Day 10 La Grande to Baker City Uphill 1443ft Downhill 817ft

I know what the town of La Grande is known for….the trains! They kept us awake most of the evening with their shunting back and forth. Just when I thought it was over, another train came by. I think the conductor saw all the tents and decided to blow the whistle on us (lame, but I couldn’t think of anything else to write).

I’m typing this in the Baker City High school gym. It is nice and cool in here, but very, very hot outside. Temperatures on my bike read 102F.

Today I’m biking with part of my sweep team. I think we headed out of town around 8:30am (we divided the sweep team into three groups and left at staggered times). Our job is to make sure everyone keeps moving and to report any mishaps, tire blowouts, etc.

Lois C, Teresa & Paul, Cynthia (Cory, a VIP... he tows the Portal -John ) and Lavonne K



The climb today was very gradual. We encountered no significant problems on the road. The nice thing about being on the sweep team is that it forces you to take your time because we are not allowed to pass the last rider that we come upon. So we managed a coffee stop plus another stop for a refreshment in a little town called Haines. The restaurant that we stopped at was very western….washrooms where addressed as Heifers and Bulls. Three men with cowboy hats sat in a booth. I wanted to take a photo but didn’t dare ask them. They probably thought we were an oddity in our spandex, just like we thought the cowboys hats where a bit over the top (don’t take offence anyone in the west, it just that in Chatham we don't see the cowboy hats very often).



I noticed this announcement on the bulletin board (something I would never see on the No Frills board in my city!).

Think about this, if her last name started with a D, would she still want a personal license plate?

One thing about taking your time is that you notice more. Paul saw this skeleton in the ditch. Not sure if it was the remnants of a deer or cow. We may have to call CSI Oregon to investigate.


It cooled down nicely last evening so I’m hoping for the same tonight. Tomorrow promises to be another hot one. I’ll find out for sure during pelaton tonight.

P.S. Last Saturday we hit our record of 33 flats in one day. We are over the 100 flat marker.

Till tomorrow, Cynthia