Author: Phil

“Journey Back Through Time” is the tagline for this scenic byway. The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in the John Day Valley features plant and animal fossils that date back 10,000 years. Since we just recently saw “Jurassic World: Dominion” at McMenamins Old St. Francis Theater in Bend, Oregon, Cathy asked whether I was afraid dinosaurs would attack all along the way. That hadn’t occurred to me but I did notice how swollen the river was—those waters were raging with all the recent rains.

After a wet finishing to Day 7, we found Tiger Town Brewing in Mitchell, OR—a quaint place with great food and an interesting slogan: “Buy Our Beer or we’ll punch you in the face”. Because of the cold, wet, weather and lack of hotel accommodations in town, we decided to spend a cozy night in the van watching Adam Sandler’s Netflix special as we tested out the in-van theater system (a tiny portable Kodak projector and a portable screen). I woke up anxious to get off to a quick/early start while there was no precipitation. 

Met Doug and Nick who are riding self-supported, one to Kansas and the other to Virginia outside of Virginia Tech.  Shortly after summiting Keyes Creek Pass Melissa and I enjoyed a wicked downhill with a strong tailwind. We met Cathy in Dayville where we lunched our left-over breakfast burritos reheated on the Coleman camp stove. We are getting good at improvising! Many thanks to the friendly proprietor of Dayville Merchantile est. 1896 for the complementary coffee that kept us fueled and warm on this chilly day (temperatures in the low 40s with a biting damp wind). 

At the Historic Hotel Prairie we met John and Denise from Portland, who came down to Prairie City for the sunshine (LOL!). We also met Keith and Suzanne from Redmond, OR who are riding a bike loop around Strawberry Mountain. We spent time visiting with a couple from Sweden, Daniel and Veronica. Daniel is a teacher of 3-5 year olds so he and Melissa (elementary school PE teacher) compared teaching experiences and shared stories. Veronica and Daniel shipped their bike to the US and have planned a path starting in Portland and ending in New York. We talked over beers, taught Daniel some card games, and asked him whether he likes Swedish Fish—he had not heard of them until arriving in the United States and laughed about the “Swedish” stuff people keep asking him about.

During today’s ride Melissa started experiencing some trouble with her back wheel hub, so when we arrived at Hotel Prairie, she spent some time on their back patio changing the wheel, installing new brake pads and making adjustments to the back derailleur. The bike was still making some funny noises so the plan is for Cathy to take it to a Baker City bike shop to get it back in tune. Tomorrow Melissa (on Cathy’s borrowed bike), me, and our new Swedish pal Daniel will ride over the 3 passes between Prairie City and Baker City while Veronica and Cathy take Mel’s bike to the shop. Veronica needed a day off from riding and was happy with the plan to ride along and meet up with Daniel in Baker City.

Thank you to all who are following along on these adventures. I welcome any and all comments and encouragement. Cheers! —Phil 

We started in downtown Salem and crossed the bridge.  It took us 45 minutes to find the trail to Rickreal, after having to backtrack to retrieve the hard copy map that I had dropped.  We traveled the trail and the breakdown lane for a few miles, while the morning traffic buzzed by our left ears.  Once onto the marvelous country roads there was relief and views.  Passed by some very large dairy operations, and eventually headed down 99W toward Coburg.  The bike trail along side 99W was smooth, and we passed some other riders.  (We have not seen many riders heading our direction so far.)

We turned off of the trail parallel to 99W to travel amongst farms and neighborhoods.  There was a cemetery along the way with a multitude of American flags placed at graves of veterans, the remnants of Memorial Day recognition.

Mellissa and I had at least three opportunities to take ‘shortcuts’ to get to Coburg, but we persisted to ride along the Oregon Scenic Bikeway.  We ‘coasted’ by large fields of blooming clover, with beehives placed and managed (see picture).  We biked East of Interstate 5, lunched in Brownsville at a cute cafe (Randy said that his back porch and water spigot are available to any cyclists going through town.) while they ‘bussed’ the graduating HS seniors through the town while honking horns and waves congratulated the students moving on from their K-12 journey.

We moved on to our singular climb for the day before crossing back across I5 to a very comfortable parallel route on North Coburg Road, where we connected with Cathy.  We stayed the night at the Richardson Lake Camping Grounds back West of Coburg.  Tomorrow has the possibility of a 4,000 foot climb up to McKenzie Pass, we will decide at McKenzie Bridge!

After Melissa’s Monster Day, we had a ‘shorter recovery ride.’  We had camped in the National Forest (priced well) for the night, and Cathy took us back to where we had stopped on Day 4.

We started on the two-lane highway headed toward Prineville, and soon turned off to a more scenic route.  We travelled through high deserts, and stopped for a selfie.  While stopped, a rider sped by pointing in the direction we had been riding.  There have been less than a handful of riders heading our way so far.  We caught up to Tom and had a nice chat while riding.

