30: Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky . . .

. . . Stormy weather. 

Apologies to Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, whose soulful song has more to do with a broken relationship than a break in the weather. 

But that's what we've got here - stormy weather.  Our daughter Dana texted me just as we were rolling out this morning. Is it raining, she asked? Not at present, I replied, and included a photo of the skies ahead of us.

Clouds as we left Oakridge

Not three minutes down the road, it WAS raining. Although most of the day we have not been in the rain, we have ridden for the most part on damp streets. So apparently we're finding the sweet spot between the showers again.

All in all, it is not bad riding weather. Temps are hovering around 60, and we're comfortable and cool enough. The terrain is flat or slightly downhill, so we've made great time today. We are headed for Corvallis, a longer pull than average, but we were making great progress and I was thinking we might finish up in three hours if the winds held favorable.

And then . . .

Roger does what he does

I am sitting in Cobourg right now. Roger has accepted a lift with a couple back to Eugene to visit a bike shop. Seems we have broken a spoke! I heard something a little bit funny on the bike, and suggested we stop to see what was rubbing. Examining the back wheel closely, Roger saw the broken spoke. I don't believe that we had ridden very far on it, because I am very sensitive to the sounds of the bicycle.

Anyway, a couple that had passed us on the sidewalk while we were diagnosing the problem later returned, and since they said they were headed back to Eugene, they agreed to give Roger a lift. Today's Good Samaritans are Ruth and Wayne! We are very thankful for the gracious offer to help us out.

Yay Ruth and Wayne!

When we were packing the bike back in Redlands, Roger had included one of the chain tools that would have allowed him to fix this problem himself. We are even carrying a couple of spare spokes. But that tool did not make the weight test, and we left it at home!

I wonder if I brought this on us. We were rolling along today in fine mettle. I remember thinking, 'we've replaced our tires, we've dealt with the shifting, and we've now got the pack fully under control.' I finally felt like we had the bike dialed in just right. What else could happen?

So now I'm sitting on the corner watching the clouds, composing my post for this evening, and waiting for Roger to return.

A particularly hopeful view of the clouds, which soon gave way to grey again

The clouds come and go, and I just hope the sky stays open for the rest of the afternoon so we get a dry run into Corvallis.

By the way, Highway 58 from Oakridge toward Eugene is beautiful. It follows the Willamette River, which is as full as it could be.  So even with the occasional showers, this has been a beautiful ride.

Willamette River raging along the road

Moss on rocks

As you can see by the river shot, there is plenty of water coming off the mountain here. And the moss growing everywhere makes me think that it's probably always pretty wet in these parts. So you just have to ride through it. Waiting for a sunny day won't get you anywhere!

- - - pause - - -

When Roger returned and we resumed our ride, we headed up between the two 99s that run through the Willamette Valley.  It was really pretty - flat and open and, unfortunately, not "with the wind" so we dropped our pace a bit.  Still, we could have been slammed by one of the storms hanging on the horizon.  Again, we got lucky and managed to just ride the recently wetted roads.  As you can see in the photo, it could have been nasty! 

Storms were moving left to right, and they passed before we got there!

We stayed again in a Warm Showers cohousing village, the CoHoEcoVillage.  They were very welcoming, and invited us to join the community dinner.  Our host, Bruce, showed us around the village.  They have the most awesome bike barn, and wood shop, and community gardens.  I am more and more intrigued by this idea of deliberate community building, and will need to research it when we return home.  There is much to learn here about living softly on the land.

The day's report:  Oakridge to Corvallis, 86.7 miles/1467 to date

29: A small patch of blue

Where we live in Southern California, we really do not ride in the rain. Or in particularly cold weather, for that matter. We don't have to. It's more or less a given that, if it's nasty out today, it will be beautiful tomorrow, or maybe the next day, so unless you are just driven to get some miles in, you will wait for better weather.

In Oregon - not so much.  We knew we had the gear to head out there yesterday, but riding in the cold and rain is not something we do on a regular basis. Yesterday was an adventure we did not wish to repeat. This morning, as we contemplated the ride from Chemult to Oakridge (or possibly beyond), we faced the clouds and the forecast and then, screwing up our courage, we bundled up and headed out for what we feared could be a repeat of yesterday's ride. 

Our shadow! Oh, bliss!

But the weather gods were kind to us today! Although it was bitterly cold (Roger's Garmin read from 34 to 36 degrees most of the morning!) we did not have rain. We rode often on wet roads, leading us to think that we were somehow skirting the showers, arriving just after they had passed through. And always, just up there somewhere to the west of us, we kept our sights trained on that small patch of blue . . . 

