Sea To Shining Sea

Michigan, Ontario, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine

2009-08-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

Finished- but not the last post

2009-08-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

I finished on 8/12 at 6:30 pm. My brother, David, had come up from Washington, D.C. and was there at the finish. A friend from Nashville, also named David, joined me in Niagara Falls; so he was present as well. And of course, my son, Theron, was there; he was the ever indispensable sag-wagon driver extraordinaire, without whom the whole trip would probably been impossible. Looking back on the whole ride, I can honestly say: 1) there wasn't a bad day, ever, 2) I was extremely lucky with the weather, 3) there was no one place that stood above the others, and 4) I missed my wife, kids and grandchild, home and dogs which was the only hard part of the whole trip.
This is not the last post, however. I still have pictures from Michigan, Ontario, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, to put up as well as some comments, and, who knows? maybe even a brief summary. All this should be up in a week or two.

Through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario

2009-07-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

Presently I am in Niagara Falls, about to enter the north-eastern phase of this trip, so here is a re-cap of the mid-west.
Minnesota: My route across Minnesota took me only a few miles north of Iowa. This is the epicenter of agricultural America. The farms were huge with fields of thousands of acres, well kept with never a weed in sight, and carefully maintained with houses, barns, and machinery all in respectable condition, no small feat in today's world of farming. Along with the large herds of cattle, were the omni-present confinement hog buildings with, ahhh, their sweet perfume wafting through the air bringing back such wonderful memories. Though never boring in it's redundancy, southern Minnesota stayed like this until about 50 miles from Wisconsin where the route took us through the Root River Valley. This "bluff" country was carefully turned into a recreational area with 60 miles of bike trails, and a center for gentle river canoeing. At times this area, had an uncanny resemblance to the Alto, Tennessee coves (check the Minn. picture section; those familiar to this part of Tenn. can see this). The Root River Valley led me to LaCrosse, WI and across the Misissippi River.
Wisconsin: The crossing of Wisconsin was a quick 3 day ride. The large flat farms 0f Minnesota turned into smaller hillier farms with dairy farming replacing the beef and pork industry of Minnesota. The route included a beautiful ride through an Amish area; please note the photo of haystacks neatly piled in a field; you just don't see that anymore in the normal world of progressive farming (also note the horse driven carriages). The final Wisc. destination took me to Manitowac where Theron and I would catch a car ferry across Lake Michigan to Luddington, MI.. Manitowac was Wisconsin's maritime center. It was/is the home of great ship building, including world famous Burger Yachts. Ship building, however, was more than yachts; Great Lakes shipping played an essential role in the development of this country's industrial infrastructure starting in the 19th century. Iron ore, coal, agricultural goods were the main part of it, connecting cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Duluth. Another important aspect of shipping were the car ferries, dating back to the 1880's. There were no autos to ferry back then, rather it was railroad cars that were being carried in these ships. The S.S. Badger, the car ferry that transported Theron, me and our car still had the remnants of railroad tracks on the car deck, and the Badger was built in the 1950's. Anyway we were off to Michigan and the Eastern Time Zone.
Michigan: Michigan was a fairly quick 3 and a half day trek. If you were isolated from all news for the last 15 years, it wouldn't take long to realize that Michigan was experiencing difficult times. Not that it was horrible to ride through; it was agricultural, for the most part. It was abandoned houses, foreclosed property, empty retail spaces, and bad road conditions that were the main red flags. Life did go on there and I won't dwell on this anymore. Next stop, Canada; get out the passports.
Ontario, Canada: I did not have any idea what to expect from Ontario, that is, would it be crowded and industrial, or more on the rural side? Well fortunately it was the latter. In fact, Ontario was a treat, resembling some of the farmland of Southern Minnesota (including alot of hog facilities). There were more flower gardens adorning the farm houses than anywhere previously seen. There were fields of corn, wheat and soy-beans as before, but also huge fields of cucumbers, asparagas, and potatoes. Also there were orchards of apples and cherries, as well as blueberry/blackberry farms. We were fairly close to Lake Erie and a lot of these fields ran down to the lake....Beautiful! Three days of Ontario, and as fast as you can say Niagara Falls, we were back in the U.S. of A. to here and now, and with 3,000 miles officially under our belt.

