La Belles on Wheels

These photos accompany the June 30 post. 

These pictures accompany the June 29 Post. 

Hi! We arrived in Missoula, MT today at about 7:30 PM. It was a long, hot, and hard ride and we are very thankful to be at the Shady Spruce Hostel just a block behind the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters–which we’ll visit tomorrow. 

Now that I have some good wifi I wanted to share some of the pictures that were missing in the earlier posts. The following photos go with the June 28 post. Sorry that the pictures are out of order. 

We left Oxbow a bit later than we intended. A motorcyclist greeted us outside the restrooms and we had a long conversation about what we were doing. He was so very interested as well as impressed with it all. You could tell he was wishing he could do the same thing, especially with his kids. It made me grateful to be able to share how the Lord provided this time to spend with my family and especially with two of my sons. 

The road out of Oxbow greeted us with a short but difficult climb up to the Oxbow Reservoir where the water was so still that the reflections of the hillsides and sky were absolutely spectacular. Within 10 miles or so we reached the Brownlee Dam, a time change, and Idaho, which greeted us with a beastly climb–the one the campground attendant warned us about. It went up, and up, at a very steep grade. We were told the climb was 13 miles long. But thankfully it wasn’t without some relief. After about 6 miles we reached a convenience store where we stopped for lunch. After lunch I went outside, sat on the sidewalk of the store next to my bike and tried to take a short nap. I was tired from the climb and I wanted to give my food a few minutes to settle. A little later I was approached by a man getting out of his truck with his family. Once again I had the opportunity to share what we were doing and how very thankful to the Lord I was for the opportunity. He was very impressed and wished us well. 

The climb to the store had been of medium difficulty, but the real climb was the second half. So after fueling up with food and Gatorade we headed off. It was a challenging 7 more miles requiring many breaks, but praise God we made it. The summit was a delightful sight and another Kodak moment. 

The ride down into Cambridge was great. The road twisted and turned as we descended, just like every other downhill. But then suddenly we found ourselves in the thick of something moving across the road by the thousands. Rocky and I were cruising along nicely and then we heard squish, crunch, pop. The road was covered for as far as we could see with giant moving things. And we were riding over them! What were they? They were jumping up and hitting our legs, jumping between our spokes–or at least trying to–as we drove by. They were everywhere! We had to stop and see just what this was all about. As it turns out they were huge Mormon crickets. Apparently they come through every 4-5 years and we just happen to coincide with the timing. They clung to the tall grass like caterpillers. They were crawling across the road like ants. There were thousands splattered by cars for hundreds of yards by the cars. The live ones were canabalistically feeding on the dead ones. And they just kept coming. It reminded me of the Egyptian plague of locusts. It was gross and we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. We got back on our bikes and pedaled as fast as we could though the flood of crickets–as they bounced off our legs and crunched under our tires. It was disgusting. 

We cruised through Cambridge and made it to Council, ID by 8:30. Another long day–63 miles. We stopped at the gas station for a Gatorade and headed on to the pizza place for dinner. After an awesome pizza we rode through town to locate the American Legion. Behind the Legion was a very nice park and we were told we could sleep on the lawn near the back of the park. But when we arrived the sprinklers were going and the lawn was soaked. So we decided to pull out our air mats and sleeping bags and sleep on the concrete floor of the gazebo in the middle of the park. What a nice night it was. The cool breeze and open air feel made for a great night. 

Tomorrow? A long ride. We’ve got to get as close to White Bird Hill as we can so we can climb it with the strength of the morning. 

Thanks for praying and thanks for following. Sorry… I still can’t get pictures to load 🙁

Until next time… 🙂 

Looks like I’ve got some catching up to to do since my last post. We’ve had some long days and no wifi so there’s been no way of keeping up to date but I’ll give you the highlights and bring you up to speed. 

June 28

We left Baker City, OR early in the morning and headed towards Oxbow, a total of 71 miles. It would be our longest day yet; but that’s not what worried me. Two big challenges stood between us and Oxbow: Hells Canyon and the Richland Grade. Hells Canyon is surprisingly hot (stretching across most of our ride today) and the Richland Grade is a steep climb in the middle of it. We needed to stay hydrated! We made it the 42 miles to Richland without too much trouble. We just kept pedaling and drinking. We found a bench in the shade outside a store in Richland and sat down to have our lunch. The store owner was very kind and talked to us about the TranAm racers who came through a few weeks ago (they average 230-300 miles a day across the entire country!!). He also warned us about the Richland Grade–just ahead of us–and encouraged us, if we could, to bike past Oxbow to Brownlee. 

