Martin is a Bicycle Co-op fan and intrepid cyclist who cycled over 3,100 miles from the west coast of America to the east using the Trans America Trail and his trusty bicycle named ‘Lewis & Clark’. He shares the second part of his 70-day journey here.
DAY 11
YOU MEET THE NICEST PEOPLE
OCHOCO LAKE – MITCHELL CYCLED 40 MILES OCHOCO LAKE RV SITE 3
After a very cold night I was up early, banana for breakfast, packed and on the road for 8ish. There was a long climb up to Ochoco Pass (4722 feet) through state forests, nearing the top as the heat was rising, and a nice downhill through high dessert landscape before arriving in Mitchell at midday.
I stopped for coffee at the edge of town and the guy mentioned a new hostel in the church that had just opened for business. It sounded exactly what I wanted so I cycled down and had the most friendly hospitality I’ve had anywhere on my travels. Pat & Jalet recently took over the running of the church and have been working to make it into a hostel for cyclists and fellow travellers Pat immediately invited me in, introduced me to a crowd of friends who had just had a morning service, with guest singers. Before sitting down to eat amazing pancakes with them Pat took me to his house so I could shower and change.
After brunch a great family took me out to the Painted Hills to show me one of the highlights of Oregon, they were pretty spectacular and the family were so cool, sleeping under the stars when they holiday round the country. After getting back and chilling I was invited to a great dinner with them and carb loaded on ice cream and every sauce available. And tonight I have a comfy bed in a warm church, with Wi-Fi!
I’m glad I was lucky enough to visit this fabulous hostel at the beginning of what will be a huge success. They are both the nicest and most generous people I’ve met so far on my travels and made today the highlight of my trip so far, one I’ll always remember.
DAY 12
RATTLESNAKE CREEK!
MITCHELL – DAYVILLE CYCLED 38 MILES
MITCHELL CHURCH HOSTEL 5
After a hearty breakfast made by Pam’s partner, Chuck, I headed off to climb Keyes Creek Summit (4382 feet) on a cool sunny morning. I got to the top slowly and looked back down at Mitchell thinking I should have stayed another day and offered my help to get the hostel ready, by way of thanks for their kindness and generosity. But I was at the top of the summit and obviously not as nice as the people I’d left behind.
At one of my social psychology classes a few years ago we had discussed whether kindness/niceness was nurture or nature and how much better the world would be if each person did something nice for someone else each day, soon becoming a natural thing to do. I tried it for a few days, mainly telling my work colleague (Janette) how nice her hair was but even that soon ended!
A number of people I spoke to yesterday said Pat was the nicest person they’d ever met, I should have asked him his secret but I think he was maybe just born nice, a bit like my mum. I’m planning on trying harder in the future!
Pat’s son, also very nice had concluded that a happy life involved either being in a location you like or doing something you like e.g. an interesting job. I worked out myself a few years ago that being happy would involve 3 things in priority order, 1 being with a person or people you get on with, 2 being in a location that makes you safe and happy and 3 doing something that interests you e.g. a job, hobby or activity. Having all 3 would bring contentment for your heart, soul and mind. Not sure if I know anyone who has that but it’s worth striving for.
After the summit it was downhill most of the way, passing the picturesque Picture Gorge and the frightening Rattlesnake Creek, I had been warned about rattlesnakes in this area!
I was planning to cycle a bit further today but the temptation of another night in a church hostel was too much and I stopped in Dayville, the church has been accommodating cyclists since the Trans Am started in the 70s and has amazing comments books going back in time.
The local store owner also does bike maintenance so I took L&C in for professional TLC, within 5 mins he had fixed my rubbing front wheel, readjusted my gears, lubbed important bits I’d missed, pumped up the tyres and charged me $10. Possibly the best $10 I’ve spent so far.
After a fish and chips lunch in the nice cafe I went down to the river with a couple of cool beers and sat in the sun reading about routes and the road ahead. I think I have the church to myself tonight…apart from god obv.
DAY 13
CYCLING ON THE VERGE
DAYVILLE – PRAIRIE CITY CYCLED 43 MILES DAYVILLE CHURCH 3
Not the best sleep on the church floor last night, when Rose showed me round I was impressed by the fully fitted and stocked kitchen, the shower and the laundry room and was looking for the beds when she said I could sleep anywhere on the floor, on the tables but not on the pews! And although they don’t lock any doors round here she did let slip that a bike was stolen from the hostel last week!!! Although with the help of the Mayor and a couple of locals they tracked down the culprit and brought him and the bike back to town. Not what I wanted to hear as I was on the road to disaster recovery.