Manitowoc, WI to Luddington, MI

2009-07-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

Wisconsin: Days 32,33, &34

2009-07-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

Thoughts of South Dakota

2009-07-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Before I get started, I want to relay that it has come to my attention that it is not so obvious to all that all the posts are available to review. On the left side of the main page under "blog archive" all my July posts are listed, but my June posts, all 25 of them, are hidden, as are the 2 May posts. To see them click the "July (25)" heading, and all 25 posts will reveal theirselves (same with May (2).) This may come in handy for those new to this site especially my first post (in May) in which I tried to explain why I was doing this. Enough already....
South Dakota surprised me; I wasn't expecting it to be the great ride that it was. I have already mentioned our stay in Rapid City, and what a "jewell of a town" it really was; well South Dakota was gem of a state. The day of leaving Rapid City, carried me to the Badlands. The Badlands reminded me, slightly, of Arches Nat'l Park; a vast array of eroded rock and sand shaped into bizarre towers and dunes, colored by oxidized metals and various minerals. After the Badlands came the Pine Ridge Reservation, obviously not a tourist attraction, but rather, a reservation for the Oglala Sioux. I had looked forward to going through Pine Ridge, probably due to the Ian Frazier books, On the Rez, and The Great Plains. In anycase, it wasn't that Pine Ridge was much different, or any different for the most part, in appearance, it was just that it was a part of the country that represents a history that has been obscured,distorted, and shunned, so that I, and most people will never really know or fully understand it. I am not sure why, but riding through there just felt special. And having mentioned feeling special, it is fun to note that on about 8 to 10 occasions, while going thruogh Pine Ridge cars, sometimes filled front and back with people would honk, cheer and wave their hands at me. Sometimes it was a lone truck who would honk and wave. Throughout this trip people, on the whole, have been freindly and would wave, especially big trucks and motor cycles, but none with the enthusiasm as encountered on the Pine Ridge Reservation. I am not sure why all the fuss, but I think maybe any variation from the drudgery of the norm was due for slight celebration. (I think it might be fair to say that I was not the "norm".)
The land past the Badlands including Pine Ridge was cattle country, open range, and hilly. Hilly, did I say hilly? It was up and down, up and down, and, one-more-time, up and down. The wind was in my face; it was a good thing I wasn't in a hurry or it might have become tedious, which it didn't. Then something interesting happened; I crossed the Missouri River. This changed everything. About 10 miles before the Missouri River I felt humidity for the first time on the whole trip. As I aproached the river I went up and down 3 bigger than usual hills, then crossed the river, went up another hill, and low and behold it was flat. It was as if I had crossed some sort of boundry that separated the "west" from the midwest. The farms were much bigger now, more cultivated ground as opposed to open cattle range, with the equipment all about. Towns now were real towns with businesses, houses, churches, and schools. Before a "town" on the map might have consisted of one building that served as a post office, eatery and a bar, sometimes even having a gas station and convenience store as well.
Well, on into Sioux falls and then into Wisconsin....

Days 28, 29, 30, and 31- Through Southern Minnesota

2009-07-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Day 23 through Day 27: through the Badlands and through South Dakota

2009-07-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

Rapid City: A Wonderful Visit From David, Stephanie, and Judy

2009-07-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks; From Lolo, MT to Rapid City, ND

2009-07-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been awhile since I've tried to put into words, some sort of description of what's been going on. I had finished a road trip to Glacier/ Kalispell/Missoula and was about to resume my journey from Lolo. From Lolo to Yellowstone it was a series of different valleys, each one culminating with a pass over some sort of mountain with a decent into what else?... the next valley. Though going from one valley to the next, there were no redundancies; each one subtly varied from the previous one. As the pictures show, there always seemed to be snow peaked mountains in the background, however the ground seemed to become a little less fertile with farm ground, neatly cultivated, giving way to more open grazing fields, inhabited by more and more sage brush and rocks. Each Valley received its name from the river which carved it out. The Bitteroot Valley gave way to the Big Hole Valley which gave way to the Beaverhead Valley, which gave way to the Ruby Valley, which led into the Madison Valley and to Yellowstone. The Bitteroot Valley was abundant with farms while the Ruby Valley was known for its mining (though farming exists).

