5/30/13 Thur Day 16 Cambridge to 6 mi S of Riggins, ID 75 mi

Frustrating smartphone blogging. Just finishing and it all disappeared again.
After awakening from a restful sleep at Bucky's Cafe  and Motel I took advantage of the favorable environmental conditions and hunted and pecked through some more blog entries.

After our usual oatmeal breakfast we pedaled off into mostly sunny weather with 65 degree temps.  It later dropped to 54 degrees and rained about 10 percent of the time climbing out of Council .  We climbed 2697 ft that day. 

In Council, ID we met Brian Sullivan, a 63 year old Australian who was doing the Transam from Yorktown,  VA to Astoria, OR and had left on 4/10/13.  He was "credit card touring" and was traveling "light and fast".  He was here on a three month visa.  He had already toured across Australia.

We then pedaled on to New Meadows to pick up replacement tent poles to replace one that Charlie had broken back on the Oregon coast.

Met Caleb ? Who is a young aspiring film producer e ho is going fom Berkley CA to New Hampshire with his cat being carried in a blanket-lined handlebar basket and minimal survival gear.  See picture. 

As it had been raining and getting cold and the light soon to end, we came to a rest area where the manager who lived next door initially told us we would not be able to camp there but ageed to it after we mentioned we were doing the TransAm and raising funds for a good cause.

5/26/13 Sun day 12 Dayville to Austin Junction 60 mi

Long tiring climb up 6 percent grade up and over Dixie Pass  but then no pedalling for 6 mi.  Beautiful weather and scenery. Trying to keep the heart rate less than 120 on these climbs by putting in low gear and keeping a steady sustainable pace but with six to seven mile climbs for these smaller passes it can take the energy out of  you.  I am trying to make both Joy and my cardiologist proud of me for my trying not to do anything stupid.

That is where I just think of God giving me the strength, determination  and endurance (despite my skinny little legs) and think about my family (both home and church family and how much they mean to me.  That is what will sustain me through this endeavor  and the rest of life.

Have not been posting every day due to either fatigue or rain or cold or all of the above.  It's tough getting old! 

I should be careful about what I complain about. Pretty soon I'll be complaining that there's NO rain and NO cold.  Think Kansas, Missouri, Illinois in mid summer.

Camped behind Austin Inn at Austin Junction. For $5 per person with no bathroom after 8 PM and no water supply I would not recommend this site.  Go further down the road to the Bates State Park.

5/25/13 Sat. Day 11 Prineville to Dayville, OR 87 mi

This was a beautiful but tiring day with two passes to get over.  There was 4350 ft of climbing into the heavens above but with a heavenly rest at the end.  I am very thankful for the love and compassion shown by the Dayville Communuty Presbyterian Church who provide a freewill donation only hostel for bicyclists along the Transam bike route.  After a long and physically draining day it does the soul good to come into this caring place where you can be warm and can get a hot shower, do laundry and cook in their kitchen and share stories with others.  May God bless them in their ministry!

As you can see from the pictures, church attendance may never be the same. I hope that I have not started a trend. The only requirement is that you not be sleeping during the sermon.

Rose, the wonderful manager of the hostel, told of a biker that recently passed through and had an encounter with a rattlesnake.  The biker had his bicycle at the edge of the road. The rattlesnake had come to the road seeking the warmth and ended up getting intertwined in the spokes of the bicycle.  He had to call the local sheriff who shot the rattlesnake. They also found another rattlesnake at the other side of the road. I guess I better be more observant of where I park my bicycle!

5/24/13 day 10 Sisters to Prineville 50 mi

We slept in at the Sisters Inn after a very tiring, chilling and wet experience the day before climbing over McKenzie Pass. 
At the advice of a local bike shop owner we took a 43 mile deviation (that pretty much paralled the official TransAm route) that was much more scenic and allowed me to see some very strange looking animals that I had never seen before.   See the photo of the Alpaca below.

Slept in the back of the community park at the base of a butte where there were turkey vultures soaring overhead sizing me up for an easy meal.

Started out beautiful in the evening and awoke to ice in our water bottles.   I brought along my 40 degree sleeping bag so had to add extra clothes (on top of the default layer of long johns to both protect the bag and stay comfy) plus pulled out the reflective mylar space blanket to retain the heat radiating from my body.  Worked great.   Easily added another 15 degrees of usable range.

5/23/13 Day 9 McKenzie Bridge over McKenzie Pass to Sisters, OR 44 mi.- Bad Intell!

This was the day of decision about going over the famed (for cyclists) McKenzie Pass or having to take the alternate route.  May have made the wrong decision based on bad information from the USFS ranger that I consulted at the station where the two routes diverge.  She did not think that there would be any significant snow accumulation and if there was any left from the night before that it would have melted off.  WRONG!  However, it really made for a "memory making" experience. As they say, if it does not kill you, it will make you stronger.

We started off with beautiful bright, but cloudy, skies and 42 deg.  Rain showers had been predicted.  On reaching 2800 ft of the 5325 ft elevation,  the accumulation of snow on the road began to appear.  We ended up pusing our bikes through 3 - 8 inches of snow (at times brushing against the bottom of the panniers) for close to 7 miles!  Is don't like my bicycle wheels were in case in concrete. We had already gone too far to turn around and just prayed that it would get better.

We got to a point where we met bike/ foot tracks coming from the other direction where another cyclist had tried to get over the pass from the other directin but had to turn around. Later that night I spoke to a lady who offers shelter to bicyclists. She told me that it was actually one of of her guests who was doing the Trans Am route that  made those tracks and had to turn around and come back and stay with her for a second night.

There was a rugged beautty to the whole experience. The temp had dropped to 35 deg and it got very blustery at the summit. It started snowing as well.  Needless to say we had the whole mountain to ourselves.(That could be a good or bad thing.Fortunately, on the descent side of the pass there was no snow at all after the first mile. 

Sunset is at 8:35.  We left McKenzie bridge at 930 running arrived at the summit at 7 p.m. we left the summit at 7:11 after a brief round of picture taking.  Then it was flying down the mountain being pelted with snow and rain which made visibility very difficult.  Brakes don't work well with ice and snow accumulation but as we were flying down the mountain I could feel a thermocline where it suddenly got "warmer" and I regained better control. We arrive in Sisters Oregon feeling somewhat frozen and  decided to stay at a motel to thaw out in recover from a rather exhausting "day at the office". 

Thank you for all your prayers for  having this be a wonderful character building experience that we actually survived.