Day 7 Baker City OR to Ontario OR

Day 7
Baker City OR to Ontario OR
Miles Ridden 84.1
Climbing 2091 Ft.
Average Speed 13.8
Total Miles  561.2
Miles To Go 3128.2


With today's ride, we'll have spent seven days riding through Oregon and still haven't left it. A beautiful state but at this rate we won't see the Atlantic Ocean until Fall. At least we escape the Pacific time zone today.

Leaving Baker City

We climber out of town into more dry country and continued in the high desert for about 15 miles until we started  the descent into the Snake River Valley. Today was our first encounter with the Interstate. We received all sorts of firm instructions on how to behave while on the highway With cars and trucks exceeding the 75 MPH speed limit it wasn't a comfortable ride but the shoulder was wide and we had plenty of space. Remnants of exploded truck tires littered our riding lane. When the tired blow, they leave bits of the steel belts that can work their way into our tires. Evin and I escaped but there were reports of many flats including one rider with three in a few miles.

On to the Interstate

I can see why there's only room for one road

After leaving the Interstate we stopped for a snack at a diner in the town of Huntington. I was immediately struck by how similar Huntington was to Radiator Springs from the movie Cars (one of my grandson Liam's favorites) Huntington was on old Route 30  which was the  U.S. highway that was replaced by I-84 a few miles away. There were falling down motels and abandoned gas stations and many more buildings than a town of 350 would require. The waitress and cook said that the best thing that has happened to the town in years was the opening of two marijuana dispensaries. Huntington is the closest town to Idaho that allows recreational sales so it was often filled with buyers from over the state line.

Hope it saves Huntigton

The ride finished with a long descent into the valley that was more than offset by a stiff headwind. Our motel was a mile from the Idaho line so that was something to look forward to.