One last day

This is it. The last day of the trip. 1600 miles, two new friends, family time, an epic journey and the safety of home in site. We went to dinner last night at a pizza place called solstice. Calling this place a pizza joint does it a disservice. This is a flat bread delivery awesomeness. Just below white salmon was this oasis of greatness. I would tell you about the smoke salmon pie with corn and sweet cherry tomatoes, but I don’t want to make you jealous.

As we rolled into camp after a large meal we realized that we were 15 yards from the train… Sigh. But I was not to bad they did not blow their horns after 10pm. We woke up to the shitty realization that the sprinklers went of at 4am and soaked My entire bag of clothes and a few people shoes and helmets as well.

That made me not very happy. And you would not like me unhappy (;

Anyways we struck out on our last 80 miles with out nicki who wisely decided to sit out the day and take care of her bruises and scraps.. Heading for just outside of Portland. What we forgot to account for some reason was the insane amount of labor day traffic. After 50 miles of dealing with RVs we decided to call it a day. Our trip was over. We were just short of our goal. But we were safe, happy and healthy.

Hunter gets the quote of the day
“Better get your barrings before you lose your marbles.”

Rock and roll

66 miles, a wreck and a light at the end of the tunnel.

So after finding a great place to camp in crow butte state park where miraculously we found two camping spots on saturday on a labor day weekend. It was a great spot and we all went swimming in the Columbia, it was my first time and I would have to say that compared to the mountain rivers we were previously in it was absolutely want.

We left there with a century in mind, leaving us with just 60 miles to Portland. It was hot today. Very hot. Luckily we still had a bit of a tail wind for the second day in a row. We were pushing ourselves and went to 60 miles before we had lunch. Which was as the Maryhill winery. A great winery in my limited knowledge. The apparently have concerts out there during the summer and it looks like a whole lot of fun.

We left the winery and disaster struck. Our riding partner nicki hit a rock at 15 miles an hour and flipped her bike, cracked her helmet and skidded down the hill. Our hearts stopped. Our brakes stopped. We held our breathe and nicki popped back up. She grabbed her camera and promptly fell back down. She was scrapped up, but no broken bones or concussions. She was in shock and her right arm and leg are missing quite a bit of skin. We cleaned it up the best we could and called in the Calvery. Our day was over. Everyone was shaken, but in the end okay. We recalled stupid injury stories while we waited and I gave nicki the nickname rock and roll as this was her third time crashing while hitting a rock.

A comedy of errors

75 miles, an early take off and some shitty tires

We were ferried to our destination this morning at the top of palous pass. We were greeted with a ferocious wind that made all of us a little nervous. But no worries it was a nice downhill and we managed to push out 18 miles in a little over an hour; that is when it all went wrong.

I got a flat. Okay no big deal roll to the nearest pull out fix it and be on our way. Well something happened in the changing of the tire and while Kashi was assisting and I was pumping BOOM the tube explodes leaving our ears ringing something fierce. We recover and look at the tire, it’s shot. Sigh, okay call audie and hunter they have Marians old tire and they just passed us 10 minutes ago. Ring ring… Okay we will be there in a moment. 2 minutes later our phone rings, uh well our tire just blew on the trailer we are going to be a bit audie said.

Well okay let’s just chill on the side of the road for a while – and so we did. Almost 2 hours. Marian danced across the rode, Ivan took a nap, we watched a baby snake, we all peed a couple of times. Finally we get the tire, BOOM tube explodes again. Sigh. I am done. I call audie and hunter again and ask them to pick me up and take me to Walla Walla.

I find a bike shop and they fix my tire for me. I find a bar and they make me a drink. I find camp and take me a shower. I hear the rest of the ride today was pleasant, but I will just have to take the groups word for it, hopefully tomorrow is better.

The last state

65 miles, a helpless motorist, and one last big hurdle to go.

