We had a big summer planned for 2022, with several adventures somehow aligning to combine into one mega-milage, 2+ month trip. It all started innocently enough with a long-awaited, COVID-delayed return to Europe for more biking with our great friends at HC Bike Tours planned for late June into early July. We had a separate mid-June trip to New Hampshire on the books for the memorial service for Janine’s Dad who had died in December. Oh, and then there was the need to get to Houston in early August (HOT, not totally looking forward to THAT!) to pick up the Lance trailer we had ordered while visiting Texas back in February!
Well, Janine’s sister Rhonda INCREDIBLY GENEROUSLY volunteered to take care of our cats (Jeri and Squeaky) during our trip to Europe, AND then we heard of a DeGraves (Janine’s mom’s side) family reunion at cousin Pat’s place in Terre Haute (we had stayed there on one of our trips back to Chico just the previous summer). Amazingly the timing all worked out so we decided to drive the truck and trailer out to Rhonda’s with a few stops (actually the topic of THIS post…!), then fly to Europe, then finally ‘swing by’ Houston on our return in late July/early August.
We closed up our cabin in the last week of May and set forth. On our drive to Chico to pick up our trailer, we happened upon “a sign”. We had been reading more and more disheartening information about recent changes in Lance trailer quality (not for the good….) and plummeting customer satisfaction. We were starting to feel more dread than excitement about our order, and had started a bit of research on what brand was better for the boondocking we want to do. One brand consistently came to the top of the list: Outdoor RV Manufacturing (ORV) , in Le Grande OR. They build “heavy duty, 4-season, boondocking-ready trailers for camping off-grid in the mountains of the west”. Sounded perfect for us, exactly what Lance “used to be”, but we had been dreading the thought of starting the process over.
“The sign” came to us in the form of a quick google search confirming an ORV dealership right in Chico! We were so intrigued that we stopped there on our way into town. Had a great conversation with the owner, Mike Friend. We looked at some other models (none in stock were quite right for us) and were very impressed. AND, when we heard they might have “ours” coming in August, we got pretty excited!
We didn’t make any decisions, but felt relieved we had more options to percolate in our brains for a bit.
Other than that, our brief stay in Chico was uneventful. We took a few days to get the trailer ready, and sort out our packing for multiple adventures (more challenging than one might think!). On Thursday, June 2, we were off, heading north through the spectacular beauty of Lassen and Modoc county (an area we still want to explore more!) transitioning to the arid plains of eastern Oregon’s high desert. We felt lucky to not be in a rush, and to be taking a scenic route avoiding the hypnotic monotony of I-80 for at least the start of the trip. We were heading toward our first stop, a quick visit with friends Alex and Tina Blease in Donnelly ID Idaho and a gravel ride/race/event, the Weiser River Trail Ride, which we were excited to do with Alex. We kicked off the trip with a first-night stay in Chickahominy Recreation Site, a BLM ‘dry’ campground (ie no hook-ups but also in arid terrain!) on Hwy 395, just before the small city of Burns, Oregon. We got a surprising bit of light rain perfectly timed after we arrived and set up camp, and more than a bit of wind that night, but otherwise it was a peaceful night and we were quickly back on the road on Friday morning.
We arrived at Alex and Tina’s in mid-afternoon on Friday and jumped right into an action-packed visit, prepping bikes and gathering up all our foul-weather gear as the forecast now promised “significant” rain for our event the following morning. We resolved that we should at least START the ride, no matter the conditions, since we were there! We fueled up on the fabulous pre-ride dinner that Tina prepared, and were off to sleep pretty early with dreams of our route in our heads. The Weiser River Trail is a 48 mile point to point rail-trail that Alex had been on a couple times, for just a few miles. So he was really interested in exploring the whole thing. Of course, it was all-new to Janine and Mike, and the net-downhill route had a certain appeal!
