Tuesday May 24 2011

Stuck in Baker City!
 
Day: 5
Location: Mount Vernon, OR - Baker City, OR
Miles: 93.5
Total:510

After a pretty uneventful day passing by the Elkhorn Mountains, I found myself in Baker City around 90 miles. I stopped at the local sports shop, Flagstaff Sports, to pick up some leg warmers, the one piece of clothing I forgot on my trip. Afterwards I head over to the Chinese place in town and have order up what turned out to be a rather uninspired dish. Its all good though because the portion is large and hits the spot. On the way out I snagged a few extra fortune cookies, two of which where identical and read something along the lines of "today is your lucky day, You'll remember it." Boy where they spot on! As I set out of the restaurant, I come to find my rear tire deflated. My first flat of the trip, fantastic. That's okay because I came prepared; I whip out my frame pump and what do ya' know, it doesn't work. I walk back to the shop, it's closed. I start to head toward the gas station. As I amble around town, I come across some cool bmx kids and we chat for a little. I don't ask for a pump because the station should have an air compressor. The compressor doesn't provide enough pressure to inflate my tire. I'm beginning to worry, and start to ask random people whether or not they happen to have a portable car compressor with them, no dice. Finally I meet a woman who has one in her trunk as I walk toward the interstate truck stop where apparently they have powerful air compressors. Nevertheless, hers only inflates my tires half way to where they need to be. I'm bummed, I only got 90 miles in and I have to wait until the shop opens up the next morning. Where was I gonna spend the night? The terrain outside of town is so barren that I cant hide anywhere and not to mention that everywhere on the parries is fenced off anyway. I try a local church to see if I can get in contact with the parishioner and ask if I can camp on the premises, but he can't be reached. I finally settle on staying in a campground just outside of town, and am feeling pretty bummed about the fact that I paid to sleep the two nights . I'll certainly remember this one you damned fortune cookies! Tonight, I sleep in 'cause the shop don't open till 10.

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