Day 9: Riley to Hampton

Today's Mileage: 42 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 642 miles

I got the jump on the sun this morning, fearing that I would add another layer of burn over my already blistered skin. I wanted to go, push hard out of the desert, it was really starting to wear on me. My nose was peeling even after repeated application of sunscreen, I couldn't stay hydrated no matter how I tried, and psychologically, the heat was winning. I wanted to get back to the forest.

It was not to be; when I checked the weather app on my Droid, it said that today would be a windy day, blowing right in my direction, with gusts up to 45 mph. Not good. I tried to get as far as I could before it started kicking up, but by the time I got to Glass Buttes, I was spinning in low gear and trying to stay upright against a furious headwind.

After some time of this, I was done. I saw Hampton (well, the two buildings -one empty- that composed the town of Hampton). I pulled into the small deli, delighted to see that I had come while they were actually open. The owners, an older couple, asked me what business I had out in this kind of wind as soon as I got in the door. I obviously looked rough, beaten by the wind and starving.

The two of them took me under their wing, asking if I wanted to hang out in the restaurant until the wind died down some, to which I happily agreed. A lot of locals came into the tiny store, among them a lifetime firefighter who, even though retired, had just come from fighting a blaze in Sisters, OR. His news was not good; it seemed that two separate fires were burning beyond Bend in Sisters, and that the smoke was making its way here.

It wasn't long before visibility dropped to less than a mile. As I sat inside the cafe, I could watch the smoke move past on the road, along with dust and the occasional tumbleweed. It was a little spooky, and did not bode well for the rest of the day (or trip).

Soon enough, the couple offered to let me stay in a spot in their (now abandoned) RV park out back. I couldn't refuse,I had no other options. I was sure that it would be an awful night- wind whipping the tent, tractor trailers flying by all night, and let's not forget about the smoke. I went back and humorously set up my tent in the wind and came back to the restaurant for my second meal of the day, which they would not allow me to pay for.

When the sun went down, however, the wind died down with it. The smell of smoke was gone in no time, even though I now knew that there were three different forest fires in the direction I was heading. Nonetheless, I got a decent night's sleep, without being woken even once by a truck or the weather.