Saturday dawned dark and ominous, which somewhat reduced all of our motivation but we rallied and drove to the ride start at the Wye trailhead in New Meadows with Tina, our dedicated ride support team member. Since it was a point-to-point event, she would shuttle their car out to pick us up at the far end in the little country town of Council (which we had just driven through the day before!). At the start we found about 30 other intrepid souls who also dared to brave the elements. By the time we were ready to start (no official start or timing, pretty casual), it was indisputably raining. It became clear that fenders were going to be a key element of our “race” strategy. We finalized coordination with Tina to meet at the ride finish in Council, where they were having a street fair over the weekend, so at least Tina had some entertainment while she (patiently) waited for us!
The light, misty rain continued for the first ‘half’ of the ride, which offered significant steady downhill along the Weiser River. With lush green foliage overhead and surrounding us (and dripping water onto us!), we couldn’t help but appreciate the trail’s beauty even as the rain seemed to settle into a stronger rhythm. After about 25 miles, we got to the first rest area (and end-point for the shorter route) and quickly stocked up on calories. It was just cold enough to want to get moving (or give up!) again ASAP. After a bit of confusion, we found the path onward, feeling that we ought to continue as our efforts had been pretty minimal until that point!
But for better or for worse, it got quite a bit harder after that, with real rain beating down on us as we moved into a more agricultural valley setting where the growing headwind was able to catch us out.
The flatter ‘valley’ half of the ride started and ended with pavement but in between it ranged from hard-pack dirt to ridiculously muddy black sludge churned up by cows. The second rest area, which highlighted a local one-room school under restoration (and a beneficiary of the ride), was a life-saver, with hot coffee and lots of snack options. After a quick look at the school, we headed out through the worst of the muddy sections. It WAS a beautiful riparian area along the river, with lots of birds to watch… but having been soggy-wet, wind-buffeted and mud-coated along the way, we were all pretty ready to be done by the time we finally arrrived in Council. After riding around for a bit, we were VERY glad to find Tina cozy and warm in the car. It felt SO GOOD to strip off the mud-sodden gear and throw on some warm clothes, and we were quickly on the way to the post-ride meal. To our surprise and entertainment, on arrival we learned we were both the last to arrive at the ‘dinner’ AND the only ones to complete the full 48 mile route! So I guess that makes us the winners! We felt some serious appreciation for the volunteers who waited for us, and fully enjoyed a serious post-ride sandwich smorgasbord! Soon enough we were back at Alex and Tina’s place for hot showers, snacks, conversation and ‘second dinner’ before we all conked out for the night.
The weather continued to be mixed, either raining or threatening rain for the next couple days. But we didn’t let that deter us from having a great visit! On Sunday we did some driving and walking near and around Lake Donnelly followed by a visit to a local brew-pub, and on Monday we got in a quick, chilly, mostly dry out-and-back ride heading out toward Alex’s favorite, No Business Mountain. We’ve been out that way a couple times now, and once again we turned around where the ‘real climbing’ to the lookout started (and where the dirt ‘road’ quality deteriorated significantly). It just wasn’t in the cards with tired legs on gravel bikes. Next time!?! Hopefully!
And then on Tuesday it was time to head out as we had some serious miles to cover in order to get to the DeGraves family reunion in Indiana. After fond goodbyes, our route took us south toward Salt Lake City, then onto I-80 through Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska and into Iowa. We crammed in 3 nights at Harvest Hosts (businesses that let you ‘dry camp’ in their parking areas and you support them) along the way. Harvest Hosts, we love you ALL!
First stop was “Uinta Alpacas” Alpaca Farm near the Uinta Mts (great name!) in Utah, where we actually got to pet and feed some alpacas. Fun facts: Alpacas are in the camel family. They can thrive from sea level to 12,000 feet, and are such herd animals that they will get sad and die if they aren’t in a group of 3 or more! We got a great farm tour the next morning and even got to pet these sweeties before we got on our way.
