rippin it up

we met this kid playing electric keyboard in the park, Jedidiah Anderson is his name and rockin the house retro techno style is his funky game

Kamiah stuff

We've really been having a nice time here in Kamiah, tons of neat folks and fun to be had but I have been having some serious withdrawls from roadlife to settling down. I have to ride everyday to suppress the symptoms, we ride around town, to the park, fishing holes, round town again.  It really helps that people have been coming to visit, we got to go to Montana with Seth and Michelle Finnley and hang out in the hotsprings all day, a really incredible spot with a hot waterfall coming out of the hillside into the river and pools all around that you can move around to your liking. The hotsprings were called Jeremy Johnson and could be reached by parking on the side of the highway and hiking in a mile and a half. Jon and Steph Ahlers came by from OR too and we had a blast driving and riding bike around and visiting with the kindly locals.  We are considering building a house here already and will fill in all the details as soon as we work them out, which I trust will be very soon. I do miss the freedom but feel this is where we are supposed to be, when we started this trip we were open to stopping if we felt led but I honestly didn't expect it to be here, that's fo shizzle.  I will try to be patient. Must keep busy.

Snagged in Idaho

We've been in Kooskia/Kamiah area now going on two weeks now, we've been taken by the people mostly but the scenery here is equally attractive.  We were staying in the park in Kooskia (pronounced koo-ski) and were invited to stay at the house of the lady that runs the health food store in town, when we showed up late however, we missed her and sat on the table and chairs in front of the store and relaxed a bit, I noticed some guy in a pick up watching us from across the street, I thought maybe he was just curious but he stared so intently I began to wonder if he wasn't a wierdie, finally his wife made it out of the store they talked awhile and got around to venturing over to us, conversation was very much to the point, "Hi , I'm Todd" says the wierdie, "I'm Ingar" says the wierdie's chipper and sweet wife.  "Do you guys want to come stay at our place?" they ask, "Sure" we say, so we head where they tell us, we meet Todd at the fish hatchery and he comes down with his trailer as it is getting dark and stormy and their house is up a 5 mile 12% hill.  We load the bikes and just as we hop on the trailer it starts dumping on us, we got there, unloaded our bikes and they showed us to their guest quarters above their garage, we settled in there and went inside to visit, we had a great time talking with them and find out they know alot of the folks we know, not only from the west coast but also from the east, amazingly small world, Todd and Ingar have 5 children and live with their aged parents in a small commmunity there, they just stuck a cluster of houses together and a shop and were shocked to find out that this is perfectly legal, we are stoked, we didn't know there was anywhere in this country you could do that.  Through our conversations we got to talking how Ryan planned on getting some work in Missoula MT to help fund the trip, Todd makes a few phone calls and says Ryan should just stay here he has several people around that need some contracting work done,were kind of undecided and we figured out the only reason we picked Missoula to stop and work at is because it is so gorgeous and got to thinking that this place is every bit as stunning and the more time we spend with these folks the more we adore them.  Todd later admits to staring at us from across the street and says he battled in his mind whether to bring home these hippies, I told him it's O.K., I thought you were a pervert.  We stayed with them a week, incredible people, Ingar's parents live below, they are in their late 90's and her Dad is almost totally blind but is out there everyday chopping wood, using a chainsaw, moving gravel, painting his car, they had to stop him one day, he was talking about renting a bulldozer and they live on a sheer hillside!! What's even more incredible is that the parents care for two mentally impaired children in their sixties and show no signs of slowing down.  We've since moved over to Kamiah, about 7 miles away and have a cute little 700 square ft. place in town, Ryan has been getting work and we both love this area and the folks here, I've never been to a place where everyone is so nice.  The folks whose house were staying in, the Manley family, has bent over backwards to make us feel at home here, we love them so much already and everybody wants us to move here, We are serious about settling down here, this place is amazing, I had to get over my stigma of Idaho has a hub for skinheads and militiamen, too many movies a guess, My Private Idaho missed me up, after alot of prodding I find out that there are pockets up north but there are pockets of extremists everywhere, nothing to get freaked out about.  Building codes are relaxed here and land is affordable, we are praying we'll find a place around here. In the meantime, we ride bikes around, go swimming, all that good stuff, this place is awesome, if you don't believe me, come check it out.

Beautiful Idaho Country

Who knew that Idaho was so amazing!  The last few days have been an incredible experience. I kind of pictured something totally different, drier, flatter and not near as breathtaking as it has been, wrong again, I need to stop making assumptions on states like I do.  We left Council and ended up in New Meadows where we stayed in the local park, not too terribly eventful, many people were worried when we told them, where we were headed at the coffee shop we stopped at in the morning, they said it was narrow and winding with little or no shoulder for 15 miles after about 10 miles out of town and from the sound of it we didn’t think it sounded a whole lot different than a lot of places we’ve been through, we left and rolled on down the road stopping 5 miles down the road to look at one of these visitor maps they put up, we’ve only been there a few minutes when this car pulls up and a lady comes walking up to us and starts asking us questions, she is exuberant. She loves what we are doing, she tells us she was driving the opposite direction and spotted us and had to swing back around to see us, I like her, she looks tough as nails and so hilarious, everything I want to be when I grow up, Linnea and her husband Alvin have been cattle ranchers in this valley for years, she told us if we made it that day to Riggins, about 33 miles away, she has a friend that has a restaurant that has the best milkshakes in the world, we could get whatever we wanted but highly recommended the banana cream pie shake that they made, this lit everyone up, the children love this, having a carrot dangled in front of them, keeps them going.  We say goodbye to Linnea and ride on down the canyon, Hell’s Canyon has been going on forever and I loved it the moment I set eyes on it but these narrow roads with big trucks and hidden corners are kind nerve racking and I am just picturing that milkshake as the great prize at the end.   The place is amazing, the Little Salmon River is wild and spirited and the steep canyon walls with waterfalls and tall pines all around make this place so fascinating, even crazier are the inhabitants spread out in this place intermittingly, they have these ramshackle cabins or trailers set precariously  on the walls of the canyon every now and again, one trailer park had the Yahweh’s 666  Warning Assembly, a church I guess, every once in awhile, there would be a small store that was closed down but mostly just wilderness.   Getting closer to  Riggins we passed a stretch of the river with about 1 mile of cars parked on the side, just car after car stacked up on the sides of the narrow road, fish for sale signs let me know what was going on here, the local Native Americans can catch spawning Salmon with nets and were scooping them out one after the other effortlessly and selling them right on the spot.  Riggins is an interesting place, very popular fishing and rafting area, has a real touristy feel to it with a Harley rider edge to it, we made a beeline to the Back Eddy Grill where Linnea had milkshakes waiting for us, we were so happy, it took us a good long while to settle on which kind to get, not only did they have 31 flavors but you could mix them up, this took awhile, I got myself the huckleberry cheesecake, so did Lilly, Ryan went ahead and took Linnea’s advice and got the Banana Cream Pie one, and the kids made some interesting combos, Abby got an interesting one by mixing butterscotch and cheesecake, it was pretty magical.  We tired to find a place to stay in town but the local park did not allow overnight camping so we left town a little way and found a pretty sweet spot next to the river on a sandy bank.  The next day was my Birthday and I wanted to lie around in the sun but we got rain that night and the next day was overcast and fridgid and I spent most of the day sleeping while Ryan went to town and picked up supplies, the kids made me all kinds of interesting gifts out of rocks and leaves and when Ryan came back, he brought stuff for dinner and made it, we had rice with meat and peanut sauce, pretty fancy stuff for us now days, Linnea asked me what the hardest aspect of life on the road was when we talked to her and I thought about that and told her I really miss cooking nice, big meals for people, not the slop were are eating now days, sadly instant mashers and rice make up the bulk of what we consume, it’s just plain artless fuel, I try to make it as palatable as possible and we are usually hungry enough to eat it but I do miss throwing out the art.   We try for White Bird the next day, we’ve been hearing about White Bird Pass since Oregon, “Oh, you have to go up White Bird” people would tell us in a sympathetic tone.  So we got to the town of White Bird after a beautiful ride and some all the locals are just busy as bees buzzing around trying to get things ready for their annual White Bird Days festivities, it’s a real big deal, most of them have tied one on for the occasion and are a real talkative bunch, they all agree we should take the Old White Bird Pass which is steeper and longer but does not have an traffic, we like no traffic, we stay in the school playground area and decide we’re are going to wake up early the next morning before it gets too hot and get this big, white sucker out of the way, we wake up at 5:30, and have breakfast and get off by 8, it’s already hot and the grade is steep right off the bat but it sure is purdy and we can see ahead to the road that switches back and forth up the this steep mountain, it looks giant but the new pass can be seen off to the side and is full of traffic and I am stoked to be on this road with just us even if it is longer. We just climbed and climbed, grinding away for switchback after switchback, Obby got wise and jumped off the bike and started right up the mountain on foot, I don’t think he saw the point in all this back and forth junk and before I knew it, I could see his tiny little form waving to me from the top of the pass.  I have to say that climbing this pass was totally enjoyable, we had a nice breeze, amazing views, the town of White Bird looked so tiny from the top I couldn’t believe it, had we really just left that place? Obby says we spanked that mountain, I agree, we whopped up on that thing.  We reached the summit by 12 noon and had in mind to make it to Kooskia which where we are right now, even though we had a delay in Grangeville after I fell off my bike and racked my crotch and elbow where I had to sit in front of the courthouse with a bag of ice between my legs, Ryan somehow thinks it hurts guys worse than girls but I think he’s smoking crack rock, when I finally mustered up the courage to look at it, I had split myself open and it was bleeding and my elbow had gotten a nice black lump on it.  We did make though, 25 miles with a total of 46 miles today with a summit and if it weren't for the soreness below I’d be in grand shape, I feel strong and energetic, so take that White Birdie. We are camped out in this neat little park next to the river, looks like a postcard.  Hopefully by tomorrow we’ll be in Lowell and Lolo Pass is either going to get spanked or we are going to get spanked up on.

