2008: A Bike Odyssey

Thurs Oct 9th, Grand Ronde, OR -> Lincoln City, OR

2008-10-14T10:53:00.001-07:00

Wed Oct 8th, Newberg, OR -> Grand Ronde, OR

2008-10-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Tues Oct 7th, Portland, OR -> Newberg, OR

2008-10-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

Tues Sep 23rd - Oct 6th Portland!!!

2008-10-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Much fun was had by all.

Mon Sep 22, Biggs, OR -> Portland, OR

2008-09-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Rode down the Columbia River Gorge. Amazing scenery. Much like riding into a wind tunnel. 60+ miles of riding on the interstate. Mostly at night. But we're alive and in Portland!!!

Sun Sep 21, Fossil, OR -> Biggs, OR

2008-09-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today we rode through huge wind farms - hundreds of wind turbines. In addition to some decent sized hills we had a stiff head wind most of the day.

Sat Sep 20, Dayville, OR -> Fossil, OR

2008-09-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Friday Sep 19th, Unity, OR -> Dayville, OR

2008-09-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

We rejoined the TransAm trail today and stopped at one of the institutions of the trail - the Dayville Church. We had showers, tv, and a full kitchen to use. We had pasta for dinner, did our laundry, and watched "Surf's Up".

Thursday Sep 18th, Unity, OR

2008-09-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

Rest day. Scott had so much fun celebrating his birthday yesterday that we've been bumming around town today. Our plan is to leave at daybreak tomorrow and try to make up some of the lost miles. The original plan called for Dayville, OR, 80 miles away, but hopefully we can blow through that tomorrow and be well on our way to the Columbia River Gorge. That does bring up an interesting question though - where will our next shower be? While using the gas station's wireless connection we have discovered that the Clear Creek Distillery is located in Portland and the Rogue Brewery has a location in Portland.

Even though we still have a few hundred miles to go to the coast we feel like we're almost there. Only yesterday did we realize that when asked "where are you heading"?, we can no longer reply "Oregon".

Wed Sep 17th, Vale, OR -> Unity, OR

2008-09-18T07:20:00.002-07:00

Tues Sep 16th, Ontario, OR -> Vale, OR

2008-09-18T07:20:00.001-07:00

Mon Sep 15th, Murphy, ID -> Ontario, OR

2008-09-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Sun Sept 14th - Mountain Home to Murphy, Idaho (60 mi)

2008-09-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Today was a lazy day. The desert sun really got to us. By the way, who knew Idaho had a desert? I certainly did not. Mountain Home AFB was having an air show, so we caught a glimpse. After 50 miles of biking, which included almost getting run off the road by some asshole in a big white pick-up truck, we were so hot and tired we decided to nap on the cold concrete of a rest stop for an hour. We only went 60 miles instead of the planned 83... what a cop out! Turned out great though. A wave from the helicopter pilot and everyone else in Murphy. The Murphy General Store owners were nice enough to let us camp on their lawn, use their firepit, and even gave us grilled zucchini from their home garden and some dutch oven pot roast. Can you believe the hospitality? Amazing people in amazing places.

And once again, no showers. We have protective coatings of dirt and grime. The 3 day old dirt prevents the 6th day dirt from caking on. We're thinking of getting showers tomorrow.

We credit Scott's USA bandana with
getting us great hospitality from everyone today.

Plateau city.

Nice campsite tonight.

Ohmmmmmmm....

Sat Sept 13th - Fairfield to Mountain Home, Idaho

2008-09-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

Today we rode with Tony - the cyclist we met last night - for the day. An exceedingly skinny dude with a disproportionately bulky bike. But he can keep up! We rode through some desolate, hilly desert terrain... nothing like a swig of hot water from your canteen to crush your moral. But there's also nothing like an 11 mile, 6% downhill at the end of the day to lift your spirits. We parted with Tony at his Mountain Home motel - he is off to the Boise beat poetry scene. We were going to bike 23 miles further than Mountain Home, but it was close to sunset and ALL FOUR OF US got flat tires at the same time, near a lonesome church on the outskirts of town. We took that as a sign from above that we should call it a night. We camped on the church property without asking (they don't usually mind about that), ate our canned beans with tortillas and hot sauce, and washed it all down with PBR tall-boys. A beautiful sunset from an innocent swing set. We'll take care of those flats tomorrow morning. Let's just stare at the desert sky tonight...