Tom was doing a seventy mile loop from Bend, where he splits his time between there and Portland.  He is a retired environmental engineer who had specialized in clean up.  He is prepping for a group excursion of 300 or so riders that will be camping and riding over several days!  We stopped at his usual ‘rest stop’ and captured a photo of the three of us.  He had shared noting the direction of Smith Rock, and we headed off again.

We took a few turns through Terrebonne, and rode by many pastures with beef cattle and horses, plus alongside a number of sod farms.  After some rolling hills through the segment of high desert, there was much irrigation to support the sod farms.  We did pass a couple of self-supporting riders, but were making good time on our way to meet Cathy for lunch at Stryker Park in Prineville.  (Most drivers were very courteous, but there was one trucker who blasted his/her horn while passing us.  More than a little disconcerting!)

At the park, we met a young man (William) who works at the local saw mill, and Melissa had the opportunity to get a much needed puppy fix with a five-month old Corgi who was also visiting the park and fountains.  We lunched at the gazebo in the park before loading up to drive to Bend for a couple of nights at an ABNB.  Actual shower and local breweries (Deschutes and Podski) beckoned us, plus an streaming episode of Jim Gaffigan!

Looks like our luck with weather has been interrupted, and we may have two days without riding as a wet system has settled over the area.  (Having a couple of days with 100% chance of rain is unusual for us Coloradans.). Cathy will have a chance to re-organize the van, and Melissa and I will be able to acclimate.

Well, life does throw some curves. Ride launch for May 30th is scrubbed.*

As the last modifications (additional solar panels, bike racks, generator storage, repaired water system, …) were finished, the van would not start. The error messages / diagnostics indicated issues with the electrical system, not seemingly related to the changes made. The alterations were scrutinized, and one of the messages said to ‘see shop.’ The van was transported and resides at our local Mercedes dealership awaiting attention from their Sprinter Service Center. As many service centers are backed up with demand, this is not surprising, though we have pleaded for ’emergency attention.’ We are hopeful for sooner versus later. Nonetheless, departure to the West Coast is ‘on hold.’

In the meantime, Melissa and I are planning some additional local riding together and individually. We are doing some additional pre-charging of electronics for our bikes (lights, Garmin, radar, …). Cathy and I are pruning / selecting ‘essential’ stuff to accompany us on the journey. AND continuing to get the house ready for the house-sitter, including Cathy’s manual and calendar of events (e.g., when are the trash and recycling collection days).

Below is a ‘family photo’ taken at an afternoon tea in North Royalton, OH. My Dad is the excited participant seated between Cathy and my sister, Mel. My sister, Carm, is standing next to her husband, Steve. On the far right is my Dad’s friend Karl, while I am on the far left. Maybe you can smile!

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* Scrubbed is a NASA term that means they’re no longer going to try to launch that day and that they’re going to come back another day and try again. Cathy’s and my family both have some roots with NASA. Her mother and father retired from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and my sister, Carm, retired from the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. Also, ‘on hold’ means a countdown is suspended.

Minus 6 days is a bit of a misnomer, as we have been ‘planning’ for this adventure for close to two years. There were at least a few that indicated they would like to participate, and provided some input to the course and ‘method.’ Am thankful to all of them, as they helped to hone the approach to be safer and possibly even more fun.

Cathy (my wife), Melissa (a good friend) are about to depart to meet up on the West Coast this coming weekend. Cathy and I will be driving our home-away-from-home van, carrying our bikes (essential, and including Melissa’s), clothing, gear, camping stuff, and some replacement parts. Our plan is to meet up with Cathy’s friend in Portland, OR on Saturday/28MAY, pick up Melissa on Sunday/29MAY, and start riding on Memorial Day/30MAY2022.

Why? A few years ago a gentleman (Neil Hanson) came and addressed our Rotary Club of Littleton. He had biked across the United States in three stints, California to Denver, Denver a bit East, and from there to the East Coast. He had gathered three books where he described his journey, sometimes alone, sometimes with his son, and sometimes with a friend. He shared some of his thoughts, the pleasure of being able to meet friends along the way, and the joy meeting others, while experiencing the United States from a bicycle.

In my eight years of somewhat serious biking, it has been a plethora of wonders and joy, meeting and riding with good people, and not without along with some challenges for which I am grateful. My father died last year at the age of 97 1/2, and my mother died the year before, just shy of her 95th birthday. My hope is to share some of the Joy and Wonder of our adventure, maybe share a story or two about my parents, manage to ride safely and stay healthy, and have some fun travelling along the way, sometimes biking with others (Thank you Melissa! Thank you L2RC! And others?), and maybe riding alone a bit. I can’t thank Cathy enough for setting the foundation of support for this journey together.

We are crossing our fingers to depart in the next day or so.

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There are also nine non-profits with whom we have some affiliation that will be ‘profiled’ along our journey. We will be collecting funds, and will ensure the contributions have a match. More on that later.

For now: Cheers!