Mitchell to John Day, OR

Via Hwy 26. 70.8 miles. We rode a lot farther than we had expected to today, both because we felt good after a day off and the accommodations/food options were very limited between Mitchell and John Day.*

The day began with a steep 7-mile climb out of Mitchell up Keyes Creek Pass. Since we had fresh legs, we ground our way up to the top with relative ease. Despite the fact it was early in the morning and the temperature was still relatively cool, we both shed gallons of sweat by the time we crested the summit however. From there we enjoyed a 25-mile descent into the John Day River canyon and the Picture Gorge.

It was another scorcher today, but for the first time on this part of our trip some clouds rolled in during the afternoon. The cloud cover provided welcome relief from the blazing sun as we rode through the river valley, where cattle and horses grazed in fields flanked by magnificent bluffs.

We saw only one other cyclist today (heading west as we continued east). He waved and went on by so we did not get to hear his story.
We stopped at a C-store just as we hit the John Day city limits for a last break (we were definitely tired). I decided to buy some beer** and they had a 6-pack of Budweiser that was missing one bottle. I knew that we'd never drink an entire 6-pack anyway so I thought I would get myself a deal over the regular $5.79 price for the full 6-pack. But when I took the 5-pack to the counter, the young lady rang up the sale as 5 individual bottles and said I owed $6.75. I pointed out (as patiently as possible, which is tough for me as patience is admittedly not one of my stronger virtues) that since I could buy an entire 6-pack for $5.79, I did not understand why I had to pay more beer for less. She paused a moment to consider that, then magnanimously announced that she would give me the 5 bottles for the same $5.79 price as a 6-pack. When I then asked (the patience meter was nearly on empty at that point) why I should pay the 6-pack price for only 5 beers, she clutched and went into stall mode, gurgling something about perhaps having a full 6-pack in the back of the store. I then knew my quest to get a deal on the 5-pack was going nowhere, so I simply paid the 6-pack price and slunk out of the store.

*We had originally planned to stay in Dayville (31 miles west of here) but the only restaurant in town recently closed. So we were facing another evening eating microwaved C-store pizza and thawing frozen egg sandwiches for breakfast. So we decided to check out the next town (Mount Vernon, 23 miles further east), which had an open cafe and two motels. But Mount Vernon looked really dumpy*** and it was only 8 more miles to John Day, so we plodded on further. Eight miles doesn't sound like much, but as we'd already ridden 52 miles (including another mountain pass) it was a bit of a struggle to finish those last few miles.

**We normally don't drink much beer, but after a long day on the bike nothing tastes better than a cold beer. And there are all those carbohydrates that beer contains. Many cyclists drink beer after a ride on the theory they are simply replacing the carbs burned that day and/or "carbo loading" for the next ride. That's their story and they are sticking to it.

***Mitchell, where we spent our rest day, was dumpy too but in a cool Old West kinda way. Mount Vernon was just a plain dump.
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