Day 59: Weiser, ID To Baker City, OR

July 30, 2006

67.1 Miles, 6:51:40 Ride Time, 9.88 Average Speed, 22.2 Maximum Speed

I was riding out into the quiet Sunday morning streets of Weiser by 7:30. It was cool, but not uncomfortably so. In a few minutes I crossed the Snake River and was in the small town of Annex, Oregon.

I was a little excited to see an actual "Welcome to Oregon" sign, so I stopped to take a picture. I don't think there is a sign if you follow the TransAm route through Hells Canyon, so my detour around the fire did have one small advantage, I suppose.

A few hundred feet down the road, I spotted "Mack's Grocery", which appeared to be open, so I stopped to get some snacks for the road. As I looked around unsuccessfully for the honeybuns and Little Debbie cakes, I realized that I was in a store that catered primarily to the local Hispanic population: Most of the snacks were things I had never heard of, with Spanish names. I bought some muffins apparently made in Mexico, after checking that they weren't past the expiration date (I've done that since I inadvertantly bought a three-year-old chocolate pie a couple of weeks ago).

I soon turned onto Route 201, which started off as flat as Kansas, but soon became a little hilly. The ten miles on this road had a wild, desolate feeling. The surface of the road wasn't so great: Signs warned of sink holes, and there were a few that I had to ride around. Still, I enjoyed this quiet, traffic-free ride.

All too soon I arrived at the Interstate 84 junction, and rode up the ramp into the strongest headwind in days. For the first few miles, traffic wasn't too heavy, and the Snake River to my right provided some nice scenery. Soon, though, traffic picked up, the shoulder became littered with all sorts of crap I had to dodge, and I started a several-mile climb.

I rode uphill into the wind for miles, hundreds of trucks flying by me. The few exit ramps I passed in the first 20 miles didn't appear to lead anywhere useful, certainly not Baker City, so I kept riding on the debris-littered shoulder of I-84.

Finally, at about the 20 mile mark, the bike felt funny, so I stopped and checked the rear tire. It was soft. I found a small piece of wire sticking out of it, undoubtedly from one of the many shredded truck tires I had been attempting to dodge all morning.

I pulled over as far as possible onto the gravelly and weedy shoulder and fixed the flat. This time, replacing the tube went fairly quickly (I'd had problems getting the tire back on the previous times, which had all happened after I hurt my wrist in Colorado). For some reason, though, it took me a while to get the wheel back on the bike. By the time I was finished, I was dusty, greasy, and a little disgusted. I had noticed that the rear tire was already looking worn, even though it was fairly new - I had put it on in Jeffrey City.

I decided that I had to get off the interstate as soon as possible - the shoulder was just too full of junk.

Two or three miles later, I pulled off at the shady Weatherby Rest Area. There I met two long haired, scruffy guys riding heavily loaded mountain bikes (everything piled high on the rear of the bikes). One of the guys was the talkative one; his partner never took his shades off, and didn't say anthing. They were apparently riding a certain number of miles for each US serviceman killed in the Iraq war. They seemed to be doing a zig-zagging route across the Western states, were leaving Oregon today, and insisted on giving me their well-worn Oregon road map.

The talkative guy had a small black cat riding in his handlebar bag; he told me he had found it months ago, severely infested with fleas, in a convenience store parking lot. Standing next to these guys, I felt like some sort of dandy, with my color-coordinated biking clothes and my neat bike and panniers...

I wished them luck as they rode off onto the interstate (the talkative guy told me they preferred to ride on interstates whenever possible - one of the many differences in their and my approaches to bicycle touring...)

After I cleaned off the dust and chain-grease as well as I could, I got back on the interstate. I soon started seeing signs warning me about construction ahead. The two lanes were going to narrow to one, and overwidth trucks were to take a detour by exiting the interstate onto "Old Highway 30." The next sign I saw said "Bicycle Detour follow Truck Detour", which I was happy to do.

None of the trucks I'd seen all day must have been overwidth - none exited with me. I'd ridden on I-84 for 39 miles by now, and was hoping that I could follow "Old 30" all the way to Baker City. I passed several abandoned houses, and one eerie, shuttered motel, before I saw a sign of life: A woman walking down the dusty road. She told me that the old road would take me to Baker City, and that it would be all downhill (sure - I've heard that one before...)

I decided to believe her, even though the online maps I'd looked at last night hadn't actually shown the old road. The next ten or eleven miles were pleasant and traffic-free. I never completely lost sight of the interstate, so I assumed the old road would take me somewhere near my destination. This last ten miles, and the first ten miles this morning, almost made up for the lousy ride on the interstate sandwiched between them.

I soon rode into the "back end" of Baker City, and stopped at the Bridge Street Inn. This was one of the many family-run, non-chain motels I've seen in the last few months. The nice lady there gave me a double room for the price of a single, since I would only be sleeping in one bed, and the room was definitely the nicest of the ones in the $40 price range I'd seen.

I showered, changed clothes, and then rode around checking out Baker City (pop. 9.860). I liked the look of the place, which has a historic, but thriving, downtown, and was glad that I'd previously decided to take a rest day here tomorrow before making my run for the coast.

It was fun while it lasted, but now I've got to get on the interstate.

Riding on the interstate - it's not fun at all

Today's ride: 67 miles (108 km)
Total: 3,831 miles (6,165 km)

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