So today we finished out highway twelve out of Idaho and it was not as bad as we thought. It was still a little scary and not 3 miles into the trip a red Toyota stopped in the middle of the road on a blind corner and the driver popped out of the car. We quickly slowed down, I dropped back to slow down and warn cars while the rest of the crew made sure the occupants of the car were okay and then they pushed the car a 1/4 miles to the nearest pull out. Apparently the ladies accelerator got stuck and she was very freaked out by the whole thing.

After that was sorted out or now very well oiled machine set out communicating with each other yelling, car,truck, semi from the back, or bump, crap, or glass from the front. We managed to make it almost to Lewiston when a scary thing happened. Nicki hit a rock and it sent her to the ground. Now if you dont know how we ride let me quickly explain. With wind and traffic passing us we stay in a pretty tight formation, anywhere between 18 inches and 4 ft from each other usually. So when nicki went down there was the possibility for disaster. Ivan did hit nicki and char just bumped Ivan, but we managed to bike away from it with only a small scratch and a flat tire.

After an ill-fated quick stop at the jack in the box we continued on to a bike shop and then out of Lewiston and into clarkston, which just happens to be the entrance to home; Washington state. Still on twelve and with camp only about 8 miles we cruised on out of town and make it 7 miles then took a break where I the stupidly decided to congratulate us on going so look with out incident. 25 yards later, char gets a flat. We finally make it to chief thomas camp a beautiful campground in the middle of an island and took a quick 15 minute siesta before our 13 mile 2250 mile climb to the last big peak.

Tomorrow off to Walla Walla.

A good day and half a bad day

85 miles, a scary road, a day of and a little bit of drinking.

So yesterday started of awesomely. We continued on 12 through the Clearwater forest and down the hill along the river which was beautiful. When then stopped for lunch at a crappy little gas station. We enjoyed our peanut butter and honey sandwiches along with some Cheetos and reveled in the greatness of the last day and a half. And then… The shit hit the fan.

Continuing on 12 was hell. Logging and chipping trucks coming along at 60 miles an hour around a flat curvy road. Fortunately we came up with a great system to keep us out of harms way. Marian took the lead and pushed us at 17mph, Kashi and Ivan took the rear and yelled car, semi or truck as they saw them. I saddled up behind Marian and conveyed the instructions and yelled back what she decided to do. There was almost no shoulder to speak of and when a semi came along we would just stop and sit on the guard railing, so it took a while to get through the 20 miles of road. But we made it safe and sound.

After we got to camp we looked at our maps a realized that we could take a day off and so we did. We are at the pink house campground next to the clearwater river in Orafino Id. And we had a wonderful day of doing nothing. The girls went and did laundry and Ivan Kashi and I took the truck and rolled slowly around town listening to hip hop Turkish music while Kashi looked through binoculars. It felt like we were in a guy richie movie.

This evening Ivan and I made an awesome stir fry and he introduced the gang to a new drink.. The creamy rum job. Orange soda, rum and cream. It tastes like a creamicle. Anyways, we are around a fire just chatting away and getting ready for the last couple of days before we finish this epic trip

A river runs with us

85 miles, a wonderful river and a fiddle player in the distance… Oh yeah and almost a mutiny.

After our one hundred mile day it rained on us over the evening and then in the morning it was grey and cloudy. As we poked our heads out of the tent and glanced skyward we noticed that the sky did not look pleasant. As we sipped our coffee and the rest of the crew started to wrestle out of bed the sky opened and rain hit out Airstream overhang.

We pondered what to do and the troops started to beam and haw thinking to themselves that after one hundred miles that a rest would be well deserved. Riding in the rain did not seem to appeal to those who had rode for 12 days straight. So the waiting game began and the conversation continued. Do we ride or do we stay? After about a hour the sky spoke and blue sky started to peak its way through the cover of grey. The mutiny was averted, how could a rider say no when the sky was saying yes.

