June 17, 2016 Detroit --> Sisters, OR - 58 miles

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Awoke to the ringing of my phone at 5 am - my Mother winning the prize as first to wish me Happy Birthday. She sounded genuinely surprised that I was still in bed at 5 am and sounding sleepy. I assured her that I was getting up for morning studies after her call. Also got a text from my sister, a birthday singing from LaDonna, and many other birthday good wishes from friends throughout the day. Randy even tossed in his rendition of the Happy Birthday song. Wow - I was very touched that so many of you remembered and feel so blessed to have such considerate friends. 

Met Randy for breakfast, and we headed out of town around 9:00 am. 

The forecast was for 70% chance of rain, and it was cold from the get-go.  The first 30 miles or so were steady climbing. Our good luck with traffic ended - the traffic was extremely heavy as cars, rv's and trucks constantly whizzed by. Luckily, there was a fairly good shoulder to ride on and the motorists were considerate for the most part. Because we were both somewhat tired from the previous 2 days of 46+ miles riding, we stopped at frequent intervals to rest and snack. I was soaked from a combination of sweat from the exertion of climbing, compounded by cold rain. My hands and feet were cold most of the day. 

At about the 35 mile mark, the steady climbing gave way to a couple hours of steep climbs. It was fairly brutal at times. At least the scenery was somewhat interesting in that it appeared that the forest had burned at some point.

Finally, we reached the Santiam Pass Summit, elevation 4800 feet - I felt every one of those feet. After passing the Pacific Crest Trailhead, we were treated to another of those 5 mile steep downhill descents on the other side. It was very wet, and I felt a little apprehensive, but still reached speeds approaching 30 mph. It was exhilarating.  Those 5 miles were over way to quick, and I was somewhat dismayed to see a heavy cloud overshadowing the next leg of the ride. On came the rain again. And still a good 12-15 miles to go to reach Sisters. I was freezing. At least this part was fairly flat, with the occasional hill. 

Randy approached and said that he was really hurting, and wanted to stop at McDonalds just before Sisters for a fish filet. I told him a McDonald's fish filet was about the last thing on my mind ( I do not like fish), so we agreed that I would go ahead to Sisters Motor Lodge and get checked in, and Randy would join me later. I reached the motel around 4 pm, and happily settled in to my room. Randy arrived a little later and got a room there as well. He had originally planned on camping.  

After a nice long soak in the tub, I ventured into town to look for my birthday dinner. I came upon a wine bar featuring pasta primavera for dinner, and signed on. Had a delicious dinner with a celebratory glass of wine, topped off by homemade ice cream from across the street for dessert. Delicious! Started feeling human again. 

Tomorrow, Randy and I will make the relatively short (20 miles or so) ride to Bend, where I plan to find a room for the night and take a rest day on Sunday. Randy is continuing on another 20 miles to stay with his friend Bill. They plan to come to Bend on Sunday afternoon to take me out for my birthday dinner, then load up my bike and me to go back to Bill's. Randy and I are planning the next phase of the trip starting Monday towards Crater Lake.

No doubt this is one birthday I will not soon forget. At the end of the day, I am very tired, but happy.

June 16, 2016 Ripplebrook Camp Ground --> Detroit, OR - 46.2 miles

Heard Randy rustling about around 6 am and ventured out of the tent, pleasantly surprised that it was not raining and I was not freezing. The wool socks I purchased on the first Transamerica ride after freezing the first night camping had kept my feet fairly warm and my sleeping bag liner did its job. 2 valuable lessons I learned during the first go round. First things first - a hot cup of Via coffee to get me going. Then began taking down the tent and packing everything up as I ate a peanut butter sandwich and some mixed nut trail mix for breakfast. My clothes from the first day's ride were still soaked, and I put them in a water proof bag to deal with later at the motel where we had reserved rooms.

We headed out around 7:40 am, and began the 46 mile ride to Detroit. Very overcast and cool - probably in the 40's. Similar riding as on Wednesday, and again very little traffic to deal with. Lush green scenery and the stream/river running alongside. Both Randy and I were feeling the physical effects of the ride from yesterday. I spent a lot of time reminiscing about my Dad, who passed away on May 15. I was privileged to spend the last week of his life with him, and we shared some sweet moments. I am grateful. 

At about the 35-40 mile mark, we came on a view of snow capped mountains as we reached the summit of the ride for the day. Then we began a 5 mile downhill coast that was a kick! Then, all of a sudden we got a rain shower, just when I thought we might get away with no hard rain for the day.  At least I was dressed appropriately this time. 

