Tuesday stats

Start: Sisters Creekside Campground, Sisters, Ore.

End: Hoodoo Patio RV Park, just west of McKenzie Bridge, Ore.

The Daily Progress: 47.5 miles

Cumulative climb: 2663 feet

Cumulative descent: 4480

Elevation at endpoint: 1354

Ice cream flavors: An ice cream sandwich with chocolate cookies and peanut butter ice cream. I forget the brand and wish I remembered it; it was very good for one of those novelties you get out of the freezer!

I forgot to note in yesterday's stats that I got a flat tire, which I think brings my total to 9, which is very high and can be attributed to the fact that I could not find that piece of metal stuck in my tire in Montana for days. Dani's flat tire total is 1.

Lodging expenses: $31

Food expenses: $42, I think, for breakfast at the Sisters Bakery, and $32 for groceries in Rainbow.

Tuesday's tale: 'One more climb' becomes 'one more time getting caught on a mountain in a thunderstorm'

For the past couple of days, we were excited by the idea that McKenzie Pass would be our last real climb, and we often celebrated that by singing Daft Punk's "One More Time," except in our version, it's "One More Climb." 

The climb itself was not especially challenging, but the Cascade mountains were, as usual, pretty impressive, and we enjoyed the views of Mount Washington, Three-Fingered Jack and Mount Jefferson. I also appreciated a stop in front of a field of charcoal-colored basalt, or as the sign described it, a sea of lava. 

But while at this little stop, we heard thunder. There was only about three miles left to the pass. Could we get there before the storm?

It turns out, we definitely could and did, but upon reaching the top, I was tempted to examine some of the interpretive signs there, but after consulting Dani, we agreed that the smart thing to do would be to get down to a lower elevation before the thunderstorm really hit.

And down the hill we went: first, right through some pretty rad, volcanic boulders, and then through a pine forest, where the rain hit us like a train and we had to stop to put on jackets and, in my case, booties, which turned out to be entirely ineffective at keeping my shoes dry. And down through the pouring rain we went, thunder bellowing from uncomfortably close sources. It felt fitting to me that the last big descent would feel so much like the first one, when I came flying off Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia during a thunderstorm three months ago.

Not much later, the rain lifted and we took a snack break before flying down through an unending descent through lush, mossy forest. We must've gone hours without pedaling. Not bad.

We could have pushed farther today, but there were no good camping options, so we stopped here at Blue River, just west of McKenzie Bridge. The air here is thick and humid. We have reached a new climate, potentially the last one of the tour. 

Dani's daily digest

We did invent a dance to celebrate One More Climb. I even downloaded TikTok to record it. When we feel the world is ready for a video made by two arrhythmic millennials who can barely work the TikTok interface, we will share it. 

The big excitement of the morning was breakfast and coffee at Sisters Bakery, where the front counter showcased a bewildering assortment of golden-brown artworks rendered from fat and carbohydrates. We bought five pastries and two coffees. We ate three of the pastries for breakfast (blueberry-lemon scone, marionberry scone, and sundried tomato-walnut danish) and saved the remaining two (ham and swiss croissants) for lunch.

It sprinkled on us as we began our climb to McKenzie Pass, the first time it has rained on us since Ennis, Montana. The sprinkle wasn't a big deal, but the humidity that followed was unpleasant. Fortunately, the humidity seemed to get better as we climbed higher, more incentive to keep on pedaling. 

At Wind Point, we got our first glimpse of the solidified lava flows that dominate the ridgeline. They are massive, stretching for acres. For a little while, the road wove through the flows, which was fun. 

We took at photo at the summit, but dark clouds and thunder impelled us to keep riding. I was sad to miss out on the Dee Wright observatory and the interpretive path through the basalt fields, but a treeless ridgeline is one of the last places we want to be during a thunderstorm, so we kept rolling. Lightning bolts flashed with increasing frequency, and thunder rumbled directly over our heads. We sped toward the treeline. 

Just as we reached the treeline, the skies dumped rain. The deluge didn't last long, but we both got drenched to our socks and quite cold. 

After the rain we stopped to dry off, change clothes, and eat. Soon after our break, the road plummeted forever through a lush, green forest. We dropped more than 3000 feet. 

We tried to stop in McKenzie Bridge for lunch, but both of the businesses in that town are closed on Tuesdays, so we headed to a market a little further down the road. We then backtracked a few miles to reach our campground. We had two choices: an RV park and a US Forest Service campground. The USFS campground is probably prettier, but the RV park had showers and electricity, and modern comforts won the day. I am sitting in the RV park's community room as I write this, watching our stalwart little tent fend off (I hope) the rain currently pouring from the sky.