Day 41 & 42: Oregon ridin'

Day 41: Ontario to Unity
Miles on the road: 87
Route: Hwy 26
Weather: 92 and sunny
Wind: just a breeze
Terrain: flat, and then two mountain passes around 4,000 ft
Song stuck in my head: "Beautiful Day" -U2
# of farmer-blows today: 17
# of farmer-blows on this trip: 1,431

SHOUT OUTS.....
-Bob at the Holiday Inn
-Mike at Denny's

Day 42: Unity to Mount Vernon
Miles ridden: 55
Route: Hwy 26
Weather: 95 and sunny
Wind: breezy
Terrain: The first 35 miles I went over two mountain passes over 5,000ft, then I went downhill for a long time. And then it was flat.
How Oregon looks from a bicycle: Ridiculously gorgeous

SHOUT OUTS....
-Pastor Matt at the Burnt River Community Church in Unity
-Bill at the OUtpost REstaurant in John Day,Or for the grub as well as the encouragement for the ride.

MY IBOOK IS A DEAD DUCK.....
My laptop made a pretty good run at SEaside, but said "no mas" this week. Fortunately, my mom brought her laptop out to Oregon so I'll be able to post updates whenever possible.

IT'S REALLY HARD TO BELIEVE.....
that there is only one week left of the Hunger Ride. Man, it's gone by so fast. Whoever coined the phrase, "Time flys when you're having fun" sure hit that one on the head. I actually thought that my mother was the one who made that one up for a long time. What a ride it has been though. People have asked me, "Are you getting sick of riding your bike?" It's funny, I actually love to be on my bike most days...at least a lot more than I thought that I would. Once you break your rear end into that seat you are golden. Golden I tell ya, golden. However, it took me about 17 days until I could honestly say that I experienced no discomfort at all from sitting on a bicycle seat for 7+ hours a day. For me, what's tough about being away for 6+ weeks is being so detached from the people that are closest to me in my life. The daily/weekly interaction of connecting with people. That's been tough at times. But this is possibly a once in a lifetime experience, and I feel incredibly blessed to be in a season of life to be able to do something like this. Overall, this may just be one of the coolest things I've had the opportunity to do.

THE HUNGER RIDE SAYS FAREWELL......
I've had an absolute blast riding with my bro-in-law, Brian Lindahl, and a friend of the family, Caleb Anderson, for the past two days. It truly was a blessing to me that they made the 28+ hour trip from Wisconsin to ride and sagwagon. They are great guys to have around both on and off the bike. Even in just two days we have some great memories to share together for a long while. The highlight for all three of us was undoubtedly staying with Pastor Matt from the Burnt River Community Church in Unity,Or.(pop 100) Pastor Matt let us sleep on the couches in the basement of the church. Also, he grilled up THE VERY BEST MEAL THAT I'VE HAD ON THE TRIP SO FAR. Unbelievable. Grilled chicken, pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, watermelon. What was especially cool about Pastor Matt is that he has 10 kids, and they are moving to Washington state on Sunday. Yet Pastor Matt made the time for us. Talk about serving...man....What else can I say? We got served. UNity was the only town that we could have stopped in for this leg of the trip.

THE HUNGER RIDE WELCOMES....
My Mommy and my Daddy, Roger and Rose back on the trails for the last week of the trip.

Day 40: Boise,ID to Ontario,OR

Miles on the road:57
Weather: high 80's and partly cloudy
Wind: crosswind and then a tailwind
Terrain: flat with a few gently rolling hills
States completed: 9
States to go: 1
# of inner tubes I've changed out in the last 24 hours: 7
Most often heard phrase out of my mouth in the past 24 hours: "This is unbelievable"
Question I thought about today: "Should I get off of my bike to jump in the Pacific Ocean, or should I just ride right in?"

