the road at times.  At that point I was thinking I would do well to make it to Cascade Locks, much less Hood River.

 

As I climbed higher there were some trees that blocked the wind.  Then the wind apparently abated and wasn’t a factor the rest of the day.  But for a time, I thought the day’s ride was in real jeopardy.

 

I thought it was 20 miles to the Cascade Locks but it turned out to be 30 miles.  The Bridge of the Gods wasn’t the most fun to cross because it was iron grated, not great for cycling.  But I was surprised that there was no toll for a bicycle whereas when I crossed this bridge on my Lewis & Clark tour, I was charged a toll.

 

When I got to the Oregon side, I stopped at a food mart for a sandwich and drink.  When I asked the cashier how far it was to Hood River, he thought a bit and said 40 miles.  I thought it was more like 30 miles and I was thinking I should stop in Cascade Locks for the day.  However, I checked with google maps and it said it was 20 miles to Hood River.  I had a hard time believing the food mart guy could be off by 20 miles.

 

In any event, I started the day thinking 20 miles to Cascade Locks and 30 more miles to Hood River when it was the reverse - 30 miles to Cascade Locks and 20 miles to Hood River.  With that knowledge I pushed on because the weather looked okay.

 

Before the trip I stumbled on to a map that showed how to ride to The Dalles from Portland.  Since I detoured to Camas, I started using this map when I rode on from Cascade Locks.  First, I rode through town on Wa Na Pa Street and then Forest Lane.  After Forest Lane went over the Interstate, I picked up the Wyeth Bench Rd that had some major climbing.  My bike GPS computer showed grades of 10-12% at times which was difficult climbing.  Of course, the climbing was rewarded with descending afterwards.

 

Then I rode on Historic 30, which was open to traffic.  However, most traffic preferred using the Interstate so there was very little vehicular traffic and I largely had Historic 30 to myself.  When Historic 30 ended I picked up the Historic Highway State Trail.  All of this was great riding and nothing like the feared 100-degree heat and smoke.  The temp felt more like the 80s and it helped that a lot of the way was in shade.

 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and I had to get on the Interstate for the last 5 miles or so before I took the exit to Hood River.  Until the exit I was reminded how noisy the Interstate can be although I was somewhat surprised by how clean the shoulders were.

 

When I got to Hood River, I rode through town checking for motels.  There weren’t as many as I expected so I ended up riding to the east end and then back to the west end.  Unfortunately, this backtracking involved moderate climbing.  When I got back to the west end I stopped at a food mart.  I was disappointed there was no real food so I made do with a cold drink and some sugar wafers.

 

Then I checked out the Sunset Motel which I judged was probably the best value.  So, I nearly choked when I got quoted a price of $179, partly because all of the single queens were sold out.  I also checked out another nearby motel that was quoted $190 because all of their singles were sold out.  So, I reluctantly got a room at the Sunset Motel.  This motel was staffed by an Indian couple and the woman had told me that they were usually about the best price in town.  She also said they were still on summer rates and would be until October.  And I couldn’t even get an AARP discount from this motel.

 

After cleaning up I walked a couple blocks to a nearby Subway for my meal.

 

Day 6: Sep 6 - The Dalles, OR [29.6, 3:27:26, 8.6 mph, 24.6 max, +1,362', -1,519']

 

I was in no hurry to leave since it was a fairly short ride to The Dalles, not quite 30 miles.  There wasn’t a nearby breakfast place so I walked across the street to McDonalds.  I had to order with the kiosk which was a bit of a challenge.  I had no problem selecting my McMuffin breakfast and coffee but then I was offered 2 options - Cancel or Add to order.  I didn’t want to do either so I stared at the screen wondering where the checkout button was when a woman took pity on me and said I had to click on the Add to Order to checkout.  Obviously, someone didn’t think the user interface through since there should have simply been a Checkout button.  Anyway, I paid with my credit card and a few minutes later I had my order.  Then I went back to my motel to eat my breakfast.

 

I left right around 8:00 and headed east on the main road through town.  At a stop sign, I continued straight on Historic 30 and climbed via a series of switchbacks.  However, there was a sign that warned the bike trail was closed.  I wasn’t sure if this was a dead end so I continued and discovered the bike trail was closed due to a fire hazard.

 

So, I retreated back down the switch backs and started riding on I80, unsure if or when I would be able to pick up my route.  The next exit was for Mosier and I wasn’t sure the road would be open.  I rode past the exit then had second thoughts and rode up the entrance ramp.  This apparently was where the trail ended and Historic 30 picked up.  So, I ended riding a little more than 5 miles on I84 because the trail was closed so that wasn’t so bad.

 

It was a nice ride on Historic 30, riding well above the river.  There were only a couple views of the river but the scenery along the road was very nice, with vineyards and yellow grassy hills.  It was very pleasant scenery, much better than the Interstate would have been.

 

A highlight of Historic 30 was the Rowena Crest Viewpoint that had a nice view of the Gorge looking east although the view was marred somewhat by smoke.  You could see the switch backs that would take me down to near river level.

 

It was a nice descent on the switchbacks but I had to hold the bike in check because it was too twisty to turn loose.  A few miles later I took the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center exit which led me to the riverfront trail that took me the rest of the way to downtown.  It was guess work to decide when to get off the trail to get to my motel but I finessed it perfectly.  When I got off the trail, I was only a few blocks from the Budget Inn, which was a much better value than last night’s motel.  It wasn’t as nice inside but it was less than half the price.  It also had a good Wi-Fi signal compared to last night’s weak signal.  And the chair for the desk in the room was an appropriate height for the desk compared to last night’s chair that was at least a half a foot too low, making it impossible to use the desk for my laptop.

 

After cleaning up I walked a couple of blocks to a coffee shop where I did some more research for my ride to Maupin tomorrow.  It was good to have an easy day today since tomorrow’s ride is 40 miles with a little over 4,000 feet of climbing.

 

There were some restaurants in the area but nothing that excited me.  I did find a Mod Pizza place that was a bit of a hike and I finally decided to walk there where I ordered an 11-inch-thick crust pizza.  I ate half there and took the other half to my room that had a refrigerator and a microwave.

 

Day 7: Sep 7 - Maupin, OR [41.9, 6:02:55, 6.9 mph, 39.3 max, +3,875', -3,045']

 

I walked to a food mart a couple blocks away and grabbed a breakfast burrito, an egg sandwich, a cinnamon roll, and coffee for breakfast.  This made a pretty reasonable breakfast and it was relatively inexpensive and quick.  Today I wanted to get an early start because there was a lot of climbing and I wanted to beat the heat as best I could since it was projected to be about 92F.

 

I left shortly after 7 am.  I rode one block to 3rd street and took that west until it merged with 2nd street which took me to 197.  The challenge today was there was about 4,000 feet of climbing over 40 miles.

 

The climbing started right off the bat on 197 and I was immediately in my lowest gear, grinding uphill.  There were some really nice views starting out.  There were big, rolling hills with yellow grasses.  There were also some vineyards whose green contrasted sharply with the yellow hills.

 

After 15 miles I was pleasantly surprised to find that Dufur had a small grocery store.  I stopped for my second breakfast and bought some milk for my granola.  I was surprised to see how creamy looking my granola was and then saw that I had bought half and half rather than milk.  I also bought a small loaf of banana nut bread to augment my cereal.

 

After a half hour break for breakfast, I resumed climbing but not quite as steeply as before.  The scenery also changed from big, rolling hills to more gentle hills that were used as large fields.

 

One good thing about all the climbing was that the road frequently had passing lanes.  Of course, this cut into the real estate available for a shoulder so I rode just inside the white line.  Most folks had no problem moving out into the passing lane but there is always a joker in the crowd.  This joker also moved out into the passing lane but then blared his horn after he passed me.  It was unclear what his problem was.

 

After nearly 25 miles I crested the Tygh Divide Summit at 2,665 feet.  After passing this divide the terrain changed from large fields to steep, rocky hills pinching in on the road.  This divide was followed by a nice 5-mile descent.  Shortly after I took the turnoff to Tygh Valley since a sign advertised gas and food.  There was indeed food at a grocery store and I got a turkey wrap and drink.

 

Rejoining the main road, there was one moderate climb left.  Then it was about 5 miles of flat and then descending miles to Maupin.  On the outskirts of Maupin, I saw the Deschutes Motel where I tried to get a room. The motel turned out to be managed as an Airbnb and I decided not to hassle with that.  After passing through town, I realized it was good I didn’t get a room there because the motel was not well situated.

 

I got a camper at the Oasis Resort just across the Deschutes River.  Riding through town it was obvious that Maupin was based on fly fishing and rafting.  My camper was interesting because it had no running water.  So, I had to use a shared bathroom that was just a few steps from my camper.  My bike and gear pretty much filled the interior of my camper.

 

By the time I got to Maupin I had decided I should take a rest day.  I wasn’t sure I needed one but my next stay is in Antelope which only has a campground which would not be a good place to take a rest day.  So shortly after I pulled into this resort, I met Jackie, the manager.  I asked about upgrading my accommodation.  There was nothing else available for today but she booked a regular cabin for me for tomorrow.  Turns out Jackie was a delight to interact with.   She was just a positive bundle of energy.

 

I also learned that this place had a restaurant.  They opened at 4 pm for dinner and 8 am for breakfast.  So about 4:30 I stopped by and had their pepperoni pizza bread which was good.  It came in 4 pieces so I ate 3 and saved one for later.

 

I also checked out a mini-mart nearby that had breakfast sandwiches that I could use for a quick breakfast for Monday morning.

