May 20 to June 9

PICTURES COMING SOON....WIFI NOT SO GOOD RIGHT NOW

May 20, 2025 …Jackson to Swan Valley.  Nice ride for about 30 miles.  We followed a bike path out of town for about 8 miles and then got on the road.  It was a beautiful ride through the Targhee National Forest.  And it was all going great until it started to cloud up, then rain, then pour, then hail.  We hadn’t experienced that yet on this trip so that’s fun. Anyway, Jim was a few miles away at our end point so when the hail started he drove back to rescue me.  We drove to the Hansen Guest Ranch where Susan had arranged a cabin for us.  Jim and I had a great dinner at the Snake River Roadhouse. 

May 21, 2025 …Swan Valley to Idaho Falls.  We got going early and drove to a small coffee joint 2 miles from the ranch.  Larry took off from there and Jim drove me to my starting point about 10 miles down the road.  The ride was pretty good. Some hills and some headwind but less than earlier in week.  We all met at the McDonald’s in Idaho Falls and then drove to the Destinations Inn.  We met Larry Fisher who owns the hotel and he asked if he could take us to dinner and hear about our ride.  I took the minivan to get an oil change and we had a great dinner and walk through the downtown falls area and Japanese garden.  Larry called one of his contacts at the local TV station and told her she should come interview us.  She called me and arranged for one of their rporters to meet us tomorrow morning. 

May 22, 2025 …Idaho Falls to Arco.  We started the day by being interviewed by Ariel Jensen of the local channel 8 news station.  It is fair to say that we are now kind of big deals in Idaho Falls. Todays ride was highlighted by the wind. The first hour I rode about 12 miles.  Pretty good for me, considering the headwind. Over the next 30 minutes I covered about 4 miles.  Not great but bearable.  Then the wind really started blowing and I was able to cover 5.5 miles in 1 hour while getting blown off the road 3 times.  Jim was parked about 10 miles away and when I called for a pick up, he said something like, “what’s wrong? You can’t take a little breeze?”  Larry also quit riding up ahead after getting blown off the road.  Any way we finally got to Arco (“The first city powered by nuclear energy”) and found Honey’s Park, our warm Shower camp for the night.  Jim looked at all the dilapidated buses and said, “Well, I’m getting a hotel.”  We had burgers at Pickles Place and then went to Honey’s Park for the evenings playing of the Star Spangled Banner and then I went to bed.  It was frigid in the unheated bus, which was also missing a few windows. 

May 23, 2025 …Arco to Carey.  We headed back to Pickles because it was really the only option for breakfast.  The coffee was not that great but the bacon and eggs were good.  We had a good ride to Carey.  The wind was moderate to start and the temperature was good.  Our ride today went through Craters of the Moon National Park.  Very cool place.  And we knew if wasn’t the real moon because there’s no atmosphere on the moon, so there can’t be any wind.  And there was a LOT of wind today. So that’s how we know we weren’t on the real moon.  Because there was A LOT of wind. We got to Carey and found the Larkin Memorial Church, our home for the night, and I called Richard Kimball, Carey Fire Chief and Church Pastor who came over and let us in.  We slept like babies.

May 24, 2025 …Carey to Fairfield.  Today we met Richard’s daughter, Shelly, who was in the church parking lot setting up for a craft fair.  We set off from the church and 1 mile from town, I hit my first big hill.  Fortunately the wind was mild today, we had 6 MPH wind that was across us or in our face.  But as everyone knows, a 6 MPH headwind counts as a tailwind in Idaho. So that was refreshing.  The sun was out and it was a beautiful 45 mile ride to the Library in Fairfield.  I called Stephanie the librarian and she came over to unlock the library for us.  Also, a lady Larry met in town called her son, who used to be a reporter for the local paper, to come over and interview us.  So he did.  Funny Times. People have been so generous taking care of us and Susan has been indefatigable in finding places like churches, city buildings, fire stations and motels who put us up because they want to help us.  People everywhere are so great.

