Malheur in the Spring

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Saturday May 15, Mount Vernon, Oregon
The only drawback to Clyde Holliday’s five buck hiker/biker camp lies about 20 yards away: Highway 26. Fortunately, light traffic, fatigue and blessing of heavy slumber allowed uninterrupted rest.
0500 call of the birds and dawn, then a warm Oregon State Park shower, coffee and packing allowed the temps to rise a bit and the Forest Vermin (deer) to bed down for the day. A mediocre breakfast at The Outpost in John Day (skip it), a little blogging, and off to Burns.

Highway 395 runs from Mexico to Canada, most sections not so hot for riding. 395 from Pendelton to Burns is spectacular. It runs through a series of basins, each separated by a pass or canyon. The pavement is great, traffic sparse, and law enforcement light. Both LEOs I passed these past two days in Oregon caught me out 10+ mph over. No stop, everybody out here has somewhere to go.

Lots of bikes on the road today, including a couple large packs of Hardly Abelsons. (sorry boys). But plenty of sport tourers and dual sporters out here. Curiously, few sport bikes this time.
And by the way, my chrome infested cruiser friends, my bike looks disgusting with the bug kills and insect guts- I’ll clean her when we get back! (mud yet to come)

A grassy park lawn in Burns beckoned for a brief supine eyelid check. Yep, still no cracks.
Provisions in Burns were in a different fashion. No bachelor salad, no beer, and no ice.
There’s no ice off grid, so I’m packing canned goods! Chili, hash, pink salmon, ravioli.
Bagels and cheese, Cheddar spoils before Parmesan, so that sequence is set. And a bag of baby carrots to keep my Chief Nutritional Officer at bay.

Liquid libations are a trial run of the Alaska concoction for next month (another off-grid excursion): Boodles and Roses lime juice, mixed three-to-one, yes three parts Boodles. Room temp, straight up. Hey, it’s a tasty treat: Success!

Rolled into Frenchglen around 2pm. This little spot has seen better times. In 1974 when my college field biology group based at Page Springs for spring quarter, the Frenchglen store was a going concern, a classic country store. Down the road a mile was a ranch with a hot-spring fed bathhouse. Many games of Marco Polo were played that spring. The ranch also ran a welding business, and over the shop was a crudely painted sign, "We can fix any thing except broken hearts and the crack of dawn." Now the store is a ratty shade of it’s former self with a proprietor to match. The Frenchglen motel has been in business for a while. Dinner is family style, reservations only.

The gravel road out to Page Springs campground was in excellent condition, and the campground was full of birders. The Malheur wildlife refuge is birder heaven in the spring, with numerous migratory species passing through. The bird songs make this campground a treat. The flight of cliff swallows nesting across the creek from my tent busily dined on insects at length. In fact it is remarkable that the skeeter who fed from my wrist perfusion had evaded these avian predators.

Bought a bundle of firewood, and heated a can of man food for dinner- after the Boodles.

Today was shorter by far than the usual flog, a comfortable distance. Meeting one of two stated goals for this trip: don't ride so far each day, and be flexible on the plans. Met the second one too:
Initially I thought the first long unpaved stretch to hit would be a lightly traveled road to Birch Creek, out of Jordan Valley down to the Owyhee River. But after hearing Glen’s account of some of the area roads, it seemed a better idea to explore the limits of the Suzuki DL650 and my off-pavement skills on a well traveled route. So ahead for tomorrow is a long gravel road to Hart Mountain Antelope Preserve about sixty miles away. Only five miles of pavement, so I’ll drop the tire pressure for added control.
Tomorrow it’s off to Hart Mountain where there are reports of a nice campground with hot springs. I brought my towel.
Buenos noches, Campadres.

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Comments

[Bruce H]

again...
Bill, you are on the ride again, wish I was going along. Alas... I have to work.

[bones]

u r sick
read all blogs u r out of cuntrol, its like im there b safe