Day 76: Council to Halfway, OREGON!

July 25, 2006

I got waken up WAY too early by Alvin shaking my tarp and telling me I might want to pack up since there was a bunch of lightening headed our way (he hadn't put up a tent, either). I'd been sleeping pretty good and it was still VERY dark, so I didn't want to move and just pulled the top of my tarp over my head, but he came back as the wind picked up, so I rustled around packing things up. I couldn't really go anywhere b/c it was too dark. I looked at a library/school overhang and thought about moving there, but I just waited and then left when I could, tired and a bit grumpy about my interrupted sleep after the lightening failed to bring more than a couple of sprinkles.

The day ended up kinda miserable after that. I was slow (what's new), tired, and eventually very, very hot. Radko caught up with me twenty miles farther on, and it's a good thing he saw me or he might have taken the wrong road in Cambridge. I waited FOREVER at a coffee shop for a steamer before stocking up on drinks at a convenience store. The steamer was so not worth the wait, but the place was cute.

Then up, up, up for a while until going down, down, down into Hell's Canyon. I stopped at a service stop part way down into the canyon (and possibly the last stop for 25 miles or so) and had lunch with Radko, Jacques, and a few others. I probably stayed here too long actually, but I wetted down my shirt and prepared to go back into what was quickly becoming a sauna. The canyon itself was miserably hot with no breeze to rouse the stifling air. Then things got worse.

Darn...the waterslide isn't open today...

The rumors of forest fires became a forest fire right before us as we started seeing smoke and helicopters getting water from the river. I was so hot and tired I'd thought of quitting for the day early at Oxbow, but that was impossible. Police weren't allowing anyone into that area and were trying to evacuate residents. Tim had been riding with me briefly but stopped to watch the action. They told us the road we were taking had been threatened the day before but that we'd be ok. That was fine until I saw I had to ride right by a burning bush (ok, it was a tree). As if I wasn't hot enough already. I had to ride on the other side of the road to avoid the ashes and kept an eye out for hot cinders as I slogged past the mess.

Helicopter sucking water out of the river to fight the nearby forest fire

Well, these guys were basically flying right over our heads

yeah...that's right next to the road I'm riding on

Way too close for comfort--they were busy shutting down the road as I was going through.

I was SO happy to see the service stop we'd been promised and stayed there forever trying to get more fluids into me. A lot of firefighters were using the stop as well, so there wasn't much ice to be found, but I drank a big bunch of 7-up and split a gallon of water with Tim before going back inside for an ice cream bar then dousing myself with water from a hose Maik and Stefan had found. I must have been there for an hour, at least, with no sign of Helen, Toni, Alvin, Robert, or a couple of others.

Trying to cool off at a much needed service stop. I stayed here a LONG time and drank a 44 oz. 7Up and at least a half a gallon of water. Oh, and an ice cream bar!

I eventually dragged myself out of the shade and back onto the hot, uphill road, only to find that local authorities were re-closing the road due to the fires that had started up again. I was really dragging on the way into Halfway, but the road flattened out and let me piddle along without too much effort.

Cycle Oregon art in Halfway...I was so glad to finally make it here.

We didn't get a welcome sign into Oregon, but Stefan and Maik made one for our photographic moments!

The highlight of the evening was that the Germans had made a cardboard 'Welcome to Oregon' sign since we didn't get a real one at the state line. Other than that, the evening kinda sucked. I wanted food I didn't cook, so I went with the group (again) since they had decided to eat out. The day had been rough on them, too, with a sizeable number of them having to be carted through the fire zone by patrol officers since they didn't make it far enough before they re-closed the road. Dinner should have been fine, but service was really slow, someone had invited along some lady from the motel/camping area that kept flirting with that someone mightily and annoyingly (at least it seemed that way to some of the rest of us) and I just wanted to get out of there and get some peace, but, as I said, service was slow and I couldn't easily escape.

We were glad to see Helen and Toni back in camp--they had to get a ride through the fire area after the road closed. Kudos to the local sherriff department who made them feel so safe and taken care of!

I went to bed tired and kinda antsy/frustrated and very ready for a day off.

Today's ride: 82 miles (132 km)
Total: 3,901 miles (6,278 km)

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