Category Archives: family

family, GPS, roadtrip, snow, travel, USA, vehicles

Back to Bend

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Although it was early, I couldn’t resist a bit of wine-tasting at the well-named Pheasant Valley Winery just out of Hood River. There was even a (aptly) skinny little road named after me in the vicinity. Apparently eleven in the morning is too early for Valerie – wine-tasting by yourself just isn’t quite that interesting, but I had to do it. After looking around the Hood River valley, I’m beginning to see the merit in wine-tasting by bike (especially if you have a big trailer to stash the haul in).

Fifty miles up the road was another really good ride that I wanted to do (Gunsight – about a 25 km loop), but for some reason Valerie wanted to see if there was a laundromat in the small ski village of Government Camp. There wasn’t, but there were still people wandering with snowboards – I still can’t believe the ski season lives on in to July this year! There wasn’t a laundry & in going back up to the trailhead the temperature gauge shot up quickly. Oh no! Thankfully I caught it straight away & after letting it cool for quite a while (it was actually quite chilly up there) & then topping it up & idling for a while it was worth trying to drive to Bend. I had to cancel my ride, but we made it to Bend with the engine running at its normal temperature.

With Valerie driving I got in contact with Allen (Miles’ brother – I’d met him on Sunday finally) to see if he wanted to ride that afternoon. It turned out he did & in amongst all the texts we ended up with an offer of a room at their house. To all those who were so good to Allen when he bike-toured NZ twenty-odd years ago – thanks! It’s been so nice to have a home to stay in with home sort of things happening – Lisa is playing the piano downstairs as I type, that never happens in the motels we stay in, it’s lovely.

Allen & I headed out of town to the Swampy Lake ski area (I think) & put in a good two-hour loop (24 km, 500m of climbing). The climbing was mostly at the start & the singletrack was easy enough to climb on & we did a little on fireroad. Seeing Allen get over a log feature, I followed. I should have seen danger in the way his rear tire lifted as it apexed. But thinking it was fine I got over nicely until my front wheel hit a bit of the exit ramp that had dislodged – my wheel stopped & I didn’t. Straight over the bars & with my bike lying on top of me I was quite sore. I must have cracked my left knee on the top of the steerer tube on the way over, as it swelled up something brilliant & is still sore & stiff. The ride continued a little more slowly & we saw patches of snow at 1800m & some big puddles caused by all the snow melt higher. The downhill was exhilarating all the way down to the river we had parked by.

Yes, snow is still melting somewhere around this puddle that swallowed me up.

Lisa had cooked up a storm & I was pleased to have great food that I didn’t have to choose from a menu – off the grill too. As dinner progressed I turned greener & greener hearing of all the things to do around Bend – MTB all year round, XC skiing, back-country skiing, resort skiing, snow-kiting, kite-surfing, snowmobiling & motocross.  It’s fair to say Allen & Lisa are very active & the kids will be soon too once they can keep up.  Yesterday was very quiet as the car was in the shop all day – took it in to get the radiator checked out & it turned out the water pump needed replacing. Nice to have a day off just lying on the couch reading, dozing & a short walk in to town (really so that the whole day wasn’t spent lounging around).

We went to leave town today so I could ride McKenzie River Trail & then we would head north.  We only got eight miles out of town & the car overheated again.  Frustration only begins to describe that & having another day lost because Midas Bend didn’t check the radiator properly as I asked them the day before.  Allen very kindly came out & towed us back in to town (I’ve never been driving a towed vehicle before – it’s hard work on a short strop).  After getting the car back & it overheating again they finally decided that I needed a new radiator – really disappointing & annoying that that wasn’t diagnosed yesterday.  So I’m now broke as far as US dollars go, but the car is working & I sure hope it continues to for the rest of the trip.  Just to top things off, I went for a ride (on Mrazek, which I rode last week) to ease the temper a bit & the sunny afternoon suddenly turned in to two big thunderstorms – I got a little wet.  One of those days I suppose – probably the first of the trip (2.5 months in) that I wished I had have stayed in my nice comfortable job & rode local trails to my heart’s content.  But then what would I write about for pages & pages?

family, food, history, roadtrip, travel, USA

Following (a bit of) the Oregon Trail

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Regrettably, as with a roadtrip, we had to leave Boise yesterday.  Maybe we caught it in its best light, but we really enjoyed our brief visit to Idaho & its capital. We were aiming towards Hood River – which is on the Columbia River – in central north Oregon, but didn’t want to do all the drive in one day so just pottered along.  Along the freeway we saw much more cropping, an old tumbledown cement factory at Lime, a still-operating cement factory (only one kiln though) just down the road & the return of the big trains.  We popped into Baker City, a town that had taken great delight in proclaiming from most Main St windows that some publication had voted it the most beautiful small town of America in a Best of the Road competition.