Richland Grade was daunting at first sight. We were biking along and suddenly were confronted by an overwhelming bare hill. I looked up to see tiny cars switchbacking back and forth to the top of it. It was huge and I thought “Oh no.” “There it is boys. That’s what we’ve got to climb,” I said. So we paused for a few moments, in the heat, to tank up on water and up we went. It was 1:06 PM. We stayed together and kept eyeing the next rest stop as we winded our way up. The next mile marker. The next bend. The farthest telephone pole. We leapfrogged our way for the next hour and a half until we finally reached the top. 

In another 30 long miles we finally reached Oxbow. It was 4:30. We’d been on the bikes since 6:30. And there was a huge hill between Oxbow and Brownlee that neither of us felt like climbing. We were done. It was a long day in the heat of Hells Canyon. So we opted to sleep at the Oxbow Dam campground, Copperfield Park. 

As we turned in Forrest made a sharp turn, unaware he was on gravel, and had a nasty fall. He slid across the pavement and gravel scraping up his right leg, side, arm, and–worst of all–his left palm. My first aid kit’s alcohol swabs had met its match so I went to the park attendant and asked for some more alcohol. They turned out to be a wonderful elderly couple who proceeded to treat us like their own grandkids. She soon came down to our campsite with ham and cheese sandwiches, cookies–to go with our soup–and bagels and butter for breakfast. They let me use their phone so I could call Chantry and let her know where were and they also let us move our tent out of the hiker/biker section to a quieter area of the campground so we could get a good night’s rest. May God bless them!

We slept soundly and were off in the morning by 9AM, heading toward Brownless Summit, which he warned me was twice as bad as Richland Grade. Yikes! 

…not sure why I can”t upload photos. Sorry. I’ll try to post some at another time. 

Thanks for praying and thanks for following. 

Until next time… 🙂  

  

We got another early start this morning, leaving Bates State Park at 6:15 and after a quick stop for water at the artesian well pipe, we were on the road at 6:30. Tipton Pass was our immediate obstacle. We started up it with vigor in the face of low clouds. It wasn’t long before we realized that the low clouds were the smoke of a controlled burn up the entire pass. The smoke became so think and heavy that at one point I thought of turning back. We stopped a car and he said it was bad nearly all the way to the summit. So I prayed for God to give His children oxygen and we pressed on. At one point, about 4 miles in, the fire was still burning. Thankfully, the summit was within a couple of miles and the smoke began to clear. We reached the summit of Tipton Mt. at 8:00. 

Riding down was, as usual, an absolute blast! But it was quickly stifled by another climb up Sumpter Pass, which we reached by 10:00 (there was no sign for a Kodak moment). Both climbs were challenging but I can tell we’re getting stronger. We needed to stop plenty of times for rest but it’s obvious we can go farther between rests than we could last week. And it seems the hills are getting a little easier. 

Given our early start, we had our eyes on the Bike Hostel in Baker City as our target. It was only 48 miles (a little under our daily goal), but it seems a good place to rest after 3 tough climbs–especially since we have some tough climbs ahead of us in Idaho/Montana before reaching Missoula. 

We’ll go into town to see what we can find to do and then get some dinner. Not sure what tomorrow holds yet. Baker City is the end of Map 2 (Yay!!!) and I’ve yet to look ahead to Map 3–I’ll have to do that tonight. 

Thanks for your prayers and thanks for following. 

Until nex time… 🙂 

Today was a great day, full of blessings and excitement. We got an early start from Dayville at 6:30 and made it to Bates State Park in Austin Junction by 6:00. But there’s so much to report between the start and finish of our day. 

First of all, after the boys returned from the swimming hole yesterday Lily’s mother invited us over for dinner. It was already late but I was really looking forward to speaking with Sarah (Lily’s mother) and seeing if I could encourage her and her family in the Lord. So we took our leave from Andy, Greggy, and Christian (the 3 other cyclists who showed up to the hostel earlier) and headed next door to Sarah’s house at 8:30. The kids welcomed us in with much excitement but I was a bit concerned when I saw that raw chicken on the counter… “This is going to be a late night,” I thought. I wanted to get us to bed early so that we could get an early start for once. But then I immediately checked my selfishness and thought, “This is just what the Lord planned for us. We’re right on time. It’s about His schedule, not mine. And it’s about the people, not just the miles. Yes, Lord; I’m ready to serve.”

Sarah took a good hour to join us all in the living room. Forrest immediately headed to the kitchen and spent the entire time talking with Lily while she made the most awesome fried chicken to go with the rolls and risotto which she’d brought over to us earlier in the day. And Rocky started playing Candyland with Paul and Ryder. So I just sat down in a chair and waited for the Lord’s leading. Soon, the youngest child, Willow (age 5), came over to me in her pajamas with wet hair. I asked her if I could brush it and she said yes. As I brushed, Ryder turned and said, “She NEVER lets anyone brush her hair!” I thanked Willow for allowing me to brush it and then offered to put her hair in a braid. She was delighted. Afterwards she brought out some of her favorite toys and started posing them for pictures for my wife. “I hope your wife likes these pictures,” she kept saying. Before long Paul was lining up his toys for a picture. I soon realized why I was there. These kids don’t have a father and their mother is very sick with MS and therefore limited in what she can do. They were hungry for attention. I had so much fun playing with them and bringing them such joy. 