Some stories and observations: The ascent from Lost Trail Pass caught me up to a couple of touring riders who, like me were going drop in to the nearby Big Hole National Battlefield. This was where the Nez Perce learned that the U.S. Cavalry was still interested in defeating them. The battle ended with a slight edge given to the U.S.. The Nez Perce did manage to allude capture and to get away, prolonging inevitable defeat a while longer. I did learn that the Nez Perce referred to Gen. (Oliver) Howard, the one in charge of the Nez Perce campaign, as " Gen. Day-After-Tomorrow" because of his knack of showing up a day and a half too late. I also learned that after the Nez Perce War (remember it was "waged" against only the tribes that didn't sign a treaty), Gen. Oliver, along with Chief Joseph, petitioned Congress on behalf of the non-treaty Nez Perce. Gen. Howard also helped found Howard University in Washington, DC, as a non sectarian institution open to both sexes and regardless to race. He was very well known as one who promoted the welfare and education to former slaves. From the Big Hole Battlefield it was just a dash to a town called Wisdom. Theron and I had lunch there at a diner called "Fetty's". Inside Fetty's was a map with hundreds of pins stuck in it, each one representing the home town of the person who placed the pin. Every state was represented, and to my surprise there were 2 pins stuck in Winchester, TN. Are you out there? Are you reading this?
In the Ruby Valley we landed in a town called Virginia City. Virgina City was an old mining town preserved, not replicated, as to pretty much how it looked back in its heyday. Only the functions of the buildings have changed. The next day, almost to Yellowstone, I was met with an angry headwind which gave me one of my hardest 4.5 hours of cycling, perhaps, ever. I was more than eager to quit for the day and to continue on with a lesser wind, but who was to say it didn't blow like that every day during June, or the summer, or the decade; so stopping didn't really make any sense. The payoff was Yellowstone.
Yellowstone is more than I ever imagined. It is high mountain fields, vistas, waterfalls, moose, bears, eagles, and much more. Yellowstone is also a boiling cauldron of one of the largest super volcanoes in the world. Geysers, of which Old Faithful is just one of many, boiling mud-pots, and steaming pools are everywhere. The Yellowstone Caldera is so big, that scientists were unable to see it until satellite images became available. The Caldera measures about 35mi. by 45mi.. Should an eruption occur, it is estimated that it would be about 2,500 times stronger than Mt. St. Helen's, with devastating results of nuclear winter from the ash, possibly causing mass extinction.
Well somehow Theron and I were able to escape Yellowstone without injury and were ready to cross Wyoming. Wyoming was not as mountainous as Montana, names of places with the word "gulch" started to appear, and the cowboy/buckin' bronco symbol of the state was everywhere. Cody was the first place we came to. Somewhere between a large town and a small city, Cody thrived on it's namesake, Buffalo Bill Cody , the famous plainsman/showman. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center a cluster of several museums was a class act that would make any city 10 times the size proud. Cody also proclaimed itself the rodeo capitol of the world, featuring rodeo 7 days a week during the summer. After Cody, about a day's ride away, lie the Big Horn Mountains. This would give me not only my highest elevation of the trip ( about 9,000+ ft.) but also a very beautiful climb. A few days later we reached the Black Hills and South Dakota. In Rapid City, SD, my brother, David, his wife, Stephanie, and my sister, Judy met us as a gesture of birthday celebration as well as celebrating the cross country adventure. We explored the beautiful Black Hills, being pleasantly surprised by Mt. Rushmore, impressed by the yet to be finished Crazy Horse Monument, thrilled by the Devil's Tower, and exploring Rapid City which turned out to be a real jewel of a town.
Tomorrow we set off across South Dakota; first stop, the Badlands....

