Back Home- time for some pictures

I'm home again, the trip is done, real life is taking over again.  At least I have access to a proper computer and Internet connection, so now I can post some of the pictures.  I'll try not to put up too many in any one post, so those with a slower connection need not suffer too much.  Pictures not big enough for you? Just click on them, they grow.

Lets go back to the beginning.  The first couple of days were devoted to getting out of the Willamette Valley, so pictures are a little sparse, but I have a few.

From the very beginning, here is the beast, fully loaded:

.

And, just his bike:

I don't know the total weight, it was a conscious decision not to weigh it, I was sure I would be happier not knowing.  I saw a lot of rigs on the road that looked to be loaded up a lot heavier.

I was pretty focused on just getting miles on the first day, heading across highway 224 from Estacada to Detroit, but I am a sucker for a good wildflower shot:

Too bad the yellow is Scotch Broom, an invasive species that is spreading rapidly around here.  Still pretty to look at, as long as you don't think too much about it.

If you have been following this from the beginning of the trip, you may remember that day two, crossing the Santiam pass in to Sisters, was not the best day of the trip.  With better weather there are some great views on that route, but the rain was heavy enough that day that you couldn't see much, and I just wanted to get through the day.  By day three though, the skies had cleared, I was headed east, and the landscape was starting to remind me what this trip was about.  I like the high, sagebrush and juniper desert and a road that keeps rolling into the horizon.

I kept rolling, past Prineville and along the Ochoco Reservoir.  I think I mentioned my surprise at spotting these guys:

Yep, pelicans.  Lots of pelicans, a bird I had not realized inhabited Oregon, especially not this far inland.

After a couple of fairly hard ride days, I was ready to make day three a little easier, which meant camping in the Mitchell city park wasn't going to happen.  Time to head towards the national forest and find a nice spot off the road for my night's rest.

This looked like it held promise:

Just past the gravel pull out was a pile of rocks and logs blocking automotive access to a decommissioned forest road along a stream.  I followed it a couple of hundred yards past this:

and made camp here:

among these:

I told you I was a sucker for wildflower pictures.

That wraps up the first three days, and day four brought new and different adventures, I will pause here for now, and continue the journey in the next post.