Up and over Lolo pass, a 30 mile climb that took us up 2000ft… Our last pass on the trip. Once there we stopped at the visitor center and hung out for a little and the rangers were super friendly. I bought a sweatshirt that said “the mountains are calling, therefore I must go.” once on the otherside we were treated so some of the most beautiful country to date. We dropped 3000 feet over the next 50 miles down next to the Lewis river bending and winding through a valley that for the first time felt like home.

Once we got to camp everyone was glad that they did not mutiny as the sun broke through for the downward trip and as we settled in for the night our camping neighbor started playing her fiddle with such grace and dignity that it just floated through the clear night to end a perfect day.

Testing new photo software from MS

A new record

102 miles, a beer, some roadkill and lots of downhill.

it is amazing what one can do when you drop 4000 feet. We woke up with a goal of 85 miles with a smallish climb in the morning. It was a fun climb and a great downhill. 7 miles downhill at 6% grade that was twisty and turny and had a speed limit of 25mph. Which of course on a bike means that you can go 30mph on a bike.

We then stopped at the bottom of the hill and had second breakfast at a town of one building. Then at mile seventy we stopped at bitterroot brewery to eat our sandwiches and have a beer.

I do like Montana, but I am pretty sure that cars have open season on deeds and skunks because man was there a lot of road kill on the roads out here.

Anyways 102.25 miles broke the century barrier for 4 of our group and a personal best for marian and I.

Montana and fires

77 miles, two large hills, and an avalanche hitting a cow.

We woke up in Dillon this morning at our KOA which had a wonderful pool that our whole crew enjoyed immensely last night. Thatcher had a fun to time being thrown up in the air And splashed in tue pool. Marian had a good time on my shoulders and they had the sketchiest slide I have ever seen.

Any ways we went 77 miles today up a 1200ft vertical and then up A 1000ft climb. The rest of the day was a lot of hay. I mean miles and miles of hay. Hay rolled up into one ton rolls that we found out go for 375$ on the open market these days. We also had a great conversation with a 17 year old from the puyallup area Who had moved to the area a couple of years ago with her dad. They ranch And then bought the local store (in a town of 59). She told us a lot about the hay business and then also informed us that she was in the wrecked truck (an avalanche). Her brother had been driving last night and hit a wondering cow At 75 miles an hour.

We are now going to a town called Wisdom to go watch the Seahawks play the broncos.

After dinner update.

Rocky mountain oysters were had

Tetons and then into yellowstone

77 miles, a ride in a pick up and finally some beautiful scenery.

We started our day with a 40 mile climb. It was a moderate climb though and the barren wasteland finally started to melt into beautiful trees and lively forests and rivers again. Today being chars last day gone marian and Kashi picked up the slack and managed to talk for 15 miles straight, which was impressive at a constant 12 mph clip, and also made the hour+ of the ride go quite quickly.

Going up and over the pass today we knew was going to be slightly anti climatic because about .5 miles before the summit there was a ton of construction. So much so that they would not let us ride down the other side. We had to throw our bikes in the back of a pick up and ride 2 miles down the mountain. We then got to ride 6 miles on the bikes down through some great meadows and we could just see the Tetons poking over the horizons. We then had to be picked up by another truck and escorted 7 miles down the rest of the hill. While disappointing, because riding downhill is of course fun, it was awesome to see all of the big trucks working on terraforming a mountain side, which I guess they have been working in since 2005.

90 mile out of Yellowstone

Okay I dont like to brag (haha) but holy crap did the gang kick ass today. We had 14 miles to get out of the park today and then BOOM 90 miles later here we are in Ennis Montana only 5 hours and 23 minutes of seat time later. We averaged 16.5 miles an hour for over 5 hours. The last 2 hours we averaged well over 20 miles an hours. It was a nice tailwind a pretty good road and pure determination

We are now going to make a quick dinner and go to the local movie theatre to watch Cowboys and Aliens!