The open sky represents hope to a cyclist. We may not reach it, but we can ride toward it, and we can dream. Once or twice today, we even hit a small sunny patch and were able to see our shadow! That was a real luxury.

Our route continued north on Hwy 97 until we reached the turnoff for Hwy 58. This crosses the Cascades at the relatively modest elevation of 5178 feet at Willamette Pass.  Mostly, the road slopes gradually up over 20 miles or so as you gain and lose the same 40 feet over and over.  Along the way, we passed Crescent Lake, and Odell Lake, which FOMs (friends of Mark Friis) will remember as the start of that treacherous day on the cinder road.

Odell Lake in winter attire

Finally we ascended the last couple hundred feet, and then had a fantastic descent through the forest, racing the stream down to town.  Whee! We had both been looking forward to riding down along the Umpqua River again, like we did last summer. Changing our route meant we could not do that again, and we were regretting that we would miss it.  But this descent was in every way its equal!  

Bright greens and deep green pines

A touch of snow at the summit

In one of those marvelous coincidences of timing, we got through the entire five miles of 6% with no cars coming up from behind. I was glad of that, for the road was a bit wet and the clouds hung low on the mountain. It was beautiful - the old conifers with their deep greens contrasting with the vine maples coming out in their bright spring green.  Rounding corners of dark grey granite glistening with the moisture, like they had been polished.  I would have taken more photos, but I was hanging on for dear life! 

A beautiful but damp descent

A very nice IPA

Roger and I had both been thinking, "if we continue to stay dry, and get to Oakridge in good shape, then maybe we will just press on to Eugene." But shortly after the 50 mile mark, we had a few sprinkles, and though they did not ever get serious, I thought we'd done plenty of riding for the day and suggested that we stick with the plan and stay in Oakridge for the night. 

After lunch at the Brewers Union (nano-brewery in town) we landed at the Oakridge Lodge Guest House, a very cool B and B type lodging that caters to cyclists. Roger was able to clean and lube the bike (tools provided) and we are shortly going to have a nice dinner at the adjacent Bistro. Apparently, Oakridge is something of a mountain biking mecca. Check it out!

The day's report: Chemult to Oakridge, 60.5 miles/1381 to date

28: The miracle of the tandem rack

We knew it had to happen someday.  After riding for four weeks with relatively no impact from weather, it was finally our turn to ride in the rain.

Our Warm Showers hosts, Lorena and Dick, were kind enough to offer us additional shelter if we wanted to stay in Klamath Falls a little longer, but the weather report pretty much promised nasty weather for most of the next week so we didn't see how we could avoid getting into it at some point anyway.

I hear the layered look is in.

We have warm gear, and we figured on hitting Chemult, where there were several small motels.  Dick and Lorena gave us additional plastic bags to line the packs.  We bundled up in everything we had to wear, and headed out. Roger's computer read 34.6 degrees.  Oh boy.

This is what you do to keep your feet warm. Didn't work.

We didn't make it half a mile before I decided I needed to have my jacket hood over my head, and not rolled into my collar.  Roger also pulled his up.  Before too long, I had to pull the skull cap from the pack and add it to the ear covers, visor and hood.

Captain Fantastic

With the rain lowering visibility, I thought it prudent to pull out the reflective vest, also.  (And, I was gratified to have a reason to wear it, lest I conclude that I was carrying it in vain!)  So I was wearing:  wool base layer, jersey, puff vest, shell, outer waterproof jacket, and vest.  Plus shorts, arm warmers, knee warmers, wool socks, plastic bags, visor, headband and skull cap.  And wool gloves over my padded ones.  Roger was similarly kitted out.

We actually made pretty good time for much of the ride.  We had a tailwind for a good portion, and the rain would come and go.  It was a great joy when we'd realize "the pavement is dry!" in between the squalls.

Klamath Lake did not look so blue today!

A very special treat from the big trucks passing by was the cloud of spray off the road that enveloped us as they sped along. Most gave us a wide berth, but a few held their line and basically gave us a shower as they flew by.  Whoopeeee!

We had a break for lunch at the Kla Mo Ya Casino.  It was nice to sit out of the rain for a while, and sort of warm up and dry out.  My feet were drenched.  Too bad about those back fenders, Kathy!  Roger's feet were staying much drier - but then, he still has his fenders.

