June 15-16 - Jeff's post

June 15-16

Saturday was an off day.  Good to be able to get up and not have to break up camp like we do on the days we ride.  Usually, it takes about an hour to break up camp and get on the road.  Some of us went to the library to use computers and check up on world events, some went to museums, some to  bike shops and coffee shops.  We had a good day  off.  Ended up with a cookout of metts and brats.  We also got to Church at the cathedral in Baker City.  During the homily, the priest mentioned a scene out of the movie Karate Kid.  I was worried that Jack may not get it, but that was one movie he had seen.

We left Baker City about 6:00.  We started off with a small hill to get out of town.  Had a lot of downhills and tail winds for the first 40 miles which took us into a city called Richland where we had our Father’s Day breakfast.  We saw beautiful scenery again and we rode along a stream called Powder Creek.  Ran into three cows in the middle of the road.  We assumed they were out a little too late frolicking and hadn’t made it home yet.  They got out of  our way fortunately.  Saw some deer drinking along a stream but when Jerry tried to get a picture, they had dispersed. Being the only one who knows moospeak, I tried to talk to the boys, but they would not listen.  In Richland, we treated ourselves to a breakfast for Father’s Day to replace our usual trip to Augusta’s General Store.  The service was better in Richland.  Jack battled through a bee stung suffered along the way.  He was a big fella because he stung Jack through his pants.

Big hill out of Richland.  Jack said it was the toughest climb/steepest grade we had done so far.  Elevation, 3.653 feet.  When we got to the top , Sue met us there and asked Jerry how he was feeling and he responded “I feel like I was made for this.”  We ended up in a campsite on the Brownlee Reservoir with a view to kill for.  The reservoir is formed by the Brownlee Dam.  Kind of like a Cumberland I guess.  Road to get here from the previous road was very bumpy.  Our campsite sits on the edge of the reservoir with a view of both Oregon and Idaho.  Couldn’t be any better.  Sue did a great job again.  We had showers again.  We saw a bird we would never see except here,  an Altamira Oriole.

Today, we rode 85 miles in the heat.  New for us, we were used to cold.  Took a lot out of us.  Tomorrow, we head for Pollock, goal about 98 miles.  We had a great Father’s Day.  Sue gave us gifts of tootsie pops and Starbucks cards, and fudge pop tarts.  Best Father’s Day this year.

Jeff, Jerry, Jack, and Sue