01:02, Saturday 29 July 2017 UTC
Hello! Welcome to this year's trip. That over there is North America, a continent which I made an un...

01:05, Saturday 29 July 2017 UTC
The beach in Newport, Oregon.

01:06, Saturday 29 July 2017 UTC
The beach.

The plan is fairly simple. 24 days from now, there is going to be a solar eclipse. The umbra of the ...

This is what the Sun looks like at the moment, as if you didn't know.

Newport beach.

Newport.

The writing is a message about whales from the Siletz Indians. I can't tell whether the bones are re...

The Moon is currently growing fuller. It will be a full Moon about ten days from now. 14 days after ...

Three things here:...

The beaver is the state animal of Oregon. Strangely, this is the second mattress shop I've seen in N...

The mattress shop's window display features this completely inaccurate sign.

I think this tree is meant to be decorated with lights but most of them are hanging off it and there...

The flag of Oregon. More of this in a moment.

I'm not going to Boston but I will be on this road for the entire width of Oregon. I already know wh...

I think it really does sell old telephones.

This is the deco part of the town. The shop on the left just sells kites. It is quite windy here. Th...

My search for a supermarket has brought me back to this flag again, outside the courthouse. The flag...

At the start, the sign makes out that this is a low-budget shop but it seems to have completely chan...

The bottles of water are all weird shapes. Everywhere else I've been in the world, 1.5 and 2 litre b...

It says "$0.009 EACH". Each what? What are there 400 of in a Toblerone?

An old car.

One of the main roads in Newport, with my motel on the right.

My room includes this rather ancient-looking heater. There is a fan as well though, which is useful ...

Like at many American hotels, the included breakfast here looks rather dismal so I'm having this pie...

Oh no! I've broken the toilet mechanism.

Here's the bike. It's the one I bought in Melbourne, now ready for its third summer holiday. I was m...

A view of the road.

These are the roadworks which I feared had made the existing road so narrow that I would be in every...

Some trees.

Pipes coming out of the rock face, with water dribbling out of them.

Another view.

Where trees have been cut down.

A new section of road. It's shorter but hillier than the old one. It can't be more than a few months...

These mileposts are inaccurate now because the road is now shorter than it used to be. I've only com...

In Burntwood. It says:...

Some more scenery. Incidentally, somebody has created a new Twitter account for me: ...

Funny trees.

A farm.

Each road in Philomath has a sign like this saying what businesses are there.

Philomath.

If you had been wondering what Corbyn's cabinet would look like, it's in there.

Corvallis is the home of Oregon State University. This is their sports ground. First game 1953. Reco...

Corvallis.

The last section of today's route, along the bank of the Willamette River to my hotel. I don't need ...

By the river in Corvallis.

The Willamette River.

My hotel is next to the bridge.

Is that car still in use?

This hotel has handy bike parking.

When I was checking in here, there was a man in reception enquiring whether anywhere around here had...

Looking at this tap, I couldn't work out whether it meant that to get hot water, you had to turn it ...

01:26, Sunday 30 July 2017 UTC
Traffic crossing the river into Corvallis uses the wide concrete bridge which I showed earlier but t...

01:26, Sunday 30 July 2017 UTC
I've had a bit of a sore throat and runny nose today. I hope it's not going to turn into anything mo...

01:28, Sunday 30 July 2017 UTC
Fountains by the river.

There's a mini walk of fame on the pavement outside the theatre. I assume these are all people who h...

There's a weird alleyway which stretches for several blocks, with power cables suspended above it.

Downtown Corvallis. It seems like a very hip, trendy place, with loads of bookshops, bike shops, mic...

A cinema. The sign on the other end was advertising an upcoming screening of Casablanca.

The court house.

One of the microbrewery restaurants has its brewing equipment on display to the street.

The same place.

For a couple of streets, next to the river, the pavements are covered in chalk writing. I rode over ...

Another mini-pint, with some giant onion rings.

A musical instrument shop.