New Meadows, ID

Getting a bit late start today, nice folks keep talking to us and taking up a hefty portion of our morning.  That's what it's all about though, we don't want to just blow through, that's the beauty of traveling like this.  We got dumped on with lightning storms last night in the park, I read to the children until I couldn't be heard any more over the thunder. We hope to make it to Riggins, at least today and maybe take it easy for my B-Day.  I hear Riggins is charming and the places from here to Montana are incredible places to see.  We look forward to seeing it all, even though we have some dicey roadways ahead with  no shoulder, luckily it's all downhill till Riggins.  We really should go, why is it so hard?

Council ID

We were camping out in the park here in Council resting for the day, Ryan wanted to take the chillens to the local museum, when they came back I got to hear all about the wild history of the town, the local dentist who kept chickens and other livestock in her office and did not believe in numbing her patients before working on them, how much things used to cost back in the ol days, and the nice lady at the museum named Sally that showed them around.  I spent my time trying to type and lost power so Ryan went back to the museum to see if he could charge up there and Sally asked him if we wouldn't want to stay over at her guest house a couple blocks away, he came back to ask me and I was on it.   I packed up quickly and headed over, I was expecting a bit of a primitive shack but this place was adorable with beautifully manicured lawns and gardens surrounding it, inside Sally showed me around, this place is so cute and comfy, I was overwhelmed, I felt like I had just entered a dream. Sally loaded us up with huckleberries and morel mushrooms that they picked told us we were welcome to pick any flowers, herbs and veggies out of the gardens, I was so touched.  We thanked her up and down and settled in, Sally left the kids tons of toys and art supplies to have fun with, we had dinner on real plates and drank water from wine glasses, it was a blast.  I took a long, hot bath and felt like a  princess.  We were so happy, I am never expecting these things to happen, people like Sally and her husband Darrell make the world go around.  Hopefully we can make it to Riggins today, 61 miles away, but it is really hard not to linger in this gorgeous place. I am so thankful for this sweet place to rest and feel like the most blessed soul on the planet.  We have some major passes coming up and God knows we needed this.