It was pretty nice & we spent a little while wandering the main street, reading plaques, looking in buildings & just enjoying the sunshine. There was also a big leafy park just down the road where we had another relaxing lunch. Further down the freeway & a bit east was the National Oregon Trail Interpretive Center – with time up our sleeves, it was well worth a look. Being the national center, it was far & away the most comprehensive display that we have seen yet on that mass-migration – we easily spent a couple of hours there reading & listening & pondering the hardship of the months endured & the landscape encountered (bits of which we’ve seen from the comfort of the car).

We’re clearly getting on in the trip as we opted for the nice easy route down I-84 instead of backroads through the hills. But there were still the Blue Mountains to get over (glad I wasn’t walking beside a wagon) before descending to the Columbia River plateau. It was clear we were back near a big river as more & more irrigation & nice looking fields popped up. Hermiston was a little off the freeway & a bit of a nothing town from what we could see (although it did have a gigantic WalMart distribution center on the outskirts – that must count for something), but it was a convenient place to rest for the evening. With a quick trip down to & across the Columbia River (quite a while since I last crossed that in Revelstoke, BC) we were in Washington – our third state for the day. The river is of course really high & we were impressed by the volume (in both senses) of the water pouring through the spillways at McNary dam.

Back in Hermiston, we struggled to find anywhere to eat dinner. But we struck a jackpot when we came across the Pheasant Cafe. Apparently more of a dance/clubbing venue later in the evening (it was a large complex), the restaurant was empty when we went in & the only guy working it was rather spookily named Brandon! He was super friendly & really interested in where we’ve come from (particularly Australia) & he cooked a mean prime rib.

family, history, roadtrip, travel, USA, vehicles

Sacramento

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Our first morning in Sacramento dawned a lot drier than it had been when we drove in to town the afternoon before. As it was Valerie’s birthday, we had a day off from driving & biking – instead we walked a short distance along the river to Old Sacramento. There’s still quite a few of the old buildings left around this part of the riverside & it was a pleasant walk around them & by the vessels docked. What was billed as North America’s best railroad museum was also in the vicinity so we popped in there to have a look.

The museum did a really good job of covering how the expansion of the railroad helped the nation to mature. There were also, of course, many big shiny old locomotives & carriages. Most of the wood-burning steam locos were quite small (4-4-0), but beautifully presented.

In this case, not so beautifully photographed

The biggest steam loco was one of the last built for Southern Pacific (in the 1940s). A cab-forward design (the locos were getting so big all the steam & so on was getting to be a problem in tunnels on cab-rear designs) it was a hulking great big thing with sixteen drive wheels (4-8-8-4). Unfortunately, it was only in service for twelve years as it was superceded by diesel. Another highlight was finally getting to go on a Pullman car – this one a sleeper.

Strolling for fifteen minutes or so after lunch in to downtown Sacramento, we reached the Capitol. With extensive gardens around it, the building itself is also impressive. We wandered around a bit looking at various displays before getting our now weary legs back to the motel.

Valerie’s birthday dinner was on the Delta King – a old paddlewheel boat moored in Old Sacramento that we’d seen earlier in the day.

I’m convinced that whoever was building that pyramid across the river got bored & gave up


It was by far the fanciest meal we’d had in a long time – it was great to have a break from over-enthusiastic & overbearing waitresses. As we were walking around the deck at the end of the meal we saw Tower Bridge lift its deck for a launch & as we got back on dry land I saw my first skunk (thankfully from a distance). But that sighting didn’t sour my impressions of Sacramento – the small part of what we saw (all downtown) was really nice, & we had two great meals to boot.