Day 22: Custer, SD to Rapid City, SD

2009-07-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

Day 21: Into the Black Forrest; Newcastle, WY to Custer, SD

2009-06-30T22:20:00.001-07:00

Day 20: Gillette, WY to Newcastle, WY

2009-06-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

Day 19: Sheridan, WY to Gillette, WY

2009-06-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Day 18: Burgess Junction to Sheridan, WY

2009-06-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

Day 17: Greybull, WY to Burgess Junction, WY

2009-06-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Greybull, WY to Burgess Junction, WY

Day 16: Past East Gate of Yellowstone to Greybull, WY

2009-06-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

Past East Gate of Yellowstone to Greybull, WY

Day 15: West Yellowstone, to past the East side

2009-06-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

West Yellowstone, to past the East side

Day 14 Finish to West Yellowstone

2009-06-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Finally to West Yellowstone- just one pic, a self portrait

Yellowstone!!!

2009-06-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Day 13: Virginia City, MT to Almost to West Yellowstone, MT

2009-06-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Virginia City, MT to Almost to West Yellowstone, MT

Day 12 Badger Pass to Virginia City

2009-06-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

Badger Pass to Virginia City

Day 11 Lost Trail Pass to Badger Pass

2009-06-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

Lost Trail Pass to Badger Pass

Day10 Lolo to Lost Trail Pass

2009-06-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

Lolo to Lost Trail Pass

Well, we're ready to go

2009-06-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

I got the good word this morning that my car part was out for delivery on the UPS truck. It came in and at 2:00 pm the car was ready to go. We drove back to Missoula, picked up the trailer at Nick and Mary's, and proceeded to Lolo where I will take off in the morning. Needless to say, I'm quite keen on resuming the journey.

Missoula and Glacier

2009-06-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, as I may or may not have mentioned, once I got to Lolo, I headed off via car to nearby Missoula and then to Glacier Nat'l Park (and the surrounding Flatwood area). Missoula was really a visit with our friends, Mary and Nick Babson, who are such gracious and generous hosts and who showed us the Missoula area last year. Missoula also marked the dreaded departure of my co-pilot, best friend and wife Anne and her re-entry to the real world. After a couple of nights with Mary and Nick, my other co-pilot, Theron, and I headed off towards Glacier. On the way on this 120 mile drive, we came across a Bison preserve; the photos you will see. We took a 20 mile drive among among Bison and other wild life, in this meticuously cared for natural preserve. In the course of the drive you gained about 2000 ft. on what I would call "hills" rather than mountains they were very round and grassy but still quite high. At one of the highest points on the drive there was a sign explaining the geology. 15,000 years ago, glaciers built up giant ice walls damming thie massive area into what was called Missoula Lake. When enough water filled, it would lift the ice"dam" and causing it to break, resulting in massive flooding all the way to western Washington state. This occured about 5 different times. This massive lake was about 1500 ft. at its deepest flooding stage, 500 ft. below where I was reading the sign at that moment. Pretty amazing.
Glacier was beautiful, though there was a glitch. My mini-van, the next day when we were about to explore the park, started to have a problem. It demanded a computer oriented part. Fortunately there is a Crysler dealer in nearby Kalispell; we would be way "outta luck" if this happened during the much more remote (next) 2nd leg. So to make a long story short, we are now waiting for the part. We have rented a car and can still do things. So we took off for Glacier, finally, and were more than impressed by its massive mountainous beauty with its glacial blue lakes and streams. We were limited to our activities mainly because any shoes that would be useful for hiking were left inside the mini-van at the car dealership. We did take an easy but incredible hike (walk?) through a cedar and hemlock stand that hasn't had a burn history since the 16th century. We saw some very big trees.
Well, we remain in limbo about my van. Today is Sunday and we are hoping the part will come in and be installed tomorrow which will have me leavin Lolo and riding Tuesday, which actually is 1 day before my planned departure date. I have found that I have been riding about 10 miles a day more than I thought I would, but now I have a higher pass to cross and a higher general elevation gain than on the previous leg which could put me back on my original time-line. I do want to say this about climbing, you go slower and therefor you see things better....climbing ain't bad.
Here are some thoughts about the upcoming leg of Lolo to Yellowstone; it is part of Lewis and Clark's route as well as the Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce attempted escaperoute to Canada. In fact, the pass that crosses the Continental Divide is called Cheif Joseph Pass, and the road down the other side to Wisdom, MT, about half way, goes by the Big Hole Nat'l Battlefield where the biggest battle of the Nez Perce War was fought. I'm looking forward to all that (and to Yellowstone, as well).

