I got a bunch of requests asking me what I took. Here’s everything I had on me. I added notes in parentheses on what I would change.

Woke up in the model and headed to take advantage of the continental breakfast. Today was the last day. We were just less than 70 miles from the coast. For the last time I loaded up my bike, checked I had enough water, strapped my helmet on and pulled on my gloves. Getting out of Eugene was a bit tricky as there was a bunch of construction. I left before my group hoping to do some self-reflecting and meditation. However just outside of Eugene I ran into someone walking along the road who flagged me down. He looked kinda rough but after meeting hundreds of people over the last two months I asked him if he was okay. He claimed he was lost and asked to use my phone. Contrary to his appearance his voice was friendly and he seemed really desperate. However I was still hesitant so I told him I would call and put him on speaker. I wish I didn’t. This guy called his friend to see if he could get a ride because he was lost. His friend said he was out of town. The lost guy suddenly lost his mind and started screaming at my phone. At this point I started getting somewhat nervous. The guy on the other line hung up and I said I had to get going. I gave the lost guy some of my candy, a cliff bar and a bottle of my water before getting the heck away from him. I kept glancing over my shoulder for the next couple miles before I pulled over and waited for my group to catch up to me. I wanted to ride the last day together. I didn’t have to wait long and soon we were all in a line. The road inclined slightly but getting over the coastal range was nothing compared to the last 56 days. Along the way we stopped and picked more blackberries. I ate so many I knew if I stayed I would make myself sick. I still couldn’t get over how many were just growing on the side of the road.

I messed up the days somehow. This is supposed to be day 56. I will get around to changing them later.

Woke up and decided it was too cold to move. I couldn’t hear anyone else so I thought back on the past few weeks. It was hard to believe that I was almost done. Deciding that moving around would make me warmer I got up and slowly packed up my bike. It has become so routine that I don’t have to think. We said goodbye to the couple that let us share the campground. About 4 miles down the road there was a convenience store where we stopped to use the bathroom (since the campground had no running water) and wait for the weather to warm up. The store was playing really good music so it was nice to sit for a while. I wasn’t in any hurry since it was only 50 miles into Eugene. Even typing that was weird. A 50 mile bike ride is short! haha

Day 54: Prineville OR to Mckenzie Bridge OR

I know I’ve said this a lot but today was my favorite day. I would bike the whole Trans-Am trail again just to do this day again.

It started with us eating our staple breakfast at Mcdonalds! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten this much fast food before this trip. It makes me wonder if I’ll continue to enjoy fast food after this trip. Somehow I doubt it.

After getting out of Prineville the view was unreal. All of a sudden The sisters, Mt. Hood and Mt. Washington was right in front of us. For once in what seemed like forever, the scenery was enough to watch. I didn’t listen to music or an audio book all day. I could stare at the mountains all day. And I did!

Day 53: DayVille OR, to Prineville OR

I don’t remember what time I woke up but everyone else wanted breakfast in town. I still had food from yesterday so I ate that. (eating canned clam chowder turned out to be a bad idea later). Packing up I realized I couldn’t find my tent. Since we were sleeping inside I didn’t set it up last night. The church wasn’t that big so it didn’t take me that long to check everywhere. The Norwegian brothers woke up and helped me look. They were super nice and even showed me their stuff to prove they didn’t have it. I didn’t remember having it last night but I didn’t remember having it either. I guess you could see something was wrong on my face cuz everyone asked me what was wrong in town. Everyone went back to the church and looked again. But it was just gone. I looked at my pictures from yesterday and saw I had it before Dayville on the giant covered wagon. So unless it was stolen at Dairy Queen, fell off my bike or the other girl last night stole it, my tent had disappeared. To say the least I was kinda upset. Evan and Jolee were the sweetest and bought me some skittles to cheer me up. It was so nice that I wanted to cry. The first 30 miles or so was a steady climb along the ‘traveling through time’ highway. Normally I would have been super soaked to bike along such a cool geological feature. The town, Dayville, I learned was named after the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

