Map: Day 9 Day: 87.0 km | Trip: 690 km

I left late at 8:45 AM. I was locked out of the bathroom in the morning. At 8 AM (that is 7 AM local time) the motel owner's lady saw me and opened the door.

The hill towards Richland was steep, very steep in parts. I had to stop often to catch my breath. Luckily it was still cool. The downhill part was fun. I did not need to break much except for the switch backs and could roll all the way into Richland. I had breakfast at a local restaurant. It was good and filling. A nice old lady named Tutts sat down at the next table and we talked for a while.

After Richland I had to go up a hill and then had another big descent towards the Powder River. The road follows the river in a gentle slope upstream. The further I got the deeper the canyon became. By now it got really hot but luckily some clouds came up and I could get all the way up the river till the gas station under a thin cloud cover.

The gas station was not where it was supposed to be. In fact, there was no gas station. There was only a soda machine on the porch of a farm house and some dogs, barking not biting, were around. I spent all my change for 3 cans of cola.

Then came the climb towards Flagstaff hill. The clouds had disappeared and the sun was beating down. Once when I stopped to catch some breath and to eat an apple I saw some cows grazing on a field. After they saw me standing there they came running towards me, about 50 of them. They stopped at the gate and started moohing loudly.

Further up the hill I ran out of water. I had also eaten up the apples and yoghurts I was carrying. My mouth got dry and my tongue stuck to my mouth. The sun continued beating down on me. Bicycling got slower and slower, I needed more stops to catch my breath, and I was trying to move my tongue. If I had not gotten any water soon I'd have had to stop a car and ask for help. There were few cars on the road.

The Oregon Trail Interpretation Center is on top of the Flagstaff Hill, a few miles of the main road. I knew I would not make it up that hill. Luckily at the entrance to the drive way for the Center there is a small guard house and it has a water spigot. The guard let me use it and saved my live. I drank one Liter of water right away. I talked to the guard for a while. He is originally from Texas and moved to Oregon. He also told me about a short cut into Baker City to get to the motels without going through the city center as the map suggested: "Take a left onto Two Wood Street and follow it, it becomes Campbell Street." I followed his advice and I found the Super 8 Motel where I got a nice comfortable room.

For dinner I went to a restaurant called Sumpter Junction, which was close by. It had good food, good beer and they have a model railroad running through the whole restaurant.