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Friday, July 23, 2010

July 23: Ontario OR to Baker City OR

Beth does air guitar to show she rocks.
I-84 was down to one narrower-that-normal lane during part of the time we had to be on it because there aren't any other roads here. We walked way over on the loose gravel outer shoulder because those trucks would be much, much too close. Note the FedEx truck is a multipart truck in a high wind. Ordinarily, the interstates aren't bad because there's a wide shoulder and exits are miles apart in the unpopulated areas. They are noisy, though.
84 miles

The roads from Ontario to Baker City are old Oregon Trail, and marked as scenic routes. They deserve it. But, from the time we started out this morning at 7:15 a.m. to when we finished 11 hours later (yep, 11 hours to cover 84 miles) we had strong headwinds. Even at 9 p.m. they are still blowing. Some hills and head as well, so we had headwinds, heat and hills, the dreaded triple H. We had to walk far off the side of the road in a construction zone for about a mile and a half because the remaining one lane of traffic was much too close (as you can see). So, all in all it wasn't our best day.

Plus, our reliable Bontrager RaceLite tires (4 flats for 4 tires across about 9000 miles total) were wearing thin so we replaced them with Panaracer TServe Protex for messenger tires. THESE TIRES ARE TERRIBLE. I've had four flats in four days on them. Abby had another two flats in the few days she's had one on the front (and none on the rear, which still has her aging Bontrager tire. Did I mention the Bontrager tires were cheaper?

Abby's still sore and won't ride tomorrow, either.

Still, eastern Oregon is pretty, if stark. We left the Snake River behind at Farewell Bend. Beth did air guitar when the sign ordered us to "ROCK".

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