May 25, 2025 …Fairfield to Mountain Home.  Great ride today. 55 miles of big rolling hills with a bonus of the last 10 miles being downhill.  Stayed at the Mountain Home Best Western.  In and out of the pool to cool off and relax

May 26, 2025 …Mountain Home to Boise.  Good breakfast at the restaurant next door and left hotel at 8;30 to beat the wind. HAH.  My ride south for 200 yards was relaxing and then I turned WNW onto the bike path and it was a little windy but not bad.  My ride tracked I-84 and the wind rapidly built up so that by 8:45 I was riding at about 6 MPH.  My original plan was to make the ~50 miles to Boise by 1:30.  I called Jim at about 9 and told him that I would need about 8 hours of riding to make it.  Jim and Larry came to get me in the van at about 11:15 after I had ridden 9.5 miles.  What a day.  But at least I had a super hard workout for ~2.5 hours..  We then drove to Patricia (Jordan) Nagler’s house for a few days of R&R.  Patricia is my (and Jim’s) cousin.  Her mom was my father’s sister

May 27,28.29, 2025 …BOISE.  Meeting our cousins who I had never met.  Patrick, Ryan, and Raiden who was ryan’s 16YO son.  Sleeping in real beds, doing laundry, relaxing.  All good stuff.  Riding the greenbelt for 2 days.  Going to dinner by the Boise River.  Dinner up on the bluff overlooking Boise

May 30, 2025 … Boise to Ironside to Prairie City.  We drove from Boise to Ironside to start our ride.  Had a nice long ride.  Spent the night at Prairie City Assembly of God Church.  Dinner at local saloon. 

May 31, 2025 …Prairie City to Mitchell.  Great long and hot ride today.  54 miles,with only a bit of a headwind.  Near the end we rode about 3 miles through the John Day Fossil Bed Gorge.  Awesome end to a super ride the scenery all day was extraordinary.  Stayed at the Oregon Hotel and had dinner at a local brewery. 

June 1, 2025…Mitchell to Prineville.   Got going about 9:30 and the ride through the painted hills was beautiful.  We arrived in Prineville and rendezvoused at McDonalds.  Our host for the night, Kristi Hiasson, invited us to her house to shower before going to the Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church where we will be sleeping since they did not have a shower.  We had pasta and salad dinner with 10 members of the church who all wanted to hear about our ride. We had a wonderful dinner and evening

June 2, 2025…National Donut Day.  The plan was to ride from Prineville to Maupin with camping at the City Park but our plan went kaput in the morning.  We all went to get coffee and donuts at a local shop, the Golden Coffee Company.  Larry took off from there and we were going to rendezvous in Madras about 25 miles up the road.  Jim and I went to gas up the van and he was going to drop me about 10 miles out of town to start to avoid the first big climb.  WELL, the car battery failed completely after gassing up. I called Mike Cookingham who gave me his number at the church the night before and he said “call me if you have any trouble.”  Well, this was trouble so I called him while jim called AAA.. Mike had his friend Ken drive over to help us and he drove in from his ranch outside of town. 

Long story short, Mike and Ken took the battery to get tested and it was dead as the proverbial doornail. So they brought a new battery back and got us back in business.  But by now the morning was shot so Mike said “don’t mess around, you guys stay at my ranch tonight.” So I took off on my ride to his place which was 25 miles down the route we needed to take anyway. Jim took off for the ranch. And Larry, who was waiting in the town of Madras backtracked a few miles to mike’s place. When I got there, Mike and Tammy suggested we visit smith Rock, a local landmark.  Smith Rock is a famous rock climbing state park and it was spectacular.  Mike and Tammy were wonderful rescuers and hosts and we had a great dinner and evening with them.

June 3, 2025…Maupin to The Dalles.. We had a long ride with a lot of long hills, but not much wind.. Our warm Shower host Patti Elliot welcomed us and we had a nice Taco Dinner and Tour of the Dalles and went out for Ice cream.

