Day 11 Baker City to Huntington

Hi everyone. I'm actually in the library in Ontario OR now along with a dozen other cyclists. The library in Huntington was closed for a couple of days.

We left Baker City a little later so we could catch part of the Baker City HS Bulldogs morning football practise. It is to be a short ride anyhow, so no rush to leave. Coach Johnson gave me a souvenir t-shirt. Sweet. I always say, cheap is good, but free is better.

Everyone here is doing fine. Wiebo is trucking along as well and the ladies are taking good care of us. They are busier than we are right now I think.

We were on the OR30 and the Interstate 84 mostly today. The 30 was fairly rough, and the 84 had lots of crud on the shoulders. But the trip was fast, a 600' climb to start, then downhill with a tailwind. I finally cracked the 60 kph mark, still too slow, I need to carry a 50 lb rock on my back.

We were in Huntington by 11 so we stopped at Howell's Cafe for some pie. The bldg, which should show up on Fred's blog, was built in 1891. Huntington is a poor town. Lots of unemployment and people on disability etc. Pop maybe 500. Used to be over 10,000 years ago when the RR was big here. But the people are great. At the laundromat, any cyclist got to do their laundry for free as apparently we donated some money to their HS basketball program. 1 school, K-12, 87 students of which 17 were foreign exchange. Speaking of the heritage bldg, I have a picture of the side that says the name of the restaurant and the note "only white help". That refers to the time when they had lots of Chinese people working on the RR.

The town is generally in a state of disrepair. I wondered if people lived in the big white house I took a picture of. Yes, when I walked by a little boy playing on the front yard called out "Hi" to me.

When I walked back to the school, I noticed it. My first flat! I was hoping to make it to NJ without. Fred had a flat earlier, on the 84. There were 23 flats today.

It was very windy at night. We took Florene Y's tent down as it was turning into a mess. I was afraid Gayle H's tent was going to roll over mine. Many people slept in the gym. The shorter (less high)tents were alright.

Bottom line for the day: 76 k (46 mi) 2:20 on the saddle, and an avg speed of 32.4 kph (19.4 mph)