E. Oregon and on into Idaho

Cliff Crego

We are camping in the park in Council Idaho, we were invited to go next door to the teen center to listen to a Gwar-isc garage band but after a day like today I am feeling a little antisocial, 30-40 mph headwinds battered us all day long and left me feeling grumpy and demoralized. We decided to take it easy today after a 2000 ft. elevation climb yesterday over Brownlee Summit and thought we'd only hit Council today, but what a 20 mile ride! I cried several times, already feeling sore from the pass, I could not take another second of this maddening wind, we were totally zonked out by the time we got here that it took me several minutes standing  in front of the pizza place for the reality to set in that we'd actually made it. I can't ever remember feeling this tired in my life, I had to struggle to lift my leg over the bike, I felt like I had just dismounted myself off a bucking bronco in a rodeo.  We ate out at One Eye Jack's Pizza, I had the salad bar and everybody else had pizza, this was really special, we never eat out, I really don't mind eating rice and oatmeal but it required more energy to make than I had tonight.  There is so much to talk about since the last time I wrote, we left off in Baker City....We left the park in Baker City and at the advice of some folks we met in the park we headed over to the YMCA where they let us set up tent in their park area and we spent the night swimming which was great fun for the kids, they swam for hours and I took a long shower in the locker room, we turned in early so we could get an edge on the next day.  The next day we woke up with every intention of leaving first thing in the morning but after visiting with some curious people at the Y, we got off late and when we headed down the highway, we got a flat on one of Ryan's tires right there on the interstate and after that was fixed we got off on our exit and start climbing this hill into some really dry, sage brushy type landscape, we are actually following the original Oregon Trail and on the side of the road are the wagon wheel ruts and debri from early travelers and that's cool and all but man, this place looks desolate, from talking to the lady at the Y this morning, she says we are going into some of the prettiest parts of OR and I am beginning to doubt whether she gets out much.  On the horizon is just more and more rolling desert and signs everywhere telling us we are entering Hell's Canyon, I am feeling it.  We begin to descend and things are getting a little greener and all of a sudden a river appears on the scene, and we just keep going down and down forever, it is the trippiest place, bone dry on one side of the canyon and lush and green on the other with the wild Powder River whipping through in a untamed way, loud and foamy with crazy whirlpools and rapids, this place is becoming about one of the prettiest places I have ever seen.  We followed this river for a long time until it was time to turn towards Richland, I was sad to leave Hell's Canyon and felt like I was parting from a dear friend, I wish everybody could see this place but things are getting beautiful in a different way, all of a sudden we are in this sweet green valley with quaint little  farms everywhere and monsterous snowy peaks all around like the Alps, it was raining but it didn't at all destroy the charm.  This area had been damaged badly by floods from heavy rain and snow melt and several farms were half under water, Obby kept telling me how bad he felt for the folks around here and kept bringing up how sad they must be, he was pretty heavy about it.  We came into town and stopped at the store to grab a few things and ask about camping, the park was open to camp in and when we left, I was noticing how low energy the people were in Richland, very somber, I wondered if this was some of the effects of the floods on folks there.  We stayed the night in luxury, we didn't even have to set up the tent because the park had a covered pavilion with carpet, we slept there with our bags on the stage and told stories late into the night. We woke up the next morning and got ourselves ready for taking off when this guy on a bike comes tearing into the park with a camera and tripod on his person, he introduced himself but I missed his name at first because I was so captivated by this guy's energy, he really stood out around here, he had heard about us from the welder in town and was so excited, asking questions and taking pictures a million miles a minute, his name was Cliff Crego and spent most of his time in Amstredam taking pics and composing music, he was sinewy and missing teeth from climbing mountains and was a blast to watch, he lived in the mountains around these parts where he photographs nature and bikes around from camp to camp with 200 lbs. of equipment.  Cliff wanted to know everything, where we were going, what we were carrying, how we found everything, which route we were taking, on and on, he was super charged and I figured him in his fifties, but solid muscle and a dynamo of energy, we talked with him while he had the guys at the welding shop fixing his bike rack, finally we had to leave to charge up the pass, Cliff told us it must have been designed by a Russian tank commander the way it just blasted to the top with maybe one switchback, no messing around with this one, we climbed straight up with amazing views of snow covered peaks and the original pony express wagon tracks right next to the road, pretty amazing spot, took us all day.  We flew down the other side of the mountain into a place called Halfway, a pretty cool little town bursting with charm, looked alot like a village in the Alps, we stopped at a store where the owner told us to set up camp at the local park, when we got there the children made friends with a little girl who was playing there named Jess, her Mom said she could have dinner with us and sent some Jerusalem artichokes and some dill that she had grown back to the park with us that I steamed and made some butter sauce that I made for them, I had never tried these things, they are ugly, tangly root looking things that hardly look edible, but I fell in love with them, I wondered why I'd never had them before, we ate those with sushi and Jess's mom shows up and tells us that we better set up in her yard as they might kick us out of the park, they had a sign there saying there is no overnight camping, we missed that. Jess's mom Louise is a straight up, no nonsense type lady that adopted Jess and her brother and was in her late sixties raising 2 very energetic kids and was a picture of youth and vitality, even though her three children are all grown up with grandchildren of their own, she is starting all over again with these two and doing an amazing job, she had incredible patience and took our whole family in without missing a beat, she had to go dig fence posts the morning we were leaving,  she designed her own house and was working getting a garden area started on top of maintaining her house in town in pristine condition with gardens, animals and a sparkly house, where did she get all of her energy from? She was one busy Mama!  We left her house, she loaded us up with hard boiled eggs from her chickens, and made us waffles from wheat she ground up with apple sauce she made, we were so thankful for all she had done for us and headed down the road with giant black, icky clouds all around, we headed down the road and a couple blocks later discovered Sam's bike rack snapped and we had to stop at the hardware store to find parts to fix it, here comes Louise and Jess with something we had forgotten, she saw we needed a welder and took Ryan all over town to find the guy and when he couldn't be found, she took us back to her house so he could work in her tidy and well stocked shop in the back of her house, she made us lunch and when the repair was done she sent us off with tangerine popsicles and stood outside with Jess and bid us farewell again, what a lady! we will not forget her and Jess.  We started heading along the road and met up with Hell's Canyon again, I was thrilled to be back there and followed it down for miles, we saw lots of smashed  Bull snakes on the road, only one live one, they look  a whole lot like rattlers without the rattle, big and brown, Obby wants to stop and examine each one, I vetoed that, we are making great time and seeing alot of amazing views, we had Oxbow in mind for our next stop, about 40 miles away and we passed Oxbow Dam and headed into Brownlee, a beautiful reservoir supposedly 62 miles long, we stayed at a campground at the base of the Brownlee Dam called McCormick Park at the border of Idaho, they had showers and tons of fishermen in R.V.s, I think this is hilarious, the generators cranking out exhaust so they can watch T.V and eat microwave dinners, there were 3 tent campers, and we made friends with one family there who have been visiting this spot religously for 16-17 years, I met her in the bathroom and she invited us to have breakfast at their site in the morning after asking me alot of questions, everybody here is real freindly, the camp host brought us over some firewood and talked with us for a long time, alot of fishermen were curious and even ventured to come talk to us. We woke up the next morning and had breakfast with Todd and Pam and their two boys Lane and Ryker. Todd was a logger and Pam a medical underwriter from Bonners Ferry, ID, she and the girls made fruit salad, eggs and bacon and taters, we thought this was way better than oatmeal which is what we would have had if they hadn't had us over, they even had apple cider that they made, we were so thankful. We visited with them, Sam rode bikes around this gorgeous park with Ryker and the girls and Obby went fishing with Pam, we were having a blast but eventually we did have to go, we had a 2000 ft. climb to make and the day is wasting away, the girls and Obby all caught a fish, Abby caught a catfish, Lilly caught 2 crappies and Obby hooked a good sized bass, we let that one go as you're not allowed to keep them below the dam, we ate the others, what a great day, we were bummed to leave but had to get going.  We entered Idaho which made us happy and followed Brownlee for awhile and then started up the mountain, Abby and I were riding along the road and up ahead we see a black bear sitting on the opposite side of the road, Abby just keeps peddling, "Abby! Look a bear!" I tell her, thinking she somehow didn't see it, "I know" she says "Let's get out of here" she retorts anxiously, peddling her little guts out.  Everybody else behind us got to see it wait for us to cross and then bolt across the road, Ryan said it looked like it had been attacked by a porcupine.  We kept climbing and climbing until we finally got to the top of the summit, high meadows full of flowers surrounded us and we would have liked to explored around more but at was late and it was getting cold way up here, so we flew down reaching Cambridge, ID in the evening making our best day at 42 miles, we set up camp in the blasting wind in the park under the water tower and woke up to more wind, making breakfast was challenging, a neighbor in a Harley shirt ran over to us bringing hot biscuits and currant jam. We were touched to say the least. We left Cambridge fighting winds the whole way, I couldn't take it, I prayed the wind would let up, we're going down hills and the wind is so strong it was trying to push us back up.  I cried, I wanted this day over with, 20 miles took us all day, about half way we came to Lakey's restaurant and stopped to get a snack and got to talking to an older man there, I did not feel like talking but this guy is so excited that he drags his brother and his wife out of the restaurant to see us and is just about in tears telling us how proud of us he is, this is neat, when strangers are proud of you, it and the french fries helped make me feel a little better. We asked how far to Council, just around the corner, he tells us before they jump in their truck, well, just around the corner took us all day, 11 more miles of horrendous hurricane like winds, I am completely demoralized and right before town we came across another cyclist named Dawson who saw me on the side of the road and came over to chat, "how's at going?" he asks, "don't ask" I tell him, he is going in the opposite direction, loving life with all his tailwind action and tells me that he's been fighting headwinds since he left Baltimore, MD, He's from Providence, Rhode Is. and is 400 miles away from finishing up and very stoked and looking like the picture of health, fit and tan, he is very sympathetic about the headwinds and says he was totally hating them all the way here, he is an Architectural Miller and started out with his buddy and after 800 miles, his friend left him, said he couldn't hack it anymore and he's been solo since, riding with others periodically, he tells me he's got to go back to work in a couple weeks and anticipates a bout of depression over leaving the free and wandering lifestyle, his words sound like music to my soul, he reminds me what it is all about and I feel like he was sent from God to pick up my bedraggled spirit. We say our goodbyes and I feel about 50 lbs. lighter after our chat and find our way into Council here, tired but happy. It is Sunday and we went to the nice little Community church this morning that the older couple from Lakey's invited us to right next to the park we camped in, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the friendly and encouraging folks there who asked us if there was anything we needed, our needs are few, I asked if they had an ounce or so of dish soap to fill up our little bottle and they quickly produced a giant blue tub of the stuff telling us we could take the whole thing, we most assuredly didn't need an entire bottle like that but appreciated their thoughtfulness. We couldn't ask for nicer people, one guy at church today tried to talk us into staying and making a home in Council, telling us Ryan could easily find work, and land was cheap, we get this alot, but we definitely want to keep moving, not that living in a town that blasts the Grand Ole Opery over loud speaker doesn't appeal to us but we gotta ramble like they all sing about. 