We rolled into Detroit around 1 pm, and checked into the All Seasons Motel, one of those locally owned and reasonably priced motels with "character". As we checked in, we were greeted by Milo and Tequila, the cats, as well as a chocolate brown Lab whose name escapes me. Joining them was Oreo, a rather pudgy cat and Rita and Reba, red hens with attitudes. Andrea, the motel owner, was very accommodating and allowed me to use the laundry facilities to wash my wet clothes. Randy and I also were able to spread out the tents on the lawn and dry them out. We walked across the street to a food truck, and I had a delicious Philly cheesesteak and fries as we sat on the porch overlooking the lake. The gentleman who served us is from San Antonio and was there for the summer working for his brother. We talked about how hot is was in Texas, and how awful the traffic had become in Austin. 

Later in the evening, Randy and I watched the first half of the NBA finals between Cleveland and Golden State. We were both very tired and hurting - thank goodness for Advil, the wonder drug. Turned in early. Tomorrow will be a challenging 58 mile ride to Sisters, OR.

June 15, 2016 Portland --> Gresham --> Ripplebrook Campground - 46.6 miles

We decided to take the MAX light rail out to Gresham to avoid the traffic and start the ride from there. The Springwater Trail Corridor runs about 8 miles to Boring, OR. This is a paved bike trail and was a wonderful warmup for getting the kinks worked out when riding a fully loaded touring bike. Beautiful little windflowers along the way, which was pretty much flat.

At Boring, we started riding a series of small roads and highways the approximately 20 miles or so to Estacada, the trailhead for the Cascading Rivers Bikeway (CRB). This ride was through rolling farmland and past strawberry fruit stands and Christmas tree farms. Lots of wild flowers. The temps were in the 50-60 degree range and quite overcast. A few sprinkles here and there, but no major rain at this point. 

In Estacada, we stopped at Subway for lunch (thanks Sassy and Morris for the gift card), then visited a local grocery store to get a few items for dinner since we were camping out. Then hit the CRB - a beautiful ride through lush green areas running alongside the rushing river. This is one of the delights I remember previously from riiding through Oregon in 2012. At certain points, the water in the stream/river swirled and flowed emerald green. Lots of old logs lodged at various places where it appeared they must have been headed for lumber mills. Another striking feature of the ride was the lack of traffic. We pretty much had the road to ourselves and, in fact, at one point the road was closed off to motorized traffic. 

Alas, along the way, our luck ran out and we encountered a short-lived downpour. Came up too quickly before I could get the rain gear on, so I was pretty soaked. Then cleared up for a while, then rained again. By then I had on the rain gear, which merely trapped the soaked clothing underneath. Lesson learned - just assume rain in Oregon and wear the rain gear to start with. 

We finally pulled in to the Ripplebrook Camp ground late in the afternoon, a beautiful heavily treed fairly primitive campground. Set up our tents in spitting rain, then changed into dry clothes and took a quick nap before dinner. Randy pulled out his portable camp stove, and I had a freeze dried pasta primavera dinner from REI with broccoli salad I had picked up from the store in Estacada. Topped off with a Grandma's oatmeal raisin cookie and via coffee. Quite a nice meal. Randy had his own Uncle Ben's concoction. As we finished up, it was beginning to lightly rain. We quickly cleaned up and retreated to our tents for the night. 

I obsessed throughout the night about possible deluges that would soak through the tent, and the fact that it was cold. Knew that my bike shoes were soaked and my feet would be wet and cold to start the next day. However, all in all, was quite cozy and comfy. No phone service or wi-fi, and because of the cold and wet I was not inclined to pull out the iPad. So did the next best thing and went to sleep at 8:00 pm. Planning more appropriate clothes for tomorrow. 

For those riding with us for the first time, thought you might wonder how Randy and I came to do this ride together. I met Randy at the start of the 3rd week of my Transamerica ride in 2012.  He lives in Tuscon AZ and was riding with 2 other friends from Arizona. As often happens on these kind of adventures, you meet others on the route and sometimes ride together for a while. In this case, Randy and I found that we were compatible biking partners and ended up riding together for almost 10 weeks to complete the Transamerica ride. We have stayed in touch since, and even did another ride in 2013 from Minneapolis to Bar Harbor, MA. This northwest ride arose out of our common appreciation for Oregon and the northwest, and a desire to ride the Jasper/Banff to Vancouver ride. Plus, I guess it is fair to say we are touring biking junkies at this point.