Oregon

Day 1 - Florence to Eugene

April 22, '03 A great first day. A sunny day in Oregon meaning no rain but gray and cool. Rode 70 miles in approximately 4 hours. Jim Eisenhower says only eat in restaraunts with one syllable names. So last nite we ate at Mo's in Florence. Great view of Siuslaw Bay and fine chowder but the remaining meal left a bit to be desired. For lunch today it was deep dish apple pie at Frank's in Mapleton. A winner! Only one steep climb of about 4 miles at what Gere guesstimated was 7 degrees. Rode 70 miles from support our troops in Florence to stop the war in Eugene. This must be a college town. On to McKenzie Bridge tomorrow. Supposed to rain all day. Today 69 miles. Total so far 69 miles.

Day 2 - April 23, '03-Eugene to McKenzie Bridge

Man life isn't tough enough now I've got my son-in-law, webmaster drew, picking on me. He better cool it or I'll tell his mother-in-law on him. Oh, that's right, she picks on me too. We had a tad bit of rain between Eugene and McKenzie Bridge. It started in Eugene and ended when we got inside our cabin at McKenzie Bridge. This is an extremely beautiful area. We know that because of the postcards of the area we examined when we were ducking out of the rain along the route. The McKenzie River really is "wicked cool". No big hills today. Just wet. The Geezerpalooza tour looked like drowned rats when we arrived in McKenzie. Today's total mileage 56 miles. Total mileage 125. Tomorrow it is on to Redmond.

Day 3 - April 24, '03- McKenzie over Santiam Pass to Sisters

We solved the rain problem today. No raindrops whatsover. It snowed most of the time we rode over Santiam Pass. However I now know the road on the east side of the pass was lined with Douglas Fir, some 150 feet high, and Hemlock while on the west side of the pass the trees were Ponderosa Pine. I only make note of this because the retired college professor may throw a shotgun at me on the way to Prineville tomorrow. The ride today was tougher than we expected since the climb was only to 4800 ft. The Colorado guy in the group thought anything that low would be a piece of cake. The Colorado guy was wrong. We had originally planned on making Redmond today but after climbing the pass and riding through the snowstorm the 20 miles to Redmond seemed like 50. Sisters is a wonderful little village just north of Bend. Great food at Bronco Billy's. But still no golf. The forecast for tomorrow is rain. PedalnPutt may become PedalnPaddle. Distance today 58. Total miles 183. Tomorrow a short ride to Prineville. Golf maybe?

Day 4 -April 25,'03- Sisters to Prineville

Another no golf day. Short ride to Prineville but the headwinds were strong and temperatures didn't get out of the 30's until Geezerpalooza arrived in Prineville. There are 30 golf courses within 30 miles of Redmond. And they all had one thing in common. All were closed. What's a little wind, snow and rain between friends. Tomorrow we ride from Prineville to Mitchell. Since the metropolis of Mitchell has a population of 250 access to AOL may be limited. We would then file again from John Day. Mileage today 47. Total mileage to date 230. Changing subjects. If you have the chance watch the new video Lonestar cut to their hit of 3 or 4 years ago "I'm Already There". The footage is all of troops saying good-bye or being welcomed home by their families. No matter where you are on the war in Iraq this brings a whole new awareness of what the families and our soldiers are going through.

Day 5 - April 26, '03 Prineville to Dayville

This was our first really nice day. We had originally planned to just ride to Mitchell but the weather broke and the wind was at our backs. Coming out of Prineville, we had a great 20 or so mile ride and then began the climb up Ochoco Pass. No pass is fun but they are a little more manageable with a wind at your back. It did snow on us on top of Ochoco and there was black ice on the top so until that was behind us, riding on 3/4-inch tires was a little dicey. We rolled into Mitchell after a magnificent downhill ride of 15 miles. This country is incredible. After lunch in Mitchell, we decided to climb Keye's Cross Pass and head for Dayville. The scenery only got better. The best 30-mile downhill ride of my life. We averaged almost 25 miles an hour and that included stopping to take pictures. Still not warm enough to avoid wearing tights but at least we finally got to take our jackets off. Mileage today 91. Total mileage to date 321.