 

Day 8: Sep 8 - Maupin, OR

 

The restaurant didn’t open until 8:00 for breakfast so I decided to walk to a coffee shop in town.  It was 0.7 miles to walk which wasn’t a big deal but it required climbing 200 feet and that was more taxing.  I got a breakfast sandwich, pumpkin muffin, and coffee and settled in for a while.  The Wi-Fi access at my trailer was marginal but it was good here.

 

After a couple hours I left and picked up a few things at the grocery store on my way back.  I needed a few things because I was expecting to be camping in Antelope tomorrow since there was just a campground.  I wasn’t even sure there was any food but there was a service station so there was some hope.

 

Walking back, it already felt pretty warm and the high was expected to be about 92F. And today there wasn’t the cloud cover of yesterday.  So today was a good day to not be riding.   Tomorrow was forecast for a high of 86F and then temps were forecast to drop into the 70s.

 

Yesterday when I signed up for another day, I was able to get a regular cabin for only $16 more than my trailer.  Just before noon I moved into my new digs.  It wasn’t a big cabin but there was enough room for my bicycle with panniers.  More importantly, it had a private bathroom which was my biggest consideration.  Then on top of that, the cabin was near the restaurant so I had very good Wi-Fi access.

 

After moving in I walked to the nearby mini-mart and picked up a sandwich for lunch and a breakfast burrito and egg sandwich for breakfast in the morning.  Later I got another sandwich for dinner.  It was really nice having a mini-mart nearby.

 

Day 9: Sep 9 - Antelope, OR [34.5, 5:15:11, 6.6 mph, 29.6 max, +3,281', -1,601']

 

I was up at 5:00 and made breakfast with my breakfast burrito, egg sandwich, and a bear claw.  I didn’t leave until about 7:15 on a cool morning where I wore my light jacket.

 

I enjoyed staying over in Maupin and was really glad that I didn’t stay at the Deschutes Motel.  The Oasis Resort was a much better location.

 

I left town on the Bakeovern Rd which did a switchback climb of 900 feet to get out of the Deschutes River water drainage.  There were great views looking back as I climbed out of the drainage.  Unfortunately, at one point I turned to get a better view looking back and my bike fell over, landing on me.  Somehow, I managed to jam my rib cage.  I’m guessing my rib cage landed on my left elbow.  I did something like that once before and ended up with painful ribs.  I wasn’t sure how painful this was going to end up being.

 

My route today was to Antelope where there was a campground that catered to cyclists.  There was a hotel in Shaniko but it was only 25 miles away.  If I had stayed there, it would have left a longer ride to Fossil tomorrow.  So, I elected to stay in Antelope which basically divided the route to Fossil in half.

 

After I climbed out of the drainage, it was mostly rolling, yellow hills with some sagebrush.  There were only a couple of farms on the way to Shaniko.  But as I was riding along another cyclist out on a day ride caught up with me.  Reed said he had ridden across the country 7 times, both supported and unsupported.  I asked why not 8 times?  Anyway, we chatted for a while and then he took off since I was much slower than him.  Later, I saw him on the way back.

 

Around 10:00 I stopped for my second breakfast when there was a tree along the road that provided shade.  I used my granola with powdered milk along with a couple of bear claws.

 

Back on the road I just cranked out the miles to Shaniko.  It was pretty warm with the sun out and no clouds.  My guess is the temp was in the mid-80s.  I drank a fair amount of water to keep hydrated.

 

When I got to Shaniko around 12:30, I discovered there were public restrooms around the corner of the Shaniko Hotel.  I filled my water bottles and made a donation in a drop box between the his/her doors.

 

After Shaniko it was a little climbing and then about a 4-mile descent down switchbacks to get to Antelope.  It was very scenic.

 

There was basically nothing in Antelope except this primitive campground where you could just throw up a tent wherever.  There were 2 portable toilets and no shower facility.  However, there was an honor refrigerator that was stocked with some cold drinks and a few snacks.  Folks were expected to pay $2 per drink/snack on their honor.

 

While the campground was primitive, work was underway to transfer it into something much better.  There were some A-frames that had been transported from another location but didn’t have power or water yet.  Nevertheless, when I called to get situated, I asked if I could use one of the A-frames.  That would allow me to just roll my bike inside and throw my sleeping bag on one of the 2 mattresses inside. Brandy, the owner, agreed that would be okay and I said I would pay $35 to use one.  I did have to pay cash since they didn’t take credit cards, just Venmo which I wasn’t set up to use.  Brandy said she would be by later around 6:20.

 

Later, as I was sitting outside, Mark, the campground host, wandered by wondering what was going on since my bike wasn’t in sight.  He actually got a text from Brandy explaining the situation which he didn’t see until I explained the set up.  Then Mark gave me a history of a lot of the surrounding area.  Mark was also working on transforming this primitive area into a real campground but I think he was just looking for someone to talk to.  That was okay since I didn’t really have anything else to do.  One particular topic of interest were forest fires in the area.  There is one between Fossil and Spray that might force me to take an alternate route.  I expect I will find out when I am in Fossil tomorrow.

 

After Mark left, I set about cleaning up.  I used one of the outhouses to just wipe myself down to get rid of the sweat and sun tan lotion.  That worked pretty well and I felt much cleaner.

 

Later, Brandy stopped by as she said she would be to pick up her kids.  I paid $40 - $35 for the A-frame and $5 for drink/snacks from the honor refrigerator.  Unfortunately, Brandy had bad news.  She said the road to Fossil had just been closed due to fire.  That threw a big monkey wrench into my travel route.  It looked like I would have to head north but I slept on it.

 

Day 10: Sep 10 - Moro, OR [46.9, 5:23:55, 8.7 mph, 27.8 max, +1,873', -2,513']

 

It was a difficult sleeping night.  Aside from worrying about changing my travel route, my rib injury bothered me some.  It was particularly an issue when I rolled to a different side.  I had to move very carefully to minimize the pain.  Considering all of that, it probably was a good night's sleep.

 

When I woke up, I checked the tripcheck.com website that Brandy had pointed me to.  There was a status update last night but the update said the road was still closed as I expected.  Looking at a map, it looked like Wasco was the obvious destination.  However, it was 60 miles and over 3,000 feet of climbing so I was reluctant to take that on.  In any event, I needed to retreat 8 miles back to Shaniko.

 

I didn’t leave until a little after 8:00.  It was a 900-foot climb at 5-6% grade to get back to Shaniko where there was a historic hotel.  I thought it might make sense to stay there for the night and plan my new routing.  When I got back to the hotel, I was disappointed to see that their cafe was closed even though it advertised opening from 9-5.  The hotel entrance was also locked with a sign for who to call.  This shouldn’t have been too surprising since they probably didn’t have many customers this time of the year during the week.

 

For some reason, I checked the route going north to Wasco and discovered there was a motel in Grass Valley and it was only 38 miles.  I decided that shouldn’t be too difficult so I headed north on 97.  97 was a major road with high-speed traffic and a lot of big trucks.  The shoulder varied from a marginal 2 feet to 5 feet.  There was less climbing than I thought there would be.  However, the scenery was the same as yesterday, with yellow fields/hills.

 

One problem with this route was there was no shade.  So, when I came to Kent and there was an old, long closed service station, I found relief under the gas pump overhang and stopped there for some food.

 

Grass Valley was 28 miles from Shaniko whereas I thought it was 38 miles.  However, I didn’t see a motel when I rode through town.  When I stopped at the town park and checked my google maps, I discovered the motel was actually in Moro, 10 more miles down the road.  At that point I called ahead to make sure I could get a room because there was an RV park in Grass Valley that allowed some camping.  I connected with the motel manager and discovered he was a talk-a-holic.  He just went on and on and I was beginning to wonder if they had a room.  They did have a room and got one at a discounted rate of $70 although I wasn’t sure why I got a discount.  Maybe because I was traveling by bicycle.

 

It was another 10 miles to Moro which took about an hour.  When I talked to the motel manager on the phone, he said the motel was L-shaped and he was giving me that last room on the L like it was a desirable room.  I challenged that some, pointing out how the room farthest from the office often had the weakest Wi-Fi signal.  I was assured that was not a problem.  Of course, the first thing I checked in my room was the Wi-Fi signal and it was very weak.  Fortunately, they moved me to another room closer to the office where, surprise, the signal was noticeably stronger.

 

There was only a single grocery/deli store in town and I made a beeline for it after cleaning up because it closed at 6:00.  I bought stuff for eating now and again for breakfast.  The deli was a disappointment with almost nothing available but they did have some sandwiches.  In the end I got enough food to survive through breakfast.

 

After satisfying my stomach I looked over routing options.  Before the trip I had looked at some routing in the event of fire issues on my planned route.  I had looked at Wasco-Condon-Heppner-Ukiah.  Unfortunately, the Condon-Heppner section looked iffy so I ruled that out.  I settled on Moro-Biggs Junction-Arlington-Heppner-Ukiah.  The bad part of this was Biggs Junction-Arlington was 34 miles on the Interstate but there wasn’t really any way to avoid the Interstate.

 

Day 11: Sep 11 - Arlington, OR [51.7, 4:33:30, 11.4 mph, 29.2 max, +965', -2,431']

 

I wasn’t looking forward to today’s ride.  First, there was a chance of rain in the morning.  Then it was 34 miles on the Interstate from Biggs Junction to Arlington.  As it turns out, it was a nice ride, way beyond expectations.