I think this is the roof terrace of the place with the brewing equipment. That's probably where thei...

Just like yesterday, the toilet went wrong the last time I used it before leaving the room. This tim...

The story on the front of the paper is one that I heard some people talking about yesterday: that so...

The old bridge out of Corvallis.

This land belongs to the university.

Two touring cyclists. On this road, I also saw a couple on a tandem, and a man riding a bike with a ...

A plant nursery.

A shady road.

It looks like they don't want trees in that field any more.

On this side of the road, the wheat is quite shaggy...

... but on this side it has been cropped.

There's a snow-capped mountain in the distance.

A bird.

The motorway which I used a couple of days ago.

There's a dust storm blowing across in the distance. No dust devils though. when I drove through her...

Beehives.

Sheep.

My cold was quite bad during the night. I didn't get much sleep because of my sore throat and at one...

In the town of Lebanon.

I had hoped to be able to do this whole trip on tarmac. I've already blown that by going the wrong w...

Power lines.

Two houses quite close to each other had flags like this. I haven't seen them anywhere else.

I saw this man ahead of me, obviously having problems with his bike. When I stopped, he spoke quite ...

Sweet Home, Oregon.

The diner on the left is an interesting shape. I may need to give it a closer look.

Sweet Home.

Inside the diner. Each table has a telephone which, according to the label, can be used to order foo...

A mural in Sweet Home.

Foster Lake.

I've booked a room for tonight at the Foster Lake Inn. It doesn't really look like a hotel. It looks...

This is where my bike will be staying tonight. I left it outside last night but then remembered all ...

Upstairs.

My room is not at all what I had expected. Apparently, I've got a free upgrade to the nicest room.

My bed.

I'll try not to break this one.

The view from my room.

Apparently there's a good restaurant next door. I'm interested to go there mainly to see what time t...

00:12, Monday 31 July 2017 UTC
This place is a combined hotel, caravan park and timber yard. There's a much bigger timber operation...

02:16, Monday 31 July 2017 UTC
More lake users.

02:16, Monday 31 July 2017 UTC
The top of a distant hill.

Another view of the lake.

This is the second time this week that a so-called portion of vegetables has turned out to be beans ...

The restaurant terrace looked so pleasant that I had to come here for dinner even though I was alrea...

I thought this was an excessive amount of liquid to be taking on today's ride but in fact, by the ti...

Every time I came out of the bathroom, I expected the light switch to be here. It's actually at the ...

The other aspect of my hotel.

A covered bridge.

A sign near my hotel said that there would be six miles of roadworks here. Long sets of temporary tr...

A river.

Mountains up ahead.

A very mossy glade.

Trees.

I'm now on the day's big climb: 800 metres vertically in about 18 km. This was my first rest stop.

Scenery.

I've stopped for another rest and, when I checked my GPS, found that I was at exactly 1000 metres al...

Another view of the road.

More trees and mountains.

1291 metres. Not the highest point of the day though.

The ground looks weird. I think it might contain the remains of burned trees.

Here are a load of trees which got burned but stayed standing. The summit of today's route is at the...

The road snaking up towards the summit.

Another view of the burned trees.

There's a ski resort on that hill.

The vertical cliff, seen from close up.

More trees.

The ski resort is on the hill on the right. You can see the pistes.

The highest point of the day, at 1469 metres. Today was always going to be a challenge. I've booked ...

A lake, seen from a long descent. I've been very tired today. I took a Night Nurse equivalent, went ...

The same lake.

And again.

00:06, Tuesday 01 August 2017 UTC
A combined petrol station and McDonald's. It feels new but I don't know why.

00:06, Tuesday 01 August 2017 UTC
I took this picture to show that there was an electric car charging point next to the bike park, but...

00:30, Tuesday 01 August 2017 UTC
The poster on the right involves aspects of two of my trips. I don't know if it's because of my slig...

A roundabout!

The town of Sisters.

