08 September 2010

The Camas Prairie

After being in the mountains for so long, the Camas Prairie was a sight to behold.  We had to climb a long ways to get up and out, though.  On our way up the hill we ran out of water so we stopped at the first house we came to to see if they wouldn't mind sharing some of theirs.
I knocked on the door and two very friendly people came out.  Their names were Lillian and Ron.  They were very short!  And they said we were more than welcome to fill up our "whatevers" with water from their spring that had, "been there forever and ever."  Indians used to drink from it and water their horses there.  Then later, the white men did the same.  And now we were about to!

There were little fish in the tub, so they suggested we not scoop the water out, but instead to get it straight from the pipe, so we wouldn't drink their fish.  :)
They took good long looks at our trikes... asked us several questions about our ride, told us they were organ donors and then told us some more about themselves.  Their house was 100 years old and they had lived in it since 1957.  They had no electricity - (which made me wonder how they charge their iPods.  Snicker)  Lillian took me inside and showed me around and it was fascinating!  It was very clean, and chock full of stuff, like hundred year old houses usually are, and she had a ham baking in a large wood stove in the middle of the house.  She liked to sew and was working on some fall leaves she had sewn by hand with many different colors of fabric.  She was very proud of living simply and advised us that if we wanted to live that way too, the first thing we had to do was get rid of all our stuff.  I clung tightly to my netbook computer, and said, "Anything but this.  This must stay," to which she just shook her head and laughed.  Her piggy tails were the cutest and I left their home feeling warm and fuzzy, and no longer thristy.  She did have a cell phone and I promised to call her from time to time to let her know how we are doing.  I intend to keep that promise.
Aren't they just so cute?  I wanna squeeze em!
About two miles up the road, we finally reached the top of the hill we'd been climbing for hours, and lo and behold, what did we find!  We found oat groats all over the side of the road!!  Those of you who know about our diet know that oat groats is quite possibly our favorite food.  Oatmeal is so misunderstood...  if people only knew how delicious, nutritious, and CHEAP groats are...  You don't put sugar on them.  You put onions and garlic and cilantro and chicken sausage and egg whites in them.  (See my previous blog entry Oat Groat Porridge (or Pilaf) for the exact recipe - it got published!)
The view from up here was incredible... Miles and miles of fields. Some of the richest soil ever.  I will let the pictures show you, because we got some GREAT ones on this ride. Click on them to see them better.
This is what we saw from the top of the LONG hill.
(I don't mean to brag, but check out the muscles in my leg.  Oh Yeah!)
One of the many fields we saw that day.  Gorgeous!




For some reason I like this one, in spite of the strange composition.
The sun started to set and this beautiful prairie got even more beautiful...
And our shadows got LARGE and LONG.  :)
We still had a ways to go before we got to Grangeville, and it became a race with the sun.
It got darker and darker as we pedaled down the traffic free, smooth, black road.  Off in the distance we could see the town, and we hoped we could get a room there.
We didn't want to ride in the dark. 
And we didn't have to for very long.
Because we made it to town right before this crazy lit up sky faded into darkness, and...
we got the last hotel room in town.
The End.

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