Day 52: Union Creek Campground on Lake Philips to Dayville Or

Last night we had planned to climb 3 passes the next day, 93 miles total. Mark claimed the 3 climbs weren’t that hard but the map said they were 1000 feet each. My alarm went off at 6:30 but it was way too cold to do anything so we built up the fire and lingered around until it got slightly warmer. The first climb was the steepest but since it was still cool and early the steepness wasn’t a problem (aka fresh legs was the term apparently). The second climb was a lot easier and it had lots of mini descent were we could race each other. I passed Evan once and thought I came close to catching Mark and Jolee. All of a sudden they grinned and sped off. I think they were leading me on when I came close to passing them. Evan passed me again on the uphill and I didn’t give chase. At the Austin Junction (30 miles in) we stopped and everyone but me got food. I had a ton of cliff bars weighting me down that needed eating. I opted for ice cream instead. During the third pass I ran into two brothers from Norway (or Sweden? Idk they were from a Slovak country). They were fun to talk to as we climbed up the third hill. I was really surprised when we reached the top! On the way down we ran into a giant covered wagon. I was hoping there would be oxen to pull us into town but they seemed to have run off. We cruised into town (John Day) and I ate more ice cream at Dairy Queen.

Day 51: Richland OR, to Union Creek Campground. (My favorite campsite)

Since we had the campground we took it easy and left around 9:30. There was a minimal grade into Baker City about 40 miles away. About 20 miles in we took a break and marveled at how great the morning had been. The best part of the morning was passing two neat geological features. One was called’The Hole in the Wall.’ The other was just called ‘Layers of Time Set in Lave’.

Day 50: Cambridge Idaho to Richland Oregon

Today we crossed into Oregon. It was crazy to think that this was our last Tuesday together. We should have known by now but the ACA groups are very early risers. Although we got up at 6:30 the ACA people were gone. I stopped at a gas station in town to use their bathroom and brush my teeth. There was a slight climb to get out of town. I had fun running over these giant black crickets until one jumped on my leg and caused me to almost crash. I avoided the crickets after that (I should have learned to leave them alone in Kansas). At the top it was a 12 mile descent to the Snake River. About halfway down there was a rest stop were I bought some ice cream. If I’ve learned anything from this trip it’s that ice cream can be eaten at anytime of the day. The rest of the descent was incredible and hands down one in the top 5 descents of the trail.

49: Riggins Idaho – Cambridge Idaho

I woke this morning with a mouthful of sand. Actually it wasn’t just in my mouth, I was covered in sand. My hair, my eyes, my sleeping bag, everything. It’s not just me either, everyone is covered in sand. Feeling gross I packed up and headed back to the route. Soon the map said to turn off the road but the road had a sign that said it was closed. There were some ACA members ahead and I decided to follow them. Looking closer at the map later the route regrouped with the road so I didn’t end up off route too much. Scenery was excellent as usual and despite being dirty and sandy I was in high spirits. However something was wrong. I was soon felt like I was peddling twice as hard for what the terrain looked like. I checked my elevation map and was confused to discover that the steepness wasn’t that much. Thinking I was just tired I pressed on but the slowness of my progress started to get frustrating. I soon found out why. Mark and Jolee came up behind me and informed me I had a flat tire. My luck had run out and it was the first one I got all summer. I decided against changing the tube and just pumped up the tire. (Actually Mark did since his tire pump was faster)

Continue reading Day 49 →

Day 48: Sities to Riggins, camped by the Snake River

It was nice to sleep inside since the dew fell pretty heavily. Michelle was headed in the opposite direction so we got our hear back. It was nice to find out that one of Brent’s relatives or friends offered to carry our fear to the top of the next hill. Brent was familiar with the area and said the road to the next town was probably the steepest climb yet. He proved to be right. I think if I had my bags with me I would have walked part of the climb. It was very pretty though. I enjoyed the rolling hills filled with hay bales and what not. It reminded me of Kansas only a lot hillier. Near the top it flatten out and I ran into some of the ACA tour. Unlike the people I was talking to the days before, she didn’t seem all that happy how the tour was going. It was somewhat discouraging to talk to her as it seemed she hated everything I liked about bicycle touring. There were a few more rolling hills before arriving in Grangeville. I arrived slightly behind my group because I was talking with the ACA tour. Unfortunately I missed Brent’s relative/friend dropping off our stuff so I didn’t get to thank him. I made a mental note to send their family a thank you postcard. I still can’t believe how friendly they were, inviting us to stay and letting us play the corn-hole but not actually corn-hole game. I was pretty tired after that climb despite not having my gear. Everyone else was sitting around so I bought some food and hung around a bit. Ellen was nowhere to be found but I knew she had to be close to the ACA tour. Leaving Grangeville there was another climb but it looked a lot more gradual compared to Lamb’s Pass (that’s what the climb we just did was called). I headed out and soon noticed an increase in grade. It wasn’t so bad and I was able to stay in my middle ring for most of it. I lost cell service pretty quickly. It amazed me that the landscape was still Idaho.

Continue reading Day 48 →