 

I ate breakfast in my room.  I had an egg sandwich and cinnamon roll from the grocery store and I had a cereal breakfast as well.  Then I waited until just after 8:00 for the rain to clear out.

 

It was cool, in the 50s to start with a high projected in the mid-60s, much cooler than the past few days.  It was 18 miles to Biggs Junction, mostly flat and downhill as the road lost 1,700 feet of altitude to get back to the Columbia River Gorge.  There was one modest climb of a mile or so.  At the crest of the climb, you could see wind turbines all over the area, some on the other side of the river.  I gave up trying to count but I’m sure there had to be hundreds.

 

When I got to Biggs Junction, I stopped at a McDonalds for an egg McMuffin and coffee, which I figured was the last food/drink I would get until Arlington.  Then I had to get on I84 the rest of the way.  Actually, I learned I could have headed east for 5 miles on a frontage road to Rufus and then got on I84.

 

As expected, the Interstate was very noisy but the Gorge scenery was great and I had a good tailwind, projected to be 10-20 miles from the west.  I cruised along about 12 mph since the road was basically flat until about 7 miles from Arlington when the road had to head inland.  There was a 1.5 mile, 4-5% grade climb and then a descent to Arlington.

 

While the ride to Arlington was scenic through the Columbia River Gorge, the scenery was marred somewhat by the concrete dividers that separated the interstate.  There was also some rain to the east that passed by as I got near.  When I had to head inland near Arlington, I started to drag so I stopped and inhaled some sugar wafers to give me a boost.

 

I had a room reserved at the Arlington Inn which had good Wi-Fi.  It was also close to a pizza place, a food mart, and a grocery store.  I ordered a pepperoni pizza and while that was cooking, I got a cold drink at the food mart and some food at the grocery store.  As it turned out, the pizza was a bit too much.  I rarely say that but I had trouble finishing it.  Part of the problem was it was a Pepperoni Lovers pizza and it had way too much pepperoni that made it way too salty.

 

After satisfying my hunger, I did more research on my route to Heppner.  I thought I was going to have to ride about 10 more miles on I84 to get to the turnoff to OR74 to get to Heppner.  But a closer look showed I could head south from Arlington and cut over to OR74, bypassing I84.  I called ahead and got a room in Heppner which the motel owner said had just freed up due to a cancellation.  With that I was set to live to ride another day.

 

What started out as a ride I faced with trepidation turned out to be maybe the best ride of the trip at that point, due mainly to the outstanding Gorge scenery.  And it didn’t hurt that I84 was mainly flat with a tailwind.

 

Day 12: Sep 12 - Heppner, OR [45.3, 5:12:37, 8.7 mph, 30.3 max, +2,425', -912']

 

The motel advertised free breakfast but when I showed up all they had was orange juice, coffee, and honey buns.  Not exactly breakfast.  Fortunately, the food mart was just a short walk away.  I grabbed a couple egg sandwiches and milk for my cereal. That made a substantial breakfast.

 

I left around 7:30, heading south on my way to Heppner.  In 4 miles I took the turn off to Fourmile Road which started with a little less than a mile of a steep climb to get up on the plateau. After 8 miles my directions said to continue on Fourmile Road.  This was confusing because the road appeared to curve to the left but I checked my Organic Maps and it showed straight ahead.  Surprisingly, straight ahead was on a gravel road which I didn’t expect.  It was okay gravel but not the same as paved. 

 

This gravel lasted for 3.5 miles and then I turned on to Palmateer Road which was also gravel but was expected.  This gravel lasted for 2.5 miles and then changed to pavement.  After a mile and a half, the road dead ended at OR74 and I took that the rest of the way south to Heppner.  In a few miles I stopped in Ione for milk for my second breakfast.

 

OR74 wasn’t a great cycling road because it had virtually no shoulder.  Worse, they were repainting the lines on the road so the white line was repainted.  I needed to stay clear of the white line and I couldn’t do that by riding the miniscule shoulder.  So, I rode inside the white line which wasn’t a problem since there wasn’t much traffic.

 

OR74 passed along the edge of a long valley with irrigated fields.  The irrigated fields contrasted sharply with the yellow hills.  It was nice scenery.

 

After I passed through the small town of Lexington, the shoulder became a more legitimate 2-3 feet and I started riding the shoulder.  About this same time, I started getting rather fatigued and I couldn’t understand why.  Yesterday had been a fairly easy day and today really wasn’t hard.  So why was I getting fatigued?  Maybe it was because I didn’t sleep very well last night.

 

In any event, I decided I needed a rest day, particularly since the Heppner-Ukiah route was over 4,000 feet climbing.  Taking a rest day was also a good thing because I didn’t want to get into La Grande until Sunday, after the Pendleton Roundup was over.  I wanted to avoid any motel issues with overflow from Pendleton.  However, I was very concerned whether I could take another day at the Northwestern Motel in Heppner.  When I called for a reservation yesterday, I was told I could get a room because someone had just canceled a reservation.  And when I rode into town the motel showed No Vacancy.  Fortunately, when I checked in, I was told I could stay another night but I would have to change to another room tomorrow.  This was no big deal, particularly since the other room was next door to my current room.

 

After cleaning up I walked through town checking out the services.  This was just a couple of blocks.  Some of the food places were only open on the weekend which was understandable in a small town.  After the walk through I took a short nap.  That seemed to help.  Later I ate at the tavern in town and had a decent barbecue beef sandwich.

 

So, I have an off day tomorrow which will hopefully clear up my fatigue, especially if I can get a good sleep.

 

Day 13: Sep 13 - Heppner, OR

 

I was already up when shortly before 7 am I got a knock on my door.  It was the motel guy telling me that my room next door was ready for me to move into.  That was great timing, getting this out of the way first thing in the morning and having that out of the way.  The new room actually had 2 beds, a king and a queen.  This room had a little more space so I was happy with it.

 

I walked next door to the food mart and they had a bacon and egg burrito but only one so I had one.  Later I walked to Murray’s Espresso which was really several stores including this coffee shop.  I had coffee along with a big cinnamon roll that had my name on it.  Then I sat down and did some more travel planning.

 

After an hour or so I decided it was time to do some laundry at the only laundromat at the other end of town, easy walking distance.  However, this laundromat was rather decrepit.  There was no soap in the soap dispenser and there was no change machine to get quarters.  Fortunately, I had more than enough quarters and I got a single soap package for $1 at the Dollar Store across from my motel.

 

Walking back after doing laundry, I got a scare.  I discovered I could barely walk because my left knee was hurting.  This knee isn’t quite right but it never bothers me when cycling and at most it is a little annoying sometimes when I walk, but this was different.  I limped to Murray’s Espresso again, hoping the walk would stretch it out.  That didn’t work so I got a bag of ice at the grocery store and iced the knee down, hoping that would do the trick.

 

Day 14: Sep 14 - Cutsforth Campground, OR [21.3, 3:56:16, 5.4 mph, 30.5 max, +2,375', -190']

 

I didn’t sleep well, probably due to worrying whether I would be able to ride today with my bad knee.  After I ate, I iced my knee for about another hour.  I had hoped something might become available at the motel but no luck on a Saturday night.  I waited until 8:00 when the pharmacy opened and bought a knee brace, hoping that would help.

 

Leaving town, I had to immediately climb for a mile to get out of the current valley and into the next valley.  It was somewhat painful cycling since my knee didn’t want to come all the way up on the up stroke but I stuck with it.

 

After climbing out of the previous valley I descended into the next valley.  The route was much like yesterday. It hugged the east side of the valley which was scenic just like yesterday.  Today’s route to Ukiah was 47 miles with 4,300 feet of climbing.  Initially, it was easy going with a gentle grade.  Around 10:30 I stopped along the road for my second breakfast.

 

Then the climbing began in earnest.  It was generally a 4-5% grade which wasn’t too bad except it never let up.  It was slow going at 4-5 mph.  I kept doing mental arithmetic, estimating when I might arrive in Ukiah and it wasn’t encouraging.  Of course, estimating wasn’t that easy because the route basically climbed for 26 miles, was flat for a while, and then descended.

 

I was encouraged that my knee was doing fairly well although I worried what my knee would feel like tomorrow and maybe I was doing harm.  I had thoughts that maybe I needed to hitch a ride.  If someone had stopped and asked if I wanted a lift I probably would have accepted.

 

After about 14 miles the road started climbing out of the valley and the scenery changed to a forest lined route.  I kept fantasizing that someone would stop and insist I accept a ride.  At one point, the passenger in a pickup truck stuck his arm out and enthusiastically pumped it and then finished with a thumbs up.  Little did he know how I wished he would stop and offer a ride.

 

Then after 21 miles and over 2,000 feet of climbing the Cutsworth County Park came into view.  I had noticed when investigating the route that there was a campground but I thought it was just a basic, primitive campground.  However, this was anything but primitive.  So, I decided it was time to call it a day.  Otherwise, I would either get in late, possibly messing up my knee, or have to hitch a ride.

 

I think it was a good decision.  The place had an amiable campground host who got me set up.  The place even had 2 cabins but they were booked, no surprise on a nice Saturday.  So, I got a tent site and used my tent for the first time in at least a couple of years.  However, I had to do some surgery on the shock corded tent poles which had lost their elasticity.

 

Then I cleaned up and wrote my notes for the day.  This was a harder day than expected.  However, my knee handled the day pretty well.  At the end of the day, it felt almost normal.  I could only hope it would feel that good tomorrow morning.