Severe Passes and Baker City

We are at a park in Baker City and the sun is shining on us, the kids are playing and everything is rosy, but about 2 days ago things were rough, giant passes, rain, a pinched nerve in my hip and long days of grinding away.  On the brighter side, Eastern Oregon is way more gorgeous than I ever dreamed it would be, mile after mile of dramatic landscape and friendly folks, the ones that aren't were comical, last night somebody drove right up next to our tent and yelled at us to wake up and ride our f-ing bikes, we thought maybe we'd slept in too late and looked at our phone, it's 6 a.m., we concluded that they must just need something to do, but we did get up and got off at about 9 a.m., good for us.  In Mitchell, we spent an extra day just because, we flipped a coin and that actually settled it, the kids played all day and we met all kinds of interesting folks there, the owner of the mercantile was a rip-roaring banjo player who taught the kids all kinds of songs about goofy looking girls and heroic boys. In the morning our friend Kaleb showed up and brought his bike to ride with us, I don't think he was expecting such a gnarly climb, but made it to the top with us, riding my bike and me riding his vintage Peugot touring bike, what a sweet, smooth ride up. Most people have been quite friendly, in Dayville we came into town at 6 or 7 at night and asked at the local store where the nearest campground was, they told us there was a church up the road has a hostel for cyclists, sure enough, a block up the road was a little white church on a hill, the Dayville Community Presbyterian Church, a sign on the door said to check in with the house next door, we met Rose there and she showed us around, they had a washer and dryer, shower, kitchen and a t.v. with all kinds of family type movies, we were stoked, I made dinner then hopped in the shower, that was fun, we set up beds on the floor and listened to the rain outside, so thankful for a dry place to stay, I hope the folks there keep on doing their thing there, they are making so many people happy, we want to thank them again.  The passes were brutal, three in a row, 7% grade for mile upon mile right outside of John Day, we felt like tenderized meat by the end of three of those suckers, and finally into Baker City, OR, where we are surprised to see looking so green, we were told by so many people that it was dry and desolate out here but on the contrary, this place looks like paradise, a man we here laughed when I told him I thought it would be wasteland out here, "that's great!" he says, "that's what we want everyone to think, they can all stay out on the coast".  We hope to head out tonight, there is some camping outside of town and we still have some stuff to grab at the store, life without salt is no life at all.

Ochoco Pass and Mitchell OR

We are camped out right now in the funkiest little town called Mitchell OR, a real old west with absolutely no pretense whatsoever, just the funnest place. The town lets bikers camp in the town park for 3 days and has water, fire pits, bathrooms and playground stuff for kiddos, and right now there is only us and Tom, a young guy from out east pedaling to Virginia from Florence OR.   We camped last night in the Ochoco Wilderness off the road a little bit, we got in around 7 and started setting up camp, we had dinner, rice with veggies, falafel and hummus and while I'm cooking I remember seeing all kinds of posters warning us about bears in the Ochoco, so I am getting a little paranoid about the smells we're creating here, I am trying to keep all food smelling type stuff off the ground and after dinner buttoned up super tight.  We went to bed after we sat around the fire for awhile telling bear stories and I had the most realistic dream that a bear was trying to get in the tent and I kept pushing it's fat head through the tent and growling at it, just totally annoyed that it would just keep pushing back. It was so real that when I woke up in the morning I asked Ryan if he had heard all the racket of me fighting with the bear, "no, I missed that" he says dryly, "How in the world could you miss that, I was rocking the whole tent!" I snap at him, "You were dreaming Jelena " he tells me matter of factly. I seriously had to ponder this, maybe I really was dreaming, maybe not. I had to investigate this one, I got up and looked around for footprints ,nothing, food left on the trailer is untouched. It all seemed so real. We finished leftovers from the night before and start heading out when we're met by an older hippy couple on a  co-motion tandem fully loaded, they tell us they are heading to Maine, Bay Harbor to be exact.  These guys are firing off questions left and right about us and our set up and just thrilled to the max, Abby boasts to me that she saw them first and they were gnawing on a two-pound block of cheese with their teeth, I love them instantly, I offered them the use of my pocket knife and they refused and kept ripping off massive hunks with their chompers, their names they tell us are John and Shanna and hale from Salem, OR, we had a blast asking them questions and them asking us questions, and John the whole time he's standing there talking to us is just gawking like he had just discovered a village of leprechauns or something. After a long visit we part ways, I am sad to see them go but they are getting 60-70 mile days in and I doubt we'll be seeing them again and we are averaging about 30-35 right now.     The Ochoco is gorgeous, every bit of it, giant ponderosa pines, the children call them puzzle pines because their bark looks just like puzzle pieces, high meadows with little butterflies floating around and happy little yellow flowers, we are climbing all day and finally get to the top and come to sign that says. Downhill next 7 miles, I mean this is some serious downhill, probably a 12% grade and we are just soaring, Ryan and Obby tucked themselves up and bulleted past us at 40-45 and I had every intention of catching up but something went flying off my bike and Abby tells me it's my stevia that I had in my front pack, I didn't reckon I'd find any of that anytime soon and had to stop and grab it, I guess I had left my front handle bar bag open, I probably would have lost it all as fast as we were going.  We got rolling again and we are cruising in no time flat, I could not even begin to describe how beautiful this place was, just one shocking scene after another, valleys with ancient sea bed rock formations rimming the whole thing and giant grassy plains way down below with mountains busting out the ground violently and covered with amazing trees and foliage.  I about made me cry, but I couldn't because I'm flying so fast I would surely going sailing over the edge of this cliff right next to us if I teared up.  I am holding the handle bars so tight, scanning the road ahead like a hawk for any bumps or gravel patches, with wind flapping my cheeks around like laundry on the line, Abby is trying to talk to me but all her noise is falling behind her, I glanced her face in the mirror and she is all smiles from ear to ear, she lives for this kind of stuff, little junkie.  When we get to bottom I asked her what she had said and she told me she was yelling for me to pedal like she was.   We reach flat land and pedaling seems so hard now after that and it is significantly hotter for sure, I had to shed the jacket and hat I was wearing and that still wasn't enough,  we were now entering Mitchell, we were all talking excitedly for days about the captive bear they kept there at the local gas station, it was supposedly so tame, you could wrestle with it and we really couldn;t wait to meet him, we stopped first though at a coffee shop heralding famous maple bars and the kids asked how far it was to the bear, the lady at the coffee place tells us that they just moved the bear to a ranch outside of town because he was getting too big, we were bummed but when we rode on into town it all seemed to get better, this place is so cool.  Old West mining town that is stuck in time, I mean, Sisters was cute in that Disneyland sort of way, McDonalds with a western storefront scene, but this here is the real thang. We roll into the park and there is John and Shanna eating their lunch with Tom, we have a happy little reunion but after a bit they gotta go, they are serious about miles. I don't understand how it was so hard to part ways with people you just met this morning but I am struggling. Tom is staying behind and we get to chat with him a while and soon Ryan takes the kids off exploring the town, they come back hours later telling me excitedly about all the scorpions they caught, and then they take off again and it's been hours more, it's going on 9:30 and no sign, where could they be, this town is only a couple hundred yards long with just a couple hundred people.  I better go find em, they might be in a pinch with a rattler, I'll have to go use my mad bear fighting skills to free em of their predicament.

