Cyclist visits Orofino while traveling cross-country

Maggie Starr is expanding her studies about America while cycling from Boston, MA to Portland, OR this summer.

Starr happened to be in Orofino over the weekend and took the opportunity to learn more about the timber industry and visit the annual Orofino Lumberjack Days Logging Show.

Starr recently graduated from Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA. She said she had some money saved and a few months before her student loans are due, so she decided to cycle from the east to west coast. Portland will be her new home.

Cycling is something she has done on a regular basis to get the places she needed to go and sometimes took bike trips on weekends. However, her primary sports activity is rugby.

Starr's major in college was American Studies with a focus on history. Her career goal is to become a journalist. She is getting some writing practice along her journey as she keeps up with her Internet blog (www.westboundmaggie.blogspot.com).

While Lewis and Clark and their expedition found the Bitterroots a challenge, Starr said after going over the Berkshires and Catskills the first week, nothing has been too hard since then. She loved the Bitterroots. After climbing them, it was all down hill the next day.

Two of her scariest moments were:

Kill Buck, NY on July 4th weekend-She was camping in an out of the way creek because the state park she had planned to stay in was full. In the middle of the night she heard a rumbly engine and had headlights show through her tent. The engine was turned off and Starr said she was thinking about "all the Kung Fu" she knew when someone called "sorry" and the vehicle went on again and left.

South Dakota in 112 degree heat-She had an 80 mile trip ahead to get anywhere that day. She got up early to try and beat the heat. Later in the day, it got to 112 degrees and she was still 40 miles from anywhere and experiencing problems with dehydration. Fortunately, a rural mail carrier came along and gave her a ride to the next town. There she had to go to the emergency room and get some fluids.

People's desire to help her has been one of the things that has been a surprise. People across the country have given her a boost like the rural route carrier, a young man who gave his sunglasses when she lost hers and her hosts in Orofino, Don and Kelly Gardner. She met Don when she stopped at the fire station to ask about where a good camping spot would be. After that introduction, she spent the weekend with the Gardner family.

Much like Charles Kuralt who traveled America telling the stories of individuals and their lives, Starr's adventure has given her an opportunity to learn about people and share those insights in her blog. Among other things, she has learned that "you can fit 100 cows on an airplane", the Great Plains was once an inland sea, rural route carriers must bid for their jobs, in South Dakota loads that are overweight must pay $1 for every pound over the legal limit, how to pickle beets, that people who grew up on the plains have sharper eye sight.

In Orofino she had the opportunity to explore topics like the timber industry, logging shows, hydropower, wolves, US Fish and Wildlife Service.

While she has not taken a direct route, her trip of over three months will be about 4,000 miles when she reaches Portland. She has taken some breaks and detours along the way like the canoe trip with college friends.

She is not out to promote a cause or raise money. Her hope is that people will learn that what she is doing is not that hard and will try it. "You could do something cool. Go have an adventure," she said.

Photo: Maggie Starr