Saturday September 15

Yesterday was a “free” day in Baker City. Of course the irony of that wording is that our “free” days are about the only times that my wallet comes out.  During our riding days, WomanTours provides us with all our meals (except maybe a supplementary lunch if we want one).  But - we found a few very good places to eat, in addition to the mid-afternoon bakery shop stop.  There’s not a whole lot to do in the immediate vicinity of the hotel, so I took advantage of the fact that they had tons of DVDs available for our use in our rooms with our big screen TVs.  I chose Paint Your Wagon, a 1969 Clint Eastwood western musical comedy shot near Baker City (and apparently still the last best thing to happen there).  All I can say is that’s 154 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back.  Oh, and the hour spent waiting for several hotel staff to come and get the DVD working for us.

Here's another outside pic of our hotel.

Back on the bikes shortly after 8 this morning.  Another beautiful day in the saddle.  I thought several times today.... "there's no place I would rather be right now".  First up - 7.5 miles to the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.  Here are some pics on the way to the Center.

The bad news is that the road up to the Visitor Centre is a mile of steep (up to 12%) grade.  The good news is that they were impressed that we had ridden up so they didn't charge us admission.  I thought the whole thing was very well done. Well worth the visit and I wish I could have spent more time. Makes what we're doing seem rather cushy!

 

We had lots of these little sunflower bushes along the roadside for much of the day.   We were on OR 86, aka the Hell's Canyon Oregon Scenic Byway for just about the whole day. And - mostly downhill and mostly with the wind for 42 miles.  And starkly beautiful scenery.  Here's a sampling.

We passed one area where there had been a huge landslide in 1984.  Ten million cubic yards of rock and soil were displaced and a 2 mile section of road was re-engineered and rebuilt.

The party was over just after our SAG stop in the cute little town of Richland. A big 6 mile climb up to Summit (I guess they had run out of names...).  A nice climb, though, in the sense that there were lots of switchbacks and some great views back down the valley.

Then 4 miles of "wheeeee" downhill which just about brought us into the town of Halfway.  Population is about 300, so we're  spread out into two little motels/lodges. I'm in the Bates Motel tonight. It's OK but not as funky as the lodge offerings.

A beautiful day of riding. Pretty quiet roads, lovely scenery, nice weather.  And - Cy took my rental bike in for repairs yesterday, so I finally have full use of all my gears. Yippee!

Stats for the day:
89 km / 55 miles from Baker City OR to Halfway OR
3195 feet up, 3903 feet down
Temps:  10C to 26. Very pleasant, indeed.