 

Day 15: Sep 15 - Ukiah, OR [26.4, 3:22:49, 7.8 mph, 29.5 max, +1,785', -2,585']

 

It was 8:30 before I was ready to leave.  This reminded me how much easier it is to pack up and leave by staying in a motel rather than camping. 

 

Leaving, it was an immediate 2.5-mile climb of 5-7% grade.  It was hard enough that my sun glasses fogged up that I had to remove them to be able to see.  After a short descent, it was another 2.5-mile climb but not quite as steep.  After that there was a little more climbing but mostly it was flat and then descending to Ukiah.  Along the way the road name changed to FR-503 but nothing else changed.

 

This was supposedly a scenic byway but for most of the way it was just riding along a road lined with trees.  It was also cool and cloudy and I was somewhat chilled with a short sleeve jersey and light jacket.  I should have changed to something warmer but I was too lazy to do that.

 

As I neared Ukiah, the landscape became scenic as it opened up and then there were yellow hills in the distance with green forests surrounding the hills.  This was scenic.

 

I rolled into Ukiah just before noon.  There was an RV campground on the far end of town with cabins.  I rented one for $75.  It was basic with 2 small beds and the standard fridge and microwave.  The one thing it lacked was a chair so I had to do my Internet checking while standing up by a small shelf.

 

There was a small cafe in the middle of this small town and I had a good hamburger there.  There was a grocery store where I got a few things for breakfast but they didn’t have any egg sandwiches and they didn’t have any cereal choices that appealed to me.

 

Back at the ranch I cleaned my bicycle chain.  It also rained later and this was forecasted to last into the morning, complicating my intent to ride to La Grande tomorrow.

 

Day 16: Sep 16 - Le Grande, OR [53.9, 6:27:57, 8.3 mph, 31.1 max, +1,952', -2,428']

 

I used the last of my cereal and a cinnamon roll I picked up at the grocery store yesterday for breakfast.  I still had 2 small bananas and 2 breakfast claws that I expected to need today since the route to La Grande was 54 miles with 2,300 feet of climbing.  The first 23 miles were a gradual uphill and most of the climbing.  The good news was the weather forecast now looked good as they weren’t predicting rain like they were yesterday.

 

I liked my cabin except there was no place to sit except on the bed.  Yesterday with predicted rain for the early hours until about 9 am, I was concerned about a late start for a fairly difficult ride.  Without rain in the forecast, I left just after 7 am.  It turned out there was some rain but it never rained on me except for a couple of sprinkles.  But I could tell there was rain because the road was wet in places.

 

The first 23 miles weren’t hard climbing miles, mostly 1-2% grade until the last couple of miles which were 4-6% grade.  The problem was it was a relentless gradual uphill climb with no relief.  After a couple of hours, I took a short break and fueled up for more riding.  Then I took short breaks every hour and that seemed to keep my legs in reasonable shape.

 

The road followed the Camas Creek upstream and was fairly scenic with little traffic.  To fuel the ride to the summit, I ate 2 breakfast claws, a banana, and a package of sugar wafers.  I was dressed in tights, a long-sleeved jersey, and my light jacket.  This worked until late afternoon when the sun finally took over.

 

I reached the Blue Mountain Summit at 4,884 feet just before noon.  The descent began with a nice 4-mile descent with speeds of 25-30 mph for most of it.  Then there was one more significant climb of about a mile.  The rest of the way was mostly a gradual descent.  The landscape also opened up after the summit and was more scenic.  At one point there was a wide valley with several ranches.

 

Eight miles from La Grande I had to get on the Interstate for about 6 miles until the turnoff on US30 that led into town just before 3 pm.  When I got into town, I stopped at a Mobile Food Mart and grabbed the last chicken chipotle wrap that was very good.

 

When I had checked out motels, I had my eye on either a Rodeway or Travelodge.  The Rodeway was next to the Mobil and the Travelodge was at the other end of town.  I called the Travelodge and they quoted $106 plus tax with no senior discount.  So, I walked next door and got a room for $20 less including a senior discount.

 

Then when I got in my room, I immediately whipped out my chromebook to check the Wi-Fi.  I couldn’t get connected even when I moved outside.  I thought I was going to have to complain but then found I could connect with my smartphone.  Then when I went back into my room, I found my chromebook had finally connected with a decent signal and all was well.

 

After cleaning up, I walked back to the Mobil.  I had gotten the last chicken chipotle wrap but had noticed there was a chicken bacon wrap.  I decided I should grab it for later but another guy grabbed it just before I could lay claim.  Then when I talked to the person behind the counter, she said she could make another chicken chipotle wrap if I could wait a few minutes.  I grabbed a few other things and then my newly made wrap and settled in my room.

 

Although the day was cool it was fine for cycling.  It was a fairly hard ride but I expected the next 2 days to be fairly easy rides - La Grande to North Powder and North Powder to Baker City.  In theory I could probably do this 2-day ride in 1 day but it was more than I wanted to bite off.

 

The next few days were inspired by Wayne Estes’s Northeast Oregon bike tour report at https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/northeastoregon/introduction/ which included the

Grande Tour Scenic Bikeway – Cycle Oregon.  This figure 8 route starts in La Grande and returns at Baker City.

 

 

Day 17: Sep 17 - North Powder, OR [30.9, 3:30:50, 8.8 mph, 30.5 max, +1,083', -564']

 

The Mobil Station had hot breakfast sandwiches so I grabbed a couple and a coffee and had a quick breakfast.  Yesterday they were predicting some showers in the morning but today looked good.  I left around 7:30.

 

The ride today was an easy day, 30 miles to North Powder with about 1,000 feet of climbing.  An easy day compared to the last few days.  It was actually only 42 miles to Baker City if I had been willing to ride the Interstate but I opted to take the scenic route instead which was almost 60 miles.  Rather than kill myself to do that in a single day I broke this up into 2 easy days.  Last night my legs were really tired but today they seemed fine.

 

I left town riding 30 to where it rejoined I84.  I continued straight on 203 which took me all the way to Union.  It was a flat 15 miles with some tailwind and an enjoyable ride compared to all the climbing of the last few days.

 

It was cool and overcast but the Blue Mountains to my left and right were still scenic although I am sure they would have been pretty brilliant if the sun were out.

 

In Union I did a little shopping at a grocery store and then had a cinnamon roll with chocolate milk at a food mart.

 

When I left town on 237, I started some climbing.  It wasn’t particularly hard.  It was also nice that there was little traffic.  At one point some guy was driving behind me and making no attempt to pass me.  The road was a little curvy but it would only have taken a few seconds to pass me if he hadn’t decided to lag rather far behind.  Eventually, another car pulled up behind him and I thought that might pressure the guy to pass.  I finally gave up and used an arm motion to get him to pass.

 

This section of the road was scenic.  Then as I made the final descent to town there was a great panoramic view of the Blue Mountains on the other side.

 

In town, I stopped at the North Powder Motel, the only motel in this small town.  When I approached the office, the door started opening and I thought the manager had seen me coming.  Instead, she was opening the door to let her cat out.  Then I saw the manager was an elderly woman who must have been in her 90s.  She was fairly talkative, telling me her customers were hunters, fishers, skiers, and cyclists.  She mentioned that some cyclists came over the mountain to get to her place.  A little more conversation revealed that she thought the route I took from Union to her motel was over the mountain.  While there certainly was some climbing it wasn’t what I considered a mountain.

 

As I was leaving the office, the proprietress pointed to a large pair of black shoes, probably about size 12, outside right by the office door.  She said she put the shoes there hoping that anyone who saw them would infer there was a large person inside, rather than a frail, diminutive person.

 

After cleaning up I walked a short distance where there was a cafe near the Interstate.  I had a good hamburger/fries.  When I was paying my bill at the register, I saw they were selling humongous cinnamon rolls for $5.95.  Turns out this cafe is open for breakfast at 6:00 and I planned to be there.  Otherwise, I most likely would have purchased one of those cinnamon rolls.

 

This motel was okay except that its Wi-Fi was very weak.  The signal would just come and go and sometimes disconnect.  But I didn’t have any option and I was reluctant to push a 90+ year old woman to do better.

 

Day 18: Sep 18 - Baker City, OR [29.5, 3:33:40, 8.3 mph, 19.6 max, +476', -423']

 

The day started off with a difference - a sit-down breakfast at the North Powder Cafe which opened at 6:00 am.  This was the first sit down breakfast since I left Portland.  There was one guy already there at 6:15. Unfortunately, he had a headset and proceeded to talk the entire time he was there.  Most of the talk was probably business but he did say at one point that he needed to hang up because his sister was on the other line.

 

These were the first pancakes for the trip.  I ordered the single pancake, ham, eggs, and potatoes meal.  However, I was concerned the lone pancake might be too small so I asked the waitress.  She seemed to indicate the pancake was not especially large so I ordered a second pancake.  Then when my meal was delivered, I saw that was a mistake.  The pancakes were certainly large and I wouldn’t have ordered a second pancake if I had known.  Usually, the waitress will caution me and suggest that might not be a wise move.  But I did my duty and finished the meal, knowing I wasn’t going to be needing a second breakfast today.

 

It was a chilly morning so I waited until 8 to leave when the temp was right at 50F. Today promised to be another easy day, not quite 30 miles with not even 500 feet of climbing.  I rode west out of town for a few miles and then turned south on the Anthony Lakes Hwy which eventually turned into Pocahontas Rd.  These 2 roads headed mostly south but a couple of times headed east for a short way before turning south again.  Any climbing was just a modest 1-2% grade.

