Day 6 Journal John Day, OR to Baker City, OR

It doesn’t get any better than this! Another day in bicycling paradise. I was up and loading my luggage by 5:45 AM and cycled down to the Outpost Café for a good breakfast. They served hot oatmeal, my favorite, stick-to-yaw bike food. I saw a cute plaque on the outside of this café. It said, “On this day in 1897 nothing happened.” Leaving John Day wasn’t as cold or windy as yesterday’s ride out of town. By mile 18 we started to climb the first of the three summits today. There was a nice photo opt along the way, a big covered wagon with a beautiful view of the snow capped mountain range in the background and the ascending road. Susan from the staff was taking lots of pictures for us as groups of riders came through and wanted their pictures by the big western wagon. I felt strong today, and I am finding the climbs are not difficult. I’m not a fast climber, but get to the top at my own steady pace. It is such a blast when you reach the top because then the fun begins with miles and miles of downhill. After Dixie Summit we had two traffic lights we had to wait for. They were doing construction so the road was down to one lane and we could only proceed during the green light. It slowed up our ride going down, having to wait for the lights – but still had plenty of miles of smiles going down.

This state of Oregon is incredibly beautiful! If you’ve never traveled Oregon, it is worth the trip out here. We passed through lands that had cattle ranches, and then going up the mountains it was more pine trees. The pinecones are so big! A couple of times we passed a few cattle that were out on the road. I rode with Nancy again most of the day, and she was great on the last 10 miles pulling me in to Baker City. The headwinds were really roaring head on for the last 10 miles. When we got in to town the main street was all blocked off and we could see little kids lined up for bicycle races. It happened today was the 9^th Annual Elkhorn Bicycle races. We came upon the group of 6 and under without training wheels lined up for their race. This little three years old that was on the far end near me was so adorable. And he sure did want to win! He took off pedaling just as fast and furious as he could.

I’m tired tonight and want to get to bed. Several others mentioned they were tired tonight too—the heat and wind was taking it’s toll. I wasn’t able to get an internet connection until nearly 8:00 PM so I’m trying to hurry now.

Road Kill count: 2 rattlesnakes, 1 toothbrush, 1 shoe – yup, just one! 1 deer.

Banana count: 3

Miles 81.63 Elevation climbing totaled 4,709 feet