Bike Across America- Day Seven

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Start: Baker City, Oregon
End: Ontario, Oregon
Mileage today/cumulative: 83.5/576
Elevation Ascended: 2,088
Weather: Sunny, 51° at start; sunny, 89° at finish
3D Video

When riding a bike across America it’s inevitable that you’ll have a few days that don’t serve much purpose other than getting you from Point A to Point B. Today was one of those – a good ride but not high on the spectacular scenery scale. We remained in the high desert and began following the Snake River into a huge agricultural region. The Visalia onions smelled sweet as we passed by and I expect that these will be the first of thousands of corn fields we’ll see in the next six weeks. There was also the scent of lavender and clover. Our route has followed much of the Oregon Trail, so we’ve seen a lot of interesting history along the way. Today we passed the Van Ornum Wagon Train Massacre Site. We didn’t stop to read about it but it makes you think of the hardships people endured to claim a piece of land and seek a better life.

Our big excitement for the day was riding on the Interstate for the first time. In the wide open West, there are stretches where it is the only option to get where we need to go. Mom wouldn’t have approved but the staff gave us thorough instructions and it turned out to be much safer than many other roads. The shoulder is extremely wide with rumble strips between us and the cars – nothing like your busy Interstate in cities. We were on I-84 eastbound three different times for a total of seven miles. Traffic was light and we had plenty of room. That said, we still rode like our pants were on fire and were relieved to avoid getting a flat on the Interstate.

We lost an hour today crossing into Mountain time. Practically speaking we really lost it at an ungodly hour this morning, before we even left the hotel. In anticipation of the time change, the staff scheduled breakfast at 5:30 am to get everyone on the road early. We all moaned and groaned, then sucked it up.

We also learned that one of our riders is Jack Markell, the former Governor of Delaware. Jack completed two terms from  Jan. 2009 to Jan. 2017 and won his second election by the largest margin in any race for governor in Delaware’s history – and Delaware was the first state! He’s riding across the country to raise money for local Delaware charities. He seemed to be in politics for all of the right reasons and I wish there were more like him. Speaking of politics, we have no idea what’s happening in the world and we’re going to keep it that way until the end of our journey. With our daily routine (wake, dress, eat, load luggage, go ride, eat, unload luggage, shower, eat again, pack for the next day, and sleep), there’s no time to watch television or read the news online. There are no political discussions among riders and, with very few exceptions, we haven’t heard the “T” word since we arrived in Astoria a week ago.  How refreshing!

It’s hard to believe we left the Oregon coast a week ago. Tomorrow we say hello to Idaho and have been promised a BBQ for dinner!