 

The scenery was very nice.  As I headed south the Blue Mountains paralleled the road to the west.  There were ranches and farms between the road and the mountains, making for a pastoral setting.  It was a tranquil setting that made for an enjoyable ride.  The only thing that marred the ride was the initial part of the Pocahontas Rd was coarse chip seal but that was a minor annoyance.

 

Eventually, Pocahontas Rd turned east and intersected with 10th street where I turned south.  After a mile or two I picked up Cambell St west that took me all the way to the Interstate where I had a reservation at a Super 8.  However, since it was right around noon, I was told I couldn’t check in until 2 pm (regular check in was 3 pm) unless I wanted to pay a $30 charge.  I passed on that and retraced my steps a few blocks to the Coffee Corral where I hung out until I could check in.

 

This coffee shop turned out to be a good place to hang out.  While I was there a guy asked me if I was riding the Transamerica Route. I was surprised to learn that the route passed through Baker City which was why I got asked, given my loaded bicycle.  Later, I checked and found the route not only passed through Baker City but that it also proceeded along the same route I had planned for getting me to McCall, ID.

 

At 2 pm I got checked into my room that was on the first floor.  Right near my room I found there was a guest laundry with a single washer & dryer.  So, I did a load of laundry since it was so convenient.  I also checked riding cues for the next 2 days, to Huntington and then to Ontario.  These directions were more complicated than usual in order to avoid the Interstate as much as possible.  So, I asked the front desk if they could print the cue sheets and they were able to do that when I emailed them to the front desk as pdf files.

 

Next, I called the Wayne and Dottie’s Cabins in Huntington to make sure I had a place to stay tomorrow since that was my only option except possibly an RV Park, one which didn’t have any tent site.  I had no problem getting a reservation but found I would have to pay $80 in cash and there was no Wi-Fi.  There was, however, a small store nearby, open from 6am to 8pm which would suffice for food.

 

Next, I worked on a one-way car rental from Boise to Grand Junction.  The problem with this rental was I wanted a hatchback or something with fold down rear seats so I could get my bicycle in the car.  I wanted to get a National Car Rental because they allowed you to pick your car from what was available when you showed up for your reservation.  However, there was no way with an online reservation to communicate what I needed.  I tried calling the National customer service which was no help.  Obviously, the customer service rep was almost certainly not a USA person since she didn’t appear to know what a hatchback was.

 

So, I gave up on that and called National directly at the Boise Airport where I was quoted a $337 rate which I learned was a single day rate, rather than the weekly rate I wanted.  A weekly rate would have been $2,000 which was silly since the online weekly rate wasn’t that much more than my daily rate quote.  But the Boise rep did confirm that I would be able to select the vehicle at the airport.  I could only hope that I would be able to get an acceptable vehicle.  Interestingly, when I first made my online reservation, I picked an SUV since I knew that would work but then discovered I had forgotten to make the reservation a one-way rental.  So, I had to cancel the reservation and when I changed it to a one-way rental the SUV was not an option.

 

So, this one-way rental experience was decidedly not fun.  To make it worse, the National website was just terrible.  Their labels for their data fields were awful, something you would expect from an engineer type who was inexperienced with a good user interface.  As an example, the data field for entering where to pick up the car was labeled “COMMON_LOCATION_LABEL*” and the data field for the pickup date was labeled “COMMON_PICK_UP_LABEL*”.  It is hard to believe a national car rental would have such a poor website.

 

One good thing about the Super 8 was that it was located right next to a Love’s service station.  Love’s has a variety of food stuffs beyond the usual junk food.  There is a variety of hot and cold sandwiches that you don’t find in the other service stations.  In my case, I had a buffalo chicken wrap that was pretty good.

 

Today was the second really good day of cycling.  The scenery provided by the Blue Mountains was really nice and the riding was fairly easy.

 

Day 19: Sep 19 - Huntington, OR [48.4, 5:20:27, 9.1 mph, 24.4 max, +1,030', -2,247']

 

One of the things I like about Super 8 is they have a real free breakfast.  I had a waffle and several bowls of oatmeal.  They also had scrambled eggs but they were rather lukewarm.  This all made for a filling breakfast.

 

I left at 8:00 when the temp was 50F but promised to warm up to the 70s as part of a warming up trend.  On the way I stopped at a bank to get some cash since my cabin in Huntington was going to require $80 in cash.

 

It was an easy ride through the downtown, also the historic part of Baker City.  It didn’t look like there was a real rush hour.  It was 45 miles to Huntington with the goal of avoiding the Interstate as much as possible.  For the most part that meant riding Old Hwy 30.  Of course, I managed to start the day off by missing the turn on to Old Hwy 30.  The tip off was when what I thought would lead me to Old Hwy 30 did a U-turn which would have sent me back to town.  At that point I checked OM and saw where I missed the turn and how it should have been obvious.  Fortunately, I didn’t go too far out of my way and backtracking was easy.

 

Since I had defined the route in RWGPS, I had the cues printed on a sheet of paper and placed on my aero bar platform for easy viewing.  As it turned out, after 28 miles I had to get on the Interstate although my cue sheet didn’t say something obvious like “enter the Interstate at 28 miles.”  However, it was obvious that it was necessary because I rode through a scenic canyon that was just wide enough for the Interstate and the railroad track.

 

What was really confusing was when to leave the Interstate.  The cue sheet said “Keep right and ride toward Rye Valley.”  That sure seemed to imply exiting the Interstate but there was nowhere to go.  So, I got back on the Interstate for another 2 miles where the cue sheet said “Keep right and ride toward Lime.”  This made sense because this got me on the Oregon Trail Boulevard that took me the rest of the way to Huntington.  Apparently, the Rye Valley direction was spurious and shouldn’t have been on the cue sheet.

 

The ride was a scenic ride despite leaving the Blue Mountains behind.  There were a lot of yellowish-brown hills with some grazing cattle in the fields.  Traffic was very minimal as Old Hwy 30 paralleled the Interstate.

 

The weather warmed up compared to previous days.  By noon I had to discard my long sleeve jersey in favor of my short sleeve jersey.  Then shortly I had to remove my tights.

 

I ended up riding the Interstate about 11 miles.  One advantage of that was there was a Rest Area that provided a nice break.  However, the soda machines were locked off so I didn’t get a cold drink but the water fountain was reasonably cool.

 

When I entered town, it was easy to find Wayne & Betty’s Cabins since I rode right by them.  However, it was a little early for check-in so I rode another block to the country store which was the only food in town.  I had a milkshake which was refreshing.

 

Shortly after 3 pm I called the cabin # and someone came by shortly to get me settled in cabin #1.  There were 8 cabins which joined together and were really just motel rooms rather than cabins.

 

After cleaning up I returned to the store for a buffalo chicken wrap.  All cleaned up, the guy at the register didn’t recognize me at first.  When he asked what I was doing and I mentioned cycling he realized I was just a better-looking version of who he had seen earlier.

 

One problem with the cabins is they didn’t have Wi-Fi.  When I saw there was Wi-Fi at the store I asked if customers could use it.  He said it wasn’t for customer use but said there was a town park a couple blocks away with free Wi-Fi.  When I walked there, I found there was a public library and that’s where the Wi-Fi originated.  The library was closed on Thursdays but I sat at a table just outside the library and accessed the Wi-Fi fine.  That allowed me to make another Super 8 reservation in Ontario for tomorrow.

 

This was another enjoyable riding day, making 3 in a row.  Although this was almost 50 miles there was little climbing and it was a scenic ride.

 

Day 20: Sep 20 - Ontario, OR [35.3, 3:47:01, 9.3 mph, 36.3 max, +1,253', -1,207']

 

When I woke up and looked outside my back window there was a deer in my neighbor’s front yard.  Didn’t seem too concerned about humans.

 

I walked to the nearby store and was disappointed there were no egg sandwiches.  The only hot stuff they had was junk stuff like corn dogs.  They probably would have had cold breakfast sandwiches but the guy yesterday told me their thing for holding their breakfast sandwiches was broken.  So, I had to make do with a turkey sandwich and banana and coffee.

 

It was already 50F by 7 am and I left before 8 am.  I expected an easy day to Ontario because it was only 35 miles and not much climbing.  However, the day started with a climb.  From my front door I jumped on the Oregon Trail Boulevard which climbed about 2 miles at 4-5% grade.  Interesting, there was a 0.2 mile stretch of the road that was gravel.  Unclear why everything else was paved.  Also interesting is I rode by the high school football field where I learned the high school was the Huntington Locomotives.  Probably because the railroad tracks ran right through the edge of town, just across the road from my cabin.  As I was getting ready to leave there was a train headed north to Baker City.  Yesterday, as I was leaving Baker City there was a train arriving in Baker City.  I assume this was the same train.  This train carried containers where the train I saw later yesterday heading south had mostly oil cars and coal cars.  Those are the only trains I saw in this stretch between La Grande and Ontario.

 

When I reached the top of this climb out of town, I got my first view of the Snake River that separates Oregon and Idaho.  I had to get on the Interstate for a couple of miles before I exited and picked up OR201 east towards Weiser.  I had some views of the Snake for a few miles.  Then I had the crazy incident of the day.  On a curvy stretch of the road some guy came up behind me and honked his horn, apparently wanting me to get out of his way.  For some reason he couldn’t be bothered to pass me, which would have been easily possible, because he didn’t have at least a quarter mile of clear sight.  No one else had this problem.  Truth be told, he was strictly correct that he couldn’t pass me because of a double yellow line.  But the double yellow line made no sense since it was based on normal vehicular traffic, not passing a slow bicycle.  Several times I tried to get the guy to pass by waving my arm.  When the guy finally did pass, the passenger gave the one finger salute.  In turn I gave a 2-word vocal salute.

