Definite transition today of the landscape - going from forest to sage and high desert. I flew along the stretch from Sisters to Redmond averaging almost 19mph.
| Looking back on the Three Sisters on the road toward Redmond. |
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| All of the sudden I saw some crazy dude in a Sportsmobile swinging around in a pulloff area ahead of me and then the dude gets out and starts toward the road - pointing a camera. The "dude" was none other than my good friend Jon. He'd been in touch with Amy and linked up with my route to try to meet up with me. Was great seeing you Jon! |
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| Jon goading me into keeping up with the nitro-burning Sportsmobile |
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The Redmond to Prineville segment was really beautiful & had a nice breeze at my back. Suffered my first bee sting of the ride - think it was just a bumblebee as when I swatted him off my leg there was a big pile of pollen left behind and the sting didn't last very long.
| Yesterday was the first day with heat, too. My thermometer on my bag at one point read 98 degrees and 21% humidity - the humidity I believe but think the temp is on the high side since it's sitting on my black handlebar bag. It was definitely in the 90's though. |
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| The main climb of the day (or so I thought) was the climb up & over the Ochoco Divide (4785 feet). Loooong climb but never very steep and lots of scenic meadows and such to look at. Reached the top and linked up with the girls and my Mom waiting for me up there. Lo and behold Kevin and Mary were up at the top too! Thought we'd see them again. We all discussed where to go for the overnighter and agreed that a campground just after Mitchell looked promising . . . |
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| I really have to apologize to Kevin & Mary if they pursued that spot because there was a climb out of Mitchell on the way to the campground that nearly killed me. I was at the 97 mile mark on the day at Mitchell so I was outta gas. The Keyes Creek Summit was a crusher of a climb and caught me totally by surprise. |
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At the 112 mile mark finally met up with Amy waiting for me at the base of the climb up to the campground - she handed me a beer and a PBJ sandwich & told me we had a bit of a problem. Seems there was a fluid leak on the Explorer that appeared significant. I hoped it was simply a slow oil leak but as we proceeded up the climb to my Mom and the camper the leak became a flood and all the "go" went out of the truck.
BLOWN TRANSMISSION
So I rode my bike up the hill the rest of the way to the campground (thus the 120 mile mark) and shut down the camper, and started walking down the road to the blown-up car. As we were walking a couple of guys drove up in a truck. JimBob and Josh work the Collins Cattle Ranch (it's in JimBob's family) and gave my Mom a lift down to our truck while I coasted down behind them. We all loaded into the dead Explorer and coasted our way back down to the main road. Then the guys gave us a tow back to the ranch where we made some phone calls (and waited for a loooonnng time) for a tow. Mr & Mrs Collins were incredibly gracious and hospitable . . . Mrs Collins even gave the girls a tour of the stables.
| Oh the shame . . . Explorer ready for a tow across the sagebrush flats to the Collins' Ranch |
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You always hear about the kindness of strangers - boy did we ever get a load of it today!
We finally arrived back in Prineville (yep - going over roads we had just covered) - checked into the Best Western, and tipped over at about midnight.
Tomorrow - car shopping? Ugh...
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