I was a bit surprised by the name of this casino.  When we visited Lava Beds National Monument, we learned that the Modoc people, the Native Americans whose ancestral lands were there and around Tule Lake, were sent to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon when white settlers began to arrive in the area.  The administrators did not recognize or respect the differences in the culture, traditions and governing practices of the different nations, and there were problems among the peoples there.  Eventually, one Modoc leader took some of his people back to their homeland, where they were hunted and eventually captured and exiled.  It was yet another chapter in the terrible story of our nation's treatment of our Native peoples. But now, 140 years later, it appears that the Klamath, Modoc and probably Yakima nations have developed a casino together - which was full of white folks feeding the slot machines.  I guess that is justice of a sort.

A bit of hail added to the fun

Continuing on our way, we had a short hail storm, and then more rain, then a dry spell, and then - the winds turned around. Drat and double-drat!

We'd been tracking our progress, and at 50 miles I felt pretty confident that we'd be done in another two hours.  We were making good enough time, in fact, that I was entertaining thoughts that perhaps - if we could keep our pace at 16 to 18 miles an hour - we could be done in an hour and a half.  And then the wind shifted, and we slowed to 8 to 10 miles an hour, and I thought, "oh, no!  This could go on for two to three hours!"  And I really did not think I would be able to do it for three more hours.

And then, like angels from heaven, Lois and Dave in the Subaru with the Sidewinder tandem rack on top drove by slowly, lowered their window, and said, "would you like a ride?"

I was afraid that Roger would say "no - we got this," - but to my everlasting surprise and glee he said "YES!"  And so we stopped, and unloaded the tandem, and got it on the car, and they drove us to our motel.  Really, what were the odds?  A car with a tandem rack on it, out in the middle of nowhere?  Hallelujah!

And so we sit now in the warmth and comfort of our motel room, ready for bed, and wondering if it will be snowing tomorrow!

The day's report:  Klamath Falls to Chemult, 53 miles/1320 to date

27: Rack 'em up!

Wouldn't this make a good jigsaw puzzle?

Our ride today was a flat return from Fort Klamath at the base of Crater Lake to Klamath Falls - a chance to ride pretty much unencumbered with a stiff tailwind for much of the route. What fun! We averaged 16 miles an hour, which we seldom do at home. But when can we ride 36 miles with only 500 feet of climbing around Redlands?

I enjoy seeing the birds as we ride - today again we spotted a bald eagle, egrets, herons, osprey, hawks and northern harriers. Lots of red-winged blackbirds and some yellow-headed ones, which we don't see often in our part of the world. Kingbirds, meadowlarks, killdeer, ducks, grebes, and cormorants.  The sandhill cranes a couple days ago were a real treat for me.

Ingenious bike stand

Lorena and Dick had welcomed another touring cyclist, so Roger, Matt and Dick got the new rack put on the bike and then we all had a wonderful dinner together.  I'll be sorry to leave new friends behind when we head out tomorrow.

It's likely to be cold - we figure we are going to be headed into the wind with 40 degree weather, and a chance of rain (or snow!)  Oh well.  We knew it was bound to happen sometime.

The day's report:  Fort Klamath to Klamath Falls, 36.4 miles/1267 to date

Dick with canoe he built

Lorena with Speedwell

26: Making a run for it

Roger and I have visited Crater Lake (or tried to) twice before, and had not been able to see the lake. The first trip, at Thanksgiving two years ago, the snow was piled high, it was snowing still, and the lake was completely obscured by the storm.  Last summer, we tried again while on a bike trip with Mark Friis, but the fires in the park kept us away.

We planned to go past the park on our trip, but the weather was not looking great later in the week, and since we had to wait for the new pack to arrive anyway, Roger hatched a plan to leave our gear with Lorena and Dick, and just ride out to Crater Lake on the one day that looked like it would be clear. So that's what we did.

View across Klamath Lake en route

I will confess that I was tired when we reached Klamath Falls, and I was looking forward to a rest day while Roger dealt with the bike, but since that couldn't happen without the rack, off we went. And what a gorgeous day it was. I am so glad we made the trip.

The first 30 miles of the ride were dead flat, and cut through pretty county.  Then we turned up toward the mountain, and started a slow ascent, which ended with about 2500 feet to the rim. It was an arduous climb on the tandem, even without our gear, but the trip was totally worth it.

Plenty of snow as we approach the summit

Anyone who has ever been to Crater Lake can attest to its beauty.  If you have never been, then I hope someday you will be able to see this marvel.

We made it! 

We stayed the night out in Fort Klamath at the Crater Lake Bed and Breakfast.  Janet has a comfortable home and her guests come from all over.  We enjoyed visiting with guests from Denmark and Kansas when we got back down the mountain.  And her breakfasts are so delicious!