 

Shortly after this incident the road headed away from the river and through a huge, flat agricultural area.  There were huge fields with several crops.  One crop was mystifying to me because it looked like it was a nursery growing small trees.  A little later a sign explained that this was a hemp field and admonished folks not to touch.

 

I rode probably 10 miles through this agricultural stretch.  Finally, there were some trees along the road that provided shade and I stopped for my second breakfast.  It was also getting quite warm so I dressed down to shorts and short sleeve jersey and loaded up with some sunscreen.

 

Finally, I turned off on Hyline Road which had some modest climbing away from the flat agricultural area.  One thing I noticed was it was common to see portable toilets being hauled around.  Portable toilets made sense because there needed to be something in this vast agricultural area.  At one place folks had finished up with the disking and were preparing a caravan including a portable toilet.  Included in the caravan were 3 large tractors that were going slow enough uphill that I was able to pass all of them.  I raced ahead to get a photo to document this feat.

 

Hyline Road dead ended at Olds Ferry-Ontario Highway which I took the rest of the way into town.  After I passed over the Interstate overpass, I turned on to Washington Street that would lead me to my motel, after stopping for a snack at a Love’s.

 

Traffic was a bit of a mess getting to my Super 8 Motel so I rode the sidewalk for a few blocks.  No one was in the motel office but a call to their contact number got someone to check me in early at 2:30.

 

I was somewhat disappointed with this Super 8.  The free breakfast was in the lobby but there was no room to eat so it would have to be grab and run.  Maybe this was intentional to keep folks like me from tarrying and eating into the profit.  Also disappointing was my room had no hot water.  I tried running the showing for at least 10 minutes and at best it was a little less cool.  I ended up using the shower as a bath where I could more easily control when to douse myself with cool water.

 

Afterwards, I worked on routes for the next 2 days.  Google Maps gave me a good bicycle route to Caldwell tomorrow.  I defined that route in RWGPS because it had a good cue sheet style and I was able to get a printout from the office.  However, the Google Maps bicycle route to my niece's home in Boise was a mess.

 

The motel was right next to a Shell service station where I got a couple of slices of pizza and a cold drink.

 

Day 21: Sep 21 - Caldwell, ID [38.8, 3:52:41, 10.0 mph, 21.7 max, +817', -633']

 

The night turned out to be a disaster.  After sleeping for an hour, I woke up which isn’t unusual.  But then I noticed there was some itching on my back.  This continued the rest of the night and I was unable to sleep.

 

Around 3 am I gave up and worked on a route to my niece’s home in Boise.  After about an hour I noticed that I wasn’t itching.  That led me to believe there was something wrong with the bed linens.  So, I pulled the blanket off of the bed and wrapped myself in it and laid on the carpet floor.  That allowed me to sleep another hour.  I did manage to take a selfie showing red splotches on my back for proof that there was something wrong with the bed in my room.

 

Even though I had slept only a couple of hours I still got up around 5:30. Since the motel breakfast didn’t start until 7:15 I decided to skip that.  Instead, I walked next door to the Shell food mart that was open 24 hours.  I bought a couple of French toast bacon/egg sandwiches and heated them up in my room’s microwave.  They turned out to be pretty tasty.

 

When I left before 8 am, I stopped by the office to have a chat with the manager to get compensation for the night’s debacle.  However, the manager wasn’t around so I got an email address to forward my complaint.

 

I had a route that Google Maps suggested for riding to Caldwell.  It looked pretty good so I defined it in RWGPS and had a printout of the cue sheet.  Basically, the route headed east and then a series of zig zags east and south.  This went pretty well until I tried to figure out where I was supposed to turn left on East Idaho Street.  This turned out to be very confusing even with the use of OMaps.  So, when I saw the Sand Hollow Road, I headed towards it because I had to pick it up sooner or later and I was just picking it up sooner

 

Around 10:30 I found a shady area along the road and stopped for my second breakfast.  When I resumed there was a fair amount of traffic on the Sand Hollow Road, more than I would have liked with the virtually non-existent shoulder.  Unsurprisingly, this road led to Sand Hollow where there was a small store and I stopped for a snack and drink.

 

When I left the road name changed to Old Hwy 30 and that took me most of the rest of the way to Caldwell.  My Budget Inn was located on a frontage road that wasn’t the greatest location.  I also arrived around 1 pm and wasn’t able to check-in earlier than the official 3 pm check-in.  So, I found a coffee shop and killed time there.

 

When I got back to the motel at about 2:45 I was able to check-in.  I was able to get a first-floor room but it was at the end of the building which meant the Wi-Fi wasn’t great.  It would vary from okay to disappeared so it took some patience.  I did manage to fire off a complaint email to the Super 8 management requesting compensation for last night’s debacle.

 

Later I walked back to where the fast-food services were and picked up stuff from Subway and a couple of food marts.  I liked the French Toast bacon/egg sandwiches from this morning so I picked up a couple more to heat up in the morning.

 

In the morning, I needed to head to Middleton for my route to my niece’s house.  I thought that meant backtracking the way I came into town but I noticed I could skip some of the backtracking and head more directly to Middleton.  So, I updated my RWGPS route.

 

Day 22: Sep 22 - Boise, ID [32.6, 3:33:14, 9.2 mph, 21.0 max, +764', -463']

 

I heated up the 2 egg sandwiches I picked up yesterday for breakfast.  It was cool, in the mid-40s so I didn’t leave until 8:30.  I was surprised to discover that my left knee was somewhat painful.  It hurt on the up stroke, similar to how it felt when I first had the problem although it wasn’t as bad.  Then I remembered that I had forgotten to do my little leg stretching this morning and wondered if that made a difference.  On the other hand, my knee was hurting yesterday when I walked back from the fast-food places so maybe it was a result of that walking.

 

I expected today to be a fairly easy day with just over 30 miles to my niece’s home in Boise.  I backtrack part of the way from the way I came in yesterday.  However, once I crossed the Boise River I turned right and rode along the River Road and then Channel Road took me to 44.  This allowed me to cut off a few miles that I would have to ride on 44 to Middleton.

 

Shortly before reaching Middleton, I pulled over at a junction to take an Advil to see if that would relieve the knee pain.  When I started again something didn’t feel right and I stopped and discovered my rear tire was going flat, the first flat of the trip.  I retreated back to the junction to fix the flat.  I found the flat and applied a patch.  Then I reassembled everything and was on my way again.

 

I stopped at a Shell station in town primarily to wash my hands but I also bought another French Toast egg sandwich, my third of the day.  A couple of miles further I took Duff Lane north a mile and picked up Foothill Dr west.  This road, with name changes along the way, would take me all the way to 55 where I would catch Hill Road.  Foothill Dr was great riding with no traffic.  It changed its name to New Hope and that was good too.  When I picked up Beacon Light Road the good riding vanished.  There was much more traffic and mostly no shoulder.  So, I rode south and picked up Floating Feather Road that was much better.  It had much less traffic and a fair shoulder.

 

When I reached the intersection with 55, I rode south and picked up Hill Road which is used by cyclists.  It had a cycling lane to accommodate cyclists and there were a number of cyclists using the road on a nice Sunday afternoon.  When I turned off on North 20th it was an easy ride to my niece’s house.  When I arrived around 1:30 pm, Julia and Thomas were on a call with Luis who is a freshman at Utah University.

 

Day 23: Sep 23 - Cascade, ID [7.7, 0:54:57, 8.4 mph, 18.1 max, +259', -131']

 

It was a lazy morning, killing time until my noon pickup of my rental car.  I planned to leave at 11 for the airport which was only 6 miles away.  However, it was more involved on a bicycle, trying to find a friendly route.  Google Maps did a pretty good job putting together a cycling route.

 

I left about 11:15, made one wrong turn, turning left rather than right but was able to recover okay.  When I got inside the airport, I made a beeline for the rental car stations and immediately saw I had made a mistake.  I rented a National car because they let you pick your car, or so I thought.  However, Enterprise was right next to the National station and I realized I meant to get an Enterprise car because they let you choose the car.

 

But I was stuck now so I told the attendant that I needed a hatchback with folding rear seats so I could get my bicycle in the back.  The attendant said she didn’t think they had a hatchback so she consulted with her supervisor.  Indeed, they didn’t have a hatchback so they offered me a minivan, a Chrysler Pacifica. Although I preferred a smaller car the minivan certainly made the bicycle issue moot.

 

When I got to my minivan, it took a while to figure out how to lower the third row of seats.  I had to consult the owner’s manual and then it was easy.  It was also easy to fold the 2nd row of seats forward and then my bicycle fit in easily.

 

The next problem was how to get to 55 to head north to Cascade/McCall.  I chose to simply retrace my bicycle route because I knew when I got near my niece's house, I knew how to get to Hill Rd which intersected with 55.  Not the most efficient route but one I knew I could make work.

 

I made a mistake and missed turning on to 27th street and ended up on 15th street.  But both headed north to Hill Rd so it didn’t really make a difference.  Hill Rd turned out to be a little more challenging because it had several turns that I messed up but I used my OMaps to get corrected.

 

At Hill and 55 there was an Exxon station where I got a drink for heading north.

 

I had forgotten how scenic the route was north on 55.  I had ridden my bicycle south from McCall to Boise and this resurrected some memories.  However, I found approaching Horseshoe Bend from the south was more dramatic.  Climbing the hill to the approach to Horseshoe Bend led to an amazing view of Horseshoe Bend which sits in a bowl.  Only problem was it was harder to admire in a car since you can’t pull over wherever you feel like.

