After spending the afternoon watching exhausted fire crews shuttle to and from the blaze it’s clear this fire isn’t going to be over anytime soon. We spend our time sat uncomfortably in the gravel shed watching the traffic being turned back and occasionally chatting to one of the firemen or emergency workers at the scene….
The TransAmerican challenge has come to a grinding halt and for the first time the chances of reaching the Pacific are in real jeopardy. We’re stuck halfway up the Ochoco Pass, fifteen miles out of Mitchell in Oregon and the mountain ahead is cloaked in smoke. In the valley to our left a helicopter trails…
The heat is becoming almost unbearable. When we planned this trip we incorporated several spare days into the schedule for unexpected events: repairs to the bikes, injuries, torrential rain, tornados etc. What we hadn’t anticipated was extreme heat. Recently it’s reached 105 degrees in Oregon making cycling – and particularly climbing hills, all but impossible….
With Bucky’s Cafe within stumbling distance of our motel room there really was no excuse not to make an early start this morning and try to avoid the unrelenting heat. So by 6am we were inside ordering hash browns, eggs and sour dough toast. We were also drinking – lots. If there’s anything we’ve learnt…
I woke in my tent at Zims Campground this morning with Paul McCartney’s ‘Silly Love Songs’ ringing in my ears. I couldn’t get it out of my head all day. It’s all Al’s fault. The owner of the campground had told us last night how had felt trapped in his own personal ‘Groundhog Day’ except…
One question that comes up time and again on the trail is whether to stick to the maps produced by the Adventure Cycling Association. Often the suggested route will weave and turn when there appears to be a much more straightforward and more direct alternative. The temptation to cut off a loop, or take a…
By Terry Lying in my tent in the early hours, listening to this huge bear, just the other side of a sheet of nylon, ripping the drybag to shreds to get to all our food which I had stupidly left only a few inches from my head was absolutely terrifying. People have died for such…
When Meriwether Lewis reached the Continental Divide south of the Bitterroot Valley on August 12 1805 he expected to see a plain descending towards the Pacific Ocean. Instead the dream of a North West passage was shattered when he saw: “immense ranges of high mountains still to the west of us”. Leaving Missoula this morning,…
With all the flags flying and fireworks on sale, Terry and I have been convinced there’s some sort of celebration coming up, so we asked Mike, our American travelling companion, what it was all about. Turns out we used to run the place until some spat over Earl Gray, or Darjeling back in the day….
It’s impossible to travel across The United States without being reminded time and again of the horrendous injustice inflicted on the Native Americans who lived on this land centuries before European settlers ever set foot here. Yesterday we learnt about lives of cattle ranchers in the Big Hole Valley – today we found out what…