Diary

Mileage:  117 miles (189.54 kms)

Elevation Change:  5272 feet (1607 meters)

Weather:  clear, cool in am, hot in pm

Morale:  TIRED!

Incidents:  Christopher took a rest day

Daily Summary:

Christopher took a rest day today, and Raymond and I rolled out at 0615 on our long ride.  We would ride into the hotel over 9 hours later.  We had two major climbs today.  The first was through the Ocomo National Forest, and the second in the high desert open range of western Oregon.  Then we descended into ranchland.  We passed the John Day fossil beds, which are supposedly the richest trove of fossils in the world.  The geology was extremely interesting—volcanic, but eroded into gorges and mesas.  We rode up the John Day River to the town of John Day.  (We have not been able to determine who John Day was yet…)   The weather continues to be perfect—glorious sunshine and not too hot, though it was getting pretty warm this afternoon.  At one point we were sitting in the shade on the curb in front of the Post Office in Mount Vernon, Oregon, watching the pickup trucks go by and noticing that everyone that went into the post office was wearing cowboy boots.  We made it, but we are good and tired.  We rebuilt the bike to three again, so Chris is back with us tomorrow.

 

In our pictures below you can see that even the bathroom breaks are beautiful.  Next, Ray and I celebrate reaching the top of the second climb.  And finally, what we looked like when we finally got to the hotel