Coming across the Cascade mountain range, I had not realised that not only was I entering a very different climate but also an area of Oregon that saw themselves culturally very different. Initially it was country music in the shops but also Trump supporting slogans, signs like "Move the Oregon Boarder" and talking to people.
In a Coffee Shop in Prairie City, I met Storye, a 75 year old with Swiss roots and a family tree to proof it. He later came round to the Campsite to show it to me. His family is from Altstetten.
In his view, Oregon was fairly united up to 1969 and then the hippies with their hair brained ideas started to set up Communes in the Willamette valley. Because of that western Oregon changed, in his view, becoming decadent (homosexuality, progressive gender and other social issues), making it incompatible with the values he felt were essential to him and people on this side of the mountain range.
With Portland clearly dominant, there is now an initiative for the Eastern part of Oregon to join the red state of Idaho, although it's questionable if it will ever happen. Overall, his rather pessimistic view was that there were lots of indicators that we will soon be entering a new dark age.
To more than balance all that, the previous night I didn't sleep in my tent but in the hall of the Dayville Community Church. They opened their doors to cycle tourist in 1976 when the first group rode the TransAmerican Trail.
Accommodation was free (there were 6 of us staying that night) and the cupboards were full of food, and people from the village came round to talk to us. Also, whilst we were there, a woman, clearly suffering from dementia, was shown into the church and a couple of people were singing hymns with her. All in all I got the impression of a strong and open Community spirit. I suppose Christianity as it should be.
Not only the landscape, the people but also the weather has been full of contrast. Coming down from the Dixie Pass (5,279ft / 1,610m) due to the cold, I had to stop every couple of miles to get the feeling back into my hands. Yet, by the time I got to Baker City, I had to change my plans because it got too hot to carry on cycling.
Over the next few days temperatures up to 39 °C are expected. So, after the rest day tomorrow, for now, I will cut my daily distance to about 50 miles and finish by 11 or 12 noon.
This morning I came through Hells Canyon. It was an amazing experience: High desert on either side and just a ribbon of green along the water's edge. It reminded me of the river Nile.
Now I am staying for two nights in Richland. Cycling through Hells Canyon, I imagined that when they named the place well over a 100 years ago, they had high hopes. However, it is actually true, it is rich lands. It's like entering an oasis, fed by springs from the surrounding hills. What a relief after Hells Canyon.
There is a lot more to talk about, like how speaking to people on the trail feel like a river in both space and time, or Simon, a young man from Frankfurt, clearly gay, a t-shirt to prove it, but had experienced no homophobia even in the reddest of state, how doing the TransAmerican seem an almost exclusive white middle-class activity, and so on ...
However, this will have to do for now.