ALAS(DRUM ROLL PLEASE)......THE SUPER TUESDAY CONTEST WINNERS......
Actually, before I announce the winners, I'd like to remind all who participated that each one of is a winner, even if you don't all receive a prize. You are all winners just for parcipating. In fact, um, yeah, you all will be receiving blue particpation ribbons in the mail very shortly. And I'm sure that will make you feel very warm inside after the initial shock, pain, and trauma that you may have experienced after seeing that your name was not picked.

Caption #1
"Hey buddy, could you tell me how to get onto Westbound I-80. I exited the freeway about 40 years ago and haven't been able to get back on."
-Lyle "Heavy D" DeVries of Denver,Co

"YA might wanna move over Mister Fisher, I just ate a whole potta chili and the draft is going to be mighty sweet."
-Theresa Lindahl of Somerset,WI

Caption #2
"Wait up,Tom. I'll never make it to Seaside with you if you keep up that pace. My hot pink just doesn't move like your hot ride."
-Becky Birdsong on Memphis,Tn

Honorable Mention
"Avid biker stops to explain how big an embryo is at 10 weeks in the womb of a woman"
-Mitch from Kansas City

THE FINAL DAYS OF THE HUNGER RIDE......
FRIDAY: Ontario to Unity
SATURDAY: Unity to John Day
SUNDAY: John Day to Prineville
MONDAY: Prineville to Redmond
TUESDAY: Redmond to Madras
WEDNESDAY:Madras to Rhododendron
THURSDAY:Rhododedron to Sandy
FRIDAY: Sandy to Hillsboro
SATURDAY:Hillsboro to Seaside

SHOUT OUTS.....
-Peggy at the Country Kitchen in ONtario
-Mike at Denny's in Ontario
-Bob at the Holiday Inn

Day 39: Mountain Home,ID to Boise,ID

Miles on the road: 48 total
Route: I-84 north
Weather: 90 and partly cloudy
Wind: 12-15 mph tailwind
AVerage Speed: 18.5 mph
Elevation at the start: 3,000
Elevatoin at the end: 2,650
# of inner tubes that went flat b/c the stems busted: 3
# of M-13 firework bombs I lit while riding on I-84: 139

IDEAL DAY TO BE ON YOUR BIKE.....
It doesn't get any better than mostly downhill and with the wind. And that's exactly what we had yesterday from Mountain Home to Boise. I wish that Dan and I could have ridden another 60 miles in these conditions.

MY RANDOM DREAM LAST NIGHT......
This was weird. So I had a dream last night that I walked into Denny's for breakfast and asked if they would be willing to donate breakfast for me as a way of contributing to the Hunger Ride. The manager said "yes," but only on the condition that I would sing a song, any song, to all of the people in the restaurant. Desiring a free breakfast, I said that I would sing. But when the manager gave me the microphone (which makes this dream even more random b/c why in the world would Denny's have a microphone in their restaurant) I had completely no idea what to sing. So, after a minute of ackward silence, I saw the "Grand Slam breakfast" written on the window and I decided to sing "Take me out to the ballgame" in front of everyone in the restaurant. I told everyone that they should help me sing, but nobody sang.

THE HUNGER RIDE SAYS FAREWELL........
to Dan Justis of Denver,Co. Dan and I had a great time riding from Pocatello to Boise these past few days. Dan rode strong and broke the wind for me which I was very grateful for. Preciate' ya Dan! You da man!

THE HUNGER RIDE WELCOMES......
Brian Lindahl (my brother-in-law) from Somerset,Wi, and his friend Caleb, from Mason,Wi. GREAT to have these guys make the 28+ hour drive and come out to ride and sagwagon. I'm looking forward to having these guys with me until Saturday of this week.


NOTE FROM THE RIDER.....
My laptop is officially toast. So, with limited time here at the Super 8 business center, I've been unable to declare a winner for the Super Tuesday contest. But never fear, a winner will soon be declared.

