Day: June 27, 2005

and finally, a Public Library

Bend, OR| 778 total miles

Alright kids, here it is, our first real post since we left Oak-town!
Right now, we’re in the lovely city of Bend, Oregon at their very nice public library, which granted us one luxurious hour of internet time. There have been other libraries on our route, but they’ve all been closed (except fot Chico, but we weren’t able to upload anything). Speaking of uploading, Greg is sitting next to me right now, attempting to post some pictures. My apologies for the lack of visual aids, thus far.
The next day, we kept on pedaling. After a little more trouble with some nasty hills, and me first 90-mile day, we made it to Chico, where we visited Greg’s cousin Christian, his wife Theresa, and their baby Niya. They took very good care of us. We took a well-deserved day off while there.
We went up to Burney Falls for a night, where we met three guys from Eugene touring on recumbent bicycles. We shared stories and listened to them play guitar and sing songs that they had written in front of the campfire until late into the evening.
From there, we headed up towards Lava Beds Park and Crater Lake. We spent half of a day exploring underground lava tubes. We finally made it into Oregon. Greg’s plans to ride into the state naked were foiled, there was no sign to tell us where we were. It was probably better that way, since there was a little old lady standing at the border. Crater Lake presented a bit of a problem, for me. It is a lake in the middle of a mountain that reaches about 7000 feet. As much as I love a challenge, I felt like this would be a bit much for me. I hitched a ride with a family going to the top. Greg rode the whole way up, and met me there. We went the last five miles around the mountain together. It was well worth the trip! I’ve never seen a lake that was as clear and blue as that one.
We made it into Bend this morning. We are hoping to make it to Portland (and Ashlee’s house!) in three or four days.
More later!
xoxo,
m