In this day and age, the spirit of the cowboy lives on. Dan shaved himself a handlebar mustache to look more rugged and has enjoyed the reactions he is getting with it. We have replaced cowboy hats for bike plastic helmets and spurs have turned into shoes with cycling clips. We ride on carbon-aluminum steeds and go where we please. Sure, our clothes are a bit tighter, but we still get saddle sore.

Bend has a cozy and relaxed atmosphere. Dan and Will were both reminded of Boulder, although the thought made them miss Colorado. A tea house downtown became our watering hole during our four-day stay and the duo were able to catch up on quite a bit of work. This was the longest we had been in one place since Hood River.

Smith Rock State Park, 20 miles north of Bend, Ore.

The town of just over 80,000 people live and breathe the outdoor lifestyle. Smith Rocks State Park, a 20-minute drive north of Bend, is home to some of the best sport climbing in the country. Nestled on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountain Range, Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson and Mount Washington can be seen along the western horizon. Rivers and streams run like veins throughout the lands, which means a multitude of adventure sports are available at the fingertips of every resident.

We arrived during the weekend The Bend Summer Festival, where dozens of vendors lined the streets of downtown, hoping to sell their hand-crafted goods to the people along the promenade. Dozens of tents lined the streets and live music had the entire town in an electrifying mood.

While Dan and Will made phone calls and set up meetings in the tea house, a constant, bustling crowd moved seemlessly outside. I was tempted by the atmosphere and set out with my camera to capture the  sights, sounds, tastes and smells of this twice-a-year event.

A vendor shares a laugh with a customer after a Congo drum session.

The sound of Congo drums pulsated from one tent, while the jingling of wind chimes and wooden instruments emitted from another. Local food vendors and wineries laid out samples along tables, and people passing by could try home-made sauces and delicious cabernets, freshly made throughout Oregon.

During our stay, Will met with and signed Smith Rock Rock Climbing Guides, First Ascents Climbing Services, Chockstone Climbing, Cog Wild Bicycling Tours and The Patient Angler. He also spoke with Gourmet Flyfishing Adventures, Fly and Field Outfitters and Halligan Ranch Llama Adventures.

Dan signed Wanderlust Tours, Sun Country Raft Tours and spoke with Ouzel Outfitters. What an eventful four days!

Bend is a gorgeous town, full of life and energy. Big N and Pettibone made it difficult to say good bye, but alas, like modern-day cowboys, we had to ride off into the sunset. Next, we ride on to Crater Lake, down into Grants Pass and Ashland, before we head west back towards the coast and on into California. I am slowly catching up on our adventures, but if photos are more your style, check out our trip so far at www.flickr.com/photos/swae_sports. Until then, keep riding!

We had not bathed since we left Seattle. The closest we got to showering was skinny dipping in creeks and rivers in the evening before we slept. That means over a week of biking, resting and meeting with people covered in our own sweat, dirt and grime. Surprisingly we didn’t smell TOO bad, but all of us were desperate to find a place to shower as we arrived in Bend, Ore. on Friday night.

Cathy Pettibone, Will, Dan and Big N.

On Saturday, we found a coffee house in Downtown Bend called Bellatazzo, where we spent the morning shooting out emails and making phone calls. As Will, Dan and I conversed in a corner of the store, a small woman with white-blond hair approached our table, an empathetic look in her blue eyes.

“I used to travel when I was younger,” the wavy-haired woman said. “Is there anything I can do for you boys while you’re in town?”

For a moment, we were stunned by the offer, unable to give a response immediately. Before either Dan or I could say anything, Will jumped on the opportunity.

“We’d love a shower. And somewhere flat to sleep,” he said as he stood up and introduced himself to our new savior, Cathy Pettibone.

A smile spread across Pettibone’s face, while her eyes illuminated the same happiness at our acceptance of her offer. Pettibone lived just outside downtown with her husband Nick Crawford. Their lawn was smooth, flat and spacious enough for all three of us to spread across.

