Last Monday was my 75th birthday. I was held in Hailey, ID waiting for alternator etc parts to arrive then installed. Shop told me parts would arrive on Mon or Tues and that they would be installed same day. Over promise and under deliver. Parts arrived Tues but install was to be Wed. Previously I made a plan to drive ride and camp on way thru Yellowstone to make a Thurs night campground reservation East of the park. I lost ride days because of late repair. More later.

Wed morn I drove out of camp spot on Democrat Gulch. Maybe 25 antelope watched me go by, most were on hillside silhouetted against the sky. Turned onto paved Croy road were a moose cow and calf paced me a short distance on the other side of the fence.

Arrived at shop. I expected about 2 hours shop time. Van wasn’t finished until 2 for my departure heading east. Maybe the noise I heard came from the worn bearings in the alternator and the tensioner. For sure parts were replaced before failure.

Windy day. Drove US 20 thru Craters of the Moon lava fields. Sage brush vegetation then acres of tilled land. Racing against darkness to make Driggs for the night. Rain started to fall with darkness. Seems my headlights lack brilliance to shine thru newer headlights. Made Driggs in the dark. Shopped at large grocery store for Happy Camper bread that is gluten free for my diet. Bought 3 loaves, put 2 in freezer and 1 in fridge. Too late for restaurant food. I drove out of town to destination Big Eddy dispersed campsite on the river. I struggled navigating to the spot in the dark and map confusion. Made the spot.

Thurs morn I got after it early as my route would take me thru Yellowstone NP. I chose the northern route entering at West Yellowstone instead of going over Teton Pass and thru Jackson Hole. Rural farmed land. Many vehicles entering the park with me. Traffic flowed until a back up occurred. Miles of brake lights. Why there are first gears in transmissions. WTF? road work? accident? Finally I arrived at cause of backup: a lone buffalo was grazing that drivers were slowing down to view. WTF?  That was the only buffalo I saw during my trip thru the park.

That day was Thursday, my laundry day. I had visions of doing it on Friday at Cody, WY. Route went thru Fishing Bridge village. I stopped and checked out general store looking for a laundromat, none among all the tourist trinkets. Back at the van I read the park paper and saw that a laundromat was at the RV park nearby. I asked if non campground visitor could use the facility. I was in the laundromat. I have clean clothes done on Thurs. The machines were housed in the same building as the campground registration function for the only hard sided campers, meaning rvs only. I noticed that there was an awful lot of gray on the staff: people my age. I visited with a man in gray. He said this season is known as near dead or newly wed. I walked into the campground: rigs were packed close together separated by mere feet. No way for me.

Evening destination was Wapiti XG which is outside the park on USFS land. No openings in the few opened XGs in the park. More driving. Stormy. Road went along the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. I stopped at a turnout and took this pic:

Very windy moving my van around. How fast was wind? I held my wind speed device which never reached 20mph. I over estimated the speed. I thought higher but had no idea what. Sheesh.

Drive continued and climbed up to 8,xxx’ with snow flurries, none stayed on the road like higher up the mountain sides. Dropped down and exited the park. I passed several other XGs. Wapati XG is well outside the park. I had made a reservation for an assured spot. The XG had many open spots but I did not know that ahead of time. Peace of mind knowing that a spot had my name on it.

During bfast fixings the heater shut down. Oh no. I could not clear the fault, the led went solid red. WTF? I fired up the cat infrared heater for warmth. I pulled the fuse which triggered flashing led and I was able to clear the fault which allowed the heater to fire up. Whew. I put a double layer of cheese cloth over the intake grate to block fuzzies entering the heater which caused the demise of the last heater. I removed the cloth and saw the fuzz build up which restricted air flow which overheated a motor which caused it to shut down. I haven’t figured out the source of the fuzzies. Happy that I figured out how to enjoy the functioning heater. I will turn it on now. It fired up.