TODAY'S RIDE.....
Boise to Ontario,OR. (55 miles)

SHOUT OUTS....
-Dee at the Kopper Kitchen for the sandwiches
-BK of Boise for my lunch
-Clint at the Super 8 for the beds and the cot(that I slept on that's probably meant for a 6-year old that weighs 70 pounds)

Day 36,37,and 38: Idaho Ridin'

Alright Alright.....
So it's been a awhile since I've blogged. I've been internetless for three days now and actually cellphoneless for awhile too. But I'm back, baby. Don't call it a comeback. That's right. It's actually been a pretty uneventful three days of riding here in central Idaho....up until the last 10 miles this afternoon when Dan and I rode into Mountain Home with no spare inner tubes. Dan had a slow leaking flat on his front tire which made things interesting. But we made it. And more importantly, we lived to blog about it. We tracked down the one guy in Mountain Home who owns a bike shop at the Mountain Home county fair this afternoon and by 8:30pm tonight we were as good as gold again. Incidently, on the way to Tony's Bicycle shop this evening, I saw lightning not all that far in the distance. Let me tell ya..... that'll make one pedal my friend.

SUPER TUESDAY CONTEST.....
Due to the large number of entries, and the difficulty in making this all important decision, the Hunger Ride panel of judges has asked for additional time in declaring a winner of this week's SUPER TUESDAY CONTEST. Thank you for your patience, as well as your participation.

Here's the day-by-day analysis:

Day 36: Pocatello to Arco
WEather: mid 80's and mostly sunny.
Miles on the road: 79
Route: I-15 to Hwy 26 to Hwy 20
Size of road shoulder: large
Accommadations: Pastor Rich Miller of the Orthodox Pres. Church put us up for the night at the DK motel in Arco.
What made today tough: We were unable to stop for lunch. This was due to the fact that there was in fact no towns to stop at. We did stop at Nuclear Powerplant for water. Needless to say, Powerbars just didn't cut it. We were famished, and we raided the Shell station the moment we got into ARco.
Song stuck in my head: "Your Love" -The Outfield

SHOUT OUTS....
-Pastor Rich is a stud for sure. He went out of his way to help us out. Great guy.
It was a pleasure to meet his wife Diane too.
-I would also like to thank the two gentlemen in the pick-up without mufflers.
These two kind souls welcomed us to Arco by driving up and down Hwy 30 (right next to our motel) many times in the evening.....
revving their engines. Guys, thanks so much. Not only do I think your really cool, but I also want to be like you as well.

Day 37: Arco to Fairfield
Miles on the road: 73
Route: Hwy 20 w/ a good shoulder
WEather: high 80's and mostly sunny
Acccommadations: Dan & Mona put us up at their very own place, the Prairie Inn, and fed us a delightful chicken dinner. On a random note,
I really like their cat. I would like to take him to Seaside with me, but I'm was unsure if there'd be enough room in the B.O.B.
SCRIPTURE THAT ENCOURAGED ME: Isaiah chapter 40. Man, this is a good one.

SHOUT OUTS....
-OF course, we have to thank Dan and Mona. What did we do to deserve that kind of treatment? I'm not sure how many times I've said that in the past 39 days. You want to be blessed? Ride your bike 3500 miles across the country. I feel like I meet the salt of the earth every single day in some of these places.

Day 38: Fairfield to Mountain Home
Miles on the road:61
Top Speed: 43 MPH
Route: Hwy 20 w/ little bit of a questionable shoulder at times
EXTRA MILES ON RIDING IN MOUNTAIN HOME TODAY: 8
Weather: 95,maybe it hit 96.1248
# of holes in Dan's rear tube: 5
Song stuck in my head: "Don't dream it's over" -Crowded House
Accommadations: Hampton Inn of Mountain Home

SHOUT OUTS....
-Pam at Subway for the footlongs
-Dan at MJ's for the lasagna and the all-you-can-eat-salad bar.
-Tony for the tubes and for straightening my bent derailler.
-All of my 2PC'er friends from MEMPHIS who are in ARGENTINA. Yo Weathersby,
make sure you slap some extra chorizo on your plate tonight for me.