Week Three...

March 24, 2019
This morning, Ron woke up and put on his riding gear. He biked around the Redmond neighborhood. Meghan worked on the Blog Name Vote post and put it out on Facebook. We had over 30 name suggestions for our blog and we were able to narrow it down to 28 (as some were common). Meghan and Ron sat down and picked their top 5 blog names and Meghan put them out for their followers to vote on the name. She then updated their spreadsheet with their miles driven, biked, hiked and banked. Ron rode 20 miles this morning. After he was done riding, he, Meghan and the dogs took another hike around the Dry Canyon. This time they hiked the entire Dry Canyon. It is full of bike paths, a disc golf course, a paved walking path, a rock wall on the arch of the bride, and a dog park. After their 5.5 mile hike, Ron and Meghan headed back to Janet and Frans. Janet picked Meghan up and they went to pick up a pizza for supper. When they returned, Ron resumed his biking around the neighborhood and got another 20 miles. So far Ron has banked 60 miles around the neighborhood. Plus he and Meghan have hiked 9 miles. 

March 25, 2019
Last night, Meghan saw an article online that reported that the generator that they purchased for their trip has been recalled due to potential gas leak and fire hazard. First thing on today's agenda is trying to find a place to repair the generator. All Honda service stations are not prepared for the recall and would have to either send the generator out or wait 3 weeks for parts. Meghan and Ron decide to wait until they are further down the road to get it serviced. After several hours of working on the generator dilemma, it's time to travel again. Meghan prepares business cards for the the road, Ron packs up the camper box and they plan out their route for the day to get to Millican, OR. They drive from Redmond back down to Tumalo, OR where they left off and tracked their miles. Ron was fighting a headache this morning so he decided to the drive the Bend City portion of the route rather than fight directions and traffic. Once we hit Alfalfa Market road we had cashed in 10.5 miles. Ron then got out his bike and cart and headed down the road with Fonyx. He biked 16 miles out to the Alfalfa Curves OHV Staging Area. This was the middle of nowhere! We saw dust storms and tumbleweeds. Online, the Alfalfa Curves OHV is advertised as having an port a pot, but there wasn't one there, but there was a fire ring and picnic tables. Ron and the dogs collected sticks and wood from the surrounding area and built a fire in the fire ring. After the fire was nice and hot they cooked left over steak, hot dogs and potatoes over the fire. Nothing beats the taste of a campfire dinner. That evening, they ran the generator for power and heat; but they made sure it was away from their tiny home in case it went up in flames. They looked up the next closest campground but it seemed out of the way. Team Ronyx decided to make up their minds after a night of sleep. 

March 26, 2019
This morning we are tired, and dirty from all of the dust. Tonight we will have to shower. We ditched our plan to go to the Sand Springs Campground and decided to just head to the town of Brothers. This is 36 miles from where we are. Ron isn't sure about the terrain but he decides to take Onyx for a ride since it is "his" journey. Ron and Onyx left Alfalfa Curves this morning at 10:00 am. Meghan catches up to him after 5 miles and checks up on him. He is doing well. They meet up a few more times before Ron gets back out to Highway 20 from Reservoir Road. It takes Ron 3 hours (including a couple small breaks) to get to Hwy 20 with some of the hills. It's another 2.5 hours before Ron and Onyx make it to the Brothers Stage Stop Cafe. They don't actually have gas there but their burgers were amazing and right next door to them is the Oasis Rest Area. This is where we will park for the night. Ron has rode 30 miles to get here and he is tired. They set up the "dog house" and Ron builds a fire in our tiny wood stove. A pair of gentleman from ODOT stopped  in to check on us and asked what we were doing. We explained our journey and they thought it was really interesting. They wished us well and went on their way. Throughout the evening we met several more intrigued individuals. We even had a little girl yell out her window as they drove off, "that's really cool!" Once stock pot half full of water was almost to a boil on the wood stove, Meghan set up a shower for Ron. This set-up takes a little work and patience but does the trick of getting you clean. Once the curtain was hung and the collapsible dog pool set up as a catch basin, Meghan takes the pot of water off the stove and fills up the remainder of the pot with room temperature water. Then a rechargeable shower head pump is inserted into the pot. When Ron is ready for water, he or Meghan push the button to turn on the water. The trick to this shower is to get wet, turn off water, soap up, turn on water and rinse and then turn it off again before you run out of water in the pot so it doesn't burn up the pump. Once Ron is done his shower, another pot of water is started for Meghan's shower and the whole process starts over. 