Completed the drive into Cody. Filled propane. Drove to Funhoggin bike shop seeing that it was still open. The owner was absent whom I met on previous visit.

There are 2 trail systems in town. The Outlaw trails are outside of town that I have ridden 2 times. The other one is on the city property line which I decided to check out. Weather forecast was for gusts to 20 mph. I parked exposed to the wind. Do or am I able to ride in such strong winds. Again I checked the velocity: a gust hit 16 mph. I decided to give a ride a go.

windy. I came upon a rock move with the wind full on broadside. I walked the move as I was concerned wind would alter my line.

Short duration ride. I looked up wind speed at the nearby airport, a gust of 21 mph, otherwise in the teens.

Drove out of town towards the Outlaw trails. Anchored at different spot as spots close to that trail have been shut down because of past abuse. Everything is exposed.

So tomorrow I will continue towards Spearfish, SD making 2 days to drive the 300 miles across the state. I plan on riding Outlaw in the morning before leaving.

My shoulder is barking big time from this typing. Enough.

Sat morn typing on my phone.

I can be where I want to be etc. Bend’s air quality suffered from heavy forest fire smoke from 30 plus lightning started fires up near Bachelor. Heavy fuel load. Swampy would have been breathing chunks. Fires were on the other side of the road. Climate change sending precip elsewhere and the fuel load continues to build with less retained water. Some day when I’m anchored at La Pine I’ll be faced with fire smoke.

Tuesday night I watched the debate between Harris and dump. He never looked at her. He is such a threat to democracy and is a blow hard w/ no substance. He’s bad but his cult followers enable him. Those who believe absurdities can commit atrocities. My goal in life now, as it has been for each election that he has been on ballot, is to live long enough to cast my ballot for the other person. To me watching the entire debate, which was a struggle, listening to his blather gave me the denominator to compare to the various news coverages.

 

 

 

It starts at the bottom then comes back down, no in-between. Wood River Valley says it up front: valley as low point, hills rise from there.

Thurs morn early I arrived at repair shop for alternator work. The service manager had no record of my appointment. I gave him Performance’s shop notes. He said he would order the parts, work up price for next day install. Free to go. drove into Hailey to do wash in a cruddy laundromat, only 1 in town. Steve gave me a ride choice of Croy that we have been riding or, new to me, Quigly just outside of town. I chose the newer. System is purpose machine built, very new and raw. Long climb on rideable grade and descending on about same. I rode behind Steve who is slower to use him as my rabbit to check my speed hence effort.

The tread is fresh disturbed rocks. The descent let speed increase. Trail is machine cut wide into steep hillside. Loose rocks. Numerous bends with possible Thelma and Louise launches. 9.6 miles climbing 922′.

Contacted repair shop late afternoon, he was still seeking an alternator, his parts supplier wasn’t calling back. I stuck with it for his 3rd call. Scored an alternator to arrive on Mon, tomorrow for install. Staying here for the weekend.

Friday Steve lead me on a Croy Canyon ride. The Glendale range fire that started on Tues is now contained which is a short distance up the canyon from our ride. Croy is an older system of purpose built trails, all pedalable, few tech problems beyond normal hillside exposure.

Up down around down. Many bermed corners and they are packed firm that can be counted on. 6.64 miles climbing 774′.

Steve’s future time is committed for no more ride sharing. A ride Steve calls the Trade Route beckoned me. This spring I attempted it by myself but my body was not happy with the effort limiting my distance to the perch above Fox creek then returning. I drove thru Ketchum to Oregon Gulch / Saddle trailhead. I spent the night. Sat my departure was delayed as I listened to Wait Wait… that is an hour later than last week’s PDT. Today I attempted to implement the slower speed and effort. Today I made the previous turn around point and a decision to push myself to complete the loop or turn back down. I decided to further. From the high point the trail drops over patches of exposed loose rock below grade, attention focused. Dropped down Fox creek drainage letting gravity provide the energy. And knowing that what went down must go back up. And it did. I had some success with lessening my effort. I still needed short blows on climbs. Joy was rejoining Saddle for a great old school hiking trail descent. Deep tree cover. Trail suffers from lack of water. 8.49 miles climbing 1345′, that’s 160′ per mile of ride, most rides are less than 100’/ mile. Except Olallie and Oleary. I didn’t take any pics.