Major Alterations

So we've made a lot of changes the last couple days, unfortunately it means we're not on the road but in the end we'll be happier.  Sam no longer has to have a trailer behind him and instead is sporting panniers and Ryan now carries Sam's trailer instead of the cargo trailer, with all the kitchen stuff in there.  Sam was so excited and demonstrated how fast he could fly up the hill clocking himself at 14 m.p.h. We have knocked off over 45 lbs. and have streamlined significantly.  We also traded the Burley trailer for the girls and got the Chariot instead because of storage problems, they seem way cozier and it's red which is my favorite color.  We're itching to get going but this is good stuff.

Bend, reunions, and fortune cookies

We had the most wonderful time visiting here with folks in Central Oregon, staying up till 4:30 in the morning, visiting a Yerba Mate shop, which is about like solid gold in my books, laughing our guts out, playing in the sunshine with the Love family, beauitul reunions with our roommates, the Harris's, and lot's of reconstructing of our load.  We have shaved easily 30 lbs. of gear and 15 lbs. of trailer, we've totally reexamined our load after learning alot crossing the Cascade mountain range, and gotten alot stronger.  Ryan's legs are totally morphing, he has some crazy, mutant calves and his thigh muscles are just plain sick, they start jutting out right after his knee in a super-heroisc fashion. All the children have the same wild muscle stack on their legs and also are noticable stronger looking.  I feel good and look forward to riding more, but  it will be hard to leave everyone here.  We really feel like we are leaving our familiar territory and venturing out into the unknown,we've always hung near the coast and E. Oregon is foreign.  We've been shown so much kindness by complete strangers, giving water, places to stay, money and just time, wanting to stop and talk to us and know our story, in Terrebonne, outside Smith Rocks, the owner of the local Thriftway came out and was asking us questions, she herself was an avid biker who has pulled off several, 400 and 200 mile races, a wiry and energetic lady anmed Bonnie with a shock of blond hair, she asked us all kinds of questions and was so fascinated with the whole touring aspect of life with a family, she is taking pictures of us and jumping about excitedly and could tell she was so thrilled she could have busted out of her skin. "Is there anything you need?" she asks "I own the whole store, you name it" I was just flat taken back, "we could use some water out of your faucet to fill our bottles" I tell her, she goes inside and comes back with the jug filled that I gave her and a bag full of Powerbars and snack-y stuff for everyone. She is standing there talking to us and notices my arm covered with poison oak and runs back in and brings me calamine lotion and cotton balls to take with me, she wanted to aid us in whatever way she could,and when she could see we were in need of nothing else, she gave us money,  her kindness was so precious to behold.  People we know have been equally amazing in their  giving of themselves to us, pampering us, encouraging us, letting us keep them up all night, and putting us up.  The Bray family that we've bee staying with here has nothing short of just plain doted over us constently, they gave us their bed to sleep in, made meals and treats, loved on us severly, and smile the whole time, we will never be able to repay their kindness.  Rachel Harris wanted to take me out for coffee in Bend and took me to this little tiny place called the Sparrow bakery and got me the most amazing breakfast sandwich on the planet, a poached egg on a homemade croissant with a giant slice of peppery bacon and covered with arugula and garlic aioli sauce, I just groaned the whole time I ate it, and they had an amazing execution of an americano, it was all just way too dreamy.  The Harris family watched our bunch while we went out for the last date we'd be having in a long time, we grabbed last minute items and went to a Chinese restaurant and talked about the next jaunt over tea and dinner.  We also had a chance to cut hair, Ryan and the boys probably shed 3 or 4 lbs. of hair and are now looking way more streamlined, Jessica did a great job but the hippy in me was kind of sad to see all the locks come crashing to the ground, maybe the birdies will make sweet little nests with it.  The next stretch is going to take a lot more planning as there are alot less ways to secure water and towns seem more spread out but we are excited.  I know we've been well taken care of and the Father's provisions have been more than enough and that never ceases to amaze us.

Obby and his new pals Octavius Steen (9) and his brother Darius (6) taking us back home with them to their cool, desert oasis home outside of Sisters. This is about the hardiest bunch I've met in a long time. They are a rare breed. These boys met us at the road and chased our bikes for three miles with no hesitation. They know these parts like the back of their gnarly little hands. Obby and Sam had no problem getting cozy with this bunch.
   The boys Dad, Peter Braun is an avid climber and woodworker who has crazy knuckles like knots in a pine tree from climbing but is the sweetest gentlest soul who loves babies. and gives the greatest hugs in the world.  Peter and Dorris have a sweet house nestled in a lonely canyon with their 4 rowdy boys, Octavius, Darius, Cannon, and Dax and lot's of rabbits, cats, chickens and turkeys.  Dorris carries a dagger in a leather case on her belt loop, I of course loved her instantly, it was very hard not to linger here for days, weeks maybe. I hope I see these ones again.

Anny is enjoying some time running around on back roads to break loose from the trailer. On our way down the 3 mile driveway in Central OR to our new friends house, Octavius Steen (that's really his middle name) and his brother Darius escort us to their home in the McKenzie Canyon area outside Sisters. The Deschutes are a beautiful and I can't believe all the views, Smith Rocks (famous climbing spot), rivers, snowy peaks, sprawling ranches with cool barns and the healthiest horses in the world and all these animals are running majestically up to the fence to seemingly greet us, I feel special.