The day's report:  Klamath Falls to Crater Lake, 82.5 miles/1230 to date

25: That's what I'm talking about

This would have to be what bike touring is all about - a day with plenty of time on the bike, but fun and interesting things to do as well, and folks to meet and good food to enjoy, and of course - a stop at a bike store!

Entrance to lava tube cave

All this came to pass on the day we arose in Lava Beds National Monument.  We took time on our ride through the park to stop and explore one of the caves.  It was super cool (figuratively and literally!) and well worth the stop.

Landscape in Lava Beds Park

Then a pleasant downhill out of the park, past the lake and wild life preserve, and finally - finally! - across the border from California into Oregon.  After 1124 miles traversing California from side to side and up the middle, we finally hit our first new state.  To be honest, as we came in on a small farm road, it was pretty anti-climatic.

California on the left, Oregon on the right!

Our next Warm Showers host worked in the town we had targeted for our lunch break, so we stopped in to meet her and I had a wonderful time exploring the fantastic quilt shop there.  Tater Patch Quilts and the Sewing Works, it's called, and it has wonderful quilts and fabrics everywhere!  

Lunch was at a local taqueria, and it was wonderful - particularly after our meager dinner and breakfast in the park.  And we found a diner on the way back down the street to get a piece of pie.  Marion berry is sort of the national pie of Oregon.  Just delicious!

Yum!

The rest of our ride to Klamath Falls was an easy Tuesday morning type of ride. Great views of Mt Shasta from time to time - it was covered with snow top to bottom.  

Snow covers Mt Shasta

And when we got to Klamath Falls, we stopped in at a bike shop to see if our new rack had arrived. (It had not.) But we left the bike for a little tuning on the new gears, and walked down the street to have a beer. 

Later, we arrived at Lorena and Dick's home, and enjoyed a delicious meal and stories with our hosts. All in all, I could not imagine a more enjoyable day.

The day's report:  Lava Beds National Monument to Klamath Falls, 51.2 miles/1148 to date

24: It's a beautiful morning in Bieber California

The sun is shining, the birds are tweeting and chirping and dancing around, and there are big puffy clouds around the horizon. We are planning to leave this little town and head for the Lava Beds National Monument.( I have to just take a moment to tell you that I am dictating this, and my phone took down 'love of beds' National Monument. And at this moment in our tour, that's pretty appropriate!)

Packed, then unpacked so we could order the new rack

The country we are going to head through today is pretty cut off. We're told by the locals, who live in towns of 200, that there is 'nothing' up there. So I guess that is 'Nothing' with a capital N!

The cafe/store/deli in Bieber

Uh oh.  Not looking good.

This morning we had breakfast at the combination cafe and store. We bought some canned chili and Fritos for our dinner tonight. And she made us a deli sandwich to eat on the road. It really is one-stop shopping. 

The fields around here are pretty saturated. So we are mindful of mosquitoes everywhere we go. We are headed into Oregon soon. We should cross the border tomorrow after we leave the National Monument. I would say I am hoping for a dryer climate, but I guess that's not going to happen. 

We hope to see Crater Lake on this trip, but the forecast is for rain. So we'll take a look at the visitor cam, and decide whether or not we want to climb up there before we make that climb later this week.

In the meantime, we are placing an order for a new back rack to hold the pack. And so we have taken everything off the bike so that Roger can take pictures and email them to the pack rack manufacturer.

This post goes out to my nephew Jason, who asked me in a message, 'what is it that you do the rest of the day when you're not on the bike?' We rolled out at 7:45, had breakfast, now we have disassembled the rig, and soon we will put it all back and head out.  (That happened at 9:30 am!)

Meanwhile, looks at the clouds building! Uh oh. In the space of time it took me to compose this message, the day has turned from beautiful to threatening!

--- and then later, after making it to Klamath Falls ---

The rest of our day was dry after all.  We rode on a very nice "short cut" road through timber lands. It was not clear-cut, but trees were taken based on their size, location, and genetics.  (Interesting stuff we learned from some tree guys sitting in the bar.)

Sunset at Lava Beds Indian Wells Camground

We made it to Lava Beds in time to view one of the caves, then set up our camp in what was literally the quietest place I have ever slept. No wind, no auto sounds, no birds, not even jets overhead, no stream running by - it was just so silent you could hear your own blood in your ears.  Unbelievable.

It would have been a very peaceful night were it not for the raccoon and deer that came in the night to rummage about our pots and pans left on the picnic table!  We knew enough to not leave food out, but it had not occurred to us that they would be interested in our pots or cook stove.  But they were!  Had to get out of the tent to chase them off - and made a note that we will not leave that stuff out again.

The day's report:  Bieber to Lava Beds National Monument, 61.5 miles/1096 to date