Most memorable 4th of July

STATS

Baker City, Oregon to Bates State Park, Oregon

Distance: 50.4 miles

Elevation: +3,950 ft / -3,274 ft

Recently, when I would sit up in my tent, my first reaction would be, “Damn, my legs are sore” Today though, I said to myself, “Damn, I’m feeling good!” We were looking to leave town early to avoid any heat during our two hill climbs today. I went inside Gayle’s house to actually cook oatmeal for a change, but I ended up staying later than anticipated enjoying a cup of coffee before my departure. I eventually left an hour after I planned, and said goodbye to Anne, the other cyclist staying in Gayle’s yard. Off to the races I went, feeling like a million bucks. My legs haven’t been like this in weeks, and I felt like I was covering ground like a maniac. The canyon I rode through was seriously beautiful, the only difference between this one and past canyons was lush foliage and shrubbery. Oregon has more rain than most of the dry lands I passed through, so now green is more consistent. About 20 miles in, the slight ascent began, and I felt extremely rested from the day before. My thighs and calves were pushing harder than usual, so I glided up the first climb. At the top, I caught back up with Kirk, Steve, and Sue. We all coasted down the descent where we found Dean, Meg, April, Dex and Kylie setting up for lunch. We sat around in the shade making peanut butter sandwiches and snacking on some goodies. Dexter demonstrated how to make a perfect peanut butter and honey wrap; he must have learned from his Dad. The sun, the climb, or a food coma must have gotten to most of us, cause we were dragging along once lunch was finished. We had one more hill to overcome before a nice decent into our state park campground, so we strapped our helmets on, tightened our laces, and pedaled to the top! The climb again wasn’t terrible, but mentally with the heat it felt longer than it really was. We all cheered on each other for completing the last climb, and basically rolled into the state park pretty easily after that. Once we made it to camp, we laid on the grass and/or cooled off in front of the sprinkler. It felt sooo nice to cool off in the water, and I smiled as Kylie and Dex played in the sprinkler for a while. A couple hours later, we started to setup camp, and I watched as Dex and Kylie hunted and captured frogs and snake. They’re the most badass kids I know, and Meg said “They would make great kids for the Oregon Trail” I couldn’t agree more, they’re fearless. Pretty sure they paved the way for Lewis and Clark. Later on, we played a few hands of hearts, which I am now becoming addicted to, and eventually prepared dinner. I was happy to prepare dinner for the gang because they have done so much for me. I put together some couscous, sun dried tomatoes, garbanzo beans, feta, slivered almonds, lemon pepper, mushroom mix seasoning, and salmon. I also had to plate each dish, because that’s just what I like to do! Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal (hopefully). Some of them may have liked it so much that they kept it in their mouths because it was so good (inside joke).

As the sun started to set, we all began to wind down as well. Well, the adults at least, Dex and Kylie came running over with a bag of crawfish they caught. I seriously love these kids. I crawled into my tent motivated to write, but by 9 PM I was out cold. This will be one of the best 4th of Julys I’ve ever had.

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