Off Like a Herd of Turtles

-

 A friend of mine; Dale, always says that.  It is appropriate as usually we are on a float and that is departing pretty slowly.  It is not how fast you are off the starting blocks, but the pace you run the race.  Finishing up today at a place called Fern Lake and a nice camp spot for all.  But there is a bit of a climb to get there....a small one, sorta a warmup for the Rockies. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 11 Halfway, Oregon (population 303) to Cambridge, Idaho (population 328)

-
Image
Well that was an interesting night for sure! I slept in the shack "out back." On my way to the shack to go to bed,  I saw a large feral cat. That sprang my imagination into high speed. Hmm I wonder why it ran under the shack? Will birds and snakes crawl into my shack? Oh bother! When I finally went to sleep, I slept well. No creatures visited in the night.  Monday morning. Up bright and early! Lauran gave me a gentle reminder to wake up. As she had already perked a pot of coffee, I was eager to get up and get going. We all bustled about the place packing and preparing for today's climb; almost identical to yesterday's trajectory. Today we hoped to get started an hour earlier to avoid the predicted high heat. We might make all 58 miles if we planned it right. Donning some very strange looking duck billed visors, we set off into the rising sun. What a fantastic morning. Flying up over hills and down the other side on Hells Canyon Rd. I got a great view of an Elk standin...
Read more

September 25 and 26: AND THEN THERE WAS ONE (rain dodger ); 36 miles

-
Image
 Some things in life are hard to explain. Sue and David Bladek, Betsy and I have been taking bike trips together for over 10 years and we have never been rained on. On many occasions we have arrived into our motel or a planned lunch spot under a pavilion only to have the sky open up moments later, but never on us.  We are the Rain Dodgers! This epic adventure was unfortunately made without Dave. (and then we were three). But the magic held. All through the west and the mid west we had no rain on planned ride days. Sadly Sue had to leave us in St Louis. (and then we were two). But Betsy and I were able to carry the magic through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  This morning we awoke to cloudy skies in Dawson Pennsylvania and the threat of thundershowers .Betsy had to sag, so would not be riding today (and then we were one). But Lisa and I set out undaunted on the GAP trail because I was there to keep the rain at bay.  Well, clearly one rain dodger is not enough because 3 ...
Read more

Day 10: Baker City to Halfway, OR, 54 mi & 2,700 ft ascent

-
Image
Starting at 6:49 am to take advantage of the comfortable 65 degree morning, we rolled out of Baker City and were quickly welcomed by a brief climb to 3,684 ft.   This part of the route followed the old Oregon Trail and the Powder River for a good portion and included a fantastic downhill ride  to Richland.   S everal of us thought this was the most pleasant ride of the trip so far ... until we arrived at Richland and had to make a difficult decision -- do we fight the heat and climb to the next pass at 4,131 ft or do we enjoy a berry cobbler at the local diner then hitch a ride with Lesli in the sag wagon? Of course Sue Sister cruised ahead and already arrived in Halfway while  several of us opted to make the 6 mi climb up a very steep grade (5-7%).  It required 3-4 brief rest stops to catch our breathe.  Once at the top, we were treated to a spectacular ride down to Halfway.  But it took a lot of effort to...
Read more