At about 9:30 Sarah came out in her electric wheelchair hooked up to her oxygen. She tried to apologize for her house but I quickly dismissed it and tried to put her at ease. Then she thanked me for taking time with the children and sat by watching some of the fun we were having. After a while I told the kids I wanted to speak with their mother and directed them to play with themselves. Sarah and I started talking about her MS and the many hard providences in her life since she was in a car wreck at age 16. A very bright future at the Naval Academy was shattered and her life took a very different turn. I encouraged her that she was right where God wanted her and that if there was any better way to conform her to Christ’s image, He would have chosen it. She was on the path best suited to God’s glory and most conducive to her good. She wholeheartedly agreed and thanked me for reminding her of that. I also told her of the great help Chantry has had with her MS by Kangen water and ASEA and urged her to speak with her. I hope she does. Then she asked about my denomination; which got us talking about the authority of Scripture, the imporantance of faithful preaching, and the need to be in a church where the Bible is held to be the inspired and authoritative Word of God. It was a most encouraging conversation which lasted right up to dinner. I invited her visit my church website and listen to some of my sermons. I hope she does. All in all, the time at their home was a blessed time of service in the name of Jesus. I pray their hears and spirits were lifted. 

We got to bed after 11 and I awoke at 5:30. I decided to get the boys up and get going asap. We could eat breakfast on the road. We packed as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the others and were on the road by 6:30. After a day of rest I was rearing and ready to go and took the lead, setting a quick pace of 14-15 mph. We were biking up river, and therefore uphill, but the incline was gradual and gave us little difficulty. I think the pace was a bit fast for Rocky but I knew that if we pushed hard to Prairie City (45 miles) we could take a nice long break before tackling Dixie Pass. So I kept us moving. 

We stopped at the Bike hostel in Mt. Vernon (22 miles) to see Samuel and Chad (whom we’d met at the bike shop in Corvallis on June 19) and to use the restroom and refill our water bottles. After taking off we headed for Prairie City (23 miles) and arrived there at 12:40, just in time for lunch. We could see a good storm brewing and picked up the pace for the last 3 miles or so to get to town ahead of it. Thankful we made it. After shopping for dinner, breakfast, and tomorrow’s lunch we sat down outside a local store to make wraps for lunch. The very nice store owner struck up a conversation with us and then proceeded to tell us that John Day (a town back) had just been stuck with a terrible hail and wind storm (there were even some power outages) and that it was now coming to Prarie City. No sooner had she warned us than the wind began blowing hard down the street and upon us. She gold us to bring our bikes inside and to come in to wait it out. 

Before long, we’d ordered three drinks and I was falling asleep in a big cumfy chair while the boys enjoyed some adult coloring books. We sat there for 2 hrs while the wind blew, the lightning struck, and the thunder rumbled. The two ladies (Judy and Debbie) were so very kind and hospitable. I think they would’ve let us sleep there all night if we needed it. But we had a Pass to conquer. 

We set out at 3:00 for Dixie Pass. It was an 8 mile climb of over 1500 ft. I wondered how we/I would do after so agressive a ride in the morning. I prayed as we pedaled, asking God to strengthen our muscles and lighten our weight. All in all it was a very hard Pass but the Lord’s was mighty to help. I definitely felt stronger than I did when we climbed Keyes Creek Pass on Saturday. I found myself able to push harder and longer before needing a rest. And despite how hard the boys found the Pass, they both did well and Rocky also did better than he did on Keyes. 

As we left the summit heading down to Austin Junction another storm was blowing in. In fact, the wind blew so strongly against us all the way down the Pass that if we hadn’t pedaled hard against it, it would have stopped us dead in our tracks–on the downhill! We pushed hard to get to the bottom and arrived at Bates State Park in time to set up our tent before it started raining. Thank you Lord. But as I sit here now, the sky is a clear blue with only a few small clouds. Looks like we’re in for a calm night! 

We hope to get another early start in the morning to get over the two Passes between us and Baker City (48 miles), which will be the end of our 2d map and almost the end of Oregon!! There is more of Oregon on the TransAm than any other state (650 miles) and it’s been absolutely beautiful. But we’re looking forward to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and beyond… 

Thanks for your prayers, comments, and for following. 

Until next time… 🙂 

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The last few days have been busy but enjoyable. On Thursday, we girls went and visited Lenora, her husband Jon, and her daughter Tia. Lenora is a good friend of Mama’s from way back. We had a delicious lunch with them before kayaking  on the lake behind their house. It was wonderful!

Continue reading “Girl Time!–by Schylie”