La Grande to Baker City —49 mi, 79 km
Today we biked over a few hills, but it was not that difficult. This morning I started early – I think that I was on the road before 7 a.m. During the night I didn’t sleep that well because there were several trains passing with lots of honking and noise. It was cool this morning and the hill climbing was in the early part of the ride.
I really enjoy this biking. It is the feeling of being free. I enjoy the beauty of nature, the hills and the trees, but also the variety of agriculture crops we see along the road. In some places they grow wheat that is only rain and snow fed, and in other places they grow wheat under irrigation. The first is yellow and ready to be harvested. The second is still green and growing. In the area we passed they raise a lot of cattle.
We passed through Haines, a small town that is a typical cowboy town.
It is a pity that those guys drive pickups now. They should ride some horses, especially now that the gas is getting so expensive. We stopped at a small place and had coffee. That is the good thing of these small towns – there are small coffee shops. In Haines there was a sign with the cattle drive history of the area.
Along the road we had a good view of the mountains to the right, which even had snow on the tops. These mountains are part of the Blue Mountains. We were going south and these mountains were on the west side of the valley. In Haines I took the picture with the pretty church and those Blue Mountains in the background.
Biking as activity is not so difficult; however, the seat starts hurting after a few hours. We stop from time to time to rest, but especially to eat and drink. The golden rule for biking is “eat before you are hungry, drink before you are thirsty, and change gears before the biking is too hard”.
Thanks for the encouraging comments on the blog. Greetings from beautiful Oregon!
2 comments:
I love reading your daily blogs. I feel like I am a part of your trip. Great pics too. can't help but think you are getting to know the US better than many Americans, esp. from your vantage point of a bicycle.
Look for Ray's cousin's husband, Stan DeVries, who'll be joining the group in Grand Rapids (I think that was where).
Sandra
Both Patti and I enjoy reading your blog. Like Sandra said, we too feel like we are a part of the trip.
Are you doing your year-end report? Now THAT and the bike tour make for an interesting juxtaposition!
Joel
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