It’s Saturday morning, 32 degrees outside and just past 5 a.m. That’s a little colder than yesterday’s starting temperature in Lakeview, Oregon.

I looked out yesterday morning and saw the wind blowing just ahead of a predicted 25 mph winds from the north. I knew the day ahead would be a challenge.

So far, I just have not expected the cold and winds that have occurred. But I’m safely inside a room at the Lodge at Summer Lake, located in a town by the same name in Oregon. It’s not close to anything else, but that is OK. Simply put, I survived a very hard day that took 14 hours to cover just 74 miles.

The wind never let up nor did the cold. My winter mittens barely kept my hands warm, but I was glad to have them.

It was a long time on the bike seat, but I will admit to lots of stops along the way, just to lessen the effects of the headwind.

Lakeview to a place called Valley Falls was the first goal. About 18 miles of rolling terrain and some nice scenery got me to a little store that had mostly empty boxes and a lady who appeared out of the dark on one side of a big room.

At that point, I left U.S. 395 North for the last time and turned onto the Oregon Scenic Byway, Oregon Highway 31. I had 23 miles to make it to the community of Paisley with the wind howling. Though, the sun occasionally appeared.

My progress was slow, about 5-6 mph through more high desert that eventually had a few hay farms. By the way, it doesn’t rain much here and hay production is going on. In some places with available water, huge amounts of hay are being produced and tractor-trailers are hauling it. The force of the wind coming off those trailers with yesterday’s conditions caused quite a pounding.

I had called ahead to find a room for the night, knowing it would be cold. All the places, however, were full due to the many lakes in the area and bird-watching season. The first place I contacted told me I could sleep in a back room, and that was my goal for the day — just find that room and get out of this.

Just a couple miles before Paisley, I had a flat back tire. Back tires on long distance bikes take a while to fix. Several people stopped by to talk.

Paisley was a very small town with a bar and a small mercantile store — not much else.

One lady tried to find me a room there in an Airbnb, but after 20 minutes of trying we found out that the room was taken. The only choice remaining was 28 miles away at the lodge with the back room. Those 28 miles were into the wind as it got dark and still on rolling hills. It took almost 4 hours.

But there were good parts. Summer Lake is huge and beautiful, and I rode by it for miles. I found out by email that the lodge had a regular room that I could get. While calling to reserve it, I asked the very nice clerk if there was food available, to which she replied, “I can leave you something in your room and the door will be unlocked with the key inside.”

To that, a frozen popsicle named David Freeze kept pedaling into the wind and finally arrived at just before 9 p.m. All I could think of was the two grilled cheese sandwiches and fries waiting inside.

Once inside, I ate the food and turned on baseboard heat as high as it would go. I checked the TV for basketball results, I found that the TV had one channel and was controlled by the office.

The scalding hot water, though, was perfect.

On my ride before the lodge, I saw the Albert Rim, a steep cliff that rose from the valley floor for up to 250 feet, for miles. I missed Oregon’s only natural geyser, the Perpetual Geyser. It was evidently near the road, but I didn’t see signs if there were any.

Today (Saturday) I will head toward Bend, Oregon but will look for a room ahead of it. I’m going to try to end a little earlier and do not want to again fall asleep in the shower.

Closing the book on my journey on Friday, I just hope for more good days ahead. I will be gone by 7 a.m. today into what looks to be a calmer day that will warm later.

Reader David Goodman pointed out that the small town at the end of 70 miles of no supplies was Likely, not Lightly. Thank you, David.

Dick Richards has joined the list of sponsors and I hope to mention them in a little more detail soon.

Salisbury Post contributor David Freeze is riding from Nevada to Alaska by bicycle. Email him at david.freeze@ctc.net.

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