My Route


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Saturday

Day 69: Saturday, 8th September. Destination: Halfway Motel, Halfway, Oregon

Today's ride took me through Hell's Canyon, along the Snake River and into Oregon. Oregon! My last State! Ate a peanut butter and chokecherry jam sandwich to celebrate, watching holidaying fishermen putter about on the river. Not quite my idea of a holiday destination: rather bleak, in fact, with tall, unforested canyon walls leading straight down to the flat, featureless Brownlee Reservoir. It's called Hell's Canyon, by the way, because it can get very hot down there. But today it was cool, to the point of chilly (at least in the morning). Summer must be coming to an end.

Cycling out of the valley took me to an unexpectedly lush uplands area, with cows grazing in meadows and a backdrop of almost alpine mountains. So, where was I? Oh, the alpine town of Halfway. I've been getting a little tired of the burger-dominated menus of these small towns, so decided to take advantage of the rather fancy local store and enjoy a picnic of bread, cheese, hummus and avocado at a table outside the motel. Erin arrived just as I was setting up, so we sat around chatting, munching and drinking motel-room coffee as darkness fell.