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After nearly 1,000 miles we are spending a second night in Missoula.  Spent time this morning working to find a bike shop with the ‘right’ size of tires for our Alchemy Atlas and Cannondale Synapse (28mm and 25mm, respectively.  Missoula Bicycle Works changed out the tires/tubes/slime expeditiously, while Melissa and I spent time browsing/shopping on Higgins Street.

The bikes are now ‘refreshed’ with new tires, after we have abused them not just with the 1,000 miles, but the 40+ miles on the freshly laid chip seal from before Richland to Oxbow, OR.

The weather today was sunny and pleasant, as we visited the Adventure Cycling Offices this afternoon.  While there we received an update on the status of roads through Yellowstone, and how to connect with the Parks, Peaks and Prairies Route that will take us into and through Wyoming.  We were taken on a  tour of the offices that include a multitude of photographs of early bike riding in the US and a ride going the length of North and South America (looked very messy)!  Also on display is a plethora of old/antique bicycles/tandems/bicycles-for-three+.  [Amy, Beth, Juliet and Geoff were very helpful, while Melissa enjoyed the Cyclist Lounge!]

While at Adventure Cycling, Lee, Al and Larry came into the offices, with somewhat long faces.  Lee could not get his troubling foot examined in Missoula.  Without a diagnosis, and not wanting to risk being on the road somewhere remote with limited options, the three are heading back to Indianapolis from Missoula.  Maybe we will see Al again at RAGBRA this year!!  Hopefully, we will connect again!

Cathy ran errands for provisions for the road, and other things to keep Melissa happy.   Cathy and Melissa advanced laundry to get us mostly caught up.  (We have had a few days with riding, and ending the day without a shower.  Clean kits after are not the best balance, but helps to tilt in the right direction!)

Melissa scheduled massages for her and me.  The healing touch helped to extricate lactic acid and rejuvenate our muscle sets.  After which caution was thrown to the wind as Phil was charged with ordering pizza!  Cathy and Melissa played Jackbox games via Zoom with folks from Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles and Topeka!

Awesome day today, and promise for a great day tomorrow!  We will relax for the rest of the evening, and prepare for a long ride tomorrow AND connecting with Darren, Moose and Reggie in Sulla!  

Up not-so-early today, as the  host/Geoff’s breakfast was not until 8:00A.  Melissa did a second dip into the Hot Springs before departure.  Saw Joe and Danielle, whom we met in the Hot Springs the day before, and they impressed by remembering the blog site!  Joe has a plumbing business, Straight Flush, in Great Falls, Montana, while Danielle is the finance manager for the business and has a primarily residential real estate practice.  She is also pursuing a RE valuation certification (Best Wishes!).

Cathy sent us off to again meet later at Adventure Cycling.  Saw elk and buffalo on the relatively  quick ride down Route 12, aided by a tail wind.  Just got a little damp on the ride, but managed to have dressed appropriately.  (Melissa continues on her Moose Spotting efforts, with no sightings yet though several on-road and road signs warning of moose crossings!)

We rode the Bitterroot Trail from Lolo to Missoula.  Great not to be on the shoulder of Route 93, as the speed limit on the highway is 70 mph.  Along the highway the Trail was grand, once inside of Missoula the Trail becomes a bit more urban with street crossings.  The wonderful, and pleasantly surprising, thing is that the drivers would stop at the trail crossings!

When arriving at the AC offices, despite it being a Monday, the offices were closed for Juneteenth.  (We will go back tomorrow/Wednesday for ice cream, virtual tour, some equipment shopping, and route discussions with the impact of the road closures/flooding that has occurred in Yellowstone National Park.  A bit anxious to have a viable path from the Transamerica Trail to the Parks, Peaks and Prairies Route to get us eventually to Fort Thompson, SD and the Missouri River.). [Arriving at the AC Offices completed Section 3 of the Transamerica Trail, another milestone of sorts.]

After the ‘monster day’ yesterday, we started from the campground on Pacific time, and arrived at Lolo Hot Springs, MT to move back to Mountain Time.

We continued uphill for the day.  We were happy to be riding up Route 12 on Saturday (yesterday) and Sunday (today), as the traffic was lighter, and safer than some had indicated.  The Clearwater River has had a fait o mount of rafting and kayak traffic, and today had a number of fisherfolks along the way.  The River became measurably narrower as we progressed up to Lolo Pass.

Melissa and I started in a light drizzle, with our fullest rain gear.  We were happy, as the water on the road surface kicked up quite a bit of moisture.  After about eight miles, the surface dried up enough to us to take off our rain paints.  Cathy met us at ~mile 44 for the day.  We were ready for lunch/second breakfast! We had wonderful chicken burritos, with chips (loved the salt!), and a chance to fill our hydration bottles.

We came upon many ‘fields’ of Indian Bear Grass, a beautiful flower.  Melissa had only seen the ‘favorite’ flower previously inside of Glacier National Park, so it was quite a treat.  We also passed by a multitude of little tots on small motorbikes, out for the day of dirt riding.

