Lakeview, OR – Cow Field near Silver Lake OR
Miles Ridden – 145
Total Miles – 4,364
We woke refreshed, and I took the opportunity for a hot shower in the campsite bath house. I washed my hair and tamed my eyebrows after many days in the desert, and it felt glorious!
The three riders were off again. Into a vastly different landscape than we had been in for a while. We were very glad to be back in the trees again, with their beauty and plethora of shade spots.
We even came across some yummy smelling ponderosa pines. Their vanilla smell always reminds me of New Mexico, where we used to house sit every summer.
The terrain today was very mild and enjoyable. The beauty of Mother Nature surrounded us, right down to the flowers covering the trail.
It reminded me of the Navajo blessing, which ran through my mind as we rode along…
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.
Except of course I replaced ‘walk’ with ‘ride’ 🙂
We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere all day however, so we had to rely on snickers and cliff bars for our lunch. We were happy just to have the shady spots to stop for our breaks, as the sun was truly beating down. I even wore a hat!
We came to a succession of beautiful streams. My dad mused about us being on our very own ‘Oregon Trail.’ I suppose we had joined up with the universal human drive to explore the unknown, to head west, to ultimately embark on this adventure of a lifetime, not having any true idea of what awaited us.
I was just glad that this portion of our Oregon Trail had bridges! It would have been a much more challenging day without them…
The day continued on, with our biggest issue being a bent shifter that was easily fixed.
A little while before sundown we arrived in the small town of Silver Lake, OR, but after checking out a motel we decided we’d rather sleep out in the open. It was pretty cramped and manky, and after all we had just showered that morning, so by TAT standards we were still fairly clean.
So we rode off into the middle of nowhere as the sun was setting. The sunset was beautiful, and the clouds were amazing. They looked like the wings of an Angel, or a Shakti Goddess. I felt the lush landscape of the day reviving my soul, and I felt so grateful to be on this journey. I knew there weren’t going to be too many more opportunities to sleep out under the stars.
After a few tries we found a camp spot just before dark. It seemed like we were in the middle of a cow field, but there were no cows in sight.
It would be a much different case in the morning…
TAT Rider ~ Adventures of a Motorcycling Yogini 