We made it to Missoula!

 Although with some very unexpected twists along the way....like getting hit by a deer. I'm still not sure if I hit the deer or the deer hit me.  There was a lot of tumbling involved, and a quick roll, we were going pretty fast. (like 30 miles an hour) My sun sleeves helped save the day and took most the beating.
  Alas, The Waterford top and bottom tube were bent at an uneasy angle. This was bad news. Dan was able to flag down a ride for me, determining he would ride into Kooskia (a tiny tiny town about 20 miles away from Grangerville) and I would hitch a ride in. We agreed to wait at the City Hall. Upon arrival, I find my phone signal is zilch, and Dan and I have only one phone between us.

With a numb disbelief, I walk over to the nearest Motel, with a bum elbow and a fat swollen wrist. It must have been a sore sight to see, because one of the Motel patrons came over and made a make shift bag of ice for the elbow, and sought out ibeprofan. The next two days would prove a whorlwind of events: The Patrons  who helped me with my wrist ended up being a group of three who were in town to buy logs for log houses. Not only did they give us food, a room and company, but they took us to see their operation of loading and unloading the logs and at the end of the day they drove the both of us, with my dead bike all the way to Missoula. Their generosity and kindness absolutely blew us away, and means the world. Dan and I had never met these guys before and they did everything they could to help us.

a sad day for this poor bike

you can see how close the wheel has gotten

us with a log truck

getting a ride in the big rig, that man is 75 years old

our ride to Missoula

a self loading log truck

 

I think touring just this month has taught me so much about towns that I where just names before. Places that I never considered existing before have suddenly come alive. We run into town after town bustling with people. Especially the smaller towns, ones with a population of 453... and touring on loaded bicycles is just asking for a conversation starter.  

Close call

 So we have finally had our first major breakdown of the trip. We are riding along route 95 in Idaho, right outside of a town called White Bird. All of a sudden I hear my sister ahead of me say, "Dan, my shifter has stopped working." At first I am skeptical but when we pull over and I hop on her bike I realize wow, it really is stuck in place, the lever is barely moving and the derailleur isn't moving at all. Pulling the rubber housing back on the shifter I see my worst nightmare, the wire that runs inside of it has not only started to fray, but it looks as if it has exploded inside the housing! Maura was reduced to three gears for at least the next 5 miles until White Bird. When we finally arrived at a campsite (we decided to pay for this one so we could shower) we were exhausted from riding in the sun and heat all day (around 90 degrees). At the campsite our spirits were lifted by the joyful playing of two adorable little kittens! They and their mom lived at the campsite and lounged around there all day. We were also secretly happy when a couple who were in the area from Missouri forced homemade cookies on us. The next morning we wake up to the long and steep White Bird hill, 10 miles and more than 15 switchbacks winding their way up one of the smallest mountains around. To help Maura from having to stay in her hardest gear I went ahead and used a good old Pat McKray trick, cut the derailleur cable and bolted it under the water bottle cage in the gear I want! Thanks Pat! With Maura now in her easiest gear we see another problem. Somehow the hub on her rear wheel had tightened up, making the wheel really hard to turn. We had to live with what we had until we got to Graingville, the next town over which has a bike shop. When we finally arrive though we are dismayed to discover, the shop closed... The next one isn't until Missoula more than 150 miles away. We decide to at least go to the library and hop on a computer to sooth our dismay. To find out where it is we ask a passing postal lady. When she hears our problem she has a simple answer, "the lady who owns this tile shop here in front of you is the one who used to own the bike shop!" She runs inside and when the two come out they make a call and the husband zips over with a new cable and all the tools I need to fix our problem! 40 minutes later we are back to running order! Now off to find some Hot Springs on Lolo pass!

adorable kitties!

very cute no?

a switchback

I pulled these out of Maura's shifter

you may be able to see the wire bolted under the bottle cage

leaving baker

We have spent a wonderfully somewhat restful day in Baker City. Today we will make our way over to Halfway and from there, somewhere North East, who knows! But whatever happens it may be a little easier as today we sent home a box of things we no longer found useful. I will say most of it was clothing, but I am sure there will be more to go once we see how big those mountains are in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. But no matter, either way I'm going to destroy some of those hills back home! When I get there! I know most of you would also like to see how the trip is going not just hear, so here are some photos:

medieval tower?

nope but here was the view atop Mt. Mkenzie from that tower

I have concurred and am looking only to the future

I can see for miles and miles, I can see for miles and miles.......

Park city doesn't have anything on this!

standing in front of a ghost town that still has people living in it

Rest

Maura and I are taking the day in Baker City beffore heading off to Missoula. We'll hopefully post more photos tomorrow when we get to a library. Yesterday we went 70 miles and scaled 3 mountain passes, probably about 6000 feet of climbing in all.

update

We are currently sitting in the Crook county library just outside of Sister, OR. Yesterday we climbed and descended Mckinzee pass, about 5,234 feet. Going up took about three hours and we were down in less than one. A very fun descent, atop the pass is scenes of the three sisters mountains and a huge crater from an extinct volcano. The entire ride along the top you're surrounded by porus, inky black rock, broken only by the occasional pine or spruce tree forcing its way through. Right next to the peak of the pass is an observatory which was built early in the 20th century. In reality it just looks like a short black tower form a medeival castle. Now we're approaching the nomands land of Eastern Oregon. Hopefully it will past quickly with these heavey tailwinds.                                                                                                    -Dan

Story

This is just a quick story I wanted to post: There we are, sitting on the steps of a post office, waiting for Maura to fumble with a package inside. As we lounge discussing our grummbling stomachs we see a chinese food box, sitting atop a newspaper dispenser across the walk. After a brief discussion i decide to go throw away the litter. Upon picking it up though i notice that it has some weight to it. I take the gamble and open the box to see what is inside. What stares back at me in all of its shimmering glory is one cold half of a bacon cheese burger. At that point i realized some road angel had their eye on me and I devoured it with all the delicious glory it posessed.

Sorry we haven't been posting, we've just been having too much fun! Right now we are in Eugene Oregon, we're staying her for the day and tomorrow we will set out for Missoula Montana. No idea how long it will take but we're excited for the hot springs which are on the way. Recently we also spent a night in Corvallis the home of Oregon State Univeristy, while there we were warmly welcomed by a host and allowed to sleep in her house. But that same night we met a bunch of the locals and joined them up for a good session of bike polo! Both Maura and I played and it was amazingly fun. Unfortunantley I didn't get any pictures but at time it looked something like this:

Okay, maybe it wasn't thaaaaat bad but it was definitley fun.The next morning the guys we had played with treated us to a waffle breakfast at their house and then two of them helped to escort us to our starting road. Talk about awesome! Once in Eugene we visited with Maura's friend Noah who just finished a apprenticeship at the Center for Apropriate Transport or CAT, it's a place that specializes in building recumbernts, trikes, cargo bikes, or anything else you can imagine that is not shaped like a conventional diamond. It's an amazing place and during the 5 month apprenticeship program each of the students builds his or her own cargo bike which they are then allowed to take home! Well now that you're thuroughly done with reading here are some photos to give a visual update:

cooking our amazing waffle breakfast

walking through the Corvallis farmers market on our way out

what is this?! a statue of a beauftiful lady?!

or not..... fooled again

had to get the camera out beffore the light changed or the dog looked away

we climbed up a huge sand dune in Pacific City, probably 100 feet tall and very very steep

just keep pedalling, just keep pedalling

Maura's friend Noah at CAT, we got to try some of their awesome inventions

me getting a ride on Noah's cargo bike, that is fun