We stayed at Cathy and Nick's, which made lodging one less thing to worry about in Bend.

When living in one place, you tend to take for granted the ability to step into your bathroom, turn a faucet and have warm water in an instant. I had not had this privilege for over a week.

I let out a huge sigh of relief in Pettibone’s bathroom, letting the warm water wash away the layer of dirt which had caked itself on me like barnacles on the underside of a boat. As I got out and dried myself off, I felt like a new man.

“Big N” and Pettibone treated us like princes during our stay and offered for us to make their home our base in Bend.

“You jokers want coffee?” Big N barked out to us on Sunday morning as we awoke to a clear blue sky. “I’m roasting pork butt and rooster balls; eggs and bacon if you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

The couple are fun-loving and adventurous and our conversations were riveting. Their hospitality and generosity were limitless. For the next two days, Will and Dan will continue their meetings in town without the worry of finding lodging. These two have only reaffirmed our love for the people we meet as we ride south.

This post is to thank our hosts and to prove again that there are great people, no matter where you travel. Thanks Pettibone and Big N, you two have been an added bonus to the beautiful town of Bend.

So Hood River is sick. The Columbia River Gorge blazes its path through this arid high desert leaving an exposed convergence of land and water where the hot dry winds from the east meet the cooler damp winds from the deciduous west. What results is that these winds funnel between Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams with such ferocity that any kid or forty-something in a half pulled down wet suit with boards strapped to the top of their Subaru can tell you makes for the best kiteboarding locale on earth. Dan spent the last couple days meeting with guys like Kite the Gorge, Big Winds, and Brian’s Wind Surfing School and getting them stoked on SWAE. Next time you’re in the area look them up. If they can teach John Kerry to rip it, you stand a pretty good chance.   

To make this area even more of a playground, the White Salmon River cuts its way from Adams on the Washington side of the bridge and empties itself into the Columbia. If you’re not familiar, the White Salmon is the most intense commercially run river in the country. Two-thirds of the eight-mile stretch the guides take you down is Class III and IV with a Class V waterfall in the middle.  The water that forms is virtually continuous white froth that is a combination of glacier melt and water that seeps up through the area’s lava tubes to make its first appearance in daylight. What I’m getting at is this river will probably be the cleanest body of water you’ll ever lay eyes on. I had some wonderful meetings with rafting outfitters up there. My first day in town I met with All Adventures Rafting. They are a great hometown outfit and Karen took a lot of pride in the intensity and uniqueness the White Salmon had to offer. Our meeting concluded with her filling up my water bottle with some crystal clear spring water that bubbled up on the edge of her property. The next morning I peddled back up the canyon to meet with Jaco of Wet Planet Whitewater. Looking at their new site, I was seriously impressed not only by the skill of their graphic designer, but how it laid out everything their company was doing to minimize their ecological footprint: from using biodiesel in their buses to implementing a system of carbon credits. I am just always impressed when people use their businesses as a medium for social and environmental change, all the while doing what it is they love most.  

So that was written yesterday morning but I didn’t get around to posting it until just now. Currently, I’m sitting in a big Adirondack chair, whose back is a series of masterfully crafted inter-woven trout, along the banks of the Deschutes River in Maupin, Ore. We did a 60-mile tour yesterday through the rolling wheat fields of Central Oregon that I’m sure must have been the inspiration behind Katherine Lee Bate’s America the Beautiful. The Deschutes is apparently one of the best trout rivers in the country and thus, makes for a very good reason why world-class guides like Brian Silvey’s Fly Fishing, The Deschutes Angler, and the Deschutes Canyon Fly Shop call this quiet little town home. I’m waiting to meet with one more fly fishing guide this afternoon whose sign on the shop has informed me that he’s “gone fishin” and that there’s a good chance he’ll be back around 1:30 pm: right on!  I’ll leave it at that and hope all is well in your world.  We’ll talk again in Bend and to Claire: Happy Birthday Darling, I LOVE you and can’t wait to see you soon!