June 5, 2017

83 miles in the middle of hills, no mountains, is a long day!!  We left Baker City at 7:00 a.m.  The temperature was around 37.  I was grateful for the leg warmers that Eric Yoder sent with me.  We had an initial climb of several miles to four thousand feet followed by a long descent.  We had a significant wind in our face most of the day.  The wind was so strong, at one point on a down hill, I found myself pedaling for all I was worth and only going 13 miles an hour.  That is pretty discouraging!

In the middle of our descent, we were flagged down by a local farmer.  He asked us to pull off the side of the road while they drove a herd of 400 cattle done the road.  He told us they had another 4.5 miles to go.  That was interesting watching them move the cattle.

The topography changed throughout the day today.  Originally we were surrounded by mountains. We soon moved through the high desert, where all you saw was sandy soil, with stubby little bushes every now and then.  We then moved through an area with some of the nicest alfalfa hay fields and fields full of all kinds of other crops.  Most fields used flooding irrigation.

We stopped in town called Huntington where we went into a grocery store to find food and water.  They treated us so well, offering ice for our water bottles and suggesting that we consider a different route in order to miss two three mile climbs.  Their suggestion was great.  Their route added another eight miles to our ride. It took us along the scenic Snake River, and for the most part it was flat. 
In talking to one of the employees of the store, she claimed the town would have died had it not been for two marijuana shops.  They also have a farm where they grow the marijuana in the same town, offering jobs to many of the locals.  She told us people drive from all over the place to make their purchase, which keeps their economy going.

Towards the end of the day, I tried at one point to ride behind Michael hoping he would block the wind.  The problem is he is so skinny that the wind goes right through him; yes the wind goes right through him.

We are making progress in the fact that tomorrow morning we leave Oregon and ride into Idaho.  We did ride into the mountain time zone, which means we are only two hours behind home.


Good to be alive!







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