 

Then after Horseshoe Bend, 55 routed through a canyon as it followed the Payette River.  Again, very scenic.  One problem with this route is it twisting and turning so speeds were often limited to about 45 mph.  There was always the problem that you get stuck behind someone slow and there were few opportunities to pass.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the ride and I wasn’t in a great hurry since my nephew would be working when I got to Cascade.

 

When I got to Cascade, I stopped at a service station to let my nephew know I had arrived.  I used the restroom and then decided I needed to make a purchase.  Then I discovered I didn’t have my wallet.  I searched my car, hoping it had fallen but there was no sign.  At that point I was pretty sure I had left my wallet at the Exxon station earlier.

 

So, I used Google Maps to find the service station but when I pulled it up there was no phone number listed so I could call and check if they had my wallet.  I did some more googling which was difficult because the cell service was virtually non-existent as it came and went.  I did find another entry for the Exxon station but the phone number didn’t work.

 

In somewhat of a panic, I called my niece back in Boise.  She did some research and eventually got a number to contact the Exxon station and they confirmed they had my wallet.  That was an immense relief.  I decided I had no choice but to drive back to Boise to pick up my wallet and then drive back to Cascade.  Although that was annoying, the relief of knowing I could get my wallet made this tolerable.

 

So, I got to enjoy the scenery 3 times on this day.  I arrived at my nephew’s home around 7 pm and was immediately attacked by his rambunctious fox red labrador, Millie.  She was excited beyond bonds, bouncing all around and sniffing my hand.

 

Nick made tacos for me and Genevieve, his daughter, who is a talented McCall high school volleyball player with a big game coming up the next evening.

 

Day 24: Sep 24 - Cascade, ID [35.4, 3:29:33, 10.1 mph, 30.6 max, +2,087', -2,047']

 

Nick showed me a possible bicycle ride up Warm Lake Rd, either a relatively short 9.5-mile ride to the Horsethief Reservoir with 2 miles of dirt road or a longer 17.5-mile ride to the Big Creek Summit with 2,000 feet of climbing. 

 

It was a chilly morning so I didn’t leave until 9:30 am.  I stopped at a service station on my way out of town and got an egg sandwich and pastry.

 

Just out of town I took the Warm Lake Rd.  It was a nice ride, first across the valley and then along a tree lined road.  The first 13 miles were fairly easy with some modest climbing.  Then the last 4 miles to the summit was 5-6% grade with 1,200 feet of climbing.  I had thought there would be views at the summit but there wasn’t much other than a partial view of the mountains in the distance.

 

Returning was fun, mostly descending the way back to town.  In town I stopped at the same service station and had another egg sandwich and a Cliff Bar.  By the time I got back to the house it was around 1 pm.  I cleaned up and then drove to McCall, first to meet with Sabrina, Nick’s ex-wife, and then to go to the big volleyball match with Fruitland.  I had never heard of Fruitland but I discovered later that I had ridden across the northern part of Fruitland when I rode east out of Ontario, OR.

 

I met Sabrina at the North Fork coffee shop that was Sabrina’s favorite.  I was there for close to an hour until Sabrina got off of work.  We spent the time until the volleyball game catching up.  Sabrina, of course, goes to all the volleyball games since her/Nick’s daughter is a talented volleyball player who can jump out of the gym and is a great hitter.

 

This volleyball game was a matchup of the #1 (Fruitland) and #2 (McCall) volleyball teams in 4A (6A the highest).  McCall won the first set but then Fruitland won the next 3 and the overall match.  It was unfortunate that the game was rather embarrassing to watch. It was obvious to me that the team was somewhat dysfunctional.  McCall had 3 sisters, the “quads”, who started who were part of a quadruplet (the other member of the quadruplet was a boy).  There was obvious favoritism with Genevieve getting far fewer sets even though she was easily McCall’s best hitter.  To add to this favoritism, the team’s coach was the aunt of the quads and the assistant coach was the mother of the quads.

 

After the game, Genevieve drove me back to the North Fork coffee shop where I had parked my car.  Then I drove the 30 miles back to Cascade, spending the night again at my nephew’s home.

 

Day 25: Sep 25 - Cascade, ID [19.5, 1:54:29, 10.2 mph, 29.7 max, +758', -728']

 

It was a chilly morning.  I waited until 9:30 to ride to the Horsethief Reservoir.  This route started just like yesterday up the Warm Lake Rd.  There was some climbing but nothing major.  After 7 miles, there was the turn off to the reservoir on a fairly good 2-mile dirt road with some fairly minor washboarding.  There was a large campground that I rode through to see the reservoir with only a few campers.

 

The return trip was quick, mostly downhill.  In town I stopped at the Shell station like yesterday for an egg sandwich and Cliff Bar.

 

Nick pulled up at home around 4 pm for a rafting trip down the Payette River that he had arranged with his work colleague, Doug.  Nick drove his pickup to Doug’s home to hitch up the trailer with Doug’s inflatable raft.  We drove to the Cabarton launch site and slid the raft down the launch pad.  Then Doug and Nick drove to the take out point to leave Nick’s truck there and drive back to the launch site to launch.

 

The river itself was low so it was calmer than would have been the case with normal water level.  Still, it was an interesting float of about 10 miles with some rapids but generally somewhat tame.  We left the river at the Cougar Mountain Lodge just as it was nearly dark, loaded up the raft on the trailer and drove back to Cascade.  An interesting first rafting trip for me.

 

Day 26: Sep 26 - Boise, ID [18.7, 1:33:00, 12.1 mph, 21.0 max, +463', -440']

 

I was up early but I didn’t leave until Nick and Genevieve had left for work and school.  It was another scenic ride through the canyon with another great view of Horseshoe Bend.

 

When I got back to Julia’s house, I unloaded my luggage and then headed out on a fairly short bicycle ride.  The ride was basically heading north to Hill Rd, riding west to just past 55, heading north to Floating Feather, back down 55 to Hill Rd and retracing my route on Hill Rd back home.  A pretty easy, little less than 20-mile ride.

 

Day 27: Sep 27 - Grand Junction, CO [1.5, 0:07:46, 11.5 mph, 15.3 max, +3', -98']

 

 

I was up at 6 and wrapped up my packing.  I carried my panniers upstairs to the back door.  I got my bike out of the garage and put it in the minivan and then loaded the panniers in the minivan.  Thomas made coffee for me and I ate my cereal breakfast using my cereal stash.

 

Everybody was up by the time I left around 7:45 on my drive from Boise to Grand Junction, 960 miles that would take 9-10 hours.  I said my good-byes and took off.  I used my bicycle route to the airport because the airport was right where I could pick up I84 and this was a familiar route if not the fastest route.

 

The drive was easier than I thought.  For the most part there wasn’t that much traffic with the exception of the Salt Lake City stretch where the traffic was a mess.  However, when I took the exit to Hwy 6 at Spanish Fork, the scenery made up for that traffic mess.  Driving up through the mountains was exceptionally scenic and the scenery was good all the way to Green River where I got on I70 to Grand Junction.  Again, the scenery was nice and the traffic was fine.

 

At 5:00 on the dot I pulled into the Super 8 on Horizon Dr near the airport.  When I checked in the attendant was going to give me a second-floor room and then mentioned that the elevator was out.  I said if the elevator was out, they needed to give me a first-floor room since one of the reasons I went with this Super 8 was because I had stayed there several times before and I knew it had an elevator.  So, it was good that the elevator was out because I got a convenient, first floor room.

 

I returned my rental car at the airport which was only a mile and a half away.  Once I found the rental lot the rest was easy since this is a small airport.  Since this wasn’t a busy time, the rental car agencies were using the Enterprise counter for returning cars.  I handed the agent my keys and was on my way.  I rode my bike back to the motel.

 

When I got back to my room, I remembered I needed to buy some eyelid scrubs.  I was going to bike to the Safeway down the road but decided to walk.  I got my scrubs and picked up a sandwich for dinner.

 

Later, I planned my ride out the D S Road where I would climb the Colorado Monument east entrance and then pick up the D S Road which goes all the way to the Utah border.  It is an out and back route and 70 miles roundtrip from the Monument but I would decide how far I wanted to go before turning around.

 

Since I would be climbing the east entrance of the Monument, there was a tunnel where I would need bicycle lights.  So, I pulled out my headlight and attached it to my aero bar cross bar.  However, when I moved the rear tail light to a better location, I discovered I could not turn the light on.  The light would flicker but not stay on.  I figured the AAA batteries were weak so I tried to replace them.  They were almost impossible to get out of the tube-like body but eventually I replaced them but the problem remained.  So, I concluded there was something wrong with the light switch. There wasn’t anything I could do so I hoped I could finesse my way tomorrow despite the light problem.

 

Day 28: Sep 28 - Grand Junction, CO [38.4, 4:10:49, 9.2 mph, 35.9 max, +2,959', -2,982']

 

The main reason I like staying at a Super 8 is they usually have a decent breakfast. The motel breakfast opened at 6:00 and I was first in line.  I had a waffle and 2 bowls of oatmeal for a reasonable breakfast. 

 

It was projected to be a hot day with temps in the low 90s so I left at 7:30 to miss most of the heat.  I got a google maps direction to the Monument which was familiar since I had traveled this route a couple of times before.  Using my Senior Pass I was able to get into the Monument for free.

