Day 61, Friday, June 20

Parma, Idaho to Brogan, Oregon

After breaking camp we backtracked a half mile or so to have breakfast at a convenience store, them we headed for the Snake River crossing into Oregon, eight miles away. We were anticipating pictures at the Welcome to Oregon sign, but my home state has neglected to install one. We had to settle for an Oregon Lottery sign in the border town of Nyssa.

The riding was easy, just a gradual rise as we rode through the high desert of eastern Oregon. We stopped in Vale for lunch at a diner.

The previous day I had tried to call the RV park in Brogan twice. There was no answer and no voice mail, so after lunch I tried again. This time the owner answered. I asked about tent camping. The woman said she was "sort of closed", but she would let us camp. When I asked why she was closed, she said there had been "some incidents." I did not inquire further. 

With some trepidation we headed toward Brogan. We arrived at the RV park around 3:00 and found it to be a complete wreck. Derelict RVs were parked in no discernable pattern. Most appeared to be uninhabitable. Others seemed to have people living in them, though I saw nobody enter or leave them whole we were there. The bathrooms were not as horrible as I expected, but it did not look like showering would be pleasant.

I had been told to go to the red double-wide at the back. The caretaker for the owner's son had been told we were coming, and she answered the door. She asked me to come in to register, but I needed to take my helmet off. That seemed an odd thing to require, so I asked why. "So the wolf won't eat you." Did this have something to do with the aforementioned incidents?

Despite thinking I was in some sort of twisted fairy tale I removed me helmet and went in. Sure enough, as I was filling in the registration form, a wolf peeked into the living room. He seemed quite shy, but apparently he had an aversion to hats of any sort.

She wanted both of us to register. I had left my wallet on my bike so I went outside, ostensibly to get it but really to discuss with John if we should find alternative accommodations. As we were discussing it the rain started. We moved under a little covered porch off the bathrooms, and then another cyclist showed up. 

Ian Carter is from Cambridge. He has been bicycle touring for years. On this trip he was cycling from Astoria, Oregon, to Denver. Ian's presence really boosted our spirits. I suppose he has seen everything in all his years of touring, so this was just another adventure for him. He just rolled with the oddity of the Brogan RV Park. After two months John and I have acquired that attitude to some extent, but we are still learning. 

John and Ian registered, we set up our tents, and we "cooked" our freeze-dried camping meals. Talking to someone else on a similar adventure was great fun. We completely forgot about our surroundings as we talked about cycling and touring and the British punk scene in the 70s and 80s.

Then we got an even bigger emotional boost when my friend and ski buddy Hai Nguyen drove up. When I was planning this trip he had said he might come to eastern Oregon to meet us. He is an exceptional photographer and wanted to scout some locations, so over the previous few days we had arranged to meet in Brogan.

Hai had picked up some inner tubes for us because we are still emotionally scarred by our traumatic experience on our first attempt to leave Twin Falls. He had also dropped by my house to get some things from Lynn: two bicycle tires, my floor pump, and lots of food.

John had a big hole in his rear tire we had patched with a tire boot, but it was dicey. He used one of the tires to replace his old one.

Actually, Ian replaced it. Watching John clumsily changing his tire was too much to bear, I think. Ian has changed hundreds of tires (including working at a bike shop) so he took over and had it changed in no time.

If Ian and Hai had not shown up John and I would have been quite depressed. I love John dearly and enjoy his company, but we have been together two months. We would have sat glumly at the picnic table all evening, talking about how much we wanted to get out of Brogan. But with Ian and Hai there we did not even think about that. We owe them both a huge debt.