This is where I leave route 20 for the time being. It's vital that I do because the road ahead leave...

Horses in the evening sunlight. I'm back on flat arable land, but now 1000 metres above sea level.

The town of Sisters gets its name from the three mountains on the right, which are called the Three ...

Mountains in the distance. I think the rugged one on the left is called Three Fingered Jack.

I didn't see much of interest while hurrying through Redmond to reach my hotel before sunset. Here's...

31 Celsius. I don't know how hot it got in the afternoon. The forecasts were saying about 40.

The Moon is now over half full. When it next reaches nothing, we will have an eclipse, although it w...

I had forgotten about this aspect of American hotels.

At least two of my hotels have had this. The little lever opens and closes the plug like you might e...

Signs like this must have been in every room so far but I've only just noticed that it bans cannabis...

A Harley with a trailer.

A plane coming into Redmond Airport.

Redmond Airport. The far end of the runway is outside the eclipse zone.

If that sprayer stays where it is, it won't see a total eclipse, but it if trundles round to near wh...

The current landscape.

I think that's Mount Jefferson, the second highest Mount Jefferson in the USA.

A view down into Prineville.

I recently watched a video in which somebody was trying to identify which state "The Simpsons&q...

My old handlebar tape had got rather rucked up through three years of use so I replaced it last week...

I had heard that there might not be any food in Mitchell, where I'm heading tonight, so I'm having l...

A ranch.

I've seen a few of these weird trees today. They look like they have been brushed upwards. I don't k...

A view.

A twisty tree.

There's certainly no snow around here at the moment. Oregon is having a heat wave.

Those solar panels look quite badly placed, in the shade of the trees.

Today's highest point. 1439 metres.

Trees and the clear sky.

Approaching Mitchell.

This water was in the fridge overnight. This morning, I put loads of ice in it and wrapped it in my ...

00:02, Wednesday 02 August 2017 UTC
Near some of the John Day fossil beds.

00:16, Wednesday 02 August 2017 UTC
Rugged rocks.

00:29, Wednesday 02 August 2017 UTC
I'm pleased to find that the cafe in Mitchell is open.

Eclipse merchandise in the cafe.

When I arrived here, I was greeted by two other diners who had seen me a few hours ago out on the ro...

Mitchell, with another one of those upwardly-brushed trees.

The driveway to my motel. I'm glad I booked. It's got no vacany.

My room. There's no air-conditioning but there are two fans. Fans are actually quite useful for help...

In my room.

No.

Colour-coordinated mains sockets. I'm glad now that I decided to be decadent and bring two mains ada...

For some reason, the reading material in my room includes a copy of the New York Times from several ...

A slightly different view.

This is the motel's reception.

Some dodgy cabling here.

Today didn't get off to a good start. Only a few metres from the motel, I was looking down to check ...

Today starts with a big climb.

The skeleton of a small mammal. Probably one of the things which I saw yesterday which looked like t...

The day's high point.

The view ahead on today's 40 km descent.

Picture Gorge.

Thank you, agriculture community.

Picture Gorge. According to an information board, it's named after the American Indian pictographs o...

I saw letters like this on my previous American trip. They represent the names of towns. This one is...

Dayville.

I didn't expect that. Luckily, I have no need for a mechanic, even after my minor crash this morning...

I don't know why Dayville has this mock Wild West town when it looks just like a real one anyway.

The shop. There is a bike rack but I didn't see it at first so I locked my bike to the wooden bar as...

Inside the shop.

Every town seems to have its own eclipse merchandise. Here, they have what looks like eclipse jam.

While I sat outside, a few of these giant beetles fell out of the awning and then struggled to turn ...

The car that I saw driving near Corvallis didn't have bare wood like this but it was similar.

This is the Post Office. I'm not sure whether this town has deliberately been made to look like the ...

Just a barn.

Villages around here have amazing services for their populations. This is Mount Vernon, a tiny villa...

This town is John Day, which is also the name of the river which I have been following all afternoon...