March 27, 2019
We woke up to snow showers. Hampton, OR is our destination today. Ron heads out at 8:40 am with Fonyx in the bike trailer. The weather is dreary. The first part of the ride is wet and snowy. After Ron rides 9 miles, he meets up with Meghan and sits for an hour to warm up and change his outer layer of clothing since he is soaked. Ron has 15 more miles to tow Fonyx until he will reach the Hampton Station aka A Taste of the Ranch. Meghan arrives at the restaurant first. She lets the dogs out for a bathroom break and leg stretch. As she is walking the dogs she notices some RV hook ups right next to the restaurant. Ron arrives around 1:30 with the dogs waiting patiently watching him from a far distance. Today's biking only took 4.5 hours. Meghan and Ron discuss the potential to camp there for the night. They decide they will go have lunch/dinner and ask about the spots. The place is homey feeling. There is a sectional sofa in one part of the restaurant and various sized tables around the room. The decor is antique and modern farmhouse style. There is an antique store in an adjacent room. Things for purchase. You can find specialty teas, photography, handmade soap, and other goods for sale. They have a dessert case full of slices of apple pie, lemon bars, cake, and mini cheesecakes. Their menu is small but they have a good selection of breakfast items, burgers, salads and sandwiches. They also sell gas, but they sometimes run out of it since there aren't any gas stations between here and Bend, OR. We order our meals, Meghan orders a Cowboy Breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon and country style potatoes. Ron orders steak and eggs. After they order their meal they inquire about the camp spots and the waitress gives the owner a call to ask. They agree to allow them to park there for the night and use the electric for a small fee. It's quiet there except the occasional truck throughout the night and early morning.

March 28, 2019
Meghan is up early today. Her body won't let her sleep. She gets out of bed at 6:00 am and takes Phoenix out to go to the bathroom and much to her surprise, there is a few inches of snow on the ground again. Her and Phoenix play outside for awhile and then go inside to prepare to leave for today's destination of Riley, OR. They pack up and head decide to go back to the restaurant for breakfast to give the roads time to clear up a little. They have a filling breakfast and Ron heads out on the bike at 10:15 am. While they were eating breakfast they discussed the plan for the day. Meghan would stay at the restaurant for 2 hours to work on the blog and then drive up 20. Today's ride is 41 miles and Ron isn't sure about the road conditions and if he will be able to ride the entire thing if the road conditions are too difficult. After a little more than 2 hours, Meghan heads up Highway 20 East to see how far Ron has gotten. The sun is out and the weather looks great. Ron was able to get 24 miles in 2.5 hours. He and Meghan leap frogged up 20 E until they reached Riley, OR. Riley is another small town, with a convenience store/ gas station, archery store with a post office across the street. They have RV spots and Team Ronyx is able to rent one for the night. While they were in the store a really lovely family approached us and asked if we had the custom truck camper outside. We told them yes and explained a little about what we are doing. They informed us that they have a Youtube channel and asked if they could interview us. We told them we'd love for them to interview us and we met them outside. After our quick video interview we chatted for a few moments and learned about their travels. They are the van Stralen family from Canada and they have been traveling as a family since 2015 and vlogging about it via Youtube and Social media. You can learn about them on their Youtube channel: Epic Family Road Trip. After we talked with them we went and set up camp for the night. Tonight is a quick wash up night, Meghan heats up water on the electric burner they brought while Ron spent some time outside talking with our neighbor camper who also had a black lab. Here we found out that he lives in Waldport which is a town just south of Lincoln City where Team Ronyx lives. He is up in Riley to hunt for Sage Rats. An invasive rodent that kills the farmers crops out here in the high desert. Apparently it's a pretty big sport as there are advertisements for Sage Rat hunt expeditions out in this area. People actually pay money to go out in a field and hunt these things. After quick wash ups, Team Ronyx plan out their itinerary for their trip to Burns, OR. Ron's mom has offered to pay for a hotel room so that Team Ronyx can get a long hot shower and a good night's sleep. 

March 29, 2019
Team Ronyx is up at 7 am discussing what their plans would be for the day. They pick a hotel and Ron's mom books the room. As soon as the post office opens, Ron goes across the street as our friend Kem M. has sent us another surprise package. It's banana bread, our favorite! Ron heads out of Riley at 10:15 am with Fonyx. Meghan leaves around 11:30 am. She finds Ron 9 miles up the road. Meghan parks at the rest stop that is 17 miles before Burns. They chat for a few minute and Ron and Fonyx peddle up the road again. After about 45 minutes Meghan meets up with Ron a few more times. They meet  once more right outside of Burns at the city of Hines. Meghan tells Ron that she is going to head into Burns and find the store near their hotel. After about 40 minutes, Ron arrives at the store. Their journey for today is complete. They return their bottles and cans and grab a few groceries and then head over to their hotel. They check in, unload their valuables from the truck and camper and then take a walk around town to give the dogs and Meghan some exercise. The evening is filled with relaxation and blogging. They grab some dinner from the restaurant next to their hotel. Ron watches TV while Meghan blogs away to summarize their week. 

​Enjoy the pictures below from our week of travels. 
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