 

I’ve climbed the east entrance twice before so I was familiar with the steep switchback climb.  I’ve seen the views before but they were still amazing views.  The tunnel wasn’t a long tunnel and I had no problem getting through the tunnel without a working rear tail light.  Several vehicles passed me in the tunnel and no one honked at me.

 

After 4 miles of climbing I took the Glade Park turn off and it was another 5 miles to Glade Park which required some more climbing but nothing major.  The scenery was very different and nothing particularly exciting.  There was a small store at Glade Park which wasn’t scheduled to open until 11:00.

 

I had expected interesting scenery heading west but when I saw the flat terrain looking ahead, I decided I wasn’t interested in riding further.  So, I turned around and shortly picked up the Little Park Road which would make a loop ride. There was a lot of descending on this road to get back to the same elevation as I started on this loop.  The road was bumpy in spots on this winding road so I kept my speed under control.  The primary scenery on this road were several panoramic views of the Grand Valley below.  By the time I completed the loop it was getting pretty warm so it was good timing to be heading back to my motel.

 

Back at the motel I walked next door to the food mart for a small pizza and Gatorade from the drink fountain.  It was just what I needed after 38 miles and 2,900 feet of climbing.

 

After a short nap, I called the owner/manager of the Super 8 Ontario that was responsible for my ruined night a week ago.  They had never responded to my complaint so I had filed a complaint with Wyndam which owned the Super 8 trademark.  However, this particular Super 8 was a franchisee so Wyndam didn’t directly control the unit.  Nevertheless, they said they had contacted the franchisee and made it clear that they expected the franchisee to reach a resolution with me.  The owner/manager said someone would call me on Monday after I gave him my name and the room # (110).  I wasn’t particularly optimistic.

 

At 5 pm I met Kelly and Jacinto, a touring cyclist couple from Rifle, CO, who do a long tour every summer.  I met Kelly a couple years ago in Grand Junction in the same restaurant (a Kelly favorite).  This was the first time I met Jacinto.  We had a good time talking about touring topics and the food was good.

 

Afterwards I planned tomorrow’s ride along the riverfront trail in Grand Junction.  I did this ride a couple years ago.  It is a nice, easy ride where I can end up in downtown.

 

Day 29: Sep 29 - Grand Junction, CO [25.6, 2:25:42, 10.5 mph, 25.1 max, +335', -322']

 

Again, I was first at breakfast at 6:00 and had my usual waffle and oatmeal.  There were noticeably fewer people on a Sunday morning.

 

I left around 7:45 on my planned ride to the east end of the riverfront trail and then reversing course to end up downtown.  The first step was to get to the trail from my motel.  Google maps suggested taking Visitors Way to 28 Rd.  Visitors Way, as you could guess, led to the Information Center and it was just around the corner from the motel.  However, past the center the road was blocked off, but not well enough to stop a cyclist.  This led to 28 Rd which led to Patterson Rd.  Patterson was a major road so I rode a short way on the sidewalk until it had a bicycle lane.  Then I headed south on 29 Rd which led to the start of the trail.

 

I did this ride last year so I was somewhat familiar with the trail heading east.  It was a nice, flat concrete paved route. This was a popular dog walking route so you had to be careful.  When I reached the intersection of D1/2 Rd and 33 1/2 Rd, the end of the trail, I turned around and retraced my ride.

 

When I got back to 29 Rd, I took the underpass to get on the other side and then rode a short way north to C1/2 Rd where the trail resumed on the road.  This took me to downtown where I stopped at the Kiln Coffee Shop on main street.  This was a good people watching spot from the only window in the coffee shop which was occupied by two women.  However, they left almost as soon as I walked in, perhaps cause and effect?

 

I enjoyed my coffee and people watching while perusing the Internet.  I left after about 2 hours and rode back to my motel.  Just south of my motel was a place called My Favorite Muffin.  Kelly had chartered me with an investigation so I had no option but to stop and pick up a pumpkin spice muffin which was very good.  I was happy to fulfill my responsibility for Kelly.

 

Later, I started packing up so that I would be ready to leave in the morning.  The Amtrak station opened at 9 am and the train was due just before 10 am.  My plan was to stop at a bagel shop on main street shortly after it opened at 7 am.  From there it was a short ride to the Amtrak station.

 

An easy, relaxing day with an easy ride on the riverfront trail.

 

Day 30: Sep 30 - Amtrak  [4.5, 0:30:07, 9.0 mph, 16.0 max, +26', -135']

 

I didn’t sleep well for whatever reason.  I finally gave up and got up at 4 am.  I wasn’t the first at breakfast this morning but it didn’t matter.  I didn’t need a big breakfast so I skipped the waffle.  I had cereal, using up the last of my cereal and augmenting it with some cereal from the motel.  I also used up one of my remaining breakfast claws.

 

I waited until 7 am when it was light enough to head to downtown.  I stopped at the bagel shop and was disappointed they didn’t have any pumpkin muffin or bagel so I just had coffee.

 

The Amtrak station opened at 9 am.  I got there a little early and checked in when the station opened.  The station attendant seemed skeptical that I could get my panniers set up to carry on as I have done about a dozen times before.

 

The train was a few minutes late.  The good news was my sleeper car was right behind the baggage car.  That allowed me to use my bicycle to carry my luggage to the sleeper car.  I removed my panniers and handed my bicycle to the luggage guy.  Then I found my sleeper and was ready to roll.

 

The scenery from Grand Junction to Denver is outstanding.  I took a quick shower before the train left so I would miss as little scenery as possible.  When I got to my sleeper, I was disappointed to see trash in my room and no water.  I guessed the attendant might be doing her introductions to the new passengers so I gave her some time.  When she didn’t appear, I pushed the call button.  This didn’t seem to have any effect because the attendant still didn’t appear after at least a half hour.  Finally, I caught the conductor and asked if there was an attendant.  He made a call and that got some results.  I got the trash emptied and 2 bottles of water.  The attendant mentioned that I wasn’t in the room when she wanted to introduce herself.  This was true as I was taking a shower but she never appeared at any time even after pushing the call button.  This was an indication of the poor service I had on this train, in contrast to the good service I had on the train to Portland.

 

Later, the dining car attendant came by to take dinner reservations and I chose 6:00 pm.  Then later my attendant came by asking what I wanted for dinner which was surprising.  I should have questioned that but guessed they were just trying to be more efficient.  So, I was surprised when my attendant showed up some time later with my dinner delivery which I hadn’t asked for.  Not only that, the dinner bag was marked with 21 while my room was 22.  I reiterated that I had a 6:00 dinner reservation.

 

Despite this messed up service the scenery on the way to Denver was great, following the Colorado River much of the way.

 

When I showed up for my 6:00 dinner reservation, I got seated with another young guy and a couple from Germany.  This guy turned out to be the backpacker I saw at the bagel shop earlier.  He said he had hiked the Colorado Trail from Denver to Durango, some 500 miles.  So, it was interesting to talk about his feat and his feet which had taken some abuse on this long-distance hike.  He turned out to be on his way home to Madison, Wisconsin.  He had quit his job and used the in-between jobs time for this hike.

 

I was pleasantly surprised when I got back to my room to see that it was already set up for sleeping, one of the few things that this attendant did right.

 

Since I had slept very little the previous night, I crashed about 8:30.

 

Day 31: Oct 1 - Naperville, IL [1.9, 0:13:07, 8.8 mph, 21.1 max, +79', -49']

 

I wasn’t sure when breakfast started so I showed up at the dining car at 6:00 and learned they didn’t open until 6:30. So I killed time in the observation car until 6:30.  I got grouped with a couple who were returning from a camping trip and an older woman. This turned out to be an enjoyable group.

 

When I returned to my room, it was, no surprise, still a bed.  Sometime later when I caught the attendant in the hall, I asked to have my room restored to sitting.  The attendant said she had a few things to take care of.  Then later, she said it would be another 5 minutes.  Given her history, it was no surprise the 5 minutes was more like 30 minutes.  Eventually, I got my seats back.

 

Since the train was scheduled to arrive mid-afternoon, lunch was scheduled for 10:30 so everything could get wrapped out.  I got grouped with a guy who was an Amtrak employee who was returning with his wife from a Breckenridge visit and another guy.  At first, it looked like this was going to be a group that didn’t talk but then everyone loosened up and it was a nice group.

 

When the train made its last stop in Naperville, it was on time or ahead.  But then we got stuck behind a commuter train and slowed way down.  I only cared about catching the commuter train back to Naperville.  I hoped to catch either the 3:00, 3:10, or 3:30 commuter train.  Ideally, the 3:00 because it was an express train and would get me home before 4:00.  With the slowdown I feared I wouldn’t be able to make the 3:00.  However, despite the slowdown I was easily able to make the 3:00 train except it was late.  Lots of folks were lined up waiting for the train to arrive.  That was a concern because getting my heavy bike up the steps of the train wasn’t easy and would be even harder as everyone was trying to board the train.  Meanwhile, the 3:10 train was on the track nearby so I made the decision to get on it to avoid the crowd.

 

The disadvantage of the 3:10 train was it made every stop along the way to Naperville and took a little over an hour.  But it was a sure thing and I didn’t want to hang around for the 3:30 express train which would actually beat the 3:10 train.  However, I still figured it was better to go with a sure thing rather than hope the 3:30 train would work out.

 

Our 3:10 train was actually ready to leave before the 3:00 train which finally arrived.  I suspected they held the 3:10 train back a few minutes so the 3:00 train could get going first.  In any event, I got off the train in Naperville shortly after 4:00.  Then it was not quite 2 miles to ride home and I was quite happy at that point to be home before 5 pm.

 

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