Our Flagger over the pass

I gotta shut you down
-police officer of the Cascade Range area

Real men wave pink ponchos
-Jelena Steen

These guys are hardcore

Santiam Pass

We wake up in the morning spent at Koosah Falls and pack up, getting a good early start, all of a sudden Joe Bray and Mike Harris pull up in Joe’s little car with bikes strapped to the back, it is so nice to see Mike, we shared a small house on a farm near Portland with he and his family this winter, we were thrilled to see his mug. “What in the world are you guys doing here?'” we inquire, Joe states very assuredly that we are not climbing this pass without assistance, he designates his vehicle as the pilot car, he and Cammie were driving home around 1 in the morning from visiting with us over back home over the Santiam Pass and Cammie has a whole new perspective of this road after considering a family of 8 trying to pass it, or maybe it’s the late hour and strong coffee, whatever the reason, they are passionate, they are helping get over this monster.  Mike wants to ride bad, I somehow have this tinge of guilt about not taking the Pass like the rest of them but think about the babies and very probable snow storm on the way up and consent, he’s taking Abby up while I drive the cars with the girls. So we get suited up and get going, “so what’s the plan here?” I ask Joe, “O.K., so I am going to ride until I can handle it and after that I am going to sit on the roof of the car and wave the traffic around” I am thinking, this just does not sound legal at all and tell him to be prepared to get pulled over, he doesn’t seem to much care, he’s more concerned about our safety.  We take off and I follow in the car, this feels odd, driving with exerting much effort, before long Joey is off the bike and on top of the car waving cars by using a bright pink rain poncho, I think we are fetching more dropped- jawed looks from passerbyers because of Joe’s theatrics rather than the kids on bikes over a giant pass.  Slowly they creep up the pass, the kids are doing great, they stop every few miles to rest and drink, but keep on grinding.  The weather is looking ominous with huge, swelling clouds settling all the way around and sure enough it starts to first hail than giant snow flakes start flying down.  Even with the car with behind them with hazard lights and a man on top with the pink poncho just a wavin’ there are a few that race pass way too close and fast for the crazy conditions, I  am now fantasizing  about having a stack of rocks on my lap to chuck at them, or some other damaging, shocking thing I could do to deliver these people back to the reality that there are children right there next to there monster SUVs, instead I just pray fervently.  This pass is brutal, the Cascades are the first of three mountain ranges, so we are curious how this goes over, it appears to be endless, up and up, after you think it’s over, no, there’s more.  My guts are aching for them all, I wish I were suffering with them instead of this car, but I look back at the babies all dry and warm and the gear ( to lighten their load) and feel a little bit better. I am still waiting for the cops to show up any second, at places there is zero or negative shoulder and I’m hanging out in the road making the traffic move around us and it feels precarious.  Finally, we reach the top and the sun comes out, there is snow on the ground and everybody is so happy, we play in the snow, the kids build a snow girl with pine needle ponytails and take some pics and start heading down, I continue to follow them with the hazards on, we want to get down as far as  possible to escape the weather and they are making great timing, then it happens, a cop coming the opposite direction turns around and tears after me, I pull over, “Are you the one following those bikers?” he asks, “yes I am” I tell him, “ those are my kids there on those bikes and there getting away from me here” I tell him, temporarily forgetting his position over me. “do you realize that what you are doing here is illegal?”  he says patronizingly, “I wondered” I tell him apologetically and sheepishly, “i got to shut you down” he says emphatically (yes, these were his words verbatim) “I gotta shut you down” he repeats, “we’re getting calls from folks up the mountain about you”, yeah I could see why, if he had been here 15 minutes earlier, Joe would have been on top of the car and we would most definitely would have been extra excited. I explained to the officer that I realized this looked bad but I was a little protective about their vulnerable position on this pass with these nut ball drivers, he agrees, they are nut balls and says he has to respond to these calls and lets me go after telling me to meet him up the road when he catches up to the bikers so he could scholl us on the dangers of our venture, I meet up with him and the rest of the bunch on a shoulder and he explains that there are a lot of people coming back from their weekend trips ( it’s Sunday) and they are being rude and impatient and suggests we get off at the next camping spot, Suttle lake resort until the traffic dies down.  We thank him for his mercy to us and concern and head back down, this time I leave the hazards off and meet them periodically on shoulders, we passed Suttle Lake as it is totally surrounded by snow, not great for camping, and head lower, now I envy them, sailing down the mountain, Obby looks back at me with a look of complete elation, smiling so hard he’s going to bust his cheeks.   The weather is getting warmer and drier and we settle into the high desert, we are stoked, a 30 mile day, we find a camp at Indian Ford campground, make a fire to warm everybody up and Joe and Mike take off, we settle in and I am totally savoring this dry air, after days in the driving rain, this desert stuff is welcome, we dried all our soaked gear and went to sleep, I didn’t sleep much, I am still itching bad, blasted poison oak.  

Amazing Times

After our day of resting we are ready to get going, took us awhile to get packed up but I believe we got off at 11 or 12 in the noon and set off down the road, drizzly rain and traffic up narrow mountain roads uphill coupled with soreness, itchiness and cold fingers put me in funk and after a couple hours we stop at a small store to get something to eat and I am just praying for this rain to stop before we take off again, this sucks, no more rain, I can’t take any more.  We sit down to some really nice table and chairs the kid in the store set up for us under cover and watch the rain and eat, read the newspaper and eat some more, it’s still raining, we eat some more and all of a sudden it breaks and gets sunny, we could take off right now except the lady in the store comes out and tells us to wait just a second she has a free pizza for us that she accidently browned alittle too much too sell, so we wait and she comes out with this pizza that is perfect and hot, so we eat some on the spot and while we are eating it starts bucketing again, if we had taken off during that short break we would have been out there in that torrent she we sat down and ate more pizza and I got some hot tea as the coffee in these small stores tastes like recycled tires and waited, finally the sun did come out and we went for it, some old timer while we were sitting there at the store told us if we made it up the road to Blue River that the shoulder would be wider, that was all the motivation Ryan and I needed to here, just 20 more miles, and wider shoulder was our mantra, the usually pacifist Ryan had been devising inventions in his mind of spring-loaded metal claws that would scratch the tar out of any vehicles that got too close to our bikes.  We were making good time for a while until I am riding along and my seat is feeling noticably different, I get off and realize my Brooks saddle that we bought used and had noticed it was cracked when we got it was now torn in half, luckily a good friend was on his way to see us and  is really into biking and said he could pick up a new one, do I want to go with a new Brooks saddle or get a new soft tissue relief, yes that is really what they call it, saddle with a hole sanctioned in the middle to preserve your seat area from frictional warfare and create airflow?, seeing I had poison oak, I opted for the airflow as I had gotten so desperate a would pull my bike shorts over the horn of the saddle to get some relief from the itching and burning that the cold air would give.  In the mean time Ryan took my seat and did a quick roadside repair with Lilly’s leather punch and thread and some duct tape and we rode on, making good timing considering our late start because of the rain and set up camp at McKenzie Bridge Campgrounds and were joined by Seth and Evan Finnley and Titus Wenger, good mates from our town. We had a rip-roaring good time with them but had to say goodbye to Bob because his knee was bugging him, he had a friend come get him, we will miss ol Bob.  The children just about cried.  Seth had delivered my new Terry seat and I was so excited to try it I set off through the campsite in the middle of the night to test-drive it,  l like it. In the morning , Evan and I took off in his little volvo to find some winter gloves for the kids in the likely chance we run into snow on the pass, we check both local stores and both of us are amazed at the variety of goods they have to offer, everything from super ornate dragon daggers to toothpick dispensers, but no winter kid’s gloves, I ask around and somebody told us to go up such and such a road to the St. Benedict’s Catholic Church where somebody named sister John had some sort of thrift store, we find the church and we walk in to a small group of ladies making flower arrangements and ask them if this is where the thrift store is, they are confused but when we mention sister John they make an attempt to get a hold of her by phone, no answer. I explained while we are waiting why I am looking for the gloves and the ladies set to work scouring the trunks of their cars, fishing around for gloves, they sadly tell us that there aren’t many kids around but produced 5 or so pairs of leather work gloves from the shed of the church and the priest gaves us about 5 pounds of chocolate covered pretzels and a bag of rice crackers with wasabi peas, we thank them and head back to camp. By the time we get back camp is pretty well packed up, we parted ways with Seth, Evan and Titus, I don’t know when we’ll see those guys again and that makes me sad to know that but who knows where life will take us, at this point.  We set off that morning with hopes of taking the McKenzie Pass but discovered it hadn’t been plowed all the way and had to take the longer, steeper Santiam Pass and pass the day traveling up beautiful old growth woods, rivers and lakes.  We get a phone call that the Bray Family is on their way to bring dinner to us in the evening, we are excited to see them, they also have 6 children and the same as us, 2 boys and 4 girls and around 4 p.m. or so they come rolling up in their giant 15 passenger van, Joey is yelling at us from the driver’s seat, “What’s wrong with you people?” in his crazed manner. We tell them to turn around and meet us up the next campground so he turns around and starts driving towards it and a short while later returns giving us the stats on the distance (Joey has stats on everything) and pulls up and tells me to jump in the van with Cammy while he tackles the last leg to give it a shot.  I start heading towards the campground with her and this hill just keeps going up and up forever, by the time we get to the camp, I estimate they won’t be along for a couple hours and start exploring this place and discover an amazing waterfall called Koosah Falls just a couple hundred yards away, the Bray kids and I killed time looking around the falls and all the cool trails around it.  After a half hour of looking around, Cammy and I decide we should walk over to the main road to meet up with the bikers and really don’t expect to see them right away, but here they were coming up and we cheered them up the last parts to the entrance, Joe is most definately beat, he had some back injury at Costco where he works and was seriously out of commission for a year, but he made it although he was several shades redder and sweating bullets.  The kids set to work building a fire and Joe and Cammie in their typical fashion, make quick work of making this campsite into a full out comfort zone, they’ve got all the ammenities to make this place like home, screened tents that fit over the entire picnic table, reclining camp chairs, tarps for setting up rain/wind blocks, games, whatever, you name it.  Cammie had made barbeque chicken and SALAD, I love salad and we ate heartily, we had pulled off a 30 mile day with hills, even though we got such a late start, so we were all hungry and it had to be about the best meal on the planet.  The Brays had brought water, gloves and Joe’s own trail mix blend, beef jerky and fruit for us all for the ride the next day, I was so touched.  We sat around the fire, talked well into the night and drank strong coffee while the children got to watch a movie in their van on their crazy 25 inch monitor rigged to a small laptop computer in their giant van that was like a spacious theatre with rows of seats.  I was sorry to part with them but we did eventually have to get to bed, we had the pass to conquer the next day.

