Up at 6:15 this morning….only about 70 miles to do today so slept in a little. 63 degrees with a high of 94 today. Have a breeze to my back this morning….did 8 miles in a snap and stopped in Mount Vernon for breakfast — eggs, sausage, toast, and coffee.
A few miles out of town I started seeing people on fully loads touring bikes headed east. Within a couple miles I had seen at least 15. On down the road I saw a group of about six of them taking a break on the side of the road so I pulled over to talk to them. Turns out they’re a group of about 50 cyclists doing a two week tour around Oregon. Talked for a bit, shared tips then moved on.
Rolled into Dayville at about 9:30 at 31 miles in….making good time this morning…feeling good and cranking. Must be a law here about pumping gas…sitting outside a store here drinking Pure Leaf Tea and Diet Coke and watching the store attendant pump gas for people. The sun is out and it’s starting to get warm, but there is a bit of cloud cover today so should provide some relief.
About 100 yards after pulling out of Dayville my rear wheel feels like it’s about to fall off and I look back and have a flat tire…I was just thinking this morning how I haven’t had problems in a while now….oh, well. Spend 30 min fixing that…have 3 spare tubes do didn’t even try to patch—just popped in a new one and back on the road.
10 or so miles down the road a lady stopped up ahead of me while I was riding through this canyon and held a can of La Croix sparkling water out the window. I stopped and she was concerned that it was hot and there was nothing around for a lot of miles. She gave me two cans of ice cold water—very good and tried to get me to take more. I thanked her and assured her I was fine—it was getting warm, but I have been through a lot hotter, for a lot longer time, and a lot more desolate areas than this. That cold water was good all the same 🙂
Met John at about noon around 22 miles from Mitchell where I’ll be stopping tonight. He was headed east to Yorktown…started in Astoria 11 days ago. John was feeling a bit down. Said he was having a hard time and trying to do 40 miles a day, but had been feeling bad and was cutting to 30 a day—giving himself 100 days. Said his legs weren’t getting as strong as he thought they would. I give him some words of encouragement, but I’m really thinking he’s not going to make it. I give him big credit for giving it a shot and I hope he makes it, but I have a feeling he is not going to make it much further before hanging it up. I remember the young couple Steven, Rob, and I met back in VA who were doing this for their honeymoon and pulling trailers with their dog, dog food, and all kinds of stuff—weight—behind them. We all three were pulling for them, but felt they were woefully unprepared. I think they finally called it quits somewhere in Eastern KY. John is probably headed for the same fate.
A couple miles after leaving John I see this big old tree on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere. It was covered with shoes…see pics below. No sign or obvious reason for it, but it’s just there—strange. I’ll have to google it tonight and see what it’s all about. Ok….Googles it….seems it’s a known “thing” of mysterious origins and reasons 🙂 Google “show tree Mitchell OR” if interested.
Topped Keyes CR Summit, 4,369 feet, at 2:25pm. Now a 6.5 mile drop to Mitchell where I’ll Be spending the the night.
Hit Mitchell at about 2:45—nice to do 6.5 miles in less than 15 min…probably closer to 10 min 🙂 stopped at the Spoke’n Hostel….the coolest cycling hostel yet. The Baptist Church is Seebree, KY was cool, but this place even tops that. Huge, cool (as in AC) building with large, barracks style bunk beds, comfortable areas to sit and relax, kitchen area with breakfast food, ice cream, coffee, etc. shower with towels. Tools and bike stand for working on bike. Every amenity you could possibly want for a relaxing day after a hard ride and a good nights sleep. 5 stars for Spoke’n Hostel….they even have ear plugs to help block the noise and help you sleep better….very cool place.
Today’s ride was great. It was hot, but there was some cloud cover so it wasn’t scorching like the past few days. Had wide shoulders on the road all day and the motorists generally gave a lot of room when passing. I did notice that a large majority of the cars on the road were Subaru’s and many of them had bikes loaded on the back….got more “thumbs up” from cars going by today than during the entire trip. I think Oregon has a reputation for being one of the more bike friendly states and it showed today….hope it continues for the rest of the trip.
Felt strong today….the 70 miles seemed easy. Got a couple longer days ahead—around 95 miles tomorrow and the next day then it should be smooth sailing to Astoria on Friday or early Saturday morning.
