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Saturday 14th August 2004

Hell'w Canyon Full of WaterFrom Cambridge (Bucky's Motel) to Halfway Motel, Campsite., Halfway - about 58 miles on route. While buying breakfast a man in a wheelchair said - 'you on a bike?', me -> 'yes, doing coast to coast America', man ->'you protesting about something', me->'no just seeing the USA', man->'oh, so it's not a protest' (looking surprised), me->'no, I suppose it's for pleasure' (sounding doubtful). I suppose we ought to be protesting about something, still never mind. We headed up over the pass that takes you down, down, down, into Hell's Canyon. A hot morning promising a very hot afternoon. Stopped at the 'Gateway to Hell's Canyon' store - and got involved in a birthday celebration. We were given cake and ice-cream! It was a 60th (or 55th - was that the real age?!) birthday for someone working in the cafe. Such hospitality. I can't see this happening in West Yorkshire (or indeed in the UK). The wonderful side of small town, rural, USA, is the simple open hospitality that so frequently bubbles out of people. It was boiling outside, but the icecream helped us set off, eventually. We got to Hell's Canyon only to discover that someone had filled it, very thoughtfully, with water. What an angel! So Steve had a swim in Brownlee Reservoir to cool off. It was nice to see that the powerboat did not completely dominate the boating scene. No, there were no sails flapping in a breeze, sadly, but there were canoes about. The powerboats still outnumbered them, but it's a start. After lunch in the shade by the water we headed out down the canyon to Oxbow, then up the hill to Halfway. The valley going up to Halfway is in Oregon! Hooray, we're in Oregon, nearly at the coast, only 600 miles or so to go. Halfway provided a campground, at the Halfway Motel. And we had a couple of bottles of Wheat Beer to round the day off. Very pleasant - and just right after being scorched by the sun so much. From the position of small town America, the USA is a sherriff seeing off the bullying desperado Saddam Hussein, so why aren't the Iraqi's more grateful? No wonder a lot of americans are puzzled by the world beyond their continent.

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