Day 7 – My way or the highway

June 24, 2018
Day 7 – Baker City to Ontario, OR – 84 miles, 2,150 feet elevation

No kidding, we got on the Interstate today. We had a very appropriate scare-the-pants-off-you safety lecture at Rap last night. Strict rules: stay to the right of the rumble strip, rear lights flashing, no pacelines, maintain separation, strict protocol at entry/exit lanes, watch for debris. We all followed these to the letter, and frankly, it was an exhilarating experience with spectacular scenery.

We had been hammering along on old Highway 30 accompanied by mile-long freight trains from the Union Pacific.  But the rugged terrain left us no choice when our tranquil road ended. At that point the highway shared the designation of both I-84 and Route 30. We were on the highway for three short segments and we executed to plan.

To be honest, the big rigs were less of a menace here than they were on some of the other two-lane roads we had been on since we had a pretty good size shoulder. The ABB staff had done a really good job of mapping this out and minimizing our exposure. We didn’t even need our E-Z Pass.

The only small setback was Tami picking up some shrapnel in her front tire requiring a flat change after we got off the highway. To her credit, she gave a master class in tire changing and pretty soon we were rolling again.

Rolling into Ontario, we lost an hour as we passed through our first time zone change – now in Mountain Time (ET-2). This severely cut into my nap time, but I still managed to soak in the hot tub and take a dip in the pool. Tomorrow we cross our first state line into Idaho, en route to Boise and our first rest day. It can’t come soon enough for me.

Click on the first picture below for an annotated slide show for more about today’s ride and don’t forget to click on “Where’s Jeff” at jeffblye.com to see a map of our journey.

Bad start for Jay – his crank came off as we left the hotel.

“It’s a five-minute repair,” says Rob, “as soon as I find the part.” Translation: 30 minutes.

Gary is lead out this morning

Tami (the Taminator) is second wheel

ABB mechanic Robin is riding with us today.

Randy is a happy camper.

Jay is an even happier camper now that his crank is fixed.

Rich is heads down and focused.

We are booking for the first 20 miles.

Catching our breath at the top of the climb

Miles and miles of freight trains.

Old highway 30

Exquisite double main-line track to handle the mile-long freights,

The hammer team

Train trestle

Getting on I-84

Keep to the right.

Spectacular scenery

Got off the highway for SAG 1

I think you can see why there’s no other road here.

🎶 She’ll be comin’ round the mountain when she comes. 🎶

Wow…

Third and final stint on I-84

Now following the Snake River

And …

… Tami shows us how to change a flat in record time.

…and even manages to smile … (sorta)…

Snake River

Photo op.

Cooling off my aching dogs.

Hi Randy …