In the distance are a few clouds, the first I have seen in my time in Oregon.

More scenery.

I'm now approaching my destination for today, Prairie City. Whoever named it has obviously never see...

00:03, Thursday 03 August 2017 UTC
A ramshackle farm.

00:11, Thursday 03 August 2017 UTC
Prairie City.

00:13, Thursday 03 August 2017 UTC
Still warm.

19 days.

I didn't work out what the free self-service bicycle shop was.

Prairie City.

This looks like a dedicated eclipse shop. Prairie City seems to be more obsessed with the eclipse th...

My room.

Like last night, there's no fridge in the room, but for the first time on this trip there are real g...

Enough bins?

The hotel.

I'm trying to change my plan for tomorrow. I had intended to ride to one of the big hotels on the fa...

My bike outside. While I was taking photographs outside earlier, I met the woman who was organising ...

This is where I had dinner. There's a bison's head on the wall right above my table.

There's also a collection of number plates from different states.

I'm making an early start today...

... for what should be the only hundred mile day of the trip. The woman from the hotel in Vale e-mai...

Like yesterday, today starts with a big hill.

A viewpoint. The wagon is a shelter containing some information about the local area.

Since I'm at a viewpoint, here's the view. In real life, I can just about make out Strawberry Mounta...

Dixie Pass, my highest point so far, just one metre short of a mile above sea level. The pass must h...

Here's a picture of the bike because it looks more presentable than I do on these long climbs.

It seems like a bad sign when birds of prey start circling overhead.

A choice up ahead.

Cows.

The sports stadium at the school in Unity doesn't quite match that one I saw in Corvallis.

I've stopped here for lunch. There were several signs outside saying that it was open but when I tri...

You can see where explosives were drilled into the rock to blast part of it away.

An old CD, undergoing weathering.

Not only is today the longest ride of the trip but I also loose an hour here. That doesn't affect ho...

The road.

I saw another one of these a few days ago.

I didn't expect there to be a shop in Brogan but a sign on theway out of Unity raised my hopes by sa...

I've seen much more fast-flowing water in Oregon than I would have expected, given that there has be...

00:17, Friday 04 August 2017 UTC
Crops.

00:45, Friday 04 August 2017 UTC
That barn isn't really big enough for that pile of gravel.

00:46, Friday 04 August 2017 UTC
The Pioneer Cemetery in Vale looks to be much bigger than it needed to be.

I've seen Les Schwab shops in every major town. My tyres are Schwabs but I had never heard them call...

Vale.

My hotel.

Here's my room. It's a full apartment.

I don't know what the padlock is for. As promised, the room was unlocked when I got here.

I'll have to move my bike later. Parking is forbidden here between 4 am and 6 am, and round the corn...

Vale has a lot of murals. Apparently, the justification is that the town is "on the Oregon Trai...

A guide to the murals.

The courthouse and a building with a weird thing on the roof.

On the right is a museum, which looks to be in the same style Wild West style as most of the rest of...

My phone has coverage again, for the first time in a few days. This could be why.

The Oregon Trail was a wagon route used by about 400000 families to migrate to the Pacific Northwest...

Strange name for a bank.

As it's now after eight o'clock, this diner seems to be the only place still open. I get the impress...

I'm surprised how many types of food there are in America whose names mean nothing to me, especially...

My, you've grown!

Articulated trailers for pickup trucks are quite common around here. Trailers this height are normal...

In case you can't read it, this poster boasts that over a billion pounds (half a million tonnes) of ...

A big pipe.

I haven't been on a road this big for a few days.

The Andrews Seed company occupies several city blocks. While I was taking this picture, a man, possi...

I've arrived here bang on opening time.

I'm going to try to replace my back tyre every week. I would have replaced both but this man only ha...

The hotel on the left is where I had originally intended to spend last night. Now I'm going to rever...

Denny's had the size of portions that I expect of America, which aren't what I have always been actu...

Path of totality

Track