Day 20: The Dalles, OR to Gresham,OR

Miles on northwest speedway: 75

CLICK HERE to watch the Hunger Ride video of the day ...be sure to note the couple playing a major game of tonsil hockey 7 seconds in. In the video you can not hear it, but I jokingly said something to them when passing. Never mess with Oregon lovers when they are kissing. Never. It's a bad idea.

Weather: low 80's and mostly sunny. It was definitely hot, but a good day at times for riding.

And by that I mean it wasn't 39 degrees and raining.

Wind: We felt some strong headwinds throughout the course of the day. I can't lie and say it wasn't brutal at times, but that was to be expected.

Tomorrow's Ride: 45 miles to Forest Grove,OR. Yes, this is our shortest trek of the entire trip. But, after riding 5 centuries in 20 days, we are ready for a day like this! We'll go straight into downtown Portland so we're pretty stoked about that!

CAPTION THE PHOTO....

I've been looking for this man (see first pic at the top) who is a good friend of mine from the 2006 ride. Those who have been with me for all three rides may remember him well. Anywho, I'm buying a free DQ blizzard for the person who comes up with the best caption to this photo. Post your caption in the comment section of today's blog. In the words of a wise man named Chris Hill, you better come strong or don't come at all.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THIS HAPPENED TODAY (Thursday)?

*At about 9:30am, we had a flat around mile 10 .... Luke completely shredded one of his tires on who knows just of off of Hwy 14 in Washington. We not only had to replace the tube but the tire itself as it was totally unridable. It was as if he ran over a chainsaw. Yeah, rough start to the day.

*At mile 27, we found out that we would have to wait for an hour as the road we were traveling on was closed from 11am-1pm due to road construction. Nice. Super. Fantastic. Just Great. So, Luke and I both ended up taking naps out on this pier off of Drone Lake.

*After riding 48 miles, we had to ride over this old, massive and creepy bridge called the Bridge of the Gods --check out the link. Just remember if you're riding it, don't look down! That pretty much scared the be-je-bees out of us. And that takes a lot, because we're rough, tough blue collar guys. Er, um, yeah we're not.

*After we crossed back into Oregon from the creepy bridge, we then had to ride 10 miles on interstate 84. That would be our 4th interstate we've ridden on this trip. Pretty sweet. One more than a hat trick. Well, all was fine and dandy until we met this gal in her mid-twenties who had just blown out her tire. I'm not sure I've ever seen a car tire so shredded in my entire life. Speaking of chainsaws, that guy did a number on Luke's tire this morning must have beat us to Oregon because her tire was done. She was stranded on I84, so Luke decided to flex his tire changing skills for all to see and he changed this gal's tire in a matter of minutes. Yes sir, Mr. Jones, I was there to witness this. And I'm not getting any coin for writing this either. While I'll admit that Luke can't change a bike tire for crap, the dude has got some serious skills with automobiles. Apparently his Daddy taught him well. I won't tell you whether or not Luke got her number....you're going to have to ask him about that.

*After climbing some monster bluffs to finish out the day before we got into Gresham, you would think that a day as eventful as this would be over, but alas, it was not. The fun was just beginning.

*After we rolled into our accomodations for the evening (Thanks Days Inn!), my lovely wife, Andrea, had some sort of allergic reaction in our motel room shortly after we were settling in. Well, long story short, Luke had to not only flex his tire changing skills but his 911 skills as well and we were off to the ER. Fortunately, by God's great grace, her Epi Pen worked to help her breathe and everything was alright with Annie. We stayed at the ER for about 4 hours for observation, but we think that everything is okay now.

So, there you have it. It was a wild and crazy day. We will certainly sleep well tonight. Let's hope.

BEAR SIGHTING....

I forgot to mention that yesterday, on the way to Mt Hood, we saw a bear as we were driving on Hwy 26. It ran across the road about 50 yards in front on us. I'm not going to lie...... At first I thought it was a gorilla. But then, after I came to my senses and realized how ridiculous that would be, I realized it was a bear. Pretty sweet. First bear action of the trip.

QUOTE OF THE DAY...

There was a man in the elevator this morning that called Luke "Slim." Now, Luke gave him the courtesy laugh and nod as this man was several generations older than him, but I really think that he was having one of those moments that Larry (Jim Carrey) had at the end of Dumb and Dumber. You remember that one? As he's shaking Mary Swanson's husband's hand and he's thanking Larry for saving Mary's life, he's (Larry) having this fantasy in his head of pulling out a revolver and shooting him due to the fact that he's got the mad hots for Mary. Hilarious. We've all been there.

SHOUT OUTS....

Thanks to the Days Inn of Gresham for donating two motel rooms for Hunger Ride 2010! Also, we gotta give a shout out to Burgerville on Gresham for the free dinner tonight. Much appreciated!