Brief Aside

Is it just me or is Blogger (and a lot of other Google applications) about as intuitive as an alien autopsy performed by a fish and a polar bear?

I know I'm not the least adept at these things and yet the various forms of linking, joining, following, membering, sharing, buzzing, feeding, profiling, uploading, waving and otherwise interacting with all of Google's powers I find utterly bewildering.

I can see a friend's name who is listed as a "follower" of a blog then if I click on them they're listed as a "member" and it shows blogs they've "linked" and a separate list of blogs they've "joined". What the hell is "Google Friend Connect"? And why does it prompt me to log in to twitter or aim or google to message someone when I'm already logged in? Are these Google Friends Blogger entities? Google Buzz-like entities? Or something independent of both. I'm not sure I care enough to pursue it in earnest, my will has yet to prevail any time I've tried.

This current befuddlement is mostly with regard to Blogger to which I am admittedly new but it's not the first time I've felt this way. I think I have a profile that's affiliated with Buzz but I'm unsure exactly how to differentiate what's shared there with what shows up in Reader. My Picasa account holds images that are linked to in my profile and my blog (though I didn't put them there, they wound up there through some magical devilry when I thought I was just putting them here). And yet, from time to time, my profile and blog images show up as broken links. Looking at my Google Account Settings I see I have some information there which may or may not be related to Buzz, Blogger, Picasa, Reader or any of the other features I regularly use. I have a feeling I've created a profile for Blogger independent of the profile for Buzz but since followers, followees, linkers and sharers are all so intermingled I have no idea who sees what and what affiliation I have to have with someone or some blog to see who's posting the rubbish I'm looking at.

I'm sure a lot of personal information of mine is floating around out there simply because I don't know where I've put it. For the time being I don't much care. I may however want to rein that in at some point.

It feels like a lot of excellent products made by a lot of brillant teams who have no idea what the guy next to them is doing. It's ADD on a multi-billion dollar level.

Mitchell

The fellow at the general store said there might be a hundred and thirty people in Mitchell "if you catch everyone at home." But that only really happens for football games, and then you get the ol' wanderers and ranchers in too.

I went in to the cafe/bar/food joint and had a pretty excellent burger (though most anything eaten indoors after 40 miles in the rain is darn tasty). I enjoyed an episode of "Have Gun Will Travel" then the two kindly proprietors declared it break time since the next show was Gunsmoke, their favorite. So I lingered a while and watched with them.

Next door is the Oregon Hotel, where I've booked a bunk in the hostel room that I so far have to myself. As you can see, it's pretty great. Unlike Sisters, where they put a lot of money into making a giant grocery store look western, Mitchell seems to have genuine similarities to Dodge from Gunsmoke.

I'm glad I stopped.

Day 6 Numbers

Start: Ochoco Reservoir State Park
End: Mitchell, OR
Miles: 39.36
Seat Time: 3 hours 29 minutes
Average Speed: 11.2mph

To Mitchell

Look at me being responsible. I made it over the next pass to Mitchell and even though it was only 40 miles and I felt I could easily do more, I decided to call that a day and take things slow. The knee was cooperative but touchy. If I didn't do exactly what it wanted (which seemed to change every pedal stroke) it would get angry but at least it wasn't persistently worsening like it had been on Monday.

My timing on rain today has been flawless, and not in a good way. I took my time setting out this morning and started during a dry moment. Minutes later however it gave up its waffling from drizzle to no drizzle and just decided to pour. It did that pretty much all the way to the top of the pass. See what I mean about bizzaro? Climbing 2000 feet at four to seven miles per hour in pouring rain and gusting wind whilst getting overtaken by trucks and RVs who may or may not bother to find their way closer to the yellow line as they rip by, and yet I was having a grand old time. Of course now that I'm inside it's dry out there.

To be fair, as I came into the valley it dried out for a spell and it was as if I had gone from Western Washington to Idaho in less than a mile. It dried out and the foliage changed. The ride up felt like wet boyscout camp in the Cascades and the ride down felt like summer in Sun Valley. The vista was as beautiful as it was surprising. On a mental coin toss I followed the sign for the Mitchell Business Loop (40 more miles to the next sign of life but I was already soaked so I'd have been happy to carry on) to get some food and see what excitement could be found in the town of Mitchell.

Bizzaro

It should be noted by the way that it's really great being out here. It doesn't really make sense to describe the scenario because it's hard to believe that such a thing would be fun or relaxing. To simply describe the situation would sound terrible, but for some bizzare reason it's all pretty excellent. There's nowhere I'd rather be right now.

Make for the pass!

I don't think I could have had a better place to get stuck hurting. Cheap, hot showers, phone power, even a bit of an internet signal and the campground host let me have some ice for my knee. I took a little spin around the campground this morning and I think I'll have a go at getting over the next pass to Mitchell. It's just 40 miles and less elevation gain than the last pass. The towns between here and Baker City are pretty small so I may be out of cell reception for a while. Baker City is three to four days off but the T-Mobile fairy may visit John Day which is just two.

Repacking my gear in the warm, dry bathroom then I'm off. Oh yeah, it's raining. One of the other two campers here said it's one of the wettest times he's seen in Oregon. He normally has to start irrigating by the first part of May and he hasn't yet touched his hoses. Awesome.

Day 5 Numbers

Start: Ochoco Reservoir State Park Hiker/Biker Campsite 2
End: Ochoco Reservoir State Park Hiker/Biker Campsite 1
Miles: 0.01
Seat Time: 0 hours 0 minutes
Average Speed: infinite

The other campsite was a little flatter. Spent the day musing and icing and crossing fingers.