Up the McKenzie River (Day 5 or is it 6, I don’t know)

We had a good night’s rest there in our camp spot but the next day I hear Bob up in the morning chopping firewood and carrying on but a had no ability to get up, I am getting rocked by this gnarly sinus infection, I am way itchy in my nethers, it is raining out and decide I am feeling about like road kill and lay around a bit longer than usual.  Ryan and Bob make coffee, set up a rowdy clothes drying system near the fire, yes, in the rain, they are drying clothes by setting forked branches in the ground and running a stick across that the perfect distance from the fire and it is totally drying stuff out, and the kids are playing and talking near the fire, way cozy and nice, I try to join them for a spell but after awhile I retreat back to the tent and fall asleep for awhile.   Around noon Mrs, Millard comes to see us, a whole 45 minute day from their place, bearing 3 giant foot-long sandwiches,fruit and some dinky items I had forgotten at their house, seeing that I wasn’t feeling well or just wanting to spend time with them, she took the kids up the road to see the hatchery she grew up going to where they raise 20 ft. long sturgeon, I slept the whole time and when they came back several hours later, they had all kinds of stories to tell about the fish and all the amazing treats they got, and Mrs.  Milllard even brought back a pizza, by now Ryan had canned any idea of getting down the road and he and Bob spent the day swapping stories and collecting firewood.  We all ate pizza around the fire and sadly had to say goodbye to Mrs. Millard again, we are all going to miss her she is a truly incredible woman and I won’t ever be able to repay her kindness to us, what a helpless feeling. When I went to bed that night I was so thankful thinking about how people you hardly know come out of nowhere and completely bless the socks off of you. How absolutely amazing!!! What an encouragment to know that everywhere we are the Almighty is not leaving us without astonishment, so many levels of love, coming from every angle, layer upon layer, I am stoked about what we will see.  The children go to bed telling exciting stories about what a blessing people are, how we prayed for things and they happen and all the rain, semi-trucks, and itchy, burning kiesters seem not to matter in comparison.

Back to civilazation (for now)and the Millard Family

So we entered into Eugene after our time through the Smith River wilderness and I can’t say that was too thrilling, all of a sudden we’re swept into traffic, noise, and chaos.  Thankfully a good friend had arranged a place to stay for us, a large family(9 children) right there in the city, the Millard family.  I have to admit that it’s kind of hard for me to put myself in a position to depend on perfect strangers for a place to stay, eat, wash-up, and in any other given circumstance I would have been hesitant to put somebody out (especially an already large family) but that was before, and nowadays these rules no longer apply.  So thanks to Eugene’s lovely bike trails we made it there smoothly and roll up to the Millard’s spacious home right off the trail and a huge city park, this family took us in and had a big, beautiful dinner made for us when we arrived, a room all prepared and took immediately to playing with the children after dinner so that I could get a much needed shower in.  What an amazing sensation this was, you’d think this was the first one I’d ever taken, I lingered way too long, at least 20 minutes.  We were told about how notorious Eugene/Springfield was for bike theft and this family testified to that, they had 5 or so stolen this last couple years, they insisted that we bring them into the house for the night, are you sure I asked, we’re not talking about a couple bikes, this is a full-on mess of trailers, bikes, trail-a-bikes, panniers and cargo, they still insisted so we started bringing the whole set-up in, taking up a significant portion of the dining room area.  The Millards were about some of the sweetest bunch of folks you could meet, they rolled out the red carpet for us, washed our laundry, made beautiful meals, read to the children, on and on. Ryan spent alot of time running around grabbing last minute stuff and I got to spend alot of great time getting to know this neat family,Sam got to know their son, John, and they were off the whole time exploring the bike trails and BMX track.  Cathy (the mom) was just the most gracious hostess, never growing tired of cooking for her own family of 11, but our whole family of 8 and the endless stream of people dropping in all day and night, Cathy and Paul Millard’s children range from 30 on down and most live there with them, Daniel (19) is in nursing school and offered loads of first-aid advice and stocked us up with a fully loaded kit with everything from blood clotting powder for severed limbs to butterfly bandages for small cuts and a lot in between.  Mrs. Millard took me to the grocery store to pick up some dehydrated bulk foods and ended up buying several different kinds of snacks for us and when we got home they got bagged up individually with each person’s name on it for the trip.  I was excited to get back into the wilderness but very sad to leave these amazing people, we fell in love with them, the whole family just radiated joy.  At the last minute our good friend Bob Locus decides to go with us and follow us on bike to Bend, so Bob runs home the evening before we left to get ready and comes back the next morning with home-made bucket panniers made from Fresh Step kitty liter buckets, a full size backpack and another bag, I was feeling a little better about how loaded down we were after seeing this single man with such a load, he straps everything down and we say our farewells to the Millards and we were off with giant storm clouds brewing.  It had been raining the past few days on and off but we had decided to take the plunge anyhow.  About a 2 hour ride with rain pelting us the whole way, we pulled off in some small town at an abandoned mini mart to eat the sandwiches that Mrs. Millard had made for us under the shelter of the awning of this store when the most torrential rains just start pouring down, pretty soon the winds pick up and it is blowing rain at us at about 45 mph, soaking everyone to the bone, I throw the girls back in their trailer with their half eaten sandwiches where they can keep dry and Ryan had pulled out a tarp which everybody was huddled behind with the wind sucking it right against them and flapping in their faces violently while they’re trying to finish their sandwiches, I am standing there beholding the whole thing halfway on the verge of tears and just start laughing, what else can you do, this whole thing looked way too funny, pretty soon everybody is laughing their guts out.  When the storm let up, we all booked it down the road, we were making our way through a nice McKenzie riverside community with gorgeous houses lining the whole way, it’s still raining and when we pulled over again I had to pee and since there were so many houses around I quickly find a semi-hidden spot to go and in mid-stream I look up to see that I am completely surrounded by poison oak, I panic and get out quickly hoping that maybe it didn’t actually make contact with my skin get on the bike and head on.   We make our way up the McKenzie River rd. and the whole time the shoulder seems to kind of disapear and the trucks just seem to get bigger and the rain just seems to keep coming down, it’s getting quite demoralizing, I have a wicked sinus infection that seems to produce a wide range of different colored snot and we stop at about 5:30 p.m. at a small mountain general store to buy some chemical warfare for my head and ask about good camping, the guy there at the store didn’t seem to know a whole lot about where to camp and suggested we go up the road for a few miles and turn off on a road that might have somewhere to pitch a tent, so we head down the road following his directions down a road and quickly realize this is not the place to stay and start back and about halfway we are met by a lady in a SUV who meets us in the middle of the road, I’m behind a little bit so when I roll up it appears that she is just tearing into Ryan, “You’re on the most dangerous road on the planet, your wife and son are sick, it’s pouring down rain and you obviously have no idea where you’re going!, I have a 3 year old grandbaby and if I knew she was in……..” wait, I’m thinking, how does she know all this stuff, yes Obby had threw up the night before, and I’m sick, I have a 3 year old, but who is this lady and how in the world had she figured all this out???  “Now listen” she says, “I have a place down the road, showers, horses for the kids to play with, water, you can either come home with me or down the road there is a piece of property you can camp at, you decide” she declares authoritatively  The whole time Ryan is standing there stone cold like a kid in the principal’s office and I think Bob has his mouth wide open in disbelief and I’m still trying to figure out how she knows all this stuff.  “Thank you” we tell her when we finally figure out that all this is an invitation and not a prelude to an arrest, just her own mother hen way of letting us know that she cares, so we follow her and opt for the property to camp on because it’s closer, we thank her again as she assures us that if we need anything, she’s right down the road a couple miles, herbal tea, water, anything.  Thanking her up and down, sort of like when you get pulled over by the cops and escape a ticket, we part ways and set about making camp behind a grove of trees in this absolutely stunning spot, after the tent is set-up  and a fire is made under the trees, it just starts dumping rain again but the trees around us are so thick we hardly notice.  We  go to bed that night just so thankful for this great place to stay, we’re dry, well-fed, warm, everything seems just too perfect, except my butt kind of itches.

Trucking along

Made it over the Santiam Pass with snow and hail and sittin purdy in Sisters OR done up in old western style, good americano here at Sisters Coffee Company.  We will fill in the blanks as far as blogging goes as soon as we stop somewhere where they have internet. Enjoying the high, dry desert after days in the pouring rain.  Lots of amazing things to catch up with, it's been both sweet and bitter, can't wait to tell ya'll bout it. Making good time right now on some much-appreciated flat ground, gotta go. Peace.

Smith River

So we left Coos Bay with a short stop at Moe’s Bike Shop for last minute items, and Al at Moe’s called the police to escort us across the North Bend Bridge, that was fun being followed by the cops with lights on and not having to stop .  After he left us we made our way up the coast with tons of head wind and lots of traffic.  I would have to say the scariest part was the climb before Winchester Bay with no shoulder, but coming down made it all worth it.  When we made it into Reedsport we stopped at the grocery store and got some snacks.  We had decided to go on Smith River Rd to Eugene upon the recommendation of Al from the bike shop.  So about a mile after the grocery store we started to head east on Smith River Rd.  It was an immediate relief there was no wind and practically no traffic.  It was starting to get dark so about 3 miles down the road we spotted a beautiful camp spot next to the river with picnic tables, a fire pit, and BBQ, complete with a canoe.  We drooled over this site, but there were no trespassing sign all over it.  So Ryan decided to go ask at the house above.  So Ryan walked up to the door and asked the man that answered “Is that your camp spot down there.” and the man replied “Yes it is”, and Ryan asked “Could we stay there for the evening.” and the man says enthusiastically  “Knock yourselves out” We ride down to this totally picturesque spot and start unloading our gear, this man comes down in his pick-up and jumps down and lets his dog out, “now, this is Toby” he says, “I knew he was going to want to come down and see ya’ll so I brought him down to meet you.” this kind-hearted soul named Studebaker Jim (he’s got a sweet icy-teal Studebaker in his shop) told us to load his giant fir-pit up with cedar from the gigantic stack next to the pit and take the kids out on the canoe but made sure they all had life jackets on first,.  So I made dinner on the BBQ of fried rice with dehydrated veggies and egg in it in our pot that we had brought and Ryan took the kids out on the canoe, the sun was setting and it’s warm and just plain gorgeous in this place, everything is just too perfect, our tents are set up and dinner’s almost ready, I just want to pinch myself, is this dreamy or what? Toby the dog is a great fetcher of sticks and me and the children had a great time playing with this sweet tempered dog who loves water and can play dead when you pretend to shoot him.  Studebaker Jim is so sweet and loads the children up with snacks, I mean any kind of thing you can imagine, Atomic Fireballs, pistachios, smoked almonds, Reeses peanut butter cups, York peppermint patties, snack mixes, drinks and on and on.  This man is a big, burly logger with a solid heart of gold,  he’s such a special guy who’d give you the  shirt right off his back.  We were thankful, now normally I don’t allow the  children to eat a whole lot of sugar, but these guys are working their little rear ends off and I really felt they deserved the pampering .We went to bed very happy campers that night. Sometime in the middle of the night I had to get up to pee and stepped outside the tent that we set up earlier on dry land and now the same spot was covered in a couple inches in water, I totally soaked my socks and had to wring them out, later I could hear Lilly get up from bed and splash around, totally shocked, the girls landed  their tent in the deepest spot of a tidal pool.   When we packed up the next morning after a short visit by the fire with the Avery Family (on their way up to Washington) and they even brought cold O.J. which really helped with the bad sore throat I had and a great raw breakfast and then we rode on up to Jim’s place before taking off down the road, Jim hugs everyone vehemently and frantically searches around for some bright material to strap to our bikes to make us more visible, emphasizing how careful we need to be on these roads.  We all say our goodbyes, we will never forget his kindness to perfect strangers.  We ride on down the road just completely shocked at how amazing this place is, just like paradise, every corner we turn just awes us, we stop about 12 miles down the road at a remote little store and the guy that owns the place tells us that we can order whatever we want, Jim had called and arranged to buy us lunch.  We ordered 2 orders of French fries, a chicken basket (also with fries) and the snack basket (fried zukes, mushrooms, onion rings and fried jalapenos) yes, everything we ate was totally fried. We ate and took off up a steep incline which made me feel a little better about horking down that heavy lunch and made it to that evening to our goal, Smith River Falls, just before making it to the camp, a man pulls up behind us in a car and asks us where we staying that evening because he wants to drop off the load of wood in the trunk of his car for us at our spot, we ride up and he had a big pile of wood waiting there for us, Jim had told him about us.  That night Jon and Stef and Katie-Bug Alhers drove 1 ½  hours to come see us and shared the fire with us and we explored the old Smith River hatchery, sweet time, even after riding 30 miles the kids were totally bouncing off the walls with energy, Jon calls them the Energizer bunny children .  The next day we get an earlier start, 11:30( we have to get our systems down a little better) .  We had a short time of reading the Bible and praying, we asked the children maybe some things we could pray about, they thought about it and came up with water(the campsite we were at didn’t have any), food and a place to stay. We head down the road, beautiful day, perfect weather we just ride and ride. We pulled into a campsite and asked an older couple staying here if they knew of a faucet to get water out of, they said no this spot didn’t have water either but they were leaving and had tons left over, filled all our water bottles and gallon jug and had small bottles on ice they gave to everyone  , around noon we are having lunch on the side of the road and a man drives up and asks what we are doing, he told us he saw us the day before sailing down the hill with smiles from ear to ear and had to know what we were up to, he listened and then told us he had to question our sanity but give us some apples and bananas and slipped us some money, we were so thankful for some fruit after all the cooked rice and quinoa.  We just kept riding, climbing some major mountains and kind of got carried away sailing down the mountain and sailed ourselves straight out of all the river front sites that we could have camped at and wondered where we were going to stay where there was water.  We definitely did not want to turn around so we just kept going straight through this kind of dry looking place getting a little nervous as we had emptied all our water again.  A couple miles we thankfully came across a little creek and a grassy little road tucked next to it, we got baths, Obby made a great little fire we cooked our quinoa over, washed some laundry, tent was up and all of our stuff covered with tarps(we had heard it might rain) and sure enough it starts coming down, so it’s raining out now we are all in our tent warm, dry and happy.  We asked the children at dinner if God had heard our prayers today, they got all excited recounting about the water, the apples and bananas, and the sweet spot tucked in the trees with a creek next to it.  So they are all sleeping, we had a great day riding 37 miles and actually succeeded in wearing the children out, that was my answered prayer.