Day 5 Journal Prineville to John Day, Oregon

Oh Lordy! The Bicycle Gods were showering down good wishes and tailwinds and traveling mercies today! I had a terrific day, for pedaling 117 miles today I really can’t complain about a single thing. I was up at 3:45 AM and took care of eating my breakfast in my room, afterwards I relaxed a little checking email and weather reports on the wireless internet. There was an instant line-up at the luggage truck at 5:30 AM. I was out of the gates at 5:34 AM. I started out with arm warmers, full fingered gloves under the padded bike gloves, a wind jacket and a special cloth I like to wear under my jersey at the shoulders to protect the upper back from the cold winds. It was 41 degrees when I left, and a very brisk head wind. I have this thing called Raynards Syndrome that impairs the circulation to my extremities – the fingertips and toes. It wasn’t long down the road and my fingertips and toes were made so numb with cold, I was very anxious to get up and out of the canyon we were in coming out of Prineville. We started the first of our total 5,189 vertical feet of climbing of this day at mile 11. It wasn’t until about mile 30 and near the end of this climb that I felt warm enough to shed most of the clothes. Then we had a great downhill all the way into Mitchell. The scenery was beautiful. I saw several interesting birds. I especially would like to know what the name of the one was that was about 17” in length, and was black and white. It was quite a large bird, and so stark looking with the black and white body. Someone saw a bobcat jump out near them today. I saw a rat! All morning I was looking forward to the little café that sits at the edge of this very small town of Mitchell. They made homemade pie there. And I walked in and had a wonderful piece of blueberry pie, and so did recumbent Jim and Nancy. I was riding with Nancy (from Florida) all day. We seem to be going the same pace and she was great to even stop when I wanted to pull off and get some photo shots. She too got a lot of nice pictures today, and I’ve downloaded them into a file on this laptop. So I’ll post some of those too in the Photo Album. By the time we got into Mitchell it was getting very hot, and we had to start a long climb up to Ochoco Pass. I just took it nice and easy and paced myself so as not to wear myself out for all the other miles that lie ahead. I was drinking a lot of water and one bottle I used to periodically pour some water over my head, legs and arms to keep my core temp down. That sure did help. After that summit it was miles and miles of downhill, with only slight inclines to finish out the day. When we rolled into Dayville we were hungry for some lunch. Nancy kept saying she was craving a good ‘ol hot dog sandwich. We stopped into a little local restaurant and though she didn’t get her wish, we both like the excellent BLT’s. Several other bikers had stopped there too. It was just what we needed to give us a great boost to keep up our steady pace. The 117 miles were melting away! It was a great ride and looking good to finish before 5:00 PM. Our café stops did eat up time, but well worth taking those breaks. The John Day Fossil Bed region was very beautiful rock formations. The road is just a narrow double lane road through there. The cliffs that rise up from both sides of the road were magnificent. I was uncomfortable with cold toes in the early morning, but by this point in the ride I was so warm, I wanted to cool my feet off in the mountain stream that flowed along side the road. One biker passed me and said his thermometer was reading 98 degrees. A scorcher. Stopping just 8 miles from John Day at a gas station in small town America, Mt. Vernon, the local person said it was going to be even hotter tomorrow. Nancy and I got some cold drinks and some salty peanuts to replace those salts we lose on such a hot day – and then headed down the road like horses into the barn looking for the Sunset Inn here in John Day. A quick shower and then I tried to get on the Internet. Quite a few people were not getting connected. So I’ll post this tomorrow along with the photos. I am so grateful for today. It was really a blessing to have had such an enjoyable ride, despite the heat, the ride went so smoothly. We have a shorter day tomorrow about 81 miles. Piece of cake!

Road Kill count: 1 LARGE rattlesnake, 1 golf ball, and 1 rat

Bungee count: 2. 6 pieces of rope.

Banana count: 3 more yellers down the hatch