On the climb out of Prineville to Mitchell, I heard a bicycle bell behind me. John, a young engineer from Boston, started his trip near Astoria and is riding home, following an Adventure Cycling route.
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| John Connolly from Boston |
We rode together for the next few days.
See John's blog (
https://gumponwheels.wordpress.com/)
I stayed at the Oregon Hotel ...
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| Oregon Hotel. Built 1904. |
John stayed at the Hostel (in a church), which probably was a better choice. While I had a private bath, there was no shower, only a claw-foot bath tub. Mitchell is tiny, but very friendly.
Tue 6/13 Mitchell to John Day:
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| After the climb out of Mitchell OR |
After a long day (2850 ft of vertical) we arrived in John Day. Had a really nice dinner at the Snaffle Bit Dinner House.
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| It's legal in Oregon! |
Wed 6/14 John Day to Unity:
My ride was only 60 miles and 3500 vertical John's route went North at Austin to Baker City, an 80 mile trek with 4400 ft of vertical. He's approaching Yellowstone from the NorthWest corner after passing through Missoula. A long way around. My route enters Yellowstone through Jackson and the Grand Tetons. We'll probably cross paths again somewhere in Yellowstone, although I'll probably be out of Yellowstone while he's just getting there.
Unity has only one motel, which consists of 10 rooms with an RV park, and they had no rooms, but they had a "cabin" with no bathroom. It was really dumpy. The common bathroom and showers were used by mushroom pickers that camp out in the mountains and get filthy, then come down every few days to clean up and sell their mushrooms.
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| one of several mushroom buyers in Unity |
Unity is a very popular destination for mushroom pickers. Most of the pickers are from Cambodia or Laos. There was a big fire in 2016, and mushrooms like to grow in burn areas. Kathy, the owner of the Burnt River RV park/Motel where I stayed, carries a gun... a sign of how difficult it can get with all of these different people coming to pick the mushrooms. She seemed pretty overwhelmed.
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| Shivak and son. - Cambodian mushroom buyers |
According to Shivak, a "good" (not lazy) mushroom picker can bring in between $250-350 / day.
Thu 6/15 Unity to Ontario:
Pretty easy 84-mile ride, mostly downhill.with mild tailwinds. Lots of irrigated farmland.
Fri 6/16 Ontario to Boise:
A lot of rolling hills near Ontario, flattening out as I got closer to Boise. My hotel, Oxford Suites, was really nice. It was near the interstates, and surrounded by big box and chain restaurants.
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| Dinner at Goodwood BBQ |
I spent most of the evening re-arranging my hotel reservations using the hotel's business center computer. Hotels/Motels are pretty booked up as the summer tourist season is now in full swing.
Sat. 6/17 Boise to Mountain Home:
Foolishly, I followed Google Maps on its recommended bicycle route. About 15 miles southwest of Boise, the road I was on turned to dirt and rock. I hitchhiked and was lucky enough to catch a ride with Tom, a retired IBM project manager from Boise who had a pickup truck with 2 dogs. He drove me most of the way to Mountain Home. It turns out that I-84 is the only reasonable through road from Boise to Mountain Home.