June 4, 2025..The Dalles to Hood River.  Big hills, pretty much all day..There was one very long very steep climb from near river level to the Rowena Crest Viewpoint.  Yowza that was a long exhausting climb.  I don’t believe there is a level piece of ground in Hood River. We stayed at the Hood River Fire Dept and we had pizza at a local joint and then conked out in the training room at the HR Fire station.

June 5, 2025 … Columbia River Highway, Bridal Veil Falls to Skamania Lodge.  We started the day with breakfast at Egg River Café in Hood River.  Excellent Chilaquiles. Even Bigger hills today.  We decided to ride east from Bridal veil Falls to take advantage of the wind.  We also were invited to the Skamania Lodge, a beautiful place in Stevenson, WA, for lunch. April Shepherd, one of the Lodge managers heard about us from Susan and wanted to meet us.  We had a  nice meeting with April, who’s husband and 3 kids all served and she was thrilled that we were raising money for the wounded Warrior Project.  After our ride we drove to troutdale near Portland and stayed in a skanky Motel 6.  Susan had also reached out to the local TV stations and the local Portland Fox station interviewed us in the parking lot of the hotel. So we are mildly famous in Portland now in addition to Idaho Falls. 

June 6, 2025….Columbia River Highway Bridal Veil Falls to Corbett Community Church we went to Elmers for Larry’s 69th birthday breakfast.  Then we drove around Portland a little before heading back to the CRH for our ride. Downtown Portland is a great example of good urban living in the NW.  Hoboes and druggies all over the place. Another long steep climb today up to the Vista House at Crown Point.  Im getting used to these now. The Columbia River Highway and trail is a beautiful bike ride.  The scenery is stunning, and the climbs are steep and long. But wow, so beautiful.  We stayed at the Corbett Community Church and Paul Peak, one of the guys at church came to let us in and later on, Paul Mershon, one of the elders who said we could stay came by to say hi. Wonderful people in a beautiful little town.

June 7, 2025….Drive to Burlington (on western side of Portland) and ride to Rainier.  We drove across Portland city and up highway 30 to a spot near Burlington. Larry and I got our bikes off the van and headed out.  There were a few minor climbs but not much wind so it was pretty good.  I got to Raainier and met Larry ns Jim at the fire station.  They were hanging out there just chatting with Brennan, one of their firefighters.  We checked in to our motel, The Budget Inn.  Victor who ran the joint was a great guy. We had dinner at a local restaurant and then went home to bed.  BTW, the red sox beat the Yankees that night, which was vitally important to Jim and Larry.

June 8, 2025…Rainier to Astoria, then stay at Naselle Community Church. We couldn’t find a place to stay in Astoria because it was the 40th anniversary and festival of the “Goonies” Movie.  Believe it or don’t. Anyway, what a ride.  1 mile from town there was a hill with a bit of a climb.  And by that I mean a 4 mile climb at 5-6% grade so it took me an hour to go the first 5 miles.  Overall it was a nice ride but I did some good hill training even though as a Florida resident I should be exempt because we don’t need that.   After that we drove to shipwreck beach at fort Stevens State Park and walked into the surf of the Pacific Ocean.  After that we drove to the church we stayed at and met Pastor Kyle (great great guy) and dropped our gear off.  We went back to Astoria for dinner.

June 9, 2025….Naselle, WA to Longview, WA.  What a great ride we had today.   We left right from the church, hopped on Route 4 and rode the 50 miles to Longview.  There was 1 huge hill, 2 mediums and a small.  Otherwise it was all peaches and cream.  The scenery was beautiful and the air smelled like Christmas trees.  I stopped after the first huge hill at a little store in the town of Skamokawa and got a large coffee and a bag of fritos for a snack.  What a great day and what a nice guy Pastor Kyle was to us.