Wayne's got it right:
married a rich lady, no kids, retired at 44.

The ironing is delicous.

Our desert bicycle gang.

The goat-head puncture fiasco.

Setting up camp outside the desert church.

Friday Sept 12th - Arco, ID to Fairfield, ID (90 mi)

2008-09-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

Today we rode like monsters past the Craters of the Moon, through the sunset and into the night until we reached Fairfield Idaho. Is it a real town? Is it just a gas station with its own dot on the map? We weren't sure but we made it our goal. After some night time explorations of the town we found their city park, and it turned out to have another bicyclist. Sweet! His name was Tony and he was into the hip-hop poetry scene. We chatted briefly, but for the last 10 miles or so we were running on empty, so we hit the sack pretty quickly.

Kyle Rogers, chillin' outside our cheap KOA cabin.

Scott Porbansky, talking to his mommy.

Craters of the Moon.

Tony, bicyclist, runner and poet extraordinare.

Thurs Sep 11th, Idaho Falls, ID -> Arco, ID (73.4 miles)

2008-09-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

Woke up 7:30, drinking coffee by 8:30, on the road at 10:00. Half a mile from the edge of town, Scott's rack broke, so back to a bike shop. Ann and Nicole told us about hot springs at Craters of the Moon, 90 miles away. Alas, we finally left town at 12:30. Good day for riding through the desert but we were tired when we hit Arco. The local KOA had a steal of a deal on a cabin, so we've finally showered and charged our electronics. Oh, good day for laundry too.

Wed Sep 10th, Palisades, ID -> Idaho Falls, ID (69 miles)

2008-09-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

Free camping in the city park. No showers. Near train tracks.
6pm: Kyle "Why would they say no camping here? Its so perfect!"
3am: Kyle "Fucking sprinklers. That's why they say no camping here"

Tues Sep 9th, Jackson, WY -> Palisades, ID (65 miles)

2008-09-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Free camping! Cute dog, no shower.

Mon Sep 8th, Grand Teton National Park-> Jackson, WY

2008-09-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

Breakfast at the local diner where our waitress, Allie, told us about her west coast bike trip. Turns out the Oregon and California coasts are beautiful! Adrian left for Jackson and we went to break camp. Met up at the Snake River Brewery and split a hotel room 5 ways. Penne + olive oil for dinner with the hotel's kitchenette.

Sun Sep 7th, Dubois, WY -> Grand Teton National Park, WY (50 mi)

2008-09-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

Off to a late start to maximize our stay in the hotel but covered 20 miles and 1000 feet of climbing in about 1.5 hours, so we stopped for lunch. At lunch we saw a east bounder zip by, then Adrian, a west bound brit on a recumbent passed heading west. At the same time, Daniel and Ben pulled up. They are riding the Great Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico. We had a beer with them at lunch then continued on our climb. The peak promised us 17 miles of a 6% grade downhill but between the construction and the occasional hill, it didn't pass as fast as hoped. We met Adrian at the campsite at the end and built a fire and had some beers. Beautiful sunset.

Sat Sep 6th, Lander, WY -> Dubois, WY (80 miles)

2008-09-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

Left at 12:30 but good day for riding - rolled in to Dubois just before sunset. It was Kyle's 21st birthday so his mom got him a hotel room. Excellent duck for dinner.

Fri Sep 5th, Lander, WY (3.5 miles)

2008-09-06T10:44:00.001-07:00

Thurs Sep 4th, Jeffery City, WY -> Lander, WY (50 miles)

2008-09-06T10:43:00.002-07:00

Wed, Sep 3rd, Rawlins, WY -> Jeffery City, WY (70mi)

2008-09-06T10:43:00.001-07:00

Tues Sep 2nd, Riverside, WY -> Rawlins, WY (65 miles)

2008-09-06T10:42:00.000-07:00