I was awake at 5 in the morning, made pancakes (put water in mixture) with banana and maple syrup and after faffing a bit I was on the road just after 7, made good time through the lovely town of Mount Vernon scooted past Murderers Creek and followed the John Day river to…John Day, where I had a pot of beef chilli for brunch sitting at the “Welcome to” sign watching the cars go past, not the prettiest town. I was in my stopover town, the smaller Prairie City, chilling before 3 summits to climb tomorrow and into Baker City.
The road across was great but cyclists have to cycle on the verge of the road where the road is a bit rougher and glass and other debris are swept onto. So a lot of the time I’m looking down checking on the state of the verge rather than taking in the fabulous scenery. It’s great that there is a verge but they should look after it like they do their precious highways.
Met some nice people along the way, an old couple of guys who asked me where I was going then preceded to talk to themselves about the mileage from John Day to every town in America!
A cool lady called Christine who works for the Forest Service, loves her job and told me about the forest fire problems in the area, its hotting up!
Then there was Libby in the hardware store, who was bright and breezy, still young!
The campsite is OK, has a bit of a rail museum going on and has fabulous views of Strawberry Mountain. An early night in preparation for an early start up the mountains!
DAY 14
EVERY INCLINE IS A MOUNTAIN
PRAIRIE CITY – BAKER CITY
CYCLED 72 MILES…AND 3 SUMMITS PRAIRIE CITY RV SITE 2
Awake at 5 and out on the road by 6, I’d heard it was going to be hot so wanted to get up the mountains before it did, managed up Dixie Pass (5277ft) and then down and up again to Tipton Pass (5124ft) but by the time I was nearing Sumpter Pass (5082ft) it was gone 11 and getting hot. I made it up and over but it was hard work, long stretches of inclines, it gets to the stage that any incline becomes a mountain to climb with the extra weight on the back and the heat. It was a glorious cycle though, through dense woodland with evidence of the recent forest fires, then cattle and horse ranches on the lower ground and eventually downhill and following the river into Baker City.
There were no services along the way. Just a quiet road with logging trucks every so often. Needing water I popped into the large campsite at Phillips Lake and was delighted to find a wee cafe shack by the water, Steve gave me a free coffee and a tasty burrito and a cool drink and I sat and chatted to him for an hour or so. He had been a logging driver, driving through 48 states but not seeing much, he drove past the Grand Canyon, the Niagara Falls etc. but didn’t stop to have a look, he was too determined to get to his destination. We chatted about families and the fact that his parents had divorced which meant the large family of grandkids didn’t get together anymore. As with most American men he got round to hunting and said he had 2 close encounters with Big Foot, he didn’t actually see it but he said he’d never forget the distinct smell, I thought of the running top I’d thrown away a few days ago.
He said Idaho would be the best place I’d see on my travels but that the mountains there made the 3 summits I’d just struggled up look insignificant …cheers. As I was about to leave he gave me a book to read called The Shack, which he said explained everything! Unfortunately I didn’t have anything to give him so lost out on the nice person thing again! Maybe tomorrow.
Tonight I’ve been lucky enough to have a Warm Showers (couch surfing for cyclists) with a great couple called Will and Julie, I’m hoping to stay another night in their lovely house, visit some sights in Baker City and not cycle!
DAY 15
HISTORICAL BAKER CITY
CYCLED 0 MILES
WARM SHOWER (WILL & JULIE BAKER CITY) 5
A great nights sleep in a warm comfy bed, heaven. Then Julie made me a proper big American breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes with maple syrup, with dam fine coffee of course.
Had a long chat with Will over breakfast, he’s a retired drug & alcohol dependency counsellor, now a volunteer with the food bank in town. He’s obviously well informed about America’s problems and the current opiates issues. He has a socially caring view of the world and does his bit to improve things, help people and is generally a very nice guy. Leaning more towards the Bernie Sanders political ideas he fears for the election in November and is dusting his passport down in case he needs to get out.
I went into Baker City for some art and culture, met Myrna at the museum who gave me a brief history of Baker City in the gold mining days and the recent changes, its become quite a cool small town with nice bars and great art places. Myrna said the homeless need to be homed as a starting point to the current escalating problems, then start helping them with work, addictions etc. But the government won’t pay for it!
My next stop, after the dollar shop was an artists cooperative on the main street where I met Tom, an ex vet from Vietnam days who, as a result of agent Orange, went through cancer about 3 years ago. He’s fine now and was very philosophical about how art has improved his life and made him really look at things and become one with them when he paints. He thought I was doing something similar with my cycle trip, getting closer to nature and actually seeing it, not just driving past, we agreed that getting rid of cars would be a good start to improving the world…as long as he could keep his sports car