Halfway...at least in spirit...

Well...we made it to Jake's house in Longmont, CO. It took a push of 600 miles in 6 days, including crossing a 9600 ft pass and the country's highest continuous road, Trail Ridge Road, at 12183 ft. There were the 40 mph cross winds in Wyoming, to which one gas station clerk said, "wind...this is a breeze. We don't call it wind until it hits 60." And the deserts...oh the deserts. Apparently Wyoming has a lot of desert and we always ended up crossing these remote stretches at the end of the day. We did one 30 mile desert crossing starting at 4pm. I think I had heat stroke at the start because I wasn't really sweating too much. Then there was the rattle snake on the side of the road. I was going uphill at about 5 mph and I hear a rattle and look down. There was a 2-3 ft rattlesnake. I didn't see the head but the rattle was about two inches long. It was pretty crazy. That was my hardest day so far.

We made it through Yellowstone too, which was awesome. Definitely one of the most amazing and unusual places I've ever seen. Andy and I took a bus tour around Ring of Fire. It was great except for the two and a half hour bison jam. We were stuck on the bus the whole time. We did luck out on the animal sightings though. We saw bison, elk, a coyote, and a grizzly bear with her cub.

Yesterday, crossing trail ridge road was nuts. We started out at 7am and I think it was in the 20s. There were a bunch of elk at our campsite. This one young buck, about an 8 pointer (4 on each side) was about ten feet from us. He was pretty curious but we were getting a little nervous. Then, when we got near the summit, a bunch of goons passed us on road bikes with no gear. One of them asked me if I wanted anymore weight. I would've pushed him off the mountain if the air wasn't so thin. Then, at the summit, the winds kicked in. They were a solid 40 mph. Headwinds, tailwinds, crosswinds. They were all there because the road kept winding around the mountain. It was super sketchy. I had to look at a spot on the road 10 feet in front of me because I felt like I was going to get blown off the mountain.

Lastly, Jake's crazy. We tried to go tubing on the Pooter River today and it was so high that everything was glass three and higher. We stopped this one spot to check it out and a raft full of people with life jackets and helmets flipped and dumped in the water. It was nuts. Jake climbed this rock and dove, head first, into the river 30 feet below. There was no way in hell that I was going. Check out the picture for proof.

Oh, I almost forgot. We got to our first Yellowstone camp site at around 1pm. After setting up we decided to hitchhike up to Canyon Village to check things out. It took us a little bit but we got a ride in the bed of a pickup truck. Really safe, yes. But the way home was priceless. This van finally stops and the mom asks us if we're going to the Madison Junction on the way to West Yellowstone. We say yes and hop in. Inside was the awesomest family ever. There were two kids, a boy of maybe 6 and a girl of 9 or 10, who wouldn't stop hitting each other. Then there was the cousin who had atleast 10 piercings in his face. He looked real angsty. The mom and dad were hilarious and very hospitable. No one had their seatbelts on. Mom offered us a can of beer to split. We declined saying the ride was enough. So the dad drank the beer while he drove. It was one of the most interesting glimpses into the "typical american family" I've ever had.

That's all for now. I think we'll have better internet access coming up. Wish us luck with the winds in Kansas. I'm hoping for tailwinds the whole way.

It's been a little while

Internet access is few and far between up here in Idaho and Montana. It's been an interesting couple of days. We've crossed Lolo pass, Whitebird pass, and Chief Joseph pass...all of which were hard but not impossible.

I'm in Dillon, Montana right now at a library. We had a rest day in Baker City where we met
Gary and Lucas - they're in the dinner picture, Gary is the older guy - again. We couldn't believe they caught us but they're beasts.

Some of the towns that we're passing thorugh in Montana are tiny. Wisdom has 50 people. Jackson, where we spent last night has 38. It's pretty amazing that they survive. Many of these towns are places where Lewis and Clark stopped on their trips west and then back east.

The hospitality has been great. The one picture is of us camping on the front porch of a store because it was 45 degF and rainy at the end of a 90 mile day. Normally it's sunny and 100 degF there. The shopkeeper was going to let us use her truck to run errands but we thought that was over the top.

We took Monday off in Salmon, ID to go whitewater rafting. It was awesome. Andy's brother, Matt, is a guide on the Salmon. I had a bit of a rought time as I almost got swept away. I jumped from a rock into the current but missed the eddy just after the rock and started heading for the next rapid set. I couldn't swim out of the current and I started flailing until Nate showed up with his kayak and pulled me to shore. I stayed in the boat after that.

Ok. Gotta run. I'm 1259 miles from Seattle as of this morning. We should make West Yellowstone, MT late tomorrow or early Friday. Then we're spending a day in the park as tourists. After that it's onto Boulder via Trail Ridge Road, the highest road in the USA.

Chris.

