I had decided that this morning I would ride the 4 wheeler down in the canyon on an old road/trail I had found last year. It begins near the corner on Cemetery Road. I had gone less than a mile when I came to a pair of fresh "No Trespassing" signs just when it was getting steep and interesting. Disappointed, I obeyed (no, really, I did) and returned to the farm.
Feeling at loose ends with my morning plans defeated I decided I'd ride down the grade for the first time this year. For those not familiar with it the Gilbert Grade is a twisting gravel road beginning just east of the Orofino bridge that rises 2,000 feet in eight miles terminating just before Curfman road on highway 7 to Nezperce. Never again will I attempt this ride in the hot summer in the middle of the day. Other times when I've made the ride it has been earlier or later in the day with lots of shade on the hill. Of course, the ride down is always exhilerating. I stopped in the park a few minutes and it was already hot in Orofino. It was about midday when I started back up. This time there was precious little shade on the hill and I was really feeling exhausted before I was even half way up. I usually try to average 8 mph which makes about an hour on the grade. I gave that ambitious plan up before the halfway point. I was doing good to keep at 6 mph before I reached the top and by the time I pulled up the top of the lane into the farm I was so weak I could hardly stand. That felt like the longest 22 miles I'd ever ridden. It's been over two hours since I returned and I'm still weak.
It's 92 degrees now and that's really hot for up here. I wouldn't be surprised to see a storm this evening. Well, I'm going to make some ice cream this afternoon and that will be like spinach to Popeye. The old man shall live to ride again. M/W
5 comments:
Hope Mike is feeling better after the ice cream. :-) I can't believe he rides that road at all, let alone on a hot day.
Did you find the article on the rattlesnakes or do you want me to send it to you? And if you do, farm or town?
Hallie you crazy girl--got your thank you and you didn't need to reimburse me for the postage--!!! What are aunties for if not to spoil their nieces?? :-)
Happy 4th of July to all the Warnocks!
Yes, Mike did recover. The ice cream (and the apricot pie) fixed him right up. This morning we made a 5-mile practice hike to the cemetery. Thank you for mentioning the rattlesnake article. I found it online and forwarded it to Hallie. We stop the paper when we leave town but I have a log-in for the online edition. It's free if you're a subscriber. I told Hallie I was sure Auntie Chris would not expect reimbursement, but she said she had promised to reimburse anyone who sent bottlecaps. Happy Fourth to you, too.
Yes, I did make a promise. It is so nice to have help with the collecting that postage reimbursement is the least I can do.
Is there a fireworks show in Moscow? Mom and Dad must have been on the farm--definitely not a show there. I think there are probably half a dozen organized shows in the Seattle area. I was able to see two! :)
Mom and Dad drove down the Gilbert Grade to the big bend where they widened the road a few years back. We parked there and watched the Orofino fireworks. Not too satisfactory, but a fun thing to do in the nighttime anyway. The Rick Millers were shooting off some fireworks and we could see those out to the north. I don't know exactly where they were.
Hallie, do you just want beer caps? I have a sparkling cider cap. The other day I found two beer caps -- one on Dobson Road, the other on South Slope. KW
A cap is a cap! :)
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