Part of what I love about bike touring is when the unexpected happens and you find yourself with a completely different tour than expected, often for the best. And that is exactly what happened. When I did this tour four years ago, we had a group that was pretty experienced and ready for some big miles, and so I had it my mind to try to do something sorta similar. When we ended up stopping early the first day, we decided we would find somewhere to stay in Long Creek to make each day feel a little more manageable and to give Poke's digestive another day to literally get all the shit out.
We had a glorious day of empty quiet backroads and gorgeous scenery. We all agreed this was our favorite day of riding and we were happy to be able to savor it at a more leisurely pace.
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| No cars all day! |
Big Bang's tube did not hold and we were lucky that Poke had a spare that was actually the right size.
One of the more harrowing sections of this route is hopping on the 395 with minimal shoulder for a short amount of time... but right up a hill. At this junction, the most magical trail magic happened. Big Bang was running low on water and then we saw this little stand with a cooler filled with bottled water and a recycle bin! It also had a note for bicyclists that if anyone was in trouble or needed help, to call some folks named Richard and Silver.
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| The joy! |
As we rolled into Long Creek, we eyeballed the RV Park, which was the only official camping there... we did not love the look of it, but figured we could make it work if needed. We continued onto the store to get snacks and beers and scope out any other camping options. The clerk at the store was open carrying a gun and kept calling us "madam"... and while he kindly offered for us to dry camp on his property, we didn't feel great about that either. On a whim, I told him that we were really thankful for Richard and Silver for the water, and he mentioned that they lived just down the road across from the town park. We decided we would go thank them for the water and see what they had to say. We all hoped that maybe they were really nice and would let us camp in their yard.
I was exhausted but Elisa (Big Bang) offered to go knock on their door... and lo and behold, we had an invitation, a shower, and ended up having a lovely evening full of stories, wine, and camaraderie. It turns out Richard and Silver used to host bike tourists a lot through Cycle Oregon to be able to meet new people and even tried to get a community center started in Long Creek.
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| The door to Richard and Silver's place. |
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| A beautiful fenced in yard, complete with a lovely garden, bird feeders with a lot of happy birds, and friendly old doggo. |
Moments like this are what restore my faith in humanity and remind me why I love bike touring. Whether it is the joy of an unexpected shower, kindness in moments of need, or just a night of sharing stories, these are the things that keep me pedalling!
A few notes for bike tourists:
- Although the town park looks very inviting for camping, there is no camping there and we were told the town residents will sometimes turn the sprinklers on folks there.
- Richard and Silver told us to tell our friends about them... all are welcome! While they aren't officially hosting through Travel Oregon or WarmShowers, they will welcome anyone.
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