Thoughts, so far- Seaside, OR to Lolo, MT

2009-06-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Well, right now I'm on a side trip (car) in West Glacier, Montana, and will give some thoughts as well as some facts on what I consider the first leg of the journey.
Day 1, 5/31/09: I was dying to get started; I had no clue on what it would be like riding some decent distances day after day; what would traffic be like? how would the weather affect me. I had no clue what to tell Theron and Anne, my intrepid support. Well once I got going, I figured everything would reveal itself. It was a cool Pacific morning about 57 degrees; there wasn't much wind but what there was, came from the right direction. Seaside is a tourist town for Portland, so this brought about a lot of traffic returning home from the weekend. There was a good shoulder, so really, only the noise bothered me. The scenery was beautiful (see photos), though the areas of clear cutting left huge open swaths on the side of mountains.
Distance: 96 miles; Total Ascent: 8281 ft.

Day 2, 6/1/09: This was a shorter ride that would end in Hood River OR/ White Salmon, WA with another visit with Tom and Sherry Brown. The ride was along the Historic Columbia River Highway that took us up and around and back down incredible vistas including Multnomah Falls, and Crown Point.
Distance: 60 mi.; Total Ascent: 4306 ft.

Day 3, 6/2/09: This was a tough day. We left White Salmon heading east (duh!) along the Columbia River. It changed from moist, then arid, and finally a high desert environment. After 20 miles of no wind it changed to a good brisk head wind. It was a wind that if I didn't pedal going downhill I would have slowly come to stop. Now that's inertia. It became pretty hot and I was going through 2 bottles every hour and a half. Also there were no service areas for over 80 miles. This leads me to wonder how the un-supported riders do it (at least in places like this); my hat goes off to these special breed of riders. The scenery was wonderful; dams, trains, barges, vineyards, windmills, bluffs, and of course the constant and always changing Columbia River. I stopped riding in nowhere, about 30 miles from Umatilla, OR.
Distance: 80 mi.; Total Ascent: 3633 ft.

Day 4, 6/3/09: From nowhere to near Walla Walla, WA . Hot, headwind, no towns, more beautiful scenery. Walla Walla is a handsome old western ag-town with a progressive flair. It is also home to Whitman College, a top tier liberal arts college, as well as home to the Walla Walla sweet onion. The Walla Walla sweet onion is the west-of-the-Mississippi version of the Vidalia sweet onion.
Distance: 81 mi.; Total Ascent: 2231 ft.

Day 5, 6/4/09: From near Walla Walla, WA to near Clarkston, WA . It was hot with a headwind, but not as bad of a wind as before. Clarkston sits on the Snake River with Lewiston, ID on the other (eastern) side. Clarkston is the more working mans' town, with river commerce and smell of paper mill in the air. Lewiston is slightly more upscale offering different varietys of water activities in the famous Hell's Canyon on the Snake River. This riding segment to Missoula (Lolo) basically follows the Lewis and Clark Trail. So it is no wonder why it follows rivers most of the way. Rivers were a key to their journey back then, and are important today in commerce and water sports. In this area of Washington/Oregon, grain farming has been virtually omni-present, and it's been the barges on the Columbia and Snake that move these commodities.
Distance: 75 mi.; Total Ascent: 3714 ft.

