Prineville to Mitchell, OR

(Ridden on July 24) 49.6 miles via Hwy 26. We had a good day again today. We crossed another pass (Ochoco) but it wasn't nearly as difficult as Santiam. We enjoyed a beautiful descent off the pass until about 5 miles before Mitchell,* where the road turned steeply uphill again. By that time (early afternoon) the temperatures had climbed into the high 80s/low 90s making the last few miles into town very hot ones.

We saw dozens of other cyclists today, virtually all of them headed the other direction to complete the TransAmerica route that they began in Virginia.
The one exception to the westbound flow of riders (other than the guy with the dog, who we're still not sure was for real) is Devon, a young woman who we encountered on our way up Ochoco Pass.** She quit her job in Connecticut as an emergency room nurse to ride the TransAmerica route before she goes to Haiti to work in a clinic there. Devon originally planned to ride with a male cyclist who she hooked up with on the Adventure Cycling website. (People advertise there for traveling companions.) Prior to this trip she had never done any serious cycling and was unable to do much serious training for the trip. Also, they planned to start the trip very late in the season for a cross-country trek. (We began in April, most people start in May or at least by June.) Then, two weeks before she was to fly to the West Coast to begin the trip, her travel companion bailed out on her. You would not blame her for throwing in the towel at that point, but Devon put her head down and set out alone. Because she left from Astoria, in northern Oregon, while we began further south in Florence, she has ridden farther and been on the road longer than us. Devon now concedes that she probably won't make it to Virginia on this trip, but is shooting for Denver where a friend lives. Despite the fact that she already has ridden several hundred miles over very challenging terrain, she
is a obviously nervous about what she has gotten herself into. We tried to convince her that is "over the hump" in having made it this far, and were tremendously impressed by her gumption and determination. We are resting here in Mitchell tomorrow while Devon plans to continue riding. We are nevertheless hopeful that we'll catch up to her down the road, to continue to support her (and keep an eye on her).

*I will blog about Mitchell tomorrow, as it deserves a full blog day coverage by itself.

**We could not believe there was another cyclist slower than us. Devon is slower, but not by much.

Rest day in Mitchell, OR

(July 25th) Sorry for the large backlog of posts and pics - we've had no Internet service for several days.

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Mitchell, population 138, is one of those places where the old joke "don't blink or you might miss it" applies. The town was established in the 1890s and, based on old photos from that era, looks pretty much like it did back then. There are a couple of houses, a school, post office, several abandoned buildings, an old-timey cafe, grocery store and 12-room hotel. A few tourists stop here on their way to and from the nearby John Day area fossil beds along with some cyclists (most of whom camp in the city park* just down the street from the hotel).
But it is otherwise very quiet. At the moment I am sitting on the front porch of the hotel. I have been here for about an hour and have seen only a handful of cars and other people going by on the main street in town. It's a good place for a rest day though because there is absolutely nothing to do other than journal and read.

The hotel is very quaint but lacks a few modern conveniences, like air conditioning and showers (bathtubs only). And it is run by a young mother who reluctantly took the job** and clearly doesn't like it. We picked up on this right away: can we put the bike in our room?*** (no); can we put it on the porch, or in a storage shed? (no - leave it outside); can we use the hotel's washer and dryer to do a load of our laundry? (no); can we use the hotel's phone?**** (no, you have to the pay phone down the street). You get the picture.

A couple more touring cyclists rolled into town today, including a guy from Scotland and another guy who rode up from his home in the LA area, intends to ride east (like us) on the TransAmerica route, then head back west to his home. He appeared to be at least sixty and said he has ridden across country previously, as well as the West Coast from British Columbia to southern California several times. We thought we might be a little bit special riding a tandem on a cross-country trip, but the owner of the grocery store here told us of a could in their late 70s to early 80s who - for THREE YEARS now - have come through Mitchell riding a loaded tandem on their way across the country. As much as we'd like to believe these folks are making this stuff up, I
don't think that's the case.

*It is very common for small towns to allow cyclists to camp in the city park, where the amenities can range from some (bathroom, water) to none.

**She is the daughter of the owners. She lost her regular job and came back to Mitchell to live with her parents. They told her she was going to have to support herself and her 3 kids, and could do so by living in and running the motel. You learn a lot of personal stuff pretty quickly in a small town, particularly with someone like her dad around (he seems to spend most of his time sitting on the front porch talking to anyone who will listen). He is also the owner of Henry the bear, who is housed in a cage across the street from the hotel. Henry used to belong to the local Boy Scouts but when they could no longer take care of him dad agreed to take over that responsibility, for which I give him a lot of credit. Henry eats a tremendous amount of food every day and needs constant attention (for example, he recently dropped a log on one of his toes and probably broke it).

***It is common practice on bike trips for cyclists to store their bikes in their rooms. For example, in the course of this trip we've only stayed in one other place (hotel in Ordway, CO run by a woman with a similarly dour disposition) where we were not permitted to put the bike in our room.

Sisters to Prineville, OR

Hwy 126 to Redmond, then secondary roads to Prineville. 42 miles. We bounced back from yesterday's tough ride, thanks in part to a gently rolling route along. The weather was warm but not oppressively hot (at least up to the time we rolled into Prineville). Our route took us further into the central Oregon high desert between the Cascades in the west and the Blue Mountains in the east. The section between Redmond and Prineville, which followed the course of the Crooked River, was particularly nice. A great road surface, virtually no traffic and stunning scenery - mountains, bluffs and picturesque horse ranches. We pretty much forgot about yesterday's grind up Santiam Pass, which is good because we have another pass (Ochoco) to conquer tomorrow.

Prineville was originally established as a railroad center by Irving "Barney" Prine, which is odd because there does not appear to be any tracks here at all, and certainly no current train activity. We toured the local historical museum, which was centered on railroads, logging and the Oregon pioneers. They also had an amazing collection of mouse traps. In addition to the traditional spring-loaded traps,* the early settlers developed a wide variety of bottle traps, "ashtray" traps and even a trap that drowned multiple mice by luring them into a one-way tunnel/tower that ends in a plunge into a water tank.** (I hate rodents, so I really got into this display.)
*I think of myself as somewhat of an authority on mouse traps. We have had a persistent mouse problem at home, and have tried everything on the market to get rid of them (except for a cat, as Penny is allergic to cat dander), including traditional (they are humane, still work well), but can be messy, sticky pads (not humane), plug in electric 'dog whistle' devices (humane, but worthless). Nothing works well 100% of the time, which is why there will always be mice and people working new ways to catch them.

**At our old house we had an even bigger mouse problem than we do now at our current home. We used to regularly find drowned mice that had somehow climbed up the side of the dogs' water bucket, then fell inside unable to climb out.
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Cool cloud formation

Between O'Neil and Prineville, OR
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