Day 6 -April 27, '03 Dayville to Prairie City

Today we were forced to penance for our good fortune of yesterday. The route today was essentially all uphill so of course we had a 10-20 mph headwind. When we left Dayville at 8 a.m. Gere noticed his rear tire was low. He fiddled with it at the gas station and the valve stem kept coming loose on the 20 mile ride to Mt. Vernon. Though it was uphill into a headwind, the ride on US 27 along the John Day River just takes your breath away with it's beauty. We rode along the Strawberry Range of the Blue Mountains in Eastern Oregon. After a feast of a Sunday breakfast in Mt. Vernon, (sausage may not be healthy but damn it is good) Gere took his bike across the street to a gas station and decided to change the tube. One problem led to another, wheel alignment and rear brake problems and when he had that solved, we had been in Mt. Vernon 2 1/2 hours. There is not much you can do about the problems but cope. He felt bad but I am sure my turn in the barrel is out there between here and Connecticut. We peddled on to John Day, Oregon "Home of the world's best Timber Truckers" and not much else. In the midst of all the beauty in eastern Oregon John Day was spectacularly un-impressive. We then road the 13 miles, uphill and into the wind, to Prairie City. We checked into a lovely b&b called the Strawberry Mountain Inn. Since tomorrow is scheduled to be a 3-pass day and the most difficult of those passes is just outside Prairie City, Gere and I decided to get the first one out of the way today. Great decision. There were several grades Gere estimated to be 7 and 8 per cent. I let him do all the grade estimations since he is the Landscape Architect and has been trained in this stuff. I do temperature guesstimates. My nose runs like a faucet below 32 degrees. After 6 days in Oregon, I am worried about dehydration from nose leakage. We then rolled back down the pass to the b&b. Tomorrow will have Jan take us back to the top and head out to Baker City from there. Mileage today 67 miles (including up and down the pass) Total mileage to date 388.

Day 7 - April 28, '03-Prairie City to Baker City

Our two-pass day started and ended with strong headwinds and of course, we were showered on, this is Oregon, but overall it was a great day to ride a bike. The first or Tipton Pass at 5100 was a long grind at 6 or 7 mph, well Smith climbs at 8 or 9 mph and waits for the young guy at the top, followed by a glorious downhill that included a stop at the ghost town of Whitney. Whitney departed this vale of tears in 1947 when the logging train ceased operation.

We then climbed Sumpter Pass, which topped out at 5,050 but was a twisting turning switchback. I never thought I'd see the day that it would take almost an hour to climb to the almost the elevation where I live but we Coloradoans seem to take for granted living at altitude and assume everyone else does. Between Sumpter and Baker City Gere had his 2nd flat in two days and as I type this he is at the local bike shop having thorn proofing installed on the inside of his tires. His flat, which took him but 20 minutes to fix proving he is getting better with practice not that he necessarily looks at it that way, proved to be a blessing in disguise. Just outside of Baker City a desert squall preceded us by about 30 minutes leaving the area drenched. While we were sprayed by passing traffic and endured a bit of a drizzle it was nothing compared to the soaking we would have received had we not been delayed.

April '29, '03-Today is a rest day in Baker City. Time for laundry, golf?, bike repairs, and naps. Tomorrow we head west and will be without phone service, landline or cell, for the next two or three days. We will wend our way to Halfway, Oregon tomorrow and then cross over into Idaho over the Brownlee Dam in the middle of Hell's Canyon country. We are all excited about the next couple of days as its reputation for beauty precedes our destination. Sometime in the neighborhood of Thursday or Friday, we hope to be in the neighborhood of Council, Pinehurst or Lucille, Idaho.

To the three of you who emailed me saying the retired professor had the fir trees on the wrong side of the Cascades it was not the professor. Proving once again why my Iowa State academic record was somewhere below sea level yours truly had the trees exactly bassackwards of what I was told. No matter how much time has passed some things never change. Distance 63 today. Total mileage to date 451.

Talk to you from Idaho (I hope)

Day 8 - On to Idaho


				*Pedal N Putt* *Oregon*



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