Day 6, 6/5/09: From near Clarkston, WA to past Lewiston, ID. Easy day; the wind and heat were not much of a factor. There was something of a different presence we were now entering, that not of Lewis and Clark, but that of the storied, often tragic history of the Native American. In eastern Oregon/ Wshington, Idaho and Western Montana, it was the Nez Perce or "Nimiipoo", as they had referred to themselves. We were talking to this very nice pharmacist who told us about Chief Joseph who was, with several Nez Perce tribes, persued by the U.S. Army. Apparently several young braves killed a few whites (an isolated incident). This was soon after Custer and Little Bighorn, so the U.S. of A. over-reacted and sought the whole Nez Perce nation for internment. This over-reaction was strongly felt by a majority of the U.S. public. Chief Joseph led the tribe in evasion with the hope of re-settling in Canada. Actually this "Indian War" was bought on by a somewhat lengthy and complicated sequence of events, consisting on treaties made by some Cheifs and tribes, but not by other Cheifs and tribes, combined with the inevitable encroachment of the white settler. There were 2,000 US troops and only 750 Nez Perce including warriors, women, children and hundreds of Appaloosa horses. Chief Joseph held them at bay and entered into Montana. There he would have easily made it to Canada except for the fatal mistake of thinking the U.S. would lose interest, (understandable, considering the relative insignifgance of the original offence and the public dislike of the Gov's over-reactionary policy), and eased up a bit too much. 40 miles from Canada, they were surrounded and in a heart wrenching decision, Chief Joseph surrendered (women and children had, of course, been slaughtered). The Nez Perce were sent to St. Louis, several other places and then finally back to Idaho. During their exile, half the tribe was lost and no children survived birth. This was the last "Indian War" in the U.S.. The Nez Perce, before this, prided themselves as having never killed a white man. They were peace loving, regarded as highly intelligent, and were instrumental in helping the white settlers moving into the western territories, starting with Lewis and Clark.
Distance: 40 mi., Total Ascent: 1663 ft.

Day 7, 6/6/09: Past Lewiston, ID to Kooskia, ID. Enough of my whining of head winds; today was a full blown tail wind and I enjoyed, appreciated, and loved every second of it. When I started this trip, I was well aware there would be climbing, after-all I was starting at sea-level and ending at sea level and there were nothing but hills and mountains in between. When you ride a bike, there is no such thing as a flat road. I was also well aware there would be a head winds a-plenty all across the country. Let me put it this way, if you have a tail wind of 7 mph and you are going 15 mph, voila, you now have an 8 mph head wind. Well this day it was a strong tail wind; it was fun and allowed me to get some serious miles in. Interestingly enough, along the way I stopped to read one of the many historical usually pertaining to Lewis and Clark, and it was making note of a steel railroad trussel that was too high to be built of the usual wood (this dated back to 1906). It expanded Lawyer Canyon. "Lawyer" was the name the white settlers named a certain Nez Perce Chief, because of his linguistic skills. When the 1st white settlers came through (the sign didn't say if it was Lewis and Clark, but did say they predated the missionaries) Lawyer learned English. By the time the missionaries did come, he helped them translate the Bible into Nez Perce. (Interestingly enough, the 1st missionaries were Presbyterian; the Catholic missionaries followed a few years later). Also, chief Lawyer was one of the Nez Perce Cheifs that signed the treaty that Chief Joseph's father did not, which was part of the confusion previously mentioned contributing to the Nez Perce vs. the US Gov. war.
Distance: 94 mi., Total Ascent:7186 ft.

Day 8, 6/7/09 From Kooskia, ID to Powell, ID. This was an amazing ride along, first, the Middle Branch of the Clearwater, and then, after about 20 miles the Lochsa River. Both rivers were rapids the whole way; but not just rapids, they were rapids that were flowing hard, gushing over rocks, water broiling, churning, roaring. There were constantly hard rolling tributaries entering the river with an occasional 20 ft. waterfall here and there. Further up the Lochsa, there were white water paddlers galore. I later learned this was a popular destination for the serious paddler as well as rafting expeditions. We stayed at Lochsa Lodge, avery accomodating and not too expensive lodge that proported that at one time it was the most remote lodge in the entire country. Now it is much more accessable being only about 60 mi. from Missoula, and is a destination for not only the white water crowd (spring and early summer), but for fisherman, hunter, snowmobiler, and cross-country skier as well.
Distance: 88 mi., Total Ascent: 6553 ft.

Day 9, 6/8/09 From Powell, ID to Lolo, MT. This included a climb over Lolo Pass, really not too bad of a climb, road grade wise, and the wind was from my back. The descent to Lolo was against a strong head wind, but at least it was down hill. Lolo Pass was known for being a traversed by both the Lewis & Clark expedition and the Cheif Joseph getaway to Montana.
Distance: 45 mi., Total Ascent: 3723 ft.