Drove back down valley. Quinoa w/chicken salad dinner at KBs in Hailey. Drove out to Democrat Gulch for the night and staging for today’s ride. The aroma of a freshly squirted skunk permeated the air. Smells like the out of doors. Today the scent is still strong. Was there a second squirt?

Forecast for today was 30% showers in morning. I fixed and ate Sunday scratch pancakes while checking the sky for wetness. Sky was filled with possible rain clouds. I added my rain jacket to my pack. I pedaled away up Lamb’s gulch. Sprinkles started falling as I started the traversing climb and continued, never enough to put on my jacket. I rode here this spring when all was green, today is dried out brown.

Climb is rewarded by descent. This pic is from other side of gulch looking down and up that descent

Amazing! I rode my entire ride of 9.87 miles climbing 1138′ all alone.

Spending the night here again. Internet 5 bar strong. Side door and driver’s window open. Light is attracting insects, not enough yet to block the 65 degree cooling night air. Camped at 5505′. Will close up just after I quit this.

So I was able to ride the Trade Route because I set my mind to it. My body would have preferred sitting in a chair in the shade. The effort was taxing no doubt. Mountain riding.

I have been working on travel plan to arrive in Spearfish on the 20th. My route will take me thru Yellowstone. I scored a camp ground site for the 12th. There are rides and places to visit between here and there. I will be rationing my time to meet these 2 dates.

time to put out the cat so to speak.

Last Thursday departed Bend for MT Hood area. Last wash in great laundromat, final food loading, and book from Dudleys.  A last ride from the Welcome Center  climbing Storm King then descending COD. Last of pedalable Bend trails. Destination was the Road 44 trails to the east of MT Hood.

The trails up here are old school hand built hiking and newer purpose built for biking. Old growth forest. I like riding these types of trails and certainly enjoying nature before man messes with it. Hardly a view of the sky.

I drove to a spot where I have stayed over the years that another person had scored. I parked nearby full exposure to sun.

Friday I rode from parked van up a connector that I helped build long time ago. It joined Knebal Springs for a grunt of a climb thru above tree cover. I stopped for more blows than last time here 2 years ago. Reward was descending 8 Mile creek on an old style go down trail, trail is preferred climb out per TF. Just fun coasting and carving bends. Return back was, well uphill, which TF shows are preferred down prolly because of several bermed corners favored by downhillers. However, there was climbing on that direction. I had visions of adding Bottle Prairie loop but my body was worked for this loop. Years past… . 13.0 miles climbing 1913′ pedaling for 2 hrs 3 mins. Average heart beats pre minute was 123. Route was a cherry stem as the stem was out and back, the back was gravity assisted. Garmin computer computed 72 hour recovery.

Spent the night. Sat of 3 day weekend saw numerous rigs pass my spot which was about 30′ off that road which was paved so no dust. Today’s ride repeated the climb up Knebal to start of big climb up Lookout over to start of Cooks Meadow descent. 2 years ago local Lee lead me on this direction for descent of Cooks where previous rides were in reverse. Grunt climb, I walked several places to conserve energy. Lookout is favored by speeders for its steepness. Trail ends at FS road for more climbing up to High Prairie. 6.9 miles of tight twisty single track under deep shade with short sight lines down to cross RD 44. On the trail there were 2 openings to view MT Hood per above pic. A short piece of Surveyors Ridge trail connected to the Super Dooper connectors back to the van. 16.1 miles climbing 2290′, pedaling for 2 hrs 43 mins, average beats was 121. Recovery time was 3 days, I only allowed an overnight before starting this ride. I work my body harder than the computer programmers figured was good for me.