Rest Day in Baker CIty

Whew...today is a much needed rest day. We've gone over 550 miles since picking up Andy in Astoria and over 700 since starting in Seattle. The last couple of days have been tough too. I already wrote about Santiam Pass. We did 50 the day after that. Then we had our first 100 mile day. It included two mountain passes. Yesterday was 63 miles with three mountain passes, all over 5000 ft. The weather has been good to us. Lots of sun and blue skies and favorable tailwinds. All of the uphill has come with lots of awesome downhill too. My top speed is 43.1 mph. Jake bested my by a half mph @ 43.6.

The eastern half of Oregon is amazing country. It's considered a "high desert" and resembles a lot of what I thought rural Utah would look like. Rolling through these landscapes has been amazing. Every time we crest a mountain range there is something new on the other side. I actually saw my first real cowboys in Dayville, OR. Never would've thought it either, but they climbed out of their F-350 and had big 'ol hats, bandanas around their necks. and spurs on their boots.

I think I've really settled into the trip. I have no idea what day of the week it is. I'm not really sure of the date either. The weather forecast for tomorrow isn't really relevant since we're still going to have to ride through it. Basically...it feels great to just have to focus on pedaling. I'm attaching a bunch of random photos from the past couple of days since our internet access has been sparse. Jake's computer is busted. I guess macs don't handle bumps and rain too well. Other than that, we're just rolling on. We should hit Idaho tomorrow and be in Montana a few days after that. Missoula, MT is about 400 miles from here.

Yesterday was epic.

88 miles.

7 hours ride time.

4817 ft Santiam Pass @ mile 69.

Rain from the start of the ride to the top of the pass.

48 degF @ start.

38 degF @ summit.

It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. 6 miles of 6%+ grade to climb the pass. I met Jake at the bottom just before the push. Andy went ahead of us because he was cold. He's 160 lbs to our 200. He made it about 500 ft from the top and had to stop and duck into a state highway gravel storage shelter because he was getting extremely hypothermic. He had to strip down and change clothes. Probably spent 45 minutes trying to warm up before he came down.

It was great to be done. We ended up staying in this wonderful Best Western Ponderosa Lodge in Sister's OR. It looks like it's made of giant pine trees. The guy gave us the king suite because there's a tile floor section for our bikes. But it had a fantastic shower, in room jacuzzi, and there was a huge outdoor hot tub. Felt like we earned it.

This is a picture of Robert. We camped in his front yard the night before last. It was cool. He had some stories about New Orleans and was happy to have us.

Alright, time to move on.

Chris

Go Ducks!

Here are some pics from the first day's ride with Andy. We stopped in Seaside, OR to get out feet wet in the Pacific. The big rock in the background is Haystack Rock. You may recognize it from the end scene of The Goonies, when One Eye'd Willy's pirate ship breaks free. And yes, those are Baby Ruth's we're holding.




I want to thank the Ducks of the U of O because I'm writing this from a free library computer. Jake's laptop is a little water logged. The theme of the past few days has been rain, and a lot of it. It rained at the end of Monday for about an hour and a half. The upside is that we ended in Tillamook and were able to get an hour in the Tillamook Cheese plant visitor center. I had a bunch of free cheese samples and a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato. It was delicious and the coffee was hot. It's been about 50-55 degF when it rains so it's tough to stay warm when you stop. As for the Factory floor, the big blocks of cheese in the lower right contain 8 of the 1 lb blocks before they're cut.

Tuesday was pretty miserable. Zack was timely with his inspirational text message quotes because it rained for the first 50 miles yesterday. That was a new experience. For all of the New Orleans kids reading, it was exactly like the first weekend of Jazz Fest this year. And for everyone else, just imagine the wettest you've ever been and double it. It actually wasn't all bad because it made for some fast miles. The dry motel room at the end of the day was calling my name. Jake and I made a deal with Andy that we won't camp in the rain. I caught him enjoying it.



We made it to Eugene, OR today after a good 60 mile push this morning. We actually left town at 8:40am and made here by about 1:00pm. We were going to stay here for the night but we have a 5000 ft climb tomorrow over 50 miles that we want to put a dent in this afternoon. We're gonna chill here for another little bit and then push on. There's talk of snow up in the pass but we'll deal with that when we get there. I can't wait for full time sun.

Also, we met a guy today riding solo. His name was Gary and he's a school teacher in OR. I think he was late 50s early 60s but he was chugging along. He's using his regular road bike and towing a trailer. We rode with him for a while but our pace was a little fast so he dropped off. It turned out that he was a better map reader since we missed the main turn into town. We made it eventually.

Ok, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and I hope to make these a little more frequently.

Chris.

It's not a tumor!

So they shoot a lot of movies here in Astoria. I'm sure everyone knows about the Goonies. Here's Jake doing the Truffle Shuffle in front of the Goonies house. What I didn't know is that Kindergarten Cop was shot here too. Here's a little rendition of our favorite scene from that one.

We didn't have much of a rest day since we walked about 10 miles all around town. We stayed on 1st St. There was a farmer's market on 12th St. The Goonies house was on 37th. Then there were the seals on the wharf. And we saw Iron Man, which rocked.

Now were' waiting for Andy who should be here soon. Tomorrow, it's off to Tillamook, home of the cheese.