We were on I 80 pretty much all that day. We found a really fun Harvest Host on the border of Wyoming and Nebraska, Pine Bluff Distillery, where we had a MOST EXCELLENT evening, sampling 10 or so different whiskeys, as well a gin and a rum. We had a great time visiting with the bartender and a local, and shut the place down about an hour after normal closing time. Luckily we didn’t have to walk far to the trailer!! We bought a few bottles and would (probably will!) definitely go back for more!
Finally on Thursday, we made it to the Ditmar Family Farm, almost immediately after witnessing close-up and personal, a major car crash on I-80 just east of Des Moines. The farm was the perfect place to decompress from that horrible sight and sound. Janine got in a slighly rainy half-hour in their u-pick strawberry patch, and we enjoyed their excellent burgers and fries for dinner.
From Des Moines, we decided to make a big ‘push’ to get to Terre Haute on Friday and have more time there. It was a long day through the mostly flat mid-west countryside. But we got to get off I-80 and onto some new-to-us roads, so that made it a bit more interesting. We arrived, tired and a bit bleary, at Janine’s cousin Pat and Steve’s place in the evening, set up camp, and sacked out pretty quickly. Saturday, after a short but much-needed bike ride, we joined up with the growing crew for a great afternoon of ‘antiquing’ and lunch at a great old-school pub that’s a favorite of Pat and Steve’s . Sunday the whole crew, including Pat and Steve’s kids, Uncle Fred and Aunt Doris and cousin Freddie and his family, and cousin Cindy descended on the house for a big family dinner with lots of conversation, reminiscences and photos. A really wonderful time! Janine especially enjoyed visiting with cousins she hadn’t seen in SO MANY years! We even watched some videos of Christmas past… and learned some more about her Mom’s and Dad’s early years. It seemed somehow the perfect ‘bridge’ toward the final emotional destination of this trip east – her dad’s memorial service.
Monday we were back on the road, destination Warsaw NY (Janine’s ‘hometown’ and where we had spent a couple of years starting in summer of 2019, caring for Janine’s mom and dad)! Our optimal route to New Hampshire took us through Buffalo on I 90, and Janine had been able to make an appointment with the family dentist in Warsaw for Tuesday morning, to fix a broken filling. We stayed 2 nights with Brad and Marcia Veley at their lovely place on Snyder road, and we SO enjoyed our stay. In addition to the dentist, we managed to squeeze in a bike ride, a super-fun movie night with Marcia, Brad and their neighbors, visits with Janine’s mom’s friend Georgette (just down the road!) and neighbor Heather Mulloy – which included a random quick visit with Janine’s brother Tom who just happened to drive by, while still hard at work clearing out “the farm” for its upcoming sale. All of us felt a real sense of an era ending.
We were back on the road on Wednesday morning, ready at last to arrive at the end of our Summer Sojourn part 1. We decided to just drive through to Rhonda’s though it made for a long day. We arrived uneventfully, only to spend quite a bit of time jockeying the trailer into a workable position in the hilly terrain around Rhonda’s driveway. A delicious dinner evolved into the first of several spontaneous social affairs, with Rhonda, Deb, Janine, Mike and neighbor Ray who was unsupervised while Nancy was out of town. Time at Rhonda’s is NEVER DULL and ALWAYS SOCIAL!
We spent Thursday and Friday helping prepare for Dad’s memorial service (with a couple great bike rides thrown in). The Service and reception on Saturday were really lovely. It was comfortably low-key, with lots of remembrances of Dad, Mom and Richard, and many people paying their respects. Rhonda did a tremendous job of finding Dad’s final resting place (he did NOT want to be cremated) and we were able to include both Mom’s and Rich’s ashes in the burial which just felt so right. She found a great minister and he spoke with eloquence about Dad, and the reception at Rhonda’s lovely home was relaxed and calming. We couldn’t help but reflect on the amazing, adventurous life Janine’s dad had lived. And for her dad and mom to have both lived into their 90’s, and to have shared 73 years together was awe-inspiring. In spite of the many rivers of emotion we were all navigating, we really felt the closure we had hoped for.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were a blur of preparation for our trip to Europe and the start of our Summer Adventure Part 2!