We spent the night in sisters, at the hiker/biker campground, which had a lovely shower facility, and a creek that was perfect for chilling a six pack.
After a nice breakfast with Nick, Greg and I headed out for Terrebonne and beyond.
We had a minor misdirection in Redmond, but wound up on a beautiful backcountry road before having a late afternoon beer in Prineville.
We made it most of the way up the Ochoco Pass, before my sit bone pain— which had been accumulating over the past day and a half— finally forced its attention upon us. We camped off a national Forest Road among the mosquitoes, had another pasta dinner and were in our tents before sunset.
This morning, we rode around 30 miles into Mitchell. It’s worth noting that the last time we were there there was a bear in a cage downtown, and the town was under siege by a gang of rambunctious bikers. Mitchell appears to have grown up quite a bit since then, with a swanky beer garden, and a bustling gravel/mountain bike scene.
At lunch, I made the executive decision to take the remainder of the day off from riding in order to rest my aching butt. From there, Greg headed east toward Dayville by bike, and I spent around an hour and a half thumbing a ride out 26. I was picked up by a friendly, bikey couple from Bend, OR, Elisia (?) and Chris (?). They had a tricked out sprinter van and were headed to Colorado for some mountain biking. They’re both transit/bike advocates by profession. They gave me a beer when they dropped me off!
We are now staying at the Dayville community church where I was met by Cindy and Skip who showed me the Wi-Fi and gave me a tour of the church. What am amazing place, and such gracious hosts!
I relaxed on a pew for a while until Greg arrived, then we had a terrific dinner at the Dayville Café. We’re now doing laundry and having showers back at the church.
I’m hoping for a fresh start tomorrow morning where will continue east toward toward Prairie city and eventually Baker city hopefully my butt holds out.