The last five miles up over the Pass were ‘Melissa Time,’ and we reconnected at the visitor center/state line.  My Garmin made the last mile and a half look like climbing a wall.

After enjoying the hot springs, we dined at the Bear Cave House Bar and Grill, and Melissa and I had the local bison burger.  We enjoyed their huckleberry ice cream, as well!  We ‘retired’ to the lodge lobby to plan out the next few nights of where to stay, adding to the playlist, putting a couple more links onto the blogsite, and planning for when Darren is able to join us (with Moose and Reggie)!

Rolling out headed towards Richland from Baker City. Breathtaking views of the snowcapped mountains on all sides on the ride through Hell’s Canyon (Oregon Scenic Byway).

We left the Historic Hotel Prairie with a send-off from new friends we met at this biker-friendly hotel where we stayed in Prairie City, OR. We exchanged Cathy’s bike pedals with Melissa’s so Melissa could ride today. Daniel (new friend from Sweden) left a bit before us because he was afraid his touring bike wouldn’t allow him to keep up with our road bikes and we nearly caught him in the last mile as we road into Baker City, OR. Baker City boasts a museum all about the Oregon Trail and we found a mural in town labeled “The World’s Largest Map of the Oregon Trail”. Daniel & Veronica plan to recreate a larger map when they return to Sweden and then send a letter back to Baker City telling them they no longer have the world’s biggest version of the map (hahaha).

The first climb was up Dixie Pass where as we approached the summit it started to snow/hail/grapple and as we turned to the descent it turned to cold, hard, stinging rain. Though we hoped to stay dry for the day, we were totally soaked so we stopped on a porch in Austin Junction to warm up and reassure ourselves we weren’t suffering from hypothermia (not really, but it felt like it). We turned the corner onto Route 7 and were blessed by some sunshine which was quite a contrast to the weather on the descent. Climbed up Tipton Pass and again, as per usual, Melissa beat me to the top. The descent from Tipton was in a mix of sunshine and cloud as we cruised through spectacular valleys and gorgeous woods. The third climb of the day (Sumpter Pass) was somewhat less challenging, but still significant. The total elevation for the day was approximately 4500 ft. Melissa was happy to be riding (thanks to Cathy’s loaner bike) while she waits to get hers repaired. The final 10 miles into Baker City were along the Powder River into a fairly strong headwind. Distant mountains had visible snow and the river was flowing high.

We were happy to see that there was a Mexican Restaurant (Delicioso) open as we rolled into town. We stopped by the local bike shop, where we met Monique and Kevin from Helena, MT who are also traveling the TransAmerica trail self-supported from Oregon to Virginia. Although the bike shop Trailhead was unable to help Melissa with her bike repair, we thought it was a pretty cool shop because it featured a bar with a few local beer taps for patrons to enjoy while they awaited their bike repairs to be completed. 

We spent the evening at a MCM AirBnB and enjoyed the company of our new friends Veronica and Daniel from Sweden. We sat around the fire pit listening to music and sharing stories. It was a special evening. Tomorrow Daniel & Veronica head towards Ontario, OR while we cross into Idaho at the Brownlee Damn. We are a bit sad to part ways with our new friends, but we are pretty sure we’ll see them again, as I repeatedly invited ourselves to visit them in Sweden (hahaha).

Let’s hope tomorrow’s weather forecast of no rain holds true. I’ll be getting up early to prepare the blue corn pancakes from a mix we purchased at Tocabe (a Native American Eatery in Denver) to share with our Swedish friends before heading out for Day 10.

“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.

Hi! Cathy here. For those of you who may not know, I am Phil’s wife and support crew for the big summer adventure. Never thought I’d be living in a van, but here I am, supporting my hubby so he can achieve his awe-inspiring goal of riding his bike from Oregon to Virginia. After many setbacks with the van (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) we were finally able to get on the road on the night of Thursday June 2, 2022. We are fortunate that our friends at Colorado Adventure Vans could get us back up and running so quickly so that we are only one week behind schedule. As we departed, one friend wished Phil a safe trip, a family member wished us well all around (weather, no more van troubles, safe biking, etc) and another friend said she hopes Phil can “pedal his legs off to get back on schedule”. All the positive vibes from friends and family mean the world to us as Phil embarks on this daunting journey. We drove from Colorado to Wyoming, and spent our first night in the van at a very welcoming truck stop that had everything we needed, including Simpsons pinball. Phil claimed to be too tired to play but I suspect he was just worried he would lose. Friday June 3^rd we drove on to Ontario, OR. We stopped for dinner just before we crossed the border into Oregon and had a (somewhat surprisingly) delicious and authentic Mexican meal at El Compa in Caldwell, Idaho. I happened to notice that just across the street there was a live DJ and NO COVER on Friday nights….so serendipitous that we were there on a Friday. But alas, Phil was “too tired” but I suspect he worried I would show him up on the dance floor. All joking aside, after all the stress from the scheduling setbacks, it was nice to see Phil finally kicking back with a margarita in hand now that it appears the start of his great C2C (sea to sea…..get it?!) adventure is imminent. Cheers!