I prefer theses types of trails.

At Hood River the bike shop Dirty Finger plies his trade. I met Mitchell the owner years ago and has always been a bright experience. The web shows his shop and phone number that I tried several times even back in Bend. The phone answered with a voice poem. I wanted to visit him, which would affect my route heading east. I arrived at his location to see no evidence that his shop had even been there per web info. Mitchell went under. Darn.

I am working my way to Spearfish, SD to visit with my sister. I chose this route to drive mostly 2 lane highways, the other choice was thru Spokane with mostly interstate roads that I avoid when possible. I have a road atlas that I highlight roads I have driven. This route had open spaces on unknown to me highways. Man, many acres of dry land wheat fields and wind farms. Narrow highway, up, down and around. Eventually I joined  Hwy 26 that I previously drove. I sought a sleep spot that I found at Dixie Summit where I had previously stayed.

Mon morn was all previously driven roads all the way to Hailey, ID. I passed several forest fires, the last one was near the intersection of rt 75 going up the Wood River. I went up river with a paddle passing Steve’s S of Bellevue to downtown Hailey. I fed myself at KBs and afterwards I sat outside the grocery store to eat ice cream. Suddenly, yes almost suddenly the sky was full of fire smoke. Fire sirens blared. The fire was out Croy canyon outside of town. I had planned on staying out there but the fire and officials changed my plans as officials proclaimed evacuation level 3: get out. Helicopters dropping water even a converted to air tanker DC 10 dumper retardant. Air carried unhealthy levels of smoke. I drove back down to Steve’s driveway for the night. Fortunately my sleep was smoke free.

Today was day 3 of recovery from last RD 44 trail ride I was eager for a ride. Steve and his local friend Kirk and I met out at Greenhorn Gulch for classic ride up Greenhorn then down Imperial Gulch. Steve and Kirk ride legally m-bikes, me I pedaled, rested, and walked up the creek to junstion of Imperial which had more climbing b4 descent. Those 2 smiled as they made their motors assist their climb. They were waiting for me at the junction for a bunch of cool down minutes. I was draggled. They led out climbing to the start of downhill.

At this point the ride order changed for me to lead downhill well in front of them until trail turned uphill. Races are won on the uphills albeit we weren’t racing.

Our route went through a burn which left fire killed trees until conditions would knock them down. Steve carries a folding saw which he saws fallen snags. Today the second tree was small enough for his saw to cut thru.

I successfully negotiated the turn where I fell this spring. 10.5 miles climbing 1627′ pedaling for 1 hr 38 mins, recovery was 53 hours, burned 708 cals. The air quality was just yellow. Forecast for next several days is for smoke. At present air is upper end of yellow to support a recovery day.

My body is not like it used to be even more so this year. Riding in mountain towns means everything goes up then comes back down. My shoulder is hurting more now such that I see life affecting surgical repair followed by 6 months recovery. I will keep using my body until the pain and / or loss of function.

The mail forwarding service I use had to update receiver’s identification per the USPS. Yesterday being in internet coverage I undertook furnishing that data on line. I uploaded my driver’s license successfully, however the 2nd piece of ID failed. I needed computer help from nearby public library that was given by 2 staff people. Their efforts still did not satisfy the site. I ended up doing an on line notary person to satisfy the USPS to receive my mail.

I left Bend with the shop knowledge that my alternator bearings are going such that in near future it would need replacing. I drive lesser traveled roads offering few repair choices and likely no internet service leaving me SOL. I decided to look for a shop ahead of my travels. I gave Hailey a chance not expecting a shop. A shop here services Sprinters, I called and scored an appointment for Thurs, I can stay here while waiting replacement and piece of mind. However, the Glendale fire nearby is making smokey skies.

Spearfish is now 12 hrs away.