Day 9 Powell, ID to Lolo, MT- across Lolo Pass

2009-06-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

Day 8 Kooskia, ID to Powell; ID

2009-06-09T21:10:00.001-07:00

Day 7 Past Lewiston, ID to Kooskia, ID

2009-06-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

Day 6 to Past Lewiston, ID

2009-06-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

2009-06-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

Day 5: Walla Walla, WA to Clarkston, WA

Day 4: mile marker 145, hwy 16 to Walla Walla

2009-06-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

Day 3: White Salmon to ? (mile marker 145, hwy 16)

2009-06-04T09:01:00.001-07:00

Day 2 from Portland to White Salmon

2009-06-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

Day 1 Finally on the road From Seaside,OR to Portland

2009-06-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Pictures, from top to bottom: 1.) Google Earth image of Day 1 ride; 2.) Sunday revelers on the Columbia River, near Portland; 3.) a vineyard ; 4.) empty train cars; 5.) clear cutting those beautiful mountains; 6.) Woody approaching Portland ; 7.) Theron and Woody" dipping the wheel" in the Pacific ; 8.) The city of Portland from the St. John's Bridge; 9.) farmland; 10.) lush Oregon woods ; 11.) the climb that's about to start

2009-05-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

Prologue
The Drive Out

I finally pulled out of town on Sat. the 23rd. here is a breif account I sent to the people that were there:
"Well I learned quickly that time is not so important on an all-summer trip. I left the shop after a great, long and drawn out send-off (thank you, thank you), and went down the Cowan side; when I finally got to Alto I saw I had gone 25 miles instead of 5, had I gone down the Alto road. When I got to Murfreesboro, I realized I had forgotten the all important box that had all the maps, atlases, and gazateers, so I turned around and headed back home to get them. I was now incredibly fearful I would be spotted, by Darren or anybody, for that matter. Anyway I picked up the box and went on my way, pulling out just before noon. In the big picture, it was not much of a delay."
It was a wonderful drive, the further west, the more extrordinary. Visited son Leland in Denver, then up through Wyoming and Montana, noting how high and snow-peaked the Bighorn and Rocky Mountains were and will be. I surprised old freinds Tom and Sherry Brown in White Salmon, WA, and visited Pratt and Heidi Rather and their incredibly adorable children. Well here I sit in Seaside, OR ready to Rock n Roll tomorrow morning.

2009-05-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

My Trip of a Lifetime

This is an account of my 60th birthday present to myself, an opportunity to ride my bicycle(s) from just west of Portland, OR to Portland, ME, apprximately 3600 miles. In doing so I hope to capture some of the vastness, essence, and diversity of the U.S. of A.. I will be supported by a vehicle driven by my seventeen year old son, Theron. This will allow me to carry extra things such as cameras and tripod, tools, parts and extra bicycles; this will also allow me to have the luxury of being shuttled to a motel if need be, and finally, this will allow me the opportunity to explore certain places that might be out of reach on a bicycle given realistic time restraints. Also this will allow me to share a certain to be incredible experience with my son. Without his support I doubt if I could pull this off. Did I say support? Yes, my wonderful wife has been able to artfully give me the green light on this journey without making me feel that it would be "jolly" to have me gone. Oh yes... support. On this ride I hope to support the American Cancer Society by spreading information and awareness, as well as solicit donations for research.
A word about cancer: Most of us have had our lives affected in someway by cancer. Whether it is you, a freind, or a relative, certainly, we have felt loss and or devastation by this powerful disease. For me, it has been my mother, my grandmother, an aunt, two uncles, some cousins and several good freinds. Some of these people would have surly survived had they been given modern day treatments. Yes, the advancements have been incredible; many cancers are no longer the death sentance that they once were. The research has been paying off but still has a long way to go and many challenges to face. We can play apart in this. I pledge a dollar a mile. That would be way too much for most of you (but not all of you), but what about a nickel a mile for $180? or a dime a mile for $360? or even a penny a mile for$36?...anything. Donate by clicking the following link: give now . I feel it would be most beneficial to direct this towards research so please do so, if you would. When done, please email me at woodybike@gmail.com and let me know who you are (if you want) and how much you donated.

FOLLOW ME

You can check my progress on this shared page from my Spot GPS device:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0qqjqRaHoo3zIirE3MkIorr1hbcUCJ3ds