Eastern Oregon

Eastern Oregon is cooler than we thought. OK, so Daisy already thinks Oregon is a really awesome state, but now the impression has improved further. We are in the library in Bend, OR, and today has been absolutely awesome so far!

Ice in the lava tube cave.

We woke to ice on our tent - it was a bit cold overnight - but no snow. We were wild camping across the street from an RV park. Ha. We biked a few miles (~10) up the road and found a lava tube cave! We arrived right as it opened for the day, so we had the cave to ourselves. (A mile long and at times 30' high.) As we were leaving two school buses full of children arrived... We continued northward and arrived at the city of Bend. As we entered downtown, we asked a random buy-on-a-bike what his recommendation was for lunch. After a few choices, we decided on Brother Jon's, a brew-pub (Deschutes Brewery). It was "sort of" on his way home, so he decided to ride us there. He was getting ahead of us a little, but then noticed that we were a little slower after we carefully went off a curb, instead of jumping into the street. The food was great, definitely filled us up.

Snowy morning... before additional snow.

So, you may be asking, why are we in Eastern Oregon? It is true that the ACA (Adventure Cycling Association) Sierra-Cascades route drops into Bend, and a few other towns on the east side of the mountains, but we have been off route for a few days. It started a few days ago when we woke up to snow on our tent, the ground, and in the trees. (It was only ~1 inch of accumulation, but it did make the trees look beautiful.) After about 8 miles, the snow storm was going quite well. Visibility was low, it was starting to stick to the roads, (we were really cold and wet,) and we decided that it might be better to head east out of the storm. (By the way, we had talked to Daisy's father the night before, who told us that there was a week-long storm coming -- low pressure [rain] all the way to Japan.) After about a mile on Rt 140 in the snow, we pulled off. It just so happened that there was a forest service guy there with an empty pick-up truck heading east! Perfect!! He gave us a ride downhill out of the mountains to Klamath Falls. In case you're keeping track, our score is two for two on hitching rides out of snowstorms.

Treating ourselves to dinner while planning a new route,
hopefully free of snowstorms.

We got stocked up at the grocery store and headed north. Unfortunately, the shortest route also happened to be heavy with trucks (Rt. 97). The shoulder narrowed, and then the road was sandwiched between a lake and a hill with a concrete barrier. We decided not to risk our lives further and head back to town to regroup. We ended up staying at a funny, "old school" hotel (it actually had real keys!) and working out a new route.



The next morning we headed east. We got into the rural part of Oregon quickly. And then we left it and entered nowhere-land. This nowhere-land happened to be along forest roads 30 and 28 between the small towns of Beatty and Silver Lake. To give you an idea, that afternoon and the next morning we saw about 10 vehicles - and four were forest service trucks. We did see a lot of trees. Thick patches as well as the "thinned" logged areas. That night we made dinner near a stream and I think I saw the most mosquitos I've ever encountered (more than Alaska). The lemon-eucalyptus bug spray worked well (no bites) but it didn't stop them from swarming.

Cooking dinner at city hall.

I enjoyed the break from traffic, but it was also nice to get back to "civilization" for a change. Our use of public spaces continues - yesterday for lunch we cooked outside the post office, and last night for dinner we cooked under an awning at the city hall building in La Pine while a windy storm rolled in.

Clouds dumping precip. on the Cascades.

When we came back in sight of the Cascade range, we could see the clouds dumping rain/snow/whatever in the mountains. (This made us feel a little more justified for leaving the route.) Earlier we were told that snow was falling down to 4500' elevation (we're at 3500' now). Our current plan is to keep heading north on the east side of the range and reconnect with the ACA route in Washington. We'll finish it to Bellingham, and catch the border, too.

On a related bike-maintenance side note, my chain has been used for almost 1900 miles of touring and is showing little sign of stretching (<0.75)!! Wow! (Usually they get replaced at 1000+ miles. I guess I've been using the 'granny gear' a lot instead of cranking up those mountains.) Today I had my rear tire trued a little, but other than that no maintenance has been necessary - that check-up at Freeze-Thaw Cycles before leaving was very effective. (Daisy did get her chain replaced and rear tire trued back in Tahoe.)

After journal-writing I always give dramatic readings to Daisy, who suggests edits.

 
Time to continue northward to the OR-WA border. Daisy's parents will be meeting us in a couple days and camping with us for the Washington section. (And Citrus the German Shepard, too!)

Welcome back to "civilization"!