Originally Posted by
fietsbob
path less pedaled pair adopted it for their gear packing layout.
Yeah, I like their backpack trick even better than my way, but think the 20s are too big for that. I didn`t actually try it though, so maybe it could work.
Originally Posted by
GlowBoy
Yeah, sorry the shakes at Fields are world-class, and available in about 20 flavors. Burgers are excellent too. Which is great since it's the only place you can buy prepared food for 100 miles in any direction, with the possible exception of Denio.
I haven't been through Denio in quite a few years, but I thought I remembered the usual desert "station" there (combination store-bar-cafe-"town" hall-gas station). I'll look it up in my copy of the Oregon Desert Guide by Andy Kerr (highly recommended for the area, and has a chart indicating which services are available in every settlement in SE Oregon).
EDIT: looking at Google Street View, I don't see anything "in" Denio proper (to the extent that one can even be "in" Denio), but it looks like there is a store at Denio Junction, a few miles south where Fields-Denio road intersects with highway 140. For grins, click on the street view link above, and move a few yards east to the T intersection, where I'm happy to see one of my favorite billboards is still there: "Winnemucca ... City of Paved Streets."
Thanks, Glowboy. I did eat breakfast at the "station" at D. junction, and it was pretty good- was half kidding about the milkshake, but genuinely curious if the store I remember was actually in Fields.
I bet your guide book is interresting, but remember that things in one stop "towns" are very subject to change. For example, Burns Jct is completely closed now, there were a few years when Denio Jct was open, but unable to sell gas, and I once tried to buy gas in Rome, but the only station was out of it, so had to cross my fingers and backtrack to Jordan Valley. With only one or two businesses open in an area, you can never be sure what you`ll find when you get there. Further south, I`m happy to report that the store in Empire NV is open again- was closed briefly when the company running the town closed up shop.
I can`t see anything on the link (slow connection), will try when I get home. Did you know that 140 is billed in Winnemucca as the "Winnemucca to the sea" highway? I get a kick out of that because it doesn`t actually reach Winnemucca OR the sea! There`s still a sign with that slogan where you make the left turn for 95, northbound.
Originally Posted by
trek2
Nice job. A question: did you take any special precautions against the goat head thorns that seem to be all over eastern WA and eastern OR.?
Hi, Dan. No, no precautions and really no trouble with them by the time I started the tour. The day before I started, I spent a few hours playing and riding around with a buddy and his kids in Meridian, through a bunch of playgrounds, canal trails, and parking lots. I pulled several goatheads out of the rubber that afternoon, but fortunately none went all the way through.