Saturday, August 15, 2009
61: Fierce Plums and Friendly Riders
| Stoker's Log |
| Day Sixty-One |
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| 8/15/09 |
| From Mitchell, OR |
| To Redmund, OR |
| 76.8 miles |
| 9.0 avg mph |
It was a wonderful morning at the Oregon Hotel in Mitchell (especially when we came downstairs to find giant homemade muffins waiting for all the guests).
We packed our chocolate muffins up for later and headed down the main street, by which I mean the only street. Everything was very wooden and Western; it was Dodge City or Dubois without the tourism, and we liked it quite a bit.
We saw signs for a public boarding school, which seemed strange until we realized that the towns around here are so small and people live so far apart that bussing students to normal day schools is not an option.
A few doors down from the hotel was a saloon/cafe, where we went for breakfast. The walls were decorated with old newspaper articles about a flood, including photos of cops in bowties and the story of a man who successfully rode his house down the river for miles. We ate a great breakfast, bought frozen snickers bars for later, and got on the road.
After a slightly chilly descent into the valley, we started a long climb in the heat. We were tempted to take a break on a gigantic rocking chair, but decided we were already doing enough climbing.
At least the scenery was interesting.
Plus we got to see a parade of classic cars, twice, as they took a Sunday drive up and down the winding road.
On our way up to the Ochoco Pass Summit, we ran into Steve again, who was impressed that we'd made it to Mitchell after all. And soon after we met another cyclist named Ben. He was from England, a recent grad about to enter the business world, and he had decided to spend his last free summer seeing America for the first time. We had a great chat with him about bikes and traveling while we sat on a tree stump eating the delicious chocolate muffins from the hotel and the (still unmelted!) Snickers from the saloon. We eventually got back on the road, happy to be sharing it with other cycling tourists.
Steve and Ben were both faster than us, but Ben started getting flat tires so we ended up leap-frogging each other most of the way. And we were having our own problems; Kyle was sure that something was dragging or catching to reduce our downhill speed, which is always frustrating. But for the most part we enjoyed the ride and the mixed scenery.
We rode along Ochoko Lake, stopping at a small store with an energetic sign man and an equally friendly owner.
For the first time in a long time we had cell service, so I called my parents while we drank our cold sodas. They're flying to Portland to stay with friends and see us to the finish line, and hopefully we can meet up with them even earlier (especially since they could carry the trailer for us!). We also realized that from the store we had exactly 200 miles left to the coast, so we departed the store in an especially energized mood.
We rode through Prineville, Oregon's oldest city. Kyle kept talking about the name in a weird, shrill voice; I was a little confused, but it was nice to be in a goofy mood again. We decided to take the long way round to Redmund instead of the busy and steep highway. It was an excellent decision, and we found ourselves riding through picturesque farmland and rolling hills. I felt so liberated and energized, utterly content to be on the bicycle. It was one of those beautiful moments that have been far too rare on this chaotic trip.
And then it got even better. We spotted a cyclist coming up behind us, and realized it was Ben. He caught up and this time we rode together instead of passing each other back and forth. We talked about the different regions we'd ridden through, and the various dogs, strangers, and cultural quirks we'd encountered on the way. We also traded stats and were mutually impressed; today was an especially long day for Ben, who tackled two mountain passes and over 100 miles. It just felt really great to have a friendly riding companion alongside us. We're not sure why the only people who seem to ride with us are Brits -- maybe no one told them about the prevailing winds either -- but we aren't complaining.
We eventually caught up to Steve, who had already set up his campsite for the night. He seemed impressed that we were once again making our slow but stubborn way to our planned destination. Ben continued on with us until we were just outside Redmund, where he found a good spot to stealth camp, and we continued into town to hunt for a motel with laundry, which we finally founded at a Motel 6. We also found a very fierce plum.
Told you.
We then capped off the evening with a very nice Mexican dinner. We figured we deserved it after so many granola bar dinners, and we were also in a mood to celebrate. It had been a good ride, and we only have two days left. TWO! We were happy enough to hula hoop.
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| posted at: 06:15 |
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