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.