June 8 and 9

June 9th..........Doug Gardner. Again, I will try to recount several days. Computer problems again, and fatigue have kept me from doing a blog sooner. We spent the night of the 6th in a nice but inexpensive hotel. We ate breakfast at a great place beside the motel.........best blueberry pancakes yet. We set out for Redmond, via a beautiful town called Sisters for the 3 similar mountain peaks that lie at its feet. We ate at Bronco Billy's in Sisters then pedaled some more to Redmond where we stayed in a campground at their County Fairgrounds.........great showers and laundry.

June 8th..........We awoke early and set out for Mitchell, OR. We passed over a difficult Ochoco Pass, stopped at McDonald's in Prineville, OR where we tried to send WiFi pictures, but my Blackberry began giving me problems so I could not blog. We are also finding that many areas do not have cellular service. The next location we hoped to stop in for a meal was closed so we made do on trail mix, crackers, beef jerky, etc. Because the place was closed, we had no water source, and when we found our self running low on water, we had to ask a roadside rancher for access to his water. On our descent from the pass which was many miles downhill in a steep fast descent, Jordan's bike drifted over into mine while he was watching scenery, and he had a wreck creating no more than roadburn, very fortunately, and we had to take off his mangled front fender, which we have since repaired with duct tape. When we arrived in Mitchell, it seemed a dry dusty town, out of an Eastwood movie, as the first buildings did not seem open, but we quickly encountered a cafe, and the Oregon Hotel, where they actually kept a Hostel, and we all piled into a cheap room. The service was great and we enjoyed the innkeeper's kids, Austin and Abigail. We also encountered "Juniper Guy" in Mitchell who made great furniture from Juniper wood including an over sized chair that we found humor in.

June 9th.............we tried to get an early start, only to find that all the breakfast joints (2) were closed on Wednesday. So once again our meal was relegated to grocery muffins, bananas. We immediately jumped into a long difficult ascent over Keyes Creek Pass, but that always seems to lead to a fun fast descent. The scenery is beautiful and of course ever changing. It is amazing how quickly the topography and vegetation change. We had planned to stop in John Day, but pushed it on another 13 miles for an 80 mile day so that we would be closer to tomorrow's destination, Baker City. My wife is flying into Boise City tonight where she will rent a car, drive to meet us in Baker City. I will then drive Jordan, Amy and our 13 yo James who flew out with her, back to Salem, where Jordan graduates on the 11th. Then we will pile back in the car and drive back to Baker City so Jordan and I can resume the ride with Alex and Howard on the 12th. Since we are`13 miles closer, we should have an easier day than originally planned.....3 passes lie in front of us tomorrow. We have had lots of laughs, and we are strengthening the legs and lungs, but there seems to be no remedy for the sore butt. Hope to talk to